Zombie Estate

Overview

One of the top rated Xbox Live indie games, Zombie Estate was released on May 15, 2010 by Jeremy Verchick. The game is a multiplayer cooperative survival game. Despite being a twin-stick shooter at its heart, Verchick stated that the goal was a more in depth experience. This is evidenced with a wide selection of characters, weaponry, and zombie types. Zombie Estate is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 80 Microsoft points, the equivalent of $1.00 USD.

Gameplay

Zombie Estate is, at its core, a twin-stick shooter. Up to four players go into an arena, facing 25 waves of increasingly difficulty zombies. The goal in Zombie Estate is to defeat all of the zombies in each wave, restocking ammunition and health, and then continuing on. The game ends after the 25th wave is completed.

Every few waves, a new zombie type is introduced. These range from more powerful tank-like zombies, to healer zombies that can attack at long range. Other types include zombies that split apart to form new zombies, armored zombies, and skeletons. Typically, these new zombie types appear every five waves.

Weapons

The depth of Zombie Estate lies in its weaponry. Initially, players are only equipped with a pistol, which has infinite ammunition and low damage. After collecting money from killed zombies, however, players can purchase a variety of weapons from the shop (available at the end of each wave). When a weapon is purchased, it must be equipped to the directional pad in order to be used. Four weapons can be available for use at a time.

There are four types of ammunition: assault, heavy, shells, and explosive. Assault is used for lighter automatic weapons, heavy is used for larger automatic weapons, shells are used for shotguns, and explosives are used for a variety of guns (including, but not limited to, mines, rocket launcher, and cattle launcher). Below is a list of each weapon, as well as its function and ammunition type.

• Pistol - The pistol is a default weapon equipped to every player from the outset. It is a weak weapon, and fires relatively slowly, but has the benefit of unlimited ammunition. It is impossible to change the pistol from its position on the directional pad, as it is a permanent part of the player's inventory.
• Uzi - The first automatic weapon takes assault ammunition, and fires relatively slowly in comparison to later automatic weapons. The relative low cost of the Uzi ( $150) is also a factor.
• Shotgun - Priced at $250, the Shotgun is the most basic of the shotgun type. It, naturally, takes shells and fires in a spread shot.
• Light Assault Rifle - The second automatic weapon that takes assault ammunition is slightly more expensive than the Shotgun, priced at $300. This is more powerful than the Uzi, but only fires at a slightly faster rate.
• Assault Rifle - A more powerful version of the Light Assault Rifle, this weapon is priced at $500.
• RMB0 - The first of the heavy weapons, the RMB0 has a price tage of $900. This weapon fires faster than previous automatic weapons, and has more powerful shots.
• Rocket Launcher - An explosive class weapon, the Rocket Launcher costs $2000. This weapon fires a large blast that decimates every zombie within its radius.
• Grenade Launcher - The second explosive class weapon is the Grenade Launcher. It can fire slightly faster and has higher capacity, and is priced at $2200.
• Bubble Launcher - The first of many more unconventional weapons, the Bubble Launcher takes explosive type ammunition. Priced at $2800, this weapon fires bubbles at a fast rate, consuming zombies within its radius.
• Holy Squirt Gun - Priced at $2000, the Holy Squirt Gun is a powerful assault type weapon. It has a fast firing rate and a powerful attack, most useful against healing zombies.
• Medic Gun - An unconventional explosive type weapon, the Medic Gun fires out healing packs, that any player can pick up. These heal approximately 25 points of damage. The Medic Gun costs $1200.
• Snow Thrower - The Snow Thrower fires out snow in a spread shot, damaging zombies more than the conventional Shotgun. This weapon costs $1400 and takes shells as ammunition.
• Proximity Mine - An explosive weapon, the Proximity Mines can be placed on the ground, exploding when a zombie comes near to it. these cost $1500.
• BioRifle - Another spread shot weapon, the BioRifle causes green ooze to destroy zombies who walk on it. This gun costs $1200 and takes shells as ammunition.
• Laser Rifle - An assault weapon, and the first of the laser weapons, the Laser Rifle goes through zombies rather than just hitting a single one. This weapon costs $1600.
• Laser Shotgun - Naturally, this weapon takes shell type ammunition, as this is a spread shot weapon. More expensive than the Laser Rifle (at $2000), the Laser Shotgun functions similarly, just fires differently.
• Card Shuffler - The Card Shuffler fires cards in random directions. Running at $3000, this weapon is a shotgun type.
• Flame Thrower - Taking assault ammunition, the Flame Thrower has limited range and power, but makes up for it in the ability to set zombies on fire. This weapon costs $3000.
• Heavy Shotgun - Essentially a more powerful shotgun. Costs $4000.
• MiniGun - Taking heavy ammunition, the MiniGun is a powerful automatic weapon (more so than previous ones), and has a fast firing rate. The MiniGun costs $4500.
• Fish Mortar - An explosive type weapon, the FIsh Mortar fires fish guts at zombies, killing any that it hits. This weapon costs $3300.
• MiniBomb - One of the most powerful heavy type weapons, the MiniBomb costs $8000, but makes up for its price in power. It, essentially, is a rapid fire version of the Rocket Launcher, and the fact that each player carries 900 shots of heavy ammunition makes it well-worth the $8000.
• Turret Launcher - A unique heavy type weapon, the Turret Launcher places down an automatic turret that has its own ammunition capacity, and fends of zombies on its own. This weapon costs $6000.
• Plant Launcher - A more powerful version of the Turret Launcher, the Plant Launcher uses assault ammunition instead, and costs $6200.
• Cattle Launcher - By far the most expensive weapon (at $12000), the Cattle Launcher fires a cow into the air, and then down onto the zombies. It isn't as powerful as some of the other weapons, but makes up for that in hilarity.

Characters

Zombie Estate boasts 20 playable characters, ranging from the mundane to the zany.

• Jerry - A white man, sporting a blue T-shirt
• Steve - A white man, sporting a red T-shirt
• Jess - A white woman, sporting a pink T-shirt
• Ducky - A duck
• Ninja - A ninja, naturally
• Linda - A black woman, sporting a pink T-shirt
• Dan - An older white man, sporting a yellow T-shirt
• Bot - A robot, with red eyes
• Rob - A robot, with blue eyes
• Charles - A mustachioed white man, sporting a blue T-shirt
• Ginger - A gingerbread man
• Creep - An entirely grey and black character with red eyes
• Meow - A black cat
• Pup - A brown dog
• Dawg - A yellow dog
• Ralph - A white man, sporting a green T-shirt
• Stacy - A white woman, sporting an orange T-shirt
• Bawnd - An imitation of James Bond; a white man in a tuxedo
• DP Snamis - A strange looking character with a small square in the center containing red, white, and blue
• Doug - A white man in camouflage
• Tourist - A white man sporting a sombrero
• Smiley - A large, blue smiley face
• Drake - A dark-haired white man with a red shirt
• George - An older man in a purple shirt
• Pizza Dude - A pizza delivery man
• Ref - A referee
• Priz - A mustachioed white man with an orange shirt
• Jon - A black man sporting a yellow T-shirt
• Hoodz - A white man in a hooded jacket
• Bob - An alien