Product: Reviewer:
Gloom 4 - Zombie Massacre Neil Bullock

R E Q UI R M E N T S
Memory: 4MB
Processor: 68030
Installable?: Yes
Graphics: AGA
Sound: Standard

After some confusion about who was going to review ZM, and some problems about unofficial reviews, we have finally sorted out the review and this is the official one. Infact, the author of ZM was sent a copy of an unofficial review, and it was also put on our website, without even telling me! Needless to say, the preson resposible has been killed

Anyway, After getting ZM back from the person who had 'borrowed' it and reviewed it, I didn't, as most people probably would, play the game, I went to look on the CD and see if there were any World Of Amiga Issues on it. And there were. Once I'd checked that, I played the game, and I was very impressed.

Upon playing for the first time, I found it quite hard, but that can be said about a lot of games that you aren't familiar with. I got to level two but couldn't find the exit to that level, and that's where my first complaint lies. The exits. In Gloom and Gloom deluxe you could easily see the exits because they had a big 'EXIT' sign on them. There's no such signs in Gloom 3 or ZM, and that makes it harder to find exits and means you have to spend time walking to the end of every corridor to see if it is the exit.

Whether this was intentional or not remains to be seen, but I think it was better with exit signs on the exit doors. Indeed, in Zombie Massacre, you can actually find the exit far too soon, even before you've killed anything on some levels! Perhaps there is more than one exit on these levels, but it was kind of frustrating because I didn't get to kill anything.

But it is, at the same time, a good thing because it means you can progress through the game quicker. And I've got further in Zombie Massacre than I ever did in Gloom 3, I'm already on to the second 'Stage' in ZM while I get stuck around level 6 in Gloom 3.

Once ZM had loaded, I was taken aback at the similarity between ZM and the Gothic Tombs levels on the original Gloom. I would go so far as to say the same textures were used, but once you get past the first stage, you are greeted with a very nice set of textures.

Now, you also get a kind of story which sets the scene for each stage and while on the subject of stages, you still can't save the game as you go, and you still have to wait until you get to the next stage before the game saves automatically.

While the game is, as Gaz says in the various readme files dotted around the CD, much better than Gloom 3, there is still something amiss. Perhaps it's the fact that the game's basic engine and basic features haven't changed much when compared to Gloom deluxe.

But the game aside, what about the Intro. It seems that no-one actually liked the Gloom 3 introduction, and Gaz has obviously taken the criticism into account when producing the excellent ZM intro. The whole thing takes up around 65 MB and is mostly full motion video of Gaz, and his friends, acting out certain things which helps to set the scene for the game.

There are also some quite funny outtakes from the intro where you get more FMV of Gaz and co having certain problems when filming the intro (IE, the cat running out from no-where ). But all in all, when compared to Gloom 3, it is a much better game, and it's also the last ever in the Gloom series which means no more updates!

But I am now looking forward to Gaz's new games, The Dead Walk and Tiny Car Racing. Let's hope Gaz sends us some info about them soon so we can tell you about the games (Hint, Hint, Gaz? )

Gloom 4 - Zombie Massacre
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Addiction: 8/10
Overall Score: 95%

PS. I have had a bit of criticism from people on Newsgroups about the score I game Gloom 3. I do think it's worth it, but you must remember that these reviews are merely opinions, no doubt I'll get some stick for this score aswell

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