Zombie Shooter

Release Date

December 2007.

Pros

Maybe it is just me, but I find that zombies splat better than aliens. So, even though Alien Shooter – Revisited has got better graphics in general, Zombie Shooter has got better splats.

The music is better than Alien Shooter – Revisited and sounds fitting to the game.

This is another zombie game where a horde really is a horde. Not really surprising after playing Alien Shooter – Revisited, but aliens are aliens and these are zombies!

The level designs are more varied than Alien Shooter – Revisited. There are wide open spaces as well as very tight corridors. You can also hide behind some fences or go to a higher platform to shoot zombies without them being able to reach you.

All the weapons are pretty much the same as Alien Shooter – Revisited, except for one. There is a disk launcher which is pretty fun to use.

Cons

On my PC, the game kept crashing on start up. After two weeks of email tennis with Sigma Team support, they stopped replying. Lucky for me I got a Steam key with my purchase, because the game works fine via Steam. I guess the crash is caused by the SecuROM DRM. So, if you plan on getting Zombie Shooter, better get the Steam version as the other version may not work on your PC. GOG.com also offers Zombie Shooter DRM free so it is more likely to work, unlike the SecuROM one. 19 October 2015 – I reinstalled the SecuROM version of Zombie Shooter after a long time of not playing and uninstalling the game from Steam. This time the game works. Something must have updated somewhere to fix the problem.

Quite a few times I got stuck in walls or objects and could not move. Quite frustrating because I had to restart the level.

You cannot play missions that you have passed without restarting the game from scratch. This is one advantage Alien Shooter – Revisited has over Zombie Shooter.

Same like Theseus and Alien Shooter – Revisited, it is very repetitive.

Gun stand mode is pretty boring compared to Alien Shooter – Revisited. It is missing the upgrade ability between waves.

Other Points

The sounds are better than Theseus – Return of the Hero, but not as good as Alien Shooter – Revisited.

Instead of buying upgrades for your character like Alien Shooter – Revisited, you have to collect experience points to level up your character and then select what attributes to add points to. More or less the same as buying upgrades though.

Money is still used to buy equipment and also to upgrade weapons.

There is night vision mode, but I find it actually makes it more difficult to see than normal mode without the flash light. So, quite pointless.

Same like Theseus and Alien Shooter – Revisited, each mission must be played to completion and the game is automatically saved at the end of each mission.

If you are unsure whether Zombie Shooter is your kind of game, download Theseus – Return of the Hero for free from Sigma Team and try that out first. It is very similar to Zombie Shooter.

There are two characters to choose from, which does not seem to matter much. How you upgrade your character though, does mattter. If you do not upgrade your character to suit your style of play, it can be very difficult in later missions. This is most noticeable on hard difficulty.

Biases

Reviewed version 1.2 and 1.3 of the game.

I really liked Theseus – Return of the Hero and Alien Shooter – Revisited.

On the zombie side of things, I liked Fort Zombie. Although a much slower and less action oriented game, Fort Zombie also does present the horde of zombies as a real horde.

I have completed the game on hard difficulty. I also managed to capture the final battle on video while testing Bandicam. Warning! Being the final mission, this video could be considered to be a spoiler.

DRM

Uses SecuROM or Steam. Also available DRM free from GOG.com.

I got an activation key plus a Steam code when I got Zombie Shooter from GamersGate. I am not sure if this is standard practise as I got Zombie Shooter as part of a bundle.

Steam code must be entered in the Steam client for the game to install.

For the SecuROM version, an activation key must be entered the first time the game is started. The game will then phone home to activate the game.

Patches

1.3 – There are two map files that replaces the installed files. The level 7 map file actually fixes a common crash on level 7. This patch applies to both the GamersGate and Steam versions of the game. I do not know what the level 1 map file does.

Minimum Requirements (as stated in the readme)

Pentium III 800 MHz processor
Direct3D compatible 3D graphics card with 32 MB
256 MB RAM
DirectSound compatible sound card
Mouse compatible device

Computer Played On

Windows 7 64 bit.
Intel Core i5 2.3GHz
4Gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1Gb RAM
Conexant SmartAudio with egg speakers or earphones. Or Logitech G35.
Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

Zombie Shooter 2

Mow down more zombies with more weapons, more character choices and more ways to upgrade. Everything that was good about Zombie Shooter is back with more of everything that is good for decimating hordes and hordes of zombies.

Release Date

July 2009.

Pros

An improvement on the first Zombie Shooter, there are now characters that tell you what you should be doing in the game. All the conversations are one-sided, but at least the speech sound OK. This essentially meant that there is a better story, but I was too busy mowing down zombies to pay attention to what it was all about.

