Zombie Raid (Arcade) (1995)
Developer: Sammy

Review by Faididi and Co.


Alone in the Dark with a Rapid-Fire Shotgun and Infinite Ammo


Story: Average

You might as well call Edward Winsor by the name of his inspiration, Edward Carnby, because this game is a silly take on I-Motion's classic adventure, Alone in the Dark. Our hero, a cash-strapped private investigator, reluctantly accepts a job that sounds like superstitious nonsense to him, but little does he know that the castle estate onto which he sets foot is actually haunted by killer monsters. The story may be a tongue-in-cheek parody, but its plot twists and neat little references are just too good to pass up.


Gameplay: Below Average

Sammy's Zombie Raid is what Alone in the Dark would look like if it had been a 2-Player rail shooter instead, and with all the true horror aspects replaced by infinite shotgun ammunition and fifty thousand weapon-wielding zombies, werewolves, mummies, vampires, and other B-movie junk. (Although Edward is a solo investigator in the story, another Player can join in for some reason.) As typical for the genre, our hero needs to kill the enemies who appear before they jab him in the face, and hitting innocent people results in stamina penalties. Some targets that are destroyed will leave items, like life-restoring potions and cool special weapons, but the latter are lost as soon as Edward gets hit, which sucks.

Unfortunately, the bigger problem here is the unfriendly level design. Starting at a cemetery, Edward will shoot his way through the castle estate in 5 stages that are needlessly lengthy. Worse still, there is an extremely deadly puzzle element. To reach the final boss, Edward must obtain three special crystals by hitting specific spots hidden within the stages, and then he must arrange these jewels in the correct order. If he misses any of the crystals, he dies. If he screws up the order, he dies. This is a terrible way to increase the difficulty of an already punishing and overly long game.


Controls: Above Average

On the bright side, the pump-action lightgun is a lot of fun to use. Having to reload so frequently through the countless waves of enemies becomes tiresome, though.


Graphics: Above Average

Despite the game's horror setting, the visuals are bright and colorful. While the regular enemies have stiffly animated deaths, the bosses are drawn much better. The gore is toony but abundant, while the backgrounds are nicely textured. The opening scenes and other cinematic moments come with very stylish presentation, and the shotgun shells that represent the ammo counter are awesomely rendered.


Audio: Above Average

The audio work is about as good. Edward's shotgun blasts blow apart bad guys with messy splattering noises, and they shatter stone fixtures with piercing cracks and crunches. The voice acting is decent, where it exists. Too bad not every line of dialogue is spoken aloud. The music is also quiet on the whole, and the tunes often become lost under the booming sound effects.


Overall: Average

Zombie Raid can really use more compact level design and a less frustrating puzzle element. That's too bad, because it's an otherwise humorous, blood-soaked rail shooter that should provide a few laughs for fans of Alone in the Dark.


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