Little Red Riding Hood Zombie BBQ

 

Full Disclosure: When I received this game, I was under the impression that this would be a third person, zombie killing adventure. 

Storyline: I really enjoyed the storyline and incorporating childhood fairytales made this even more interesting to play. A few include Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio tale, Three Little Pig, etc. There are two playable characters: A busty little red riding hood or a ninja named Momo Taru. Basically, the story consists of these two characters roaming through different fairytales, defeating zombies as they go and destroying the zombified bosses iconic to the characters from the fairytales. I enjoyed that the bosses were of the main characters from the fairytales like red riding hood’s grandma, the three little pigs, Pinocchio, and several more. It was fun to blast away at their zombie versions.

Gameplay: I thoroughly loved playing this game. I tend to enjoy a lot of zombie shooter games and this was entertaining minute by minute. The controls are simple, using the stylus pen to shoot down the zombies and to move across a single lined grid. You can also use the directional pad to move across the grid to dodge attacks and flaming cans. When reloading the guns, you take off the stylus pen of the screen and click back on. I found that a bit inconvenient because I wanted to just shoot and not have to reload. I understand that a sense of realism was trying to be established with the reloading, but with heavy waves of zombies swarming at me, it was tough to keep reloading only after a few shots.

The number of zombie waves in the game I felt was appropriate to an extent. As you progressed into the later levels, it became a bit too hard. I like a challenge, but sometimes it seemed impossible. Some levels required me to restart a couple of times in order to get through it, but I did not like having to restart the whole level again only to survive.

Additionally, I wished there were more checkpoint saves in the game. There are three spots within one fairytale as in one level with a boss, a second with a boss and the third level with the main fairytale boss. What I would have liked is that it would save right before the boss battle. That way I would not have to go back through the whole level just to face the boss again. It was frustrating as well because of how much more difficult the later levels became that I would end up with little health left to face the boss and would die a few moments later.

Audio: The audio is very well done in the game. The sound effects are good, replicating the sound of a machine gun, flame thrower, laser gun and other weaponry. Also, the voice over for the characters was done well as well as the zombie-esq sounds. The only critique I would give is that when the playable characters spoke, it was a bit hard to hear because the background music was loud. Furthermore, the music was very action packed sounding, tending to follow the genre of rock and metal. I really liked the music used for this game and helped maintain my attention to the game too.

Graphics: They are pretty good for being on the DS. There are a few minor pixilated edges, but it’s nothing to harsh for the eyes. The colors are great for the game as well as the detailing on the zombies. There was nothing bad I experienced about the graphics for the game.

Replayability: This game wreaks replayability. Who does not love killing zombies? This game allows different ways to kill zombies with different weaponry, moves and in-game exploding cans to destroy anything in your path. It also allows you to unload ammo on fairytale characters. I am not sure if I would go back to replay the entire game, but I would go back to replay certain fairytale levels since there were some I enjoyed playing. 

Pros:

• Enjoyable gameplay of killing zombies and fairytale characters
• Easy battle structure
• Becomes challanging, but in a good way
• Lots of levels for hours of entertainment

Cons:

• Not enough checkpoints
• Zombie waves can be a bit intense
• Not enough objects to obtain other weapons

Associate Editor: Alyssa Bogie

8/10 – Great

(Value: $8.00)