The Last Guy – PS3 Network

So it turns out the guy you need when the zombie apocalypse happens isn’t actually a soldier or biologist; it’s the nerd that spends all his time on Google Maps. In a world suddenly filled with shuffling killers and giant bugs, you play as a lone, friendly zombie, leading lines of refugees to safety across detailed satellite images of real world locations. These range from San Francisco to exotic Newcastle. Even in the top down view, the major landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial are recognizable, so you get to do some birds-eye sight seeing while you get your hit of zombie-arcade adrenaline.

The catch? The monsters think you’re a walking snack and your charges have minimal preservation skills. The longer your line of followers gets, the harder it is to keep them away from marauding ghouls, even if you’re guzzling down the speed and invisibility power-ups that dot the maps. Sometimes you can’t help feeling that the pea-brained losers actually deserve to get eaten alive by a brutal gang of flesh eaters.

Sure, there’s not a lot of depth to be had here – the difficulty curve is brutal and there are only 15 levels, but they’re extremely tricky, and in a good way. There are plenty of excuses to keep coming back though – you’ll always be able to find more refugees to save, VIPs to find and rescue, and secret areas to unlock. The power ups swap location too, so you’ll have to rethink your strategy every time you re-play a level. It’s a miniature horror epic with an interesting real-world twist at a bargain PSN price.

Sep 17, 2008