Infected review

Anyone wanting to exact revenge on Chris Cringle for the dismal shower of presents they got at Chrimbo will find lots of Santa sleighing right here with Infected. That's right, old Father Christmas is amongst the assorted bevy of flesh-eating zombies you've got to blast to pieces.

Set in New York, Infected is about a deadly strain of virus that turns normal people into gore-hungry monsters.

As Officer Stevens, scientists have discovered that your blood can destroy the infection. It doesn't really go into detail about how they found this out, but hey, they're scientists, OK? They're clever.

Anyway, you're dropped into festering areas of the city armed with shotguns, rocket-launchers and a viral gun, which fires bullets containing your blood.

The undead appear as suited businessmen and giant blob-monsters among other things. They're coated in a ready-brek glow and you need to shoot them until it turns red: this is when you can unleash a viral shot and blow them to bits.

Some missions require you to round up civilians and take them to the rescue chopper before they get bitten. Others see you sprinting about and cleaning up the streets while being timed. It's all relatively straightforward but the better you do, the better your armoury becomes.

You're able to be creative with your combos. Pepper a group of zombies and it's possible to string together a blood-splattering chain of kills. Don't worry about timing, because a handy line links them together to give you a hint of when this is possible.

Claret showers aside, everything else in Infected is fairly drab. Take the environments. When you're not legging it through subways, you're on the carnage-filled streets which all melt into one claustrophobic hellstorm.

It's also fair to say that the enemies are unimaginative.

But for all its failings, Infected is very addictive. The sight of a chain reaction of zombies detonating is impressive and when you nail a big combo, it makes the blasting worthwhile. And running a chainsaw across Santa's back will at least provide a small consolation for your crap Christmas presents.