"Zombie Night Terror," developed by Plug-In-Digital, is a puzzle, platformer strategy game where you play the "braaiins" behind this zombie apocalypse (See what I did there?). "Zombie Night Terror" is often referred to as "Lemmings" but with zombies added to it. For those who don't know, "Lemmings" is a puzzle-platformer video game made before my time. It was developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis for the Amiga in 1991. After doing some research, both games share a somewhat similar concept. How similar you may be asking? Let's dive into the hoard and see.
Similar to "Lemmings," in "Zombie Night Terror" you have your own army, in this case zombies, at your command. You actually don't control the characters on the screen, you're just there as their motivation or a guide. To actually make the zombies do anything, you need to interact with the surrounding environment and change up their abilities. I'll go more into depth about those later.
You'll have to go through 50 levels, each possessing its own difficulty. I will say it's weird to see that there is no pattern for the difficulty rating of a level. A level can be hard one game and ridiculously easy the next. Regardless, to complete each level you must either kill every human or guide your herd of the undead to the other side of the stage any way possible.
Going back to the zombie abilities, in the game you have access to a mutations bar which you will use frequently throughout the game. It's best to take full advantage of the mutation system to overcome various defenses the enemies have set up. By using the mutation system, you can generate new zombie types that will aid you in completing levels. Each has its unique power and abilities that can help you overcome different situations. Mutating costs DNA. You start each level with DNA, but to earn more you have to either eat more humans or sacrifice a zombie, which can be costly. There are levels within the game that will require you to use your "braiiiin" and can be played with various solutions. In the moment it will be frustrating and aggravating, but the payoff will feel oh so good.
Graphically, the game gives a nice retro vibe being in pixelated black and white. The music and background do an excellent job setting the dreary mood while my zombie army devours any survivors.
There are some annoying bits in the game that kind of killed the mood. At times zombies would get stuck in a corner and would become useless to me. I felt the tip system came off as more annoying than helpful. They would usually tell you what to do in a level instead of letting you experience the game for yourself.
Overall, I would have to say "Zombie Night Terror" is a pretty fun game. Although, I couldn't see myself binge-playing a game like this, not because of its quality, but because I'm sure I'd rage quit and tire myself out when stumped on a level. If you want to test your mind and see if you can control the horde, then this game for sure is a cop.