You get to drive vehicles in some missions. It is not as good as the likes of Zombie Driver HD, but it still does give the game more variety. There are also a couple of missions where you are in a vehicle but only aim and fire. Kind of like a moving gun stand.

There are a lot more weapons in Zombie Shooter 2 than in the first game. They are categorised into types like pistols, machine guns and shotguns etc. Each individual model has its own characteristics, though, so pick your favourites to get the job done.

With the addition of an inventory system and being able to sell stuff, Zombie Shooter 2 feels even more like an RPG than its predecessor.

The level designs are more detailed and varied. It allows for more tactical combat rather than straight run and gun. Don’t expect Rainbow Six level of tactical flexibility though.

Gun stand! This is the good gun stand almost identical to the one in Alien Shooter – Revisited. That is, you get to upgrade your gun emplacement in between waves of zombies.

The dark parts of the game are almost completely black, so investment in a good flashlight or night vision goggles are a must.

Cons

Text does not display properly. Not sure if this is a Windows 10 issue. Running the Windows 10 compatibility troubleshooter did not fix it. Setting the Windows text display scaling to 100% also did not fix it.

There are more music tracks in Zombie Shooter 2, but other than the introduction/menu music, which is identical to Zombie Shooter, the rest of the music did not sound as good as the first game.

Same like the other shooters, a mission can take quite a long time and you cannot save in the middle of a mission. The longest mission took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete and the game’s recording time said that it took me 9 hours and 41 minutes to complete the whole thing on hard difficulty. Be advised that this time did not take into account repeated play of some levels.

Despite the improvements from the older games, Zombie Shooter 2 is still a “shooter”, which means it is still very repetitive.

Other Points

Around the 18th of December 2019, the Steam version of Zombie Shooter 2 received an update to support full HD resolution. The GOG.com version has not been updated and there is no patch for the GamersGate SecuROM version. So, if full HD is a requirement, Steam is the way to go.

Even though there are a lot of weapons, there are only three slots to arm them. The slots are for small, medium and large weapons. As such, you can only change quickly between one and three as opposed to one and nine in the first Zombie Shooter. Each slot does cycle through all your available weapons for that slot though, so you can still use all the weapons you are carrying. It just takes a little bit more time to swap.

For those that like to tweak their atmosphere, there are options to play the game in black and white and have the grainy film effect. Personally, I find both settings annoying, but they are there for those who want them. I have taken screenshots of all the different combination of modes for this review.

Just like the first Zombie Shooter, you get experience and when you level up, you can choose which attributes to boost. There are also more attributes to choose from.

Zombie Shooter 2 does have survival mode, but I did not play it much.

I probably will not be playing the first Zombie Shooter anymore. Zombie Shooter 2 is better than the first game in every way.

Biases

Most of this review is based on the GamersGate SecuROM version of the game. More recently, I have been playing the Steam and GOG.com versions of the game.

I have completed the main campaign once on hard difficulty. I also played a lot of gun stand.

I really liked Zombie Shooter, Alien Shooter – Revisited and Theseus – Return of the Hero.

I also really liked Zombie Driver HD.

DRM

For my GamersGate version, the first time starting the game after installation, the message popped up

“This software must be activated prior usage. For activation a valid SERIAL is essential. Please enter your SERIAL in the supplied text area and press ACTIVATE to unlock. Press CANCEL to abort. “

After inserting the serial and clicking activate, the game phoned home to activate.

Zombie Shooter 2 is available DRM-free from GOG.com.

Minimum Requirements (as stated in the Readme.txt)

Operating System: Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP
Processor: 1.7 GHz CPU
Memory: 256 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 2.5 GB available
Video: nVidia GeForce2 / ATI Radeon 8500 or better video card with 32MB video memory
Sound: DirectX 9.0c or better compatible sound card
Input: Windows Compatible Keyboard and Mouse

Alien Shooter – Revisited

A remake of Alien Shooter using the Alien Shooter 2 engine.

Release Date

April 2009.

Pros

Just like Theseus – Return of the Hero, Alien Shooter – Revisited is simple alien blasting fun with hordes of aliens.

The graphics have improved since Theseus. The most noticeable improvement was lighting effects.

The sounds have also improved. The guns now have more boom.

On top of the normal survival mode, there is also gun stand mode. In this mode, you control a fixed gun emplacement and you just turn the turret and blast aliens coming from all around you. At the end of each wave, you get to choose one upgrade and the next wave starts. Just like the rest of Alien Shooter, it is simple, but gives an extra bit of variety.

There are nine weapons to get, which is three more than Theseus’s six.

Cons

Same like Theseus, it is very repetitive. Yes there are different guns and different aliens, but the core gameplay is still mow down all the aliens in the level.

