The masochistic animated zombie shooter is back with an even bloodier and violent affair. Considerable time has past since the release of the first game that saw casual flash gaming fans glued to their pc's with a sense of great satisfaction as they tore through one zombie after another.
The question was how could diseased productions top the original? Well there were a few snagging points in the original game that seem to have been nailed down but with so many other zombie shooting games being released in the mean time, including SAS Zombie Assault by Ninjakiwi and the Boxhead Zombie Wars by Sean Cooper has Endless Zombie Rampage 2 come out up trumps a little too late?
The answer is yes and no, it's all been done before and so the second game delivers no surprises or twists compared to the former 2 games. But an original game is not always the right answer when it comes to free flash game popularity. We have seen many imitations of other very popular games outperforming more complex unique games in the flash community and I believe this is the saving grace for Endless Zombie Rampage 2. When it comes to free online shooters many players don't particularly care about originality as opposed to a game they can pick up and get involved in, in less than a minute, that is both engaging and explosive, Endless Zombie Rampage 2 delivers on both fronts.
Graphics Get A Boost - Not That They Needed One
The original games graphics were already impressive at the time of release and being able to build on that particular point seemed quite a challenging goal. However I have to say having loaded up and started playing the game as I write this article, the graphics of number 2 have been improved even more so. Apart from the graphics the second improvement to hit me was the far greater landscape span. There is much more room to move about the map in Endless Zombie Rampage 2 which gives the impression of a far more expansive game. The landscape is a giant parking lot with a huge make shift barricade of junk and cars planted right in the middle of it, which serves as protection from the fresh insurgence of undead creatures.
Back peddling for a second I actually skipped exploring the menu screen as it looked the same as the first game, which is actually good games design as it allows fans to get straight into playing the game without having to click too many other options before they can get on with having fun. I personally hate too many options in any game, particularly flash games; I enjoy playing the games that allow you to get straight into the action.
Game Mode Settings Get A Slight Enhancement
The 3 modes of play remain the same in concept but have a few new features:
- Endless Rampage Mode - This mode features a variety of challenges to be accomplished. A slight extension of the Endless Zombie Rampage's Defense Mode you can now search for weapons and survivors in addition to holding your ground and defending your base. These new features are very similar to the common features in the Last Stand Games produced by Armor Games and Con Artists.
- Survival Mode - Level by level basis involving progressively stronger attacks from the undead, you start straight away with no other distractions. Unlike the first game where you were given the points to by any gun you want from the start, in survival mode you must kill for the experience points and therefore have to gradually build up your weapon supply.
Also survival mode is now separated on a day by day and time basis giving the feeling of a more involved and immersive mode than the previous game mode which where the idea was to last as long as you can with the best weapon at your finger tips with no time constraints. - Experimental Mode - Allows you to purchase any gun and upgrade to experiment with on standard zombies.
Similar options to the first game except this time you cant adjust the spawn rate and spawn amount of the zombies. One other point to note is that in the first game experimental mode lacked the ability to introduce any undead creature except the zombie into the game. Unfortunately this remains the same in Endless Zombie Rampage 2 which is slightly disappointing as the I believed the idea of experimental mode would have been to have as much fun as possible laying siege to all sorts of undead monsters, with the slow lurking zombies being the only thing to experiment on, using the likes of the flame thrower or rocket launcher seems like a complete overkill.
The Weapon Selection Is Impressive
One of the main bragging points of Endless Zombie Rampage was its fantastic selection of unique guns and special ability upgrades. There was something extremely satisfying in being able to purchase high fire powered weapons that you hadn't seen in any other flash game before. I would compare the level of weapon design to that of The Thing Thing Games, unsurprisingly also made by Diseased Productions.
Most flash games simply opt for the lazy bog standard pistol, shotgun, uzi, rocket launcher, big plasma gun - almost like a Doom style set up. Endless Zombie Rampage went far beyond this set up producing some guns that gave the player great delight in blowing the heads off zombies and even more despicable creatures. So could the second game come up trumps with some new exciting weapons?
Well Diseased Productions decided to reduce the weapon variety in Endless Zombie Rampage 2. If you consult the table below you can compare the options available in both games. Rather than having 2 or 3 of each sub gun as in the first game they have opted to simply provide 1 of each in the 2nd, whilst introducing 6 new weapons, all I have to say are very well designed and very entertaining to use. These are:
- Sniper Rifle: The sniper rifle offers the best range and accuracy out of all the bullet firing guns and can tear through most creatures with just one shot. It has a reasonable ammo capacity of 10 and a quick reload time.
- Grenade Launcher: The grenade launcher has an ammo capacity of 6; again a quick reload time and can take a substantial number of enemies out all at once. Apart from the initial blast, fragments also fire off in many directions as an after affect that can take out further enemies. Quite a hefty price to pay at 2500 but worth the points if you are looking to upgrade from the Sniper Rifle.
- Gaus Rifle: A plasma burst gun which cuts through enemies in its firing line like a hot knife through butter. Plenty of rounds to use before reloading and a huge firing range that project's off the screen.
