If you one of the very few who owns an Xbox Kinect, you’re probably wondering what the hell is out at this current time that makes good use of it. There’s not much around in the sense of good Kinect games, or many that fully integrate mechanics for use of the camera. So, if you’re like me and you own one, you must be scratching your head, ready to bring it into your local Game shop for a trade in. But luck might have it; there is something new on the horizon. Slice Zombies is an exclusive Kinect experience that might have you holding onto the Kinect for a little longer.
So what is it? Slice Zombies is best described as a fun and energetic sensory game that has you hack at (you guessed it) zombies. It’s like Fruit Ninja, but replace the fruit with zombies and there you go. There is no narrative or a structured campaign as such that deliver a host of levels, challenges and has escalating difficulty. Slice Zombies only offers a single mode where players can engage with various zombie types, slicing them with the movements of their hands and gain a mass of XP and coins, unlocking more content for the game. The main objective is to kill all the zombies on the screen and stopping them from reaching the edge of the screen–if a zombie reaches the edge of the screen, you lose a life. That’s pretty much it.
There’s not really much to the game in form of structure, narrative, or a collection of various mission based tasks to complete. Just a single game mode that does what it says on the tin. This is both good and also a bit of a problem: On the one hand, Slice Zombies is a great exercise that allows for quick, easy, and enjoyable sensory fun. The game gives you plenty to do in a singular slot without the need of a narrative, slow progression, or mindless tutorials.
On the other hand, this can be a major problem too. There isn’t any progressive manner to the game where you unlock content or progress naturally. Instead we’re given a game that just mindlessly throws in a barrage of NPCs and obstacles without any kind of formal structure. Starting up for the first time will see players just thrown into the game without knowing too well what’s going on. From the get-go, the game is lively, throwing all manner of things across the screen which in some cases seems like too much too for someone who’s just started.
The game is fun and energetic, but at some times can feel like a bit of a burden, as players are unable change the level of difficulty or how the hoards of zombies behave relative to player skill . To unlock new content, players must earn XP and coins to buy new items, including Zombie skins, backgrounds, and additional lives. This feels slow for progression, rather than naturally unlocking more of the game as you play. This means you could be stuck with the same old aesthetics for a while, decreasing the amount of fun to have, as the game switches rapidly from being enjoyable to just plain annoying and difficult.
In my case, the best example would be when I played a round and the timer had reached zero; all of a sudden the game decided to shoot out a few more enemies and other objects. This was made more frustrating as I had one life left, and six zombies flying across the screen at high speed. This – along with a handful of bombs that cause you to lose a life if you hit them – made it difficult to successfully eliminate all the zombies. This was completely unfair, considering I had also reached the time limit and the game still continued without warning.
The controls are easy to learn, and for the most part, the Kinect for the most part is fairly responsive. Only did it manage to fail when I raised my foot and it mistakenly registered it as a form of attack, which made my hand movements unresponsive. Still, for the most part, it worked fairly well during my time with the game. There were some minor issues at the title screens, and having the game register your hand movements for the first time can also take a while.
Slice Zombies can be a great deal of fun, as it’s easy to learn and tough to master. It’s a fun game, but a game with a price tag that does not match it in the slightest. If it were cheaper, I would highly recommend it, but at its current asking price – I would wait.