OMG Zombies! (PC) review "What a collaboration between George A. Romero and Michael Bay might look like..."

I consider myself a man of simple pleasures. Give me a game with big, dumb explosions and I'll lap it up with glee. OMG Zombies! more or less accomplishes that feat, but barely. Its opening comic book-style cutscene introduces a basic premise that sounds like a popcorn horror fan's dream: exploding zombies. And not just any exploding zombies, but ones that cause other zombies to explode, which also cause other zombies to explode. Yes, my friends, it's a domino effect of exploding zombies all over the screen, with all the squishy effects you could hope for...

Where did these gushing ghouls come from, you ask? You see, researchers discovered a plant in New Guinea whose berries explode as a defense mechanism when approached by a consumer. The juices act parasitically, taking over the body of the creature soaked in berry blood and turning it into a zombie-like beast. That animal then may also explode when approached by a predator, thus infecting its natural adversary. For a while, it seemed most animals were immune to this parasite, until further research revealed that the infection made the jump to humans. As a result, a zombie apocalypse broke out, with people bursting like bubbles and leaving their gore all over unfortunate bystanders, who also became undead poppers...

You take the role of a nameless sniper hoping to flee an infested city. As you begin a level, you remain stationary while walkers crowd the scene. You begin with three bullets, taking choice shots at the creatures blocking your path. One bullet causes one zombie to rupture, whose eruption then prompts any unfortunate fellows next to him to also detonate, who then force their neighbors to shatter, and so on. If you're lucky, you can blast just the right zombies on the screen to cause most, if not all, of them to disappear in a cloud of blood and guts, thus allowing you to mosey onto the next challenge.



Obviously, OMG couldn't hope to pit you against the same enemies repeatedly while holding your interest, so it seeks to vary things up. Instead of all normal citizens, you bump into special adversaries who do more than merely pop when shot. For instance, cops discharge their guns when killed, hitting anyone directly in their lines of fire. Soldiers do the same, except they let loose more ammo in random directions. Some other zombies do random, bizarre (and helpful) things as well, such as melt into acidic pools, expel bolts of electricity, belt out destructive screams, or launch some of their internal organs in the air like mortars.

Of course, this means you'll need to examine a herd to see which ones would be ideal to scotch first. Sometimes, hitting a police officer might send a bullet to just the right place, thus offing additional cops or soldiers who then unleash more bullets that cause additional explosions. Ideally, that's what you're looking for: a chain reaction of ghouls bursting until you acquire a satisfactory grade, from bronze to platinum. Bear in mind that you only get the latter if you completely wipe out your opponents.

Sadly, you encounter difficulty acquiring higher grades on some stages either because there's too much open space or because zombies' effects only assist you so much. Thankfully, there's a workaround for that in the form of upgrades, which you acquire by spending cash earned when completing levels. Any time you receive a medal, the game awards you with a little money. And yes, achieving higher grades combines all the credits from previous tiers. In other words, if you acquire a gold medal on your first attempt, you'll receive the moolah gold brings, plus whatever silver and bronze would've netted you.



You might wonder what you could possibly improve besides your ammo, and the answer is simply this: zombies. Yes, you upgrade your foes here, making them more plentiful to fill in the gaps left in some challenges, or even increasing the area of effect or amount of damage they deal to each other. Hell, some of them even take on more specific traits. Cops' bullets, for instance, become able to penetrate further victims, thus allowing you to blow up even more monsters with a single felled officer.

Where there's walking dead, there's explosive barrels. It's a scientific fact. And yes, they can be upgraded as well, adding additional barrels to a stage, boosting explosive power, and improving damage rating to each drum. Sadly, though, it's the barrels that reveal just how shallow this experience can be...

Don't get me wrong; OMG remains solidly enjoyable. However, too much of your success hinges on luck. Whenever you begin a level, undead and explosive barrels spawn in random positions on a map. To make matters worse, stages with barrels rely almost entirely on their presence to earn high marks, which only worsens when you run afoul of setups that place all of your barrels next to each other instead of spread out. Such scenarios force you to restart the stage until you receive a fair spread, and even then there's no guarantee you'll earn your desired score.



Even without barrels, I've seen levels play out in radically different ways. Sometimes, it's like pulling teeth to get a chain reaction going, assuming you can start one at all. Other times, you just happen to hit the right zombie at the right time on your first or second try, who then sets off all of his compatriots until only a few remain. Hell, I had a couple of occasions where only a bullet or two caused the whole horde to burst, giving me an instant platinum rating. But then, I've also had situations where maybe 40% of my targets crumbled.

That's really my issue with OMG. The game presents itself as a sort of violent puzzle experience where you use problem solving to get through its campaign, but it undercuts its own puzzler elements by randomizing its enemy placement. As previously stated, you solve pretty much any tough situation through a combination of upgrades and resetting rather than brains. Granted, I was never under the impression OMG was brilliant or anything more than a cathartic way to make the undead go boom, but even by that low standard, the game manages to disappoint slightly. It's a shame that success boils down to chance because this would've otherwise been a simplistic treat.

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (October 20, 2023) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.