Undead Empire is a top down shooter in a very retro 8 bit style. You play one of several characters killing on Undead waves attacking you. Sounds simple enough as well as looks simple too, but when you start playing you find out that this game is far from simple and not your run of the mill Indie game.
You choose different characters that will enable you to have different abilities during combat. Not so much the kind of abilities you would think of when it comes to a shooter, but more of an RPG aspect is what it feels like to me. Playing as one character may give you an ammo boost while playing someone different you may get a cash bonus to help you buy items that are needed after each round. The way that the game is set up is interesting and at first seems a bit odd for the type of game it is. The game takes the “wave” approach to the way it plays out. You will start in round 1 with maybe 9 or 10 enemies and proceed though rounds of Zombies attacking you. Each round of course gets harder, because the shear volume of Zombies is amazing. By the 9th or 10th round you find your self fighting off over 100 Undead.
This task is pretty tedious in single player. i myself only made it to the 12th round alone and to be honest with you that was pretty tough. As you kill the undead in the round after round gameplay, you’ll gain cash for killing undead as well as cash drops among other items that will be dropped by the enemy. With these cash drops you can buy, sale, or upgrade you weapons. This is a key factor to winning the rounds. If you find yourself in a spot to where you have ran out of ammo and all you have id the starting standard pistol you start with and its not upgraded you could be run into some major issues moving on. I ran into this issue personally and thought it would be taken care of as well as my progression in the game would be better if I used one of the great features of this game. Co-op!
Undead Empire features 4 player co-op and it pretty fun. Each player has a set amount of lives and after each round if the remaining player can manage to secure victory for the group all players will respawn with one life. Having multiple people playing with you really increases the fun factor of the game as your character bonuses mentioned earlier become squad bonuses. The only major problems I see in the game are present in single and multiplayer options. The only way to gain health in the game is to buy it in the shop after each round. Considering that the enemies can be brutal if for no other reason than shear volume health would be a helpful addition to the drops you get. If all of your team happens to die, you may find yourself waiting for some time if your last remaining team mate is not prepared to be working alone.
The environments in the game are non existent as you stay on one level the whole game, but with the type of game it is and the objectives laid out, this isn’t to big of an issue to worry about. All in all, like most Indie games out there it’s fun and makes for a good time passer. The added feature of 4 player co-op changes things up a bit, but at the same time can frustrating. For 80 MS point I would highly suggest picking up this title and having your friends do it too. Games like this are perfect addition to the Indie game scene and trumps a vibrating controller game any day of the week for the same price.
