The Turning Gate

Unparalleled Zombie Goodness

Part defense game and part top-down shooter, Endless Zombie Rampage, by Diseased Productions, stands (decomposing) head and shoulders above other entries in its class.

The premise is simple: One man faces off against an endless horde of zombies, with the object of the game being to survive as long as possible. There’s a slight twist, however, in that players must not only survive themselves, but must also defend a base from destruction.

The game is played using the AWSD keys for control, and the mouse for aiming and shooting. R reloads your weapon, while Q and E allow you to cycle through your available guns.

Endless Zombie Rampage is not for the feint of heart. The game contains more gore and carnage than any game I’ve seen. Each bullet impact produces a massive and satisfying spray of blood that stains the ground indefinitely. Fallen corpses litter the ground and don’t disappear. Once begun, it’s not long until the entire battlefield is drenched in blood and piled with fallen bodies.

Zombies attack in waves, each wave progressively more difficult than the last. Kills net you experience points that can be spent between waves to purchase more powerful weapons, character and base upgrades, or healing. There are nine classes of weapon in the game, and 22 individual weapons including pistols, magnums, shotguns, assault rifles and more. Additional upgrades can be purchased to improve your characters hit points, running speed, reload speed, bullet capacity and more. The game can also be saved between waves so that players can resume playing at a later time.

Weapons are rated in damage, rate of fire, reload time and bullet capacity. Powerful weapons are great for taking down individual zombies, but often have slow rates of fire and/or reload times. Using such weapons exclusively, the player can easily be swarmed and overrun by opponents. What weaker guns lack in punch, they often make up for in reload time and rate of fire, making them good choices when under attack by large groups. Some weapons – such the sub-machine guns – also provide knock back, making them a great choice for putting distance between you and your enemies, or for knocking zombies away from your base. Choosing the right gun for the right occasion brings a level of strategy to the game, and can often mean the difference between life and death.

With a vast array of possible upgrades, a diverse selection of weapons, and ever increasing difficulty, Endless Zombie Rampage does a good job of holding your attention. As players progress through the game, new opponents are introduced regularly – faster zombies, stronger zombies. Some will attack you directly, while others will make a beeline for your base. Players can often divert an attacker’s attention away from the base by shooting them – causing them to turn on the player instead – but it doesn’t always work. Each wave is comprised of a number of enemy types, so while you’re busy plugging away at a ground of slow moving, high defense zombies, a number of faster zombies may come out of nowhere to attack your base.

In the beginning, I’ve found it’s best to purchase the S&W .357 magnum as quickly as possible. Your next purchase should be the CZ 97b pistol, which has the same fire-power as the magnum, but with a greater range, rate of fire and bullet capacity. From there, you’re on your own.

Flash-based survival games are a dime-a-dozen on the Internet, but rarely are they so engrossing as Endless Zombie Rampage. Diseased Productions has created a gory shooter in which strategy is every bit as important as the action. What’s more, with so many weapons and enemy types, the game contains a level of diversity rarely seen in flash games of this type, which goes a long way to prevent the game becoming repetitive. And, as if that weren’t enough, the game features three modes of play: Defense Mode, Survival Mode and Experimental Mode. I’ve spent more time playing Endless Zombie Rampage than probably any other Flash game on the Internet. If you can stomach the carnage, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Play.

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