Zombie Revenge

Overview

Zombie Revenge is a horror-themed third-person beat-'em-up game developed by Sega AM1 and released by Sega for arcades (using Dreamcast-based Sega NAOMI hardware) in 1999.

A spin-off of the House of the Dead series of light-gun shooters, Zombie Revenge features third-person combat reminiscent of the studio's Dynamite Deka series, with both gun-based and melee-based combat.

The game's story involves a top-secret government plan (known as U.D.S.) going wrong, causing a city to become infested with the undead. Players control AMS agents Stick Breitling, Linda Rotta, and Rikiya Busujima as they make their way through the city to hunt down ZED: a mysterious man responsible for the outbreak.

A home port was later released for the Dreamcast on November 25, 1999 (in Japan), January 5, 2000 (in North America), and June 9, 2000 (in Europe). This version features bonus game modes (including a one-on-one versus "Fighting" mode and arranged "Original" modes) and VMU support (where players can play mini-games and use items found in Original Mode to upgrade their fighter in Fighting Mode).

Gameplay

Zombie Revenge's gameplay is pretty much like many other beat'em up games that came before it, with the unique element of the player becoming infected. The player takes control one of three characters. The game has a two player co-op mode.

One unique element to the gameplay is the character getting infected when he or she gets hit by one of the mutants. When infected, the character's health will decrease over time The player can remedy the problem by picking up one of the herbs that one of the mutants drops when killed.

Weapons are also optional in the game, the player starts off with a handgun but can switch to a shotgun or a machine gun that are found in the game. There are a lot of different punishing weapons to be found throughout the game, including a drill.

Game Modes

In the Dreamcast version, players can choose from multiple game modes:

• Arcade Mode - Identical to the arcade game.

• Original Mode - An arranged version of the arcade game, with extra items scattered around for use in the VMU mini-games. It includes three sub-modes: Normal Mode, Gun Mode (where gunplay is stronger, while hand-to-hand combat is weaker and players carry limited ammunition), and Bare Knuckle Mode (where hand-to-hand combat is stronger, while gunplay is weaker and players do not start with handguns).

• Fighting Mode - A one-on-one versus mode. Players do not start with a handgun, but can find weapons appearing in the arena. Players can "train" their character in the VMU mini-game to upgrade their stats. Optionally, players can spawn zombies to attack stronger players as a handicap.

• Boss Mode - A "boss rush" mode, where players can fight bosses they defeat in the regular modes. Each boss battle (along with the "All Bosses" option) is timed and has five difficulty levels.