There's No Reason to Panic in Zombie Pandemic

By Mitch Baylosis-Benesa (Syllica)

I will bet my fat cat's balls that at least once in your life, you have wondered what you would do if there was a zombie attack in your neighbourhood. You can continue pondering on your immediate escape route or feel a rush of panic, but why waste time thinking of the scenario alone when you can simulate the experience with a thousand others in Zombie Pandemic?

Bowling Zombies Over In the City

Zombie Pandemic is a browser-based MMORPG that operates on a simple premise: the city is infested with zombies and you're a survivor. What are you going to do? The zombie plot is the new entry to the list of Future Clichéd Plots-WarRock Online has a big map where brain-hungry creatures linger, and even the new Mortal Kombat game has a zombie feature. However, this time around, instead of playing second fiddle to an existing plot, how to deal with a zombie apocalypse is your main game.

The city location will be seen in top view. The map is a bunch of cells that indicate your coordinates and other possible locations of survivors or zombies. Pressing a cell will zoom you in on a particular part of the town where you can scavenge cars, trucks and piles of junk for any useful materials for your defence-be it a bowling ball, a bottle of booze, a battle vest or a can of Barky Dog Food. Take them and you can sell them or use them as weapons or barricades.

Sylv Was Here!

Your job is to look for clues about how the pandemic started. On your page, you have available actions like Heal, Swap Weapon, Barricade or Tag Wall. The cool part about this is that you can leave messages on locations that you have been to if you happen to find anything of interest. At the bottom of your screen, you can also see the people who are in the same location, some of which may need medical help. Healing a fellow survivor will earn you XP so don't be stingy with your SP. Clicking the Enemies tab will give you information about a certain Teenage Zombie Girl or Charred Female Zombie's distances.

In case of combat with a zombie or other nasty creatures, you have to read the round updates since nothing is animated in this game. Example, your gun only works within a range of 50 and FBI Agent Zombie is still in Range 74. Your gun won't work. Based on your enemies' stats, if you think your opponent will eat you whole, you can choose to run. The key in combat strategy here is reading the round updates.

Loot will give you a clue on where to scavenge, and Info details what recently happened on your particular location. The Suburb key will give you an idea where you are. You can manage your equipment and loot on your character page, as well as the available builds for your character like Marksmanship, Smarts, Close Combat, Agility, Strength, Technical, or Constitution. You can join clans and build safe houses with them. You can even create up to 4 characters on a single account once you go premium.

Happy Hunting

As you can probably detect from the tone of the article, I am quite hyped and happy with the game. The missions are well written, and it really makes you feel like you are on a great zombie adventure. The graphics are passable-all in full color, but nothing animated. There are no sound effects, but I don't think you would appreciate noise when you're trying to skirt away from zombies in the game.

Another great thing about Zombie Pandemic is that you can feel the presence of the community because of the chat box. You can scream for help if a zombie gets you; they can heal you and they get EXP from it. This browser-based game is one of the more entertaining games I have played recently. It is engaging without sacrificing the substance; the humor is definitely abound but it will still keep you on your toes.