Zombie Flick

Picture it: it's the deep US south in the 1970s. Late one evening, whilst passing through the deserted streets en route home, you reach an abandoned police cordon, inside which lies a pile of assorted household objects.

The reason for this abandonment soon becomes clear: an incurable virus has spread through the neighbourhood, and in a matter of seconds wave after slightly monotonous wave of mindless zombies lurch towards you from all four directions.

Those familiar with the first-person setup of Flick Kick Football and its ilk will feel immediately at home with Zombie Flick, even if the footballs are replaced with more dangerous weapons, like laptops and guitars.

You have two types of flicking motion at your disposal with which to decapitate the hordes of targets: vertical, and angled. Whilst the vertical swipe is easier to employ, the angled flick produces a curved shot capable of wiping out a single row of corpses in one fell swoop.

There's something undeniably satisfying about seeing a line of zombies taken out with one shot, yet as the onslaught quickens you may find yourself resorting to a less measured approach.

Flicking like a madman, in other words.

Sloooooooooooooooooo-moooooooooooo

Combination kills and multi-hits help you accrue not only some monstrous scores (for OpenFeint supported leaderboards and achievements), but also the necessary frames to fill up the slo-mo reel in the bottom-right corner.

Once this slow motion meter is activated, the intensity subsides - albeit temporarily - affording you the chance to rotate your position, pull off a tricky headshot, and check any damaged defences.

In much the same vein as Zombie Wonderland, you are equipped with a tool kit for running repairs to your defences. Should any of your four barriers be breached, it's Game Over, yet by focusing on DIY the flesh-eaters will naturally gain ground. Tricky, huh?

In Zombie Flick, the walking dead take the form of sprightly grannies, disco maniacs, and marauding linebackers, all attacking at varying speeds, states of aggression, and levels of camp.

Prioritising which zombie to dismember is of chief importance, since the sprinters rather than the amblers will reach your position first.

After racking up a million points in The Last Stand, the first of a somewhat paltry two game modes available, Survival is unlocked, playable at four degrees of difficulty.

Progression through Easy and Medium stages is fairly straightforward, preparing you nicely for the insanity of X-rated.

And staying alive in that final two-minute Survival challenge requires both an ice-cool head and incredibly nimble fingers, not least when trying to avoid the unintentional switching of views through the now-manic flicking and tapping.

Despite the nods to a bygone movie house era - from the retro presentation and delightfully gory 3D graphics to the B-grade picture-inspired load screens and gruesomely amusing sound effects - the unvaried nature of the gameplay and the scarcity of levels prevent Zombie Flick from attracting anything more than cult status.