- Rocket Launcher: Only 3 rounds to use before reloading the rocket launcher is designed to take out larger enemies that prove too formidable for smaller guns. The rocket takes sometime to reach the target in comparison to all other guns so again using it on larger enemies will prove more successful than on smaller enemies. It delivers a huge amount of damage on impact and is one of the best weapons to use to take out the bosses.
- Flame Thrower: An extremely powerful weapon that toasts your enemies disposing of their presence within a matter of milliseconds. One of the top guns in the Endless Zombie Rampage 2. The ammo supply is a nice 160 fuel cell that does last a substantial length of time. The reload time for this gun is very fast so you won't be worrying about avoiding the undead for too long before the next cell is ready to incinerate some more wretched undead.
- Turret Gun: A turret gun is not something you actually have control over, although it would have been fun to be able to climb on board and impersonate John Rambo. Once purchased you have to deploy it somewhere, in fact anywhere on the map you like. It is a manual deployment meaning there is no actual map in Endless Zombie Rampage 2; instead you have to walk to where you wish for the Turret to be deployed. The gun turret has an infinite amount of ammo and is very powerful, its drawback is it has a limited range and therefore is expensive to purchase when playing Survival or Endless Zombie Rampage mode.
- Read more about the Endless Zombie Rampage 2 Guns
Tasty Monster Variety
Endless Zombie Rampage 2 provides enough bite when it comes to monster variety. I was a little disappointed with the variety of low end monsters and thought there could have been a few more new additions thrown into the mix, but this disappointment is made up for by a collection of bosses that are unique and which dominate the screen! (Excluding the spider boss - warning he's not that big so be careful not to step on the small guy).
For a boss to really feel like a boss in a game it has to be big and it has to be bad, otherwise it just feels like another crappy substandard enemy. Well if the first boss is anything to go by you would have been dismissing the rest of the game straight away, the spider boss is like an irritating house spider you find meandering round your house in the summer season. It is as small as a mouse (well I exaggerate a little) and feels more like a little bug that needs to be squished with your foot.
But before all hope is lost along comes the big squiggly ugly looking brain which more than makes up for the tiny timid spider. Two more bosses of epic proportions follow and are included below in the monster list.
- Bog standard lazy zombie: Very sluggish and easy to kill, you would have to nod off at the keyboard to be attacked by one of these.
- Linford Christies: Zombies who are exceptionally gifted 100m sprinters and come running towards you like a starving wolf looking for some fresh meat.
- Spitters: Heavily built zombies that spit out something that resembles a giant slivery parasite, get many of them around you and its hard to avoid their spits, especially since they hurl the parasites at a rapid pace.
- Hulks: Muscle zombies that pack a hard punch, they are pure melee but don't let them get to close, they deliver a hard blow that causes considerable damage.
- Spiders: Reminiscent of the spider fiends from the Alien movies, these little creepy specimens bolt around the screen and attack you at random. Try not to be encircled by too many of them.
- Spider Boss: A very easy boss to dispose of, it moves quite sluggishly and by the time it comes around you will already be beefed up to your eye balls in immense weaponry that you will simply chuckle at the site of its meager threat.
- Spider Boss Becomes Normal Enemies: The Spider Boss is thrown in as one of the standard enemies that needs to be killed over and over again in the later rounds of the game after the last 2 bosses have been killed.
- Brain Boss: A big fat squiggly brain with tentacles how the hell are you going to kill that thing?
- Giant Crab Boss: A giant crab boss that spits out all sorts of peculiar looking objects, he's gigantic and tricky customer so be alert to his attacks.
- Disgusting Worm Boss: A slivery huge worm, reminds me of the worms from tremors! This boss tries to gobble you up by chasing directly down your line of site so back pedal like hell and keep blasting the fat maggot with the auto shotgun complete with the special upgrade, he will go down like a sack of potatoes!
A Word About the Perks - Weapon Upgrades etc
Weapon upgrades didn't exist in Endless Zombie Rampage, so Endless Zombie Rampage 2 reels out a great range of upgrades for all weapons. Each weapon has 3 standard upgrades which are as follows:
- Double Damage
- Double Ammo Capacity
- ½ the Reloading Time
Also there are further special upgrades to many of the weapons excluding the flame thrower and laser cannon.
So What's The Best Weapon To Use?
Debatable but I would go for flame thrower with all upgrades purchased. There's something hugely satisfying about its wide spread coverage and destruction.
I know others will argue that the auto shotgun with full upgrades is the best gun and I agree it is an impressive gun, the laser cannon also comes close, but I always go back to the flame thrower.
Game Verdict
Endless Zombie Rampage 2 steps up to the challenge left by its predecessor and Disease Productions delivers yet another highly impressive flash shooter that can be loaded and played within a matter of minutes.
The weapons and bosses will delight and apart from a few minor disappointments such as the lack of standard monsters and the ease of a few of the bosses, for a free flash game its still mightily impressive.
The no nonsense Zombie shooting genre grows stronger with the presence of Endless Zombie Rampage 2.
- Playability: 9/10
- Graphics: 8.5/10
- Originality: 8/10
- Game Detail: 9/10
- Addictiveness: 8.5/10