Burn Zombie Burn Preview

Smell that wave of charred flesh? Burn Zombie Burn, a new arena shooter from DoubleSix, staggers onto the PlayStation Network this week with an unexpectedly deep combo system and nifty local two-player modes.

In order to take advantage of some classic zombie beat-down weapons (chainsaw, cricket bat) they've opted out of the popular dual-analogue controls scheme and gone for the ever so slightly more complicated X, O, or R1 to shoot, with L1 and L2 toggles for auto-targeting and strafing. It's not too hard to get the hang of, making your main antagonist the un-dead horde and not the controls (as it should be).

So far it probably sounds like a pretty generic game. It takes place in the woods, the suburbs, the drive-in; your typical zombie settings. And the game features Bruce, your typical zombie slayer, out there protecting his girlfriend Daisy, who is included in one of the co-op modes.

Adding weapons like a dance ray and a brain gun (for luring zombies into a specific area with a squishy snack) doesn't change the game much.



Nope, what makes Burn Zombie Burn is the score multiplier mechanic: use a torch to set zombies aflame and the more burning zombies running around, the more points you get. That is, the best way to score is to use explosives to blow up huge mobs of burning zombies, but the catch is that once you light them on fire, they become stronger, faster - probably harder and better as well.

Each stage has a panic button available after you've filled a combo meter, which will allow you to decimate, or at least slow down, the pack.

Levels are unlocked with bronze medals, while you can eventually earn extra goodies like vision modes (Sin City style, even), challenge stages, and extra medals based on the high scores of the game's development team. It's too bad it couldn't have been a four-player game, but still two players is probably the max that would comfortably fit into the stages.



Burn Zombie Burn is available tomorrow, March 26th priced at £6.29/$9.99

Emily Balistrieri