"Listen up soldier. We've got a mission for you. I know we thought we'd seen the last of those nut job scientist types and the company did promise not to fund any more earth threatening laboratory research, but you know how it is. The shareholders look at the bottom line and they want results. Anyway, they've had another "accident" at one of those underground labs. I know, I know, how many secret labs can one company have, right?

Well, it seems this time they were following up on some interesting lines of research to do with reanimating corpses. Yeh, I know, crazy bastards. Who'd have thought anything could go wrong with that – ha! Anyway, let me cut to the chase for you here, long story short, it seems the dead weren't too happy to be woken up. Ungrateful sods. Something about the "taste of human flesh" and the "unending hunger" – whatever. Hmm? Yeh, that was my first thought too, either that or call in a U.N. task force or maybe nuke the place from orbit, what the hell right? Apparently the suits think if this gets out it won't sit too well with the government, especially considering the last couple of times the company nearly wiped out the earth. So, what they were thinking is maybe you could take a look? I mean how bad can it be, maybe a couple of test subjects got out of their coffins and started shambling around, right? Probably put the shivers up those lily livered boffins and got them running around like headless chickens. Shouldn't take more than a bullet between the eyes to sort this mess out. What? No, we've lost all contact with the base, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Er, I think there's about 500 staff in there. Yeh, pretty big operation, but I doubt there are more than two or three infected. The report does mention some scientific mumbo jumbo about enhanced bio-weapons research subjects, but that went right over my head. You know what these eggheads are like when they start waffling on.

Listen, I know you've helped us out in the past here and gone above and beyond the call, etc. This time I'll make sure that bonus gets sorted out and we add some extra holidays on for you, ok? Just a couple of points worth mentioning. The bad news is we've had to make a few cut backs, so how do you feel about going in there on your own, in the clothes you've got on and just armed with a couple of pistols? Hay, suck it up soldier, and don't forget who you're talking to! It isn't all bad, the good news is we've got some fancy new pistols for you. Those boffins finally proved they're good for something; they've invented a new type of pistol that never runs out of ammo – how cool is that!

Oh, the suits have asked if you can take a more softly softly approach this time, but we two old soldiers know how it is though, eh? If things take a turn for the worse, the base is full of black ops weaponry. So if you end up redecorating the place in blood and guts, well I won't lose any sleep over it. A few less scientists to get us into trouble in the future, eh? Ok, pick up your guns at the armoury and good luck with the mission."

Alien Shooter is … sorry, sorry … Zombie Shooter is another superbly entertaining blastemup from Sigma Team. A few years ago they discovered a simple recipe for a great game – hordes of mindless enemies and gallons of blood. Viewed from above, you move the main character around with the ubiquitous WASD while aiming with the mouse. Sigma's games don't need a great deal of strategy or thought they just hook into part of the brain that relishes in absurd levels of destruction. You wander around a maze, enemies fill the entire screen (literally), and you lay waste to them with ridiculously powerful weaponry, which repaints the floors and walls in blood and guts. I'm not kidding here, sometimes it gets confusing because there is no actual level art left, the floors and walls are completely covered in red blood and guts. There are weapons to upgrade and stats to improve, but you cannot really define a play style, there's no stealthy option or sniper, etc. All your stats need upping, all your weapons need upgrading - this isn't an RPG.

Sigma lost the magic a little with Alien Shooter 2 and Theseus, but Zombie Shooter sees them back on form. Sadly it still has the minor collision problems, which mean you don't always hit what you shoot at, enemies get stuck and you occasionally get caught on the scenery. The top down tilted view means you still disappear if you walk too near a wall. The AI is just as dumb as ever, you keep blasting and they keep coming. It doesn't spoil the core enjoyment, but I would have thought they'd have improved things by now. The level layout is better, I didn't get lost. The selection and behaviour of the enemies is more interesting too. The only major problem I had was it was all over too quickly. Perhaps I'm just an Alien Shooter expert now though? Medium difficulty took me about 2 hours to complete and Hard about 90 minutes. I'd recommend you just start on hard to get the maximum challenge. There's also two survival mini-games, which are welcome, but don't engage for very long.


Graphics:
The big draw of these games are the huge number of enemies and insane levels of gore (which can be turned green if you're squeamish).

Sound:
Good selection of satisfying weapon sound effects and appropriately squelchy impact noises. The music is good, but there should be a few more tracks.

Game play:
You either love it or hate it (I love it obviously). It isn't about accuracy or conserving ammo. You hose down hordes of enemies with fiery death in a seemingly unending orgy of destruction.

Value:
Over far too quickly. I want more boss fights, more puzzles and more interesting enemy types. The survival mini games are a good idea, but more could have been done.

Concept:
Doesn't get any simpler than this. It's like Gauntlet on steroids. Shoot, kill, survive, repeat. It isn't original, but it's executed well.

Fun:
Ah, mindless destruction, how satisfying.

Overall:
Do you like to disengage your brain sometimes and just let loose with over the top weapons? Slaughtering untold hordes before bedtime? You're insane! Quick, call the police! Oh, sorry, you meant in a game, oh, ok. Just buy it then, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Aim, fire, smirk and repeat.