One of my favorite games is Hotline Miami. Gunning, punching, and stabbing enemies that are high-octane, adrenaline-pumping pure chaos combined with a very smooth and satisfying gameplay, in my opinion, is near perfection. So when I saw the similarities between Splatter – Zombiecalypse Now and Hotline Miami, I thought I’d have to give it a try, and sadly the only real similarities to Hotline Miami were the top Down is his view and high level blood.
Splatter is a top-down shooter in which players must control a “hero” to smash through endless hordes of zombies in the Zombiecalypse (yes, it was originally called the Zombiepocalypse). As for the game’s plot, this is essentially it. There is a story, but it is incredibly thin. So much so that it can be summed up as “shoot everything and move forward.”
I’m not saying that splatters aren’t fun. There are times when you are literally surrounded and have to bob, weave, or gun your way through. With endless pistol ammo, you’ll be very trigger-happy wherever you are. Destroying items gives occasional rewards. You can use this to upgrade your weapons at specific stations, making them more powerful as you progress. Each level is broken up by a short story, accompanied by gritty graphics imagery in his style of his novel and a very generic “lone wolf” voice that says nothing. You are now in a different area, mashing his ZR button in all directions. Also.
The main problem with this game is the lack of strategy. Looking back at how we used Hotline Miami and the top-down camera, we were able to plan ahead and observe enemy movements and use doors and melee weapons to assist our attacks. Splatter has no real strategy other than running and shooting. Your opponents are all zombies, literally running towards you. He has only one way to escape. It’s point and shoot. There are three difficulty levels to help tailor gameplay to your skill level. This makes the same zombies a little harder to shoot down.
Shooting and navigating from room to room and level to level with different guns at your disposal is a lot of fun at first. But that’s it. After a few levels, we’ve seen pretty much everything Splatter has to offer.
“Watch the colors change and the levels sway to the beat of the music,” says Splatter’s promotional description. The music wasn’t as noticeable as this description suggests, and there was no shaking at all, so I’m baffled. .
