Alive-4-Ever Review

Few end-of-the-world scenarios seem as exhilarating as the zombie apocalypse. With just a few trusted companions by your side, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of ammunition, you have to survive in a world gone completely psychotic. That's not scary— it's downright romantic. Alive-4-Ever takes this love affair with zombies to the next level, with thirty increasingly complex missions and an equal number of intense side challenges.

Choosing one of four stylishly designed characters, you gain experience points and cash by simply surviving scenarios, like killing 50 zombies or rescuing two survivors. In addition, bonus objectives like bringing home a suitcase full of gold bullion or vaccine earn you extra items that grant weapon, health, or experience boosts. It's an elegant system that rewards your progress at every step, whether it's unlocking more effective guns, or spending your experience points to get a higher likelihood of a critical hit.

The enemies you'll face over these thirty missions are worthy of a bullet perfectly delivered between the eyes. Fast zombies, fat zombies and wild zombie dogs join two holdovers from the similarly titled Left-4-Dead games on Xbox 360 and PC: exploding and tongue-lashing zombies. Plus, there are three boss battles, one every ten levels.

We were adequately spooked by the gritty, grimy environments in Alive-4-Ever, especially a forest level where treetops can obscure hidden pickups or zombie attackers. While the visuals aren't as vibrant as a twin-stick shooter like Minigore, the depth in this game far surpasses that and other, similar titles.

Another fantastic feature is the Bluetooth multiplayer. Multiplayer matches, which you can also choose to play solo, offer much tougher missions, throwing more zombies at you and increasing the number of survivors, vaccines, or gold you have to retrieve. Online leaderboards or internet multiplayer would be great, but they're not included yet.

One gameplay complaint is that survivors are a total pain to rescue, because they're incapable of firing a gun. Some of them can't even walk, and you have to pick them up yourself. Look, in the zombiepocalypse, survival of the fittest is on permanent fast-forward, so if you can't walk, don't come crying to us when a zombie eats your brain. Still, a cash penalty will make you think twice about abandoning these helpless victims.

Also, it's possible to earn cash to unlock the best guns by replaying the first few easy levels over and over again. Once you unlock the best assault rifle and handgun, the last third of the game can coast by quickly. A slight correction in this department would help the game's balance.

Plus, while completing challenges to unlock bonus items is incredibly fun, the game should tell you which bonus missions you haven't yet completed. Currently, there is no indication of which challenges are left to beat, which is important to help you unlock every item.

We want to live forever in the world of Alive-4-Ever, constantly unlocking new, more destructive means of wiping out zombies, gaining experience with every successful mission. A bonus pack of missions or sequel can't come quickly enough. This game is well worth every penny they're asking.