Limbs burst from bodies, heads pop like grapes and blood gushes from every wound. By making you think strategically about your approach, the level design keeps most missions feeling fresh (although some do feel repetitive by the time you’ve played them all).Īside from your loadout, the gore animation is excellent. Here, you need a powerful, short-range weapon such as the shotgun to improve your chances of survival. In the crypt, however, you weave your way through the claustrophobic corridors, not knowing what will jump out around each corner. This favours a more considered approach by picking them off with a rifle. In ‘The Woods’ level, enemies tend towards ranged attacks from clearings in the forest canopy. The level design is well thought out, too, and compliments the variety of weapons at your disposal. Sure, it’s great fun spraying the Undead with lead from your machine gun, but it’s also incredibly satisfying popping off a Zombie head from miles away with a powerful rifle. Whether it’s the weighty blast of a shotgun, or the heavy thud of a rifle, each weapon has a distinct sound, feel and visceral response.
Okay, let’s get to the good bit – the gunplay is pretty competent.
Adjusting the difficulty does make the easier bosses a bit more of a challenge, but it also makes the tougher ones as hard as nails. Let’s take the boss fights which occur at the end of each level – some took me mere seconds to defeat while others were rage-quit inducing with their one-shot-kill attacks. While the difficulty generally steps up as you progress, there are some encounters which feel a bit uneven. For the purpose of this review, I played on the default difficulty setting, which is a solid choice for getting to grips with the game’s mechanics. With each mission, there are 3 difficulty levels: 1 star is the normal/default setting, 2 stars adds a secondary quest and 3 stars ramp up the enemy A.I to lethal proportions. To begin with, you have a choice of 3 cases to undertake – a Mansion, a Crypt and the woods. Each file briefs you on a potential sighting of an undead Gate in various locations, which you must close to quell the undead horde. When a stack of papers are mysteriously pushed under your office door, you discover several case files addressed to you.
In Kingdom of the Dead, you assume the role of Agent Chamberlain – a former Army General fresh out of the U.S Civil War – who now works for a secret government bureau dedicated to defeating Death and his undead army. While it’s not an on-rails affair, at it’s core, Kingdom of the Dead is an old school shooter with modern gaming sensibilities. The game took me back to the Laser Quest lobby on my 12th birthday, as we blasted Zombies on The House of the Dead 2 arcade machine. Kingdom of the Dead is a retro-style FPS horror that’s also a blast from the past. A few weeks ago, I reviewed The Kids We Were – a voxel adventure game set in 1980s Japan that explores the idea of nostalgia. Down every aisle, swathes of fresh-faced students swag around in low-cut flares and other noughties atrocities, prompting a weary sigh as I reach for the semi-skimmed.Įxistential crisis in the dairy aisle aside, sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of our youth. Living in a University town, I’m constantly reminded of my own mortality each time I pop into Sainsbury’s for a pint of milk. When was the first time you realised you were getting old?