Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia
User Rating:
  Log in to rate this game!
ESRB:
Blood,Suggestive Themes,Tobacco Reference,Violence
Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive Genre(s): Action, Shooting Home Page: http://www.monster-madness.com/
The undead never want to just play dolliesStory is supplementary in a game like this, and it's the gameplay that really matters. Wasting no time at all, you're tossed into heavy action in the first ten seconds of play. Before I even had time to locate my character's main weapon, I was surrounded by vomiting zombies intent on tearing me to pieces. The on-screen prompts are nice, but a bit more relaxed atmosphere when learning the controls would have been appreciated. And speaking of controls, this is a Games for Windows-branded title, and you know what that means: bring your Xbox 360 controller and Windows drivers. Yes, you can play with a mouse/keyboard combination, but there's no mouse sensitivity adjustment. Even in the ideal scenario, with an Xbox 360 gamepad, there are no alternate control layouts.
Just a handful of releases into their effort, Microsoft's Games for Windows marketing should be re-branded "Obligatory 360-to-Windows Port". Monster Madness is another uninspired conversion with regards to controls. The default gamepad layout is tenable, but those with a mouse/keyboard combo will likely give up in frustration. Control schemes are integral to game design and can't be tacked on, which is certainly the case here with the PC controls. The lack of options is exacerbated by one of the worst third-person cameras to grace the PC. The default chase-cam view zooms in far too close and doesn't allow for adequately tracking enemies. Want to rotate the camera or zoom out a bit? You're out of luck. The top-down view - which is forced from time to time by the game - has camera controls, but with no auto-aim this view is broken. Combining two bad camera modes into one game is tantamount to heresy in the gaming world.
Gameplay is broken up into five chapters, each with a number of distinct zones. From the local park to the shopping mall (erm, "Shopping Maul"), the carnage traverses the town. Unsurprisingly, combat consists of taking out waves of enemies with hand-to-hand and ranged weapons. Even on medium difficulty, there are some frustrating moments where one player will be outnumbered. Since the zombies crawl from the earth in groups of five or more, there are moments of peace punctuated by moments of rapid action. In between, the task is to gather enough spare parts such as clocks, nails and other scrap items. Combined with Monster Tokens, which are collected by killing Zombies, the spare parts are used to assemble new weapons.
Larry Tools, a helpful biker-type who just happens to park his bus in every level, sells these weapon upgrades. While the weapons are creative and the weapon switching system is intuitive, there's no balance in the arsenal. The rocket launcher, for instance, is deadly, but it slows the character down and has an abysmal fire rate. Using the nailgun is an exercise in futility; any benefit from its rapid firing is offset by the minimal damage it does. Each weapon is too handicapped in some area, and I found myself sticking with the trusty shotgun and devastating flamethrower for much of the game. There are mass damage projectiles, such as bombs and Molotov cocktails, but they're often in short supply. Each character has a Special Move with his or her melee weapon, but hand-to-hand combat is still mostly useless.
Related StuffTags |
 
 
See if your PC can handle the latest games:
 
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Games: 