I first installed Alien Shooter – Revisited around 29 January 2013 and after playing for a while I uninstalled the game. Then I installed Zombie Shooter, but could not play it because it kept crashing on start up. I was after some shooting action so decided to reinstall Alien Shooter – Revisited on 16 August 2013. Alas, Alien Shooter – Revisited was also crashing like Zombie Shooter! I have contacted Sigma Team, but after two weeks of support tennis they stopped replying. Lucky for me, I got Steam keys with these shooter games and when I tried them on Steam, they ran fine. I guess the crashes are caused by the SecuROM DRM. So, if you want to play these shooter games, make sure you have or are willing to get the Steam version, or it might not work on your PC.

Other Points

Same like Theseus, each mission must be played to completion and the game is automatically saved at the end of each mission.

Same like Theseus, you can buy upgrades for your character as well as weapons and ammo.

Different from Theseus, there are different characters to choose from. They have different statistics, but the differences do not impact the game much. Of greater impact is what upgrades you buy for the character.

Different from Theseus, you can select an earlier mission to play through once you have completed it.

Guns can only carry a certain amount of ammo and you must take time to reload. Some guns reload faster than others, but it is still valuable time when hordes of aliens are running towards you.

Survival mode has unlimited ammo in Alien Shooter – Revisited. You still have to reload, but the ammo supply is unlimited. In Theseus there was no reloading, but the ammo was limited.

If you are unsure if this is your kind of game, download Theseus and try that out first, since it is free. If after playing through Theseus and you want more alien shooting goodness, then get Alien Shooter – Revisited.

Biases

Reviewed version 1.0 of the game.

I have not completed the campaign.

I reinstalled and replayed Theseus, just to see the differences between it and Alien Shooter – Revisited. I really liked Theseus.

Another shooter I really liked is RIP 3 The Last Hero. Although that is a top down shooter and the action is limited to one screen size. RIP 3 does have different characters which have different upgrade paths though.

DRM

Uses SecuROM.

The first time you start the game, a serial code must be entered.

The activation server is contacted via the Internet to activate the game for play.

There is also a Steam version.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on GamersGate)

Operating system: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista
Processor: 1.7 GHz
Memory: 512 Mb
Hard disk space: 250 Mb Free Space
Video: nVidia GeForce2 / ATI Radeon 8500 or better video card with 128 MB video memory
Sound: DirectSound compatible sound card
DirectX®: 8.1

Computer Played On

Windows 7 64 bit.
Intel Core i5 2.3GHz
4Gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1Gb RAM
Conexant SmartAudio with egg speakers or earphones. Or Logitech G35.
Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

Theseus – Return of the Hero

Shoot aliens in this free game built with the Alien Shooter engine.

Release Date

December 2005.

Pros

Lots and lots of aliens and sometimes they come in hordes.

It is free! Get it from Sigma Team.

The graphics are very nice in 3D isometric view. Every thing is quite detailed from shell casings coming off the guns to bits of aliens flying everywhere. This also means there is blood, lots and lots of blood every where.

There are fixed turrets which does massive damage. Very useful to stem the tidal wave of aliens.

Cons

The game is very short with the campaign mode having only 10 missions. But I guess that is expected for what looks like an extended demo for Alien Shooter.

There are only six weapons and a handful of upgrades.

Although the game looks nice, sometimes it looks like you can fit through an area, but when you try you get stuck. Kind of like a mini invisible wall problem. Not good when you are trying to escape a large horde of aliens.

The game is very repetitive. All you do is shoot aliens. Of course if you like this kind of gameplay, then this repetitiveness could be considered a pro.

Other Points

Theseus is very similar to RIP 3 The Last Hero in that as you progress you can upgrade your character. Unlike RIP 3 though, you can get money and buy upgrades. There is no experience and levels in Theseus.

There is the choice of green blood or red blood.

There are two game modes: Campaign and survival.

The campaign mode autosaves as you complete each mission. You cannot save while in the middle of a mission.

Biases

Reviewed version 1.0.

I really liked RIP 3 The Last Hero.

I also liked Larva Mortus.

From simple shooters of the vertical scrolling variety, I really liked Tyrian 2000, Xenon 2: Megablast and Raptor: Call of the Shadows.

I have completed the campaign.

I have not played any games from the Alien Shooter or Zombie Shooter series.

DRM

Theseus – Return of the Hero is DRM free.

Minimum Requirements (From official game site)

Pentium II 400 MHz processor
Direct3D compatible 3D graphics card with 16 MB
64 MB RAM
DirectSound compatible sound card
Mouse compatible device

Computer Played On

Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz
2Gb RAM
ATI Radeon X1600 256Mb RAM (laptop version)
Logitech G35 headset and/or Realtek HD Audio(no idea what model) with Altec Lansing ACS41 speakers or Logitech ClearChat Premium PC Headset.
Win XP Pro
Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.