Zombie Shock

Anyone sound of mind knows that the likelihood of a zombie outbreak is nil.

It would take a real mental case to believe in something so outlandish. Yet outlandishness is what makes games like Zombie Smash and its flesh-eating reanimated corpses so entertaining.

Assuming the role of doctor-turned-escaped mental patient Abel, you must frantically dash through the zombie-infested streets of a dying city with the objective of reaching the local airport and – fingers crossed - safety.

Sprinting through 50 levels, you're assailed by a horde of hideous monsters that close in from the left-hand side of the screen.

As any horror movie buff will tell you that the surest way to dispatch these unpleasant beasts is to destroy the brain, and that is equally true here.

A head shot inflicts twice the amount of damage to a zombie as a hit to any other part of the body, so aiming your weapon precisely becomes an essential skill. Thankfully, the laser sight mounted to your gun helps to achieve that perfect right-between-the-eyes shot.

Movement is handled via virtual D-pad while discharging your firearm is a case of tapping on the screen. You can also aim your weapon using a second virtual controller, which is secreted on the right-hand side of the display.

Abel may only be wearing a hospital gown to cover his modesty, but he nevertheless has plenty of room for storage: you can hold three weapons at any one time and it’s possible to toggle between them by tapping relevant icons.

The game keeps track of how many head shots you’ve scored in succession and building up a combo boosts your total. Your performance is rewarded with cash, which you can then spend on an improved arsenal between levels.

Abel’s selection of weaponry is impressive for someone who until very recently was sitting in a padded cell mumbling to himself. Not only does he have access to pistols and machine guns, but he can also call upon more powerful items – such as a crossbow and "bazooca" (budding linguists will be pleased to learn that Zombie Shock is packed with similarly hilarious examples of Engrish).

With its light-hearted, though exceeding gory, visuals and intense gameplay, Zombie Shock is superficially enjoyable. There’s more depth than you might at first suspect: selecting which weapons to use is a challenge and managing reload times takes some planning.

Boss battles appear every ten levels and help break up the repetition of capping endless rows of zombie opponents, but it doesn’t take long for the gameplay to turn staler than a cadaver’s underpants.

The controls throw up further problems: it’s far too easy to accidently tap the aiming control when you’re firing and readjusting your targeting is much harder than it should be because it’s difficult to aim and fire simultaneously.