The cooperative zombie smashing brawler is a tried and tested platform, and Bloody Zombies provides very little to the genre when taken at face value. It's a cooperative experience where players work together to take on the hordes of zombies that have attacked London. You can customise your characters with a range of pick-ups and move-sets, and there are hit combos and scores to keep things competitive. So far, by the by.
Where Bloody Zombies diverges from the standard genre is its incorporation of virtual reality.
You'd be forgiven for not considering a side-scrolling brawler as a prime VR-genre, but Paw Print Games and nDreams have demonstrated that with a little out-of-the-box thinking, the traditional 2D format can work great in head mounted displays (HMD).
The game is really designed to be a cooperative experience, and any number of you can be in virtual reality or playing on a monitor. The viewig experience will alter depending on whether you have a headset on. For those playing in normal reality, the screen is your standard 2D affair, while those in VR see a 3D diorama experience. They also get the added benefit of being able to move the camera by panning their head around - allowing them to see upcoming threats and hidden collectables to help the rest of the team. The in-game avatar of those in VR also get a little VR headset, which is a cute touch but purely cosmetic.
In my brief playthrough I was instantly taken with the beautiful artstyle of the game, especially in VR. The controls were for the most part quite intuitive, and while you can get away with basic button mashing, there are special attacks and combos for those who seek more finesse. That being said, I did at times struggle with the 2.5D movement and ensuring I was in line with the zombie I was trying to hit.
Nonetheless, it was an incredibly fun game that I feel really demonstrates some clever thinking in its incorporation of VR.
Bloody Zombies is available on PS4, PC, Xbox One, PS VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive.
This looks insanely fun!