Zombie games are everywhere. It seems like at least every six months there is a zombie game released for the consoles and/or the PC. Actually, it is probably double that. When you start to look at the iPhone or even Android, things just get nuts. What can I say, we love to kill zombies. Hell, half of us want a real zombie apocalypse to erupt. Not saying I do... Anyways, most zombie games are shooters. Even more so, first person shooters. However, every once in awhile a zombie game appears that breaks away from that formula. This time, that is Zombie Highway. In Zombie Highway, all you do is drive down a highway and try to not get flipped by zombies or crash. This is an extremely simple concept. At first, I didn’t want to play the game as I thought it would be boring. On the contrary, the game was a bit of fresh air. The purpose of the game is to drive as far as you can without having your vehicle flipped or crashing in objects along the road. As you drive, zombies jump onto your vehicle. Your vehicle can be jumped on by four zombies at a time. The more zombies there are the easier it is for your vehicle to be flipped. Some zombies tug so that your vehicle moves/tilts in the direction they are pulling. Some zombies are just fat bastards that add weight to one side of the vehicle. While you are dealing with these zombies, you have to avoid abandoned cars and buses on the highway. Later on, we will go more into how you deal with these zombies. First things first, the graphics... I really hate mobile games that think they need to have 3D graphics. Why? They suck!!! Zombie Highway goes that route unfortunately. It is not terrible but I really do hate 3D graphics on the current smartphones. You can’t drive along a highway without a vehicle. Half of the strategy with this game is what vehicle you drive. The more you drive the more vehicles you unlock. Some are fast. Some are harder to flip. In the end, you need to pick a style that suits you. There are not a whole lot of options when it comes to vehicles but there are enough to get you to where you want to be. Now, zombies are bad. So naturally you will want to kill said zombies. In fact, you have to or your vehicle will be flipped after awhile. I don’t care how good you are, zombies are a pain in the ass. The first tactic, which is also the best for the most part, is to run the zombies into the obstacles scattered about. This means try to avoid these obstacles with your car. The faster you are going the more damage a hit to the zombies does. The second option is to use weapons to kill the zombies when they are on your car. You have to aim them in the direction the zombie is though but it is easy enough to figure out. Your strategy should be to use a combo of both of these techniques. After all, the ammo runs out on the better weapons. I mentioned weapons, there are many weapons in the game. They vary from pistals to fully automatic machine guns to biological weapons that continue to do damage over time after a hit. Most of these weapons are unlocked after completing certain goals. That is pretty much it to the game. It offers a new perspective to the Zombie epidemic in games. While the game is pretty basic, I can easily suggest that you Play This Game!

Very rarely do I get extremely excited about a game that comes out. Sure, some peak my interest. And than, there are some I just don’t care about. So, it gives me great pleasure to say that Deus Ex: Human Revolution fulfilled the criteria of me being stoked for a game. Honestly, how can one not be excited for a game that boasts multiple endings, upgradeable human augmentations, and what appeared to be impressive graphics. But, does Deus Ex live up to my hype?

First, I have never ever played a Deus Ex game. As such, I had no idea what I was getting into apart from what I had read and seen before the game’s launch. I actually didn’t even know about the game until about 2 months before that game’s release. However, when it came time to purchase I was still a little bit hesitant but I went for it.

The first thing I noticed was the graphics. It is hard not to when you are confronted with a cutscene before some gameplayage. The cutscene graphics were right on par in my opinion. For me, the hair messed with me not have any complaints. I bought the game for the PS3 so I am not sure if this is noticeable on the other platforms, but the cutscene hair seemed blurred out and just not all that impressive. Which is a shame since in conflicts with the other elements of the scenes as they are beautiful. I don’t know why it is such a problem for me but it is. Deal with it.

The gameplay graphics is naturally not as impressive as the cinematics but they are still good and I really couldn’t find anything to complain about in this department. I have heard complaints about the hue but I personally felt that it fit well with the game and kind of merged the experience a bit more with the other graphical elements of the game.

