Zombie Driver Review

At least it delivers what it promises!

2009 has been a particularly popular year for the undead.  If zombies were a stock, they’d be one of those shaky yet steadily earning graphs that indicate their progressive market saturation.  We’ve had the big titles like Left 4 Dead 2, Resident Evil 5 (and Darkside Chronicles), Plants Vs Zombies and Dead Space: Extraction, and it seems like we’re seeing endless new independent titles such as Killing Floor, Zombie Apocalypse and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!  Heck, even Guybrush Threepwood has spent some time as a walking corpse over the past twelve months.

In short, while I’m a big fan of brain-eating hordes in general, to continue the slightly overwrought stock metaphor, we’re probably getting dangerously close to flooding the market here.

So now Zombie Driver, by Polish developers EXOR Studios, is another game to add to the undead collection from 2009.  Although the title may suggest some kind of undead Gran Turismo type game, what you’ll actually find here is more of an early Grand Theft Auto game … with zombies.

The story is so simple as to be non-existant.  There is a zombie outbreak in an un-named city, caused by a chemical company … or something.  The (also un-named) player survives the initial attack by jumping inside a taxi and driving out to the city’s quarantine line, where he strikes a somewhat unlikely deal with the military to assist in the evacuation of survivors in exchange for a safe exit from the city.

If you're going to take public transport, it may as well be flame-thrower ready

You start the game in said taxi, weaponless, with a mission to rescue the town’s mayor.  You control your vehicle from an aerial camera, plowing your way through crowds of wandering zombies.  Although it’s not long before you’ll become armed, weapons in Zombie Driver are something of a precious commodity.  So for the most part you’ll be using your wheels as your primary weapon.   Individually zombies won’t slow you down much, but while in groups they’re particularly effective at slowing you down a surrounding your vehicle.

There are several varieties of zombies spread throughout the city.  Apart from your vanilla zombies, there are also muscular zombies, giant exploding zombies (which are often the biggest obstacle to driving through a swarm) and zombies who hurl objects at you from a distance.  There are even zombie dogs, which I presume Capcom should still be collecting royalties on considering they’ve apparently solidified the undead canine’s place in zombie canon forever.

Although the game boasts 17 missions (most with secondary objectives), they are all nearly identical.  Travel to a designated area, clear out the zombie presence, collect the survivors then return them to the drop-off zone.  Rinse, wash, then repeat.  Each group of survivors has their own take on the events surrounding the outbreak, which serve to advance the plot and heighten the “intrigue”.  That said, if you don’t pick the game’s eventual conclusion before it happens, then clearly you’ve never ever seen a zombie flick.  Ever.

It’s not an especially long game (I finished it in an afternoon, took around 2-3 hours), but for what’s on offer it’s definitely long enough.

This is the zombie survival vehicle 50 Cent requested

Certain missions or bonus objectives will unlock new cars to add to your garage.  You typically have to weigh your car selection on the number of survivors in a given mission, as taking a two seater sports car to collect 12 survivors is a good way to end up on the scrap heap.  Oddly enough, I found once you’d managed to upgrade your higher occupancy vehicles (the ambulance was my favorite), there wasn’t much need to return to the smaller cars, as the speed difference was negligible and the bigger vehicles could ram zombie swarms much easier.  The cars all handle pretty much the same, save only speed and bulk, so you won’t have to worry about learning a new driving style each time you switch wheels.

Visually the game is serviceable.  I ran it off my laptop without any hassles, which was nice, but there isn’t much here that will surprise you, even with the use of PhysX.  Zombies gib nicely when you run them down, there are some nice fog effects and the city is modeled quite nicely.  All survivors look identical apart from their jacket colour, and while you can clearly tell the different zombie types apart there isn’t really much to amaze in the modeling depart there either.

Even the survivors are face-palming ...

The sound was somewhat lacking too.  Apart from the screech of rubber, a few zombie moans and clatter of run-over phone booths, all you’ll have to keep you company is the soft “never-mind-me” backing music.  The game could have used some voice work, if not for the mission briefings, then certainly for the survivors you pick up.

I guess I’m making the game sound pretty bad here, which isn’t exactly true.  There is good fun to be had in Zombie Driver, especially if you’re a fan of the original GTA titles.  It’s just that the game seems like it needed another couple of months in development to make it stand out from all the other zombie games that are swarming around gamers’ isolated mountain cabins.

The Verdict:

Pros: An easy to play, GTA style zombie apocalypse.  Visuals are pleasing, even if it’s nothing amazing.  The squish of a zombie falling under your tires always made me smile.  Won’t set your back

Cons: Short, uninspired (could be nicer to call it ‘homage’) plot.  Attempts to mask the fact that it really only has one type of mission.  Could have used some additional audio elements.

Overall: I guess it’s not a terrible game, but it is highly generic.  Once you’ve played it through, you’ve really seen all the game has to offer you, and you won’t find any reasons to return any time soon.  With that in mind, it’s cheaper than a ticket to the movies, and probably longer by half an hour or so.  1.5 out of 5. Fire, then forget!