Infected PSP review

The big sell for this game, according to the hype and the back of the box is the online multiplayer. The cleverest bit of which is that winning matches makes your avatar spread to their PSP single player, then when they win yours will spread again and so on, with the option to track it.

This is clearly the part of the review to focus on. Simply go to multiplayer, play online and select your connection and "Looking for Victim" will appear. At this point it is probably a good idea to start charging your PSP, you might be there a long time.

Looking for victim...

So, the single player? We'll get the easy things out of the way first. Graphics are...poor. The city backdrops are average, the character models terrible and despite managing reasonable crowds (or at least gatherings) of zombies it fails to impress in any way. It almost looks as if it was made a year ago, before developers got the hang of creating good looking PSP games. It was actually made, well, about a year ago when it got an American release but they then seemed to forget to release it in Europe.

One bit that does deserve a special mention is the animation, possibly the worst seen, ever. You get walking, reloading and...falling over dead. That's it. The quaintest part of this is that there is a sprint button which...just speeds up the walking animation and looks bizarre and ridiculous. So, it's a bad looking game.

Looking for victim...

A game doesn't need great graphics (or even running animations) to be fun, but good controls certainly help a lot. The obvious layout for two gun shooting action would be to use each of the shoulder buttons to shoot. Nope. The obvious movement solution would be to use buttons to move, analogue to aim. Nope.

Instead, the two guns are Cross and Square with movement and turning all on the analogue stick. If you want to strafe you'll need to hold R to lock onto a target and then you can strafe around them, touching L to switch targets. It also has a vast turning circle for your character, with the 180 degree spin button being forgotten at crucial moments. Combine that with the slow walking speed and it becomes very unpleasant. Cunningly they removed the need to look around by making all aiming on a 2D plane, exactly the same system as Doom back in 1991. Clearly the control system couldn’t cope up and down so no headshots or precise aiming here.

Looking for victim...

OK, so it looks rubbish and it isn't very good to control. Solid, fun gameplay could still save it but unfortunately it doesn't quite get there. You are the only person immune to a virus turning New Yorkers into zombies you have to get out there and kill them before everyone catches it. You do this by shooting the zombies with guns and then once they are weak enough firing blood from your special gun at them, causing them to explode. If that explosion is near other zombies it will either weaken them or start a combo chain giving points and prizes.

It boils down to bashing fire a lot and with no aiming it is very repetitive. When it does all come together, picking off specific targets and creating chains can be fun but this is soon ruined by poorly thought out objectives, protecting people or trudging across levels to kill a solitary zombie you missed earlier. The weapon system is odd too. You start with a basic pistol with others available to be bought with money earned by doing well. Even after buying them though you will always start levels with the pistol, having to kill many zombies to get to the top level of guns, but you still can’t select which you want to use so all tactical options are ruled out. It doesn’t have any obvious benefits and feels entirely pointless.

Looking for victim...

Finally, after well over an hour of waiting, with the PSP almost burning hot from constantly spinning the disc for music and charging, a game starts. The same awful controls as the single player, the same odd weapon system only now with a poorly formed map and a single person to kill. And some zombies to kill for the weapon system to make sense.

Five minutes later, the score is 4-2 and the game ends. Expectations weren't that high, but it still was an anti-climax. It wasn't worth the electricity cost, let alone waiting 60 minutes for it. Boring, dull and simplistic and with no interaction from your opponent it might as well have been a bot. No lag though, thankfully. When the main selling point is multiplayer, don't release your game a year after all Americans and importers discarded it so there are no players. Not that it is a great loss.

Never ever, ever going to bother looking for a victim again...

Pre-Mission briefings and cut-scenes were almost a plus with some genuinely funny moments, but then step miles over the line. I'd honestly worry about the person who thinks it's hilarious when we hear a child being shot dead after being misidentified as a zombie when actually he was just "mentally retarded" and trying to ask a question. Pathetic.

So, what does it have going for it? It's got zombies too, and everyone likes zombies. Also, if you like Slipknot (and their ilk) there is music by them throughout and even unlockable character models of each of the band. The style of music suits the action well but still seems like cynical polish applied to a poor game. Combined with the offensive humour and a fifteen rating it suddenly seems clear it is aimed at getting cash from a very specific type of teenager who will probably buy it regardless. Everyone else, please, stay away as this game is truly terrible.