N.Y.Zombies

Chances are, if zombies really did start lumbering their way across the globe the first thing almost every single one of us would want to do is run. Quickly.

You might think, therefore, that a game that fixes your feet to the floor while the hoards slowly surround you might be the stuff of nightmares.

N.Y.Zombies is essentially a shooting gallery where much of your time is spent keeping a nervous eye fixed on the radar, using your finger to swing around, darting from one target to the next.

The idea is that you're one of the few human survivors on Earth, trapped in your flat in New York. As you venture out onto the streets, more and more humans turn to you for salvation, the plot – though admittedly light – building nicely through diary entries that sandwich the levels.

The levels build from easy early stages where zombies approach in quickly dispatched pairs to more testing encounters, where they pick up the pace and charge at you from all directions.

This shift changes how you play - in other words, your tactical approach changes as the zombies increase from simple pairs to massive hordes. The initial set-up of taking down each target one by one – a simple tap or two on each zombie enough to floor them – is replaced by a slapdash system of shooting the most dangerous enemy at any given moment.

With zombies approaching from different directions at different speeds, survival is a matter of choosing the appropriate weapon and then using it to take down your enemies in the most efficient order. Success relies on your ability to be flexible, dropping one target when another one speeds into view.

Even as things get more difficult, N.Y.Zombies keeps its chapters relatively short - so as not to lose your attention - and then offers credit in order to upgrade weapons as a suitable reward.

It's the age old model of raising the difficulty as you progress, but ensuring access to superior equipment along the way. It works, too – there's little desire to switch the game off when death does knock at your door, so simple is the game's premise and so fun when everything comes together.

This simplicity is also the game's weakness. Though the game does come with an Endless mode – a prerequisite in this genre – N.Y.Zombies pulls of most of its tricks within the first 10-15 minutes. What follows is more of the same: shooting down zombies, picking up survivors, and gunning to last as long as you can to make it through the stage.

Although N.Y.Zombies is, by definition, something of a one trick pony, it doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Genuinely engaging, well presented and with an awareness of just where it sits within the zombie empire, N.Y.Zombies is worth a quick punt, even if your initial reaction is to run like mad.