The actual gameplay felt a lot like Metal Gear Solid 4 for me. I don’t play a lot of stealthy games and this game had me a bit surprised at how strongly focused it was on stealth. However, like MGS4, it did not affect my attitude towards the game at all. I loved MGS4 and I love Deus Ex with the stealth elements. Actually, I felt that Deus Ex felt more polished and had a better flow than MGS4 with not only the stealth but overall playability.

Throughout the game you hide, shoot, hack, read, talk, and upgrade. Stealth is mainly centered around hiding behind objects and around corners while also finding hidden pathways that keep you out of the action. I found it very easy to move between objects that I was hiding behind and following walls when hugging up against them. And when it was time to actually do some fighting, it was an easy transition. There are also weapons that allow you to remain stealthy as well as brutal melee moves. The two weapons that come to mind are the tranq gun and the stun gun. The tranq is more long range, think sniper rifle. The stun is like the ones you see police officers. However, there are upgrades for other weapons, specifically the silencer, that let you use those stealthily but almost always they alert the guard and therefore all the other guards so they end up not being stealthy. The brutal melees that put the enemy to sleep are pretty crazy but all that is need is to press a button and does not offer a lot of variation on the users part.

The other way to get through the game is to use violence. This includes shooting and brutal melee kills. Of course, you have some ordnance as well. The weapons for the death of others are available in many more fashions than the silent sleeping approach. My favorites are the sniper rifle, the combat rifle, and the laser rifle. But, there are more. No, I am not going to tell you.

One of the most important skills in the game is hacking. You will be able to tell this from the number of upgrades for augmentations that you are presented with. You will be hacking constantly. This isn’t a bad thing though. I enjoyed the hacking of computers, doors, alarm systems, and whatever else I could find to hack. Not only do you get bonus experience for doing so, but you can also get a lot of helpful items or information from doing so. Even the hacking process itself, before you get access to anything, can offer you rewards if you are smart and fast enough.

While not a crucial skill set, reading is a huge part of the game. You can read ebooks, about 2-3 pages usually, and you can read emails. For most, all the reading will end up being ignored as it is quite intense. I don’t mind reading and the reading that I did do just made me more aware of the setting and the story. Any passwords/passcodes that are found do not have to be read or memorized. When the time comes, the passwords are displayed.

There is a lot of interaction with NPCs. You will strike up a lot of dialogue. But, this is needed as these dialogues can effect the storyline and events of a quest. However, I hated having to talk to NPCs that I had to buy or sell stuff from. I mean, there was one or two parts where the conversation was story based but otherwise it was the standard “Well hello, do you want to buy something.” I don’t know, not that big of a deal but it just felt like it was valuable time I was wasting. However, for other NPCs you can go multiple ways with the conversation. They can lead to negative consequences or positive. You can tell which way to go if you play close enough attention. Some have said it compets with L.A. Noire but I can make no such claim.

Finally, there is the upgrades. And I mean a lot of upgrades. You can upgrade your weapons from items that you find or buy. They can increase power, reload speed, ammo capacity, etc. I found them to be cool ways to turn your favorite weapon into something that will be just as effective against harder baddies. But, the most important upgrades are for your augmentations. There are so many augmentations that it would be dumb of them to list them all in a review. However, to give you a small idea of what to expect there are augmentations that can increase your strength, decrease damage dealt to you, see through objects, and improve hacking. The rest I will let you find out about when you actually play.

The story was pretty impressive as well. For me, a story won’t break a game but it will really make the game. I love a good story. And this being classified as a FPS, I was pleasantly surprised. There are some hooks. The story is affected by your actions. Frankly, I wanted to know more. Actually, I wish more was added to the story but I hope that future DLC will provide even more story.

There are many things I didn’t cover. I could go on and on about the stuff in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. However, I suggest you PLAY THIS GAME and find out for yourself. Because frankly, this game is pure badass with only stupid quibbles that are few and far between to detract from the awesomeness.

Games, the essence of life. Well, maybe not but some of us would like to think so. They provide us interactive entertainment. They provide us laughs, tears, blood, guts, cuss words, and personality. More importantly, MyIceNine lives for it.