Sex Sells... Apparently
The combination of zombies and hot babes could've been a winner with Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers. Attractive scantly clad women, zombie limbs flying everywhere and fantastic gameplay from beginning to end, it would've made for the best game ever. While the first two points are present, the latter is a tad bit of a disappointment. And seeing as it's the seventh game in the series as well, it is a wonder Tam soft (the developers) still haven't gotten the formula right.
Bikini Zombie Slayers plays like a third person brawler. You progress throughout the stages by surviving numerous hordes of zombie baddies. Like any other brawler, they vary in types and forms. You have your typical average zombie, both in strength and speed, your speedy small types that pip at you such as the spiders and toads and you have your slow but powerful big zombies like the soldiers and giants. Bikini Zombie Slayers also has two original zombie types, mud zombies which have to be killed with the removal of it's heart and Red Mist Zombies that can only be killed during a cool combo
Which is exactly where the core of Bikini Zombie Slayers lies, in it's combo system. Each character has two unique move sets. The move sets vary greatly too. One character is able to use their own fists to deal damage to foes and another character being able to use a trusty shotgun or machine gun to mow down constant zombie pests. This kind of play makes it possible to have hit combos in their hundreds, maybe thousands if you're skilled enough.
In exchange for a few bars of health, you can also use special attacks to save your skin in the heat of battle. This knocks back any nearby enemies and increases the combo metre even further. If you kill enough zombies and/or take too much damage, you transform into a berserk power mode which increases your attack and speed which can prove to be both useful and deadly at the same time as it slowly drains your health. The only way to exit the berserk mode, besides death is to find the sparely spread out fountain areas on each level or use the statue heads to temporally return back to normal.
Other items can also be used to sustain your berserk power and revive any lost health from it too. There are also items that can increase your strength and speed further, also for a short period of time, although don't seem to make much of difference sadly. But saying anything is different would be pushing it with Bikini Zombie Slayers as in reality it doesn't play too much differently to it's previous releases in the series.
It is really annoying because Bikini Zombie Slayers sells for the average Wii game price of £30-onwards rather than £20 or less like with Zombie Zone or Zombie Hunters 1 and 2 before it. But perhaps the counter-argument would be that the game's controls would have had to been substantially changed to suit the Wiimote. In this case however, the Wii's hardware isn't being tested too highly. Visually the game is average with a few icky areas but the presentation is dreadful with few cut-scenes and text driven plots. In the world of video games, actions certainly do speak louder than words.
But nether the less, D3 have insisted that we listen the Japanese only dialogue and very roughly translated English. Be it that the story is generic or not. It is a wonder also that I haven't gone yet to say Bikini Zombie Slayers can also be a repetitive game if casual to the brawler genre but the atleast the immersion is heighted by the waggle controls of the game. An option to use the Wii Classic Controller or Gamecube Controller would've been adequate as well though. Yet, this isn't helped by the fact that very little changes between each play through of the game anyway, as all the characters story modes are based around the same levels with very minor changes.
There is a quest mode too that can be played with a friend to unlock new costumes and a practice and survival mode for further time killing pleasure but not even they can make Bikini Zombie Slayers any longer than 10 hours in game time. So all in all, this is an average but entertaining brawler that is best experienced as a rental rather than a purchase. If it was released at a budget price like previous Onechanbara titles before it then it would've been easier to recommend with a doubt. Although it is fun anyway. Repetitive, unoriginal and poorly designed, but fun.