Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ review

Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ starts off a treat – the zombies actually break apart nicely as you blast them to bits, and there are only occasional moments when there’s so much onscreen that it all slows down. But the longer you play, the more you notice is wrong.

It starts with the controls. Moving side to side isn’t smooth at all. Basically, there are seven slots arranged horizontally along the bottom screen, and Red is always standing in one of them. So, if you’re in the middle of the screen and want to go all the way to the left, you have two options: you can tap the d-pad left three times, or you can just tap the far left cell with the stylus – but lifting the stylus will force you to stop shooting for the time that takes.

If you’re all the way to the left and then want to go to the far right, you have to press right on the D-pad six times, or touch it with the stylus. This is a really odd design decision. Was there something wrong with just giving the player free horizontal movement, as they’ve had in literally hundreds, if not thousands of other shooters? It just doesn’t make sense.

Two more odd decisions are the placement of the flamethrower and shotgun icons is in the upper portion of the screen and the fact that you even need them at all. Again, touching them means you have to stop shooting for awhile. Why not at least offer the option of using the shoulder buttons to toggle weapons? Or move the onscreen buttons somewhere easier to reach?