We’ve had the distinct privilege to get an early look at Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team‘s debut game, Pro Zombie Soccer. The game will be published by Chillingo (these guys seem to be snatching up all the hotly anticipated titles!). To sum it up in just one syllable…WOW!
You take on the role of Jax, an “awesome” soccer player, now dumpster diving after a mishap with the Coach of one of the world’s best soccer teams resulted in him being black-listed from every soccer team and stadium in every country in the world! Jax is bitten by a zombie, who just happens to be soccer superstar, turned undead earth-dweller, Julinho, and it appears he i is not alone. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other zombies are shuffling Jax’s way. Having been infected by Julinho, Jax quickly realizes that he now posesses all of Julinho’s mad soccer skills. Knowing that he too will become a zombie in a matter of hours, Jax vows to take down as many zombies as he can before joining their ranks. While searching for a weapon to aid him in his quest, Jax finds Julinho’s soccer ball….and a hero is born.
The basic concept of the game is fairly simple, keep kicking your soccer ball at the hordes of approaching zombies to “kill” them. When you kick the ball it will strike a zombie, either damaging them or killing them and then the ball will bounce back to you and you can aim and take your next shot. Some zombies require more than one hit to be fully destroyed. There is a small bar on the bottom right corner of the screen which illustrates how far you have progressed through the level, so you can get an idea as to when the current barrage of baddies will be over.
The demo version that we received only contained 4 levels, spread across 3 different locations, but there is some nice variety in both location and diffficuly. At the beginning of one of the levels there was a period during which you are running and kicking at the same time. We’d love to see this format used at least a few more times in the final release, as it really mixes things up.
The game’s controls are simple and intuitive. There is a button on the left side of the screen, which you move up and down to aim at your targets; release the button to kick the ball in the direction of the arrow. If you press and hold the button for a short period of time, you will see your soccer ball’s energy charging. A charged ball results in a more powerful PowerKick when it is released. Some zombies can ONLY be killed by a PowerKick so this is a must to master. If you can manage to get a headshot, that not only seems to kill some types of zombies faster than body or limb shots, but it also earns you a higher score.
There is a nice variety of both big and small zombies, each of which has its own slightly unique features, requiring slightly different tactics for disposal. Some zombies will run towards you, some require PowerKicks to kill, others will take 2-3 hits before dying and there are even some that will keep tunneling through the ground, periodically popping up above ground as the creep toward you.
There is a meter on the left side of the screen that builds up as you kill zombies. Kill enough zombies and this will reach critical mass, granting you access to three very special power-up abilities, including:
- Lightning Ball – Turns your ball into a high-speed killing machine, allowing you to repeatedly kick the ball more quickly.
- Piercing Ball – Allows your ball to go through Zombies like butter. This ball, when it hits a zombie, will go right through that zombie and kill any/all other zombies in its path.
- Angry Military Satellite – Allows you to target all the zombies you want to kill and then a huge frickin laser bean shoots down from a satellite in space and obliterates them.
As is immediately evident in the plethora of screenshots and video that we’ve included below, Pro Zombie Soccer is beautifully illustrated and has some really humorous cut-scenes with an absurdly ridiculous back story. The game has a rockin’, heart-thumping soundtrack, complete with a sweet guitar riff (and slow motion) when you complete a level. We can’t wait to get our hands on the full thing when it’s released. We really regret having somehow overlooked this title for inclusion in our most anticipated titles of 2010, because it would definitely be on there! We wish we could tell you when you too will be able to check out Pro Zombie Soccer, but unfortunately as of right now we have no info on a possible release date or price point. Stay tuned to AppAddict.net and we will post an update when we know more.
About Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team
The team is a group of good friends, all professionals in the game industry, with titles that include Plants vs. Zombies, Worms, Vin Diesel´s Wheelman, Terminator, Crush, Buzz, EyeToy Play series and Doodle Hex, among others. Each team member is on a different part of the globe, and they decided it was time to make their own fresh videogame company for developing cool projects.
Original Game Idea: Enrique Corts
Programming: Julio Ruiz
Art: Enrique Corts & Mar Hernández
Level Design: Ricardo Carretero
Music & Sound Design: Jorge & Guillermo Badolato, www.BadolatoMusic.com
Gameplay Video
Screenshot Gallery
