31 Days of Horror Games: Zombie Revenge

In celebration of Halloween, we’re counting down the days with some of the greatest horror games ever made -- 31 of our favorites! Every day, we’ll take a look back at a horror game that gave us goosebumps, made our controllers tremble, and chased us out of our living rooms. Long live the horror game! And make sure to check out our full list of 31 Great Horror Games To Play In October!

I was first introduced to the much overlooked and underrated Zombie Revenge when an arcade machine randomly showed up in my local bowling alley one day. This third-person action romp featured crazy zombie scenarios, a fast-paced combat system, and addicting cooperative gameplay. And boy, did I shovel fistfuls of quarters into that thing for the year or so that it was there. Luckily for me, Zombie Revenge found a new home on Sega’s Dreamcast system not long after, where I spent even more hours trying to stop the dastardly Zed from turning the entire human race into the walking dead.

The story and presentation of Zombie Revenge were always a bit campy, especially now in 2014, but it’s really the gameplay and over-the-top horror tropes that make this one stand out. The game’s brief history in the arcade scene is apparent the first time you choose a hero and start clearing the streets from those desolate zombies. Everything about the action is incredibly brisk, and you’ll even have to race against an ever-running clock while figuring out how to best conserve your ammo.

There are a number of tiny nuances to the core game mechanics that make Zombie Revenge so satisfying to play. Both the hand-to-hand combat and gunplay feel incredibly swift to pull off, and switching back and forth between the two different styles works as a great and strategic changeup to the overall action. Even the simple aesthetic of picking up fallen ammo cartridges hits that sweet spot in both its sounds and visual execution.

And then there are the boss fights, each one more frightening and memorable than the last. Not only are they totally twisted in design (like a giant floating monster head that projectile vomits on you), but they also offer some really unique gameplay ideas. For instance, during the first boss encounter with a giant deformed monster, players have the opportunity to rip out a lead pipe that’s impaling the monster’s torso, and then subsequently use the newfound weapon to make quick work of the lumbering foe.

You may not know this about the game, but Zombie Revenge is actually a spin-off of sorts to the popular light-gun shooter series, The House of the Dead. Set in the same undead universe, Zombie Revenge’s playable heroes are all AMS agents, and the many zombies you’ll be mowing down share a striking resemblance in design to the enemies that you face in the first The House of the Dead game.

Maybe I’ll manage to make it past the halfway point in Zombie Revengeone of these days, but for Dreamcast owners, there was hardly a finer purchase to get your post-apocalyptic zombie fun on.

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