Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone XBLA Review

I have been on a decent zombie kick for a while now, though I think this might be the first proper zombie game I've covered in my blog. I guess you might be able to include Red Dead Redemption if you were talking about the Undead Nightmare DLC expansion and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space which had an episode featuring zombies. Other games I've talked about that could be tangentially related are; Amy, which had something close to zombies in the form of infected humans, and Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, which from memory didn't actually have any shambling corpses though they did include skeletons and ghosts.

The original Zombie Apocalypse was a bit bland

I think I might have played every zombie game available on XBLA with the exception of The Walking Dead. This will be remedied soon, but for now lets concentrate on Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone. Zombie Apocalypse: NDE is the sequel to the first game, Zombie Apocalypse, which I played and found quite different in a couple of reasons. Zombie Apocalypse was originally a top down, dual-stick shooter which was formatted entirely in a wave based survival mode. There wasn't much of a story, you just survived for as long as you could and the maps cycled sometimes.

Zombie Apocalypse: NDA adds a lot of new features and really fleshes out the game

Overview
Zombie Apocalypse: NDA adds a lot to the format, but sticks with it for the most part. It's still a top down, dual-stick shooter which sees you move from map to map facing off against hordes of zombies but this time it's made it a whole lot more fun. It's introduced a story, with maps that you can progress through that include goals other than just survive. There's a whole new leveling up system, with stat upgrades and character specific special moves, and it seems to me at least, that the game is trying to be more multiplayer focused. Even the games subtitle hints at this, Never Die Alone, pretty much screams at you to bring some friends.

Rational

Exploding zombies are the worst!

You can go this game alone, but you will find that it is most definitely balanced towards having more than one person playing at a time. When we did a 4 player run through, we cleared every level easily on our first try. If you are running through by yourself however, you will need to replay levels and grind for upgrades. I couldn't get any further than the third level before I found myself returning to previous levels for a stat boost. This can be frustrating, especially when you don't realise the game is balanced like this.

The priest is the healer and can heal
himself and anyone in the vicinity

How to level up offers you some real agency in Zombie Apocalypse: NDA with your choices having a direct effect on your survival the next level you play. Upgrade your speed to try and keep away from the zombies, or just go with flat out firepower and ability upgrades to mow them all down before they get to you. This gives you some real tough choices in the beginning but with enough time and grinding you can max out everything. If you do you become a force of nature and you'll be felling zombies by the hundreds.

Working your way through the ten different levels keeps the game interesting a lot longer than endlessly rotating through the same couple of maps in a wave based survival mode, which is what the first Zombie Apocalypse offered. Every level is justified by the story progression of this group of 4 survivors trying to find a way off the island they've found themselves on. Each level has a bunch of optional objectives for an extra cash boost (which you use on your level ups), this is nice as it will give you another thing to focus on if you're grinding away for levels. The same wave based survival does return though in the form of a separate survival mode if you're looking to see how long you can last, though with a fully leveled up team the answer is a loooong time.

Every character has their own specialty, which makes playing with 3 others easy, but also a blast!

Summary
Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone can be quite frustrating at first, especially if you aren't one for grinding previously played levels. However if you're playing with friends this problem doesn't exist and you'll have a blast slaughters zombies by the hundreds. Picking the character to suit your play style and then further customizing him with what level ups you unlock and purchase adds a sense of ownership over your particular team. The different special abilities are wacky and suit the tongue-in-cheek style of the story. Overall an enjoyable experience, once your get in the groove of the game.