Score
Gameplay:	5
Graphics:	5
Sound:	7
FunFactor:	7
PlasmaFactor:	7
Overall:	6.2

Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia Review
June 29, 2007 by Bryant Crawley

Monster Madness: Battle for Surburbia is a game that I've been waiting for since it was first announced it would be gracing the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The game which was developed by Artificial Studios / Immersion Software & Graphics and being published by SouthPeak Interactive was in all institutive purposes as an ode to the classic game Zombies Ate My Neighbors. So how does this game stack up to other top down shooters on the market, or better yet does Monster Madness surpass the classic gaming franchise?

Easy but Crazy

 

In one word, "No". For all the game tries to do in regards to the action and adventure of the classic game it fails to live up to the distinction on so many levels. The game play is pretty much standard and easy to pick up and play but actually getting a hang of the crazy game play is border line impossible.

The actual firing of weapons installs using the right trigger and using the secondary weapons is the left trigger. Selecting what weapons to use is done by using each of the bumper buttons. The real problem comes down to the way you actually control the character and the way the camera works in regard to it. To focus in on the scene is done by hitting the 'Y' button but the problem is that just zooming in is not enough. You can't really get a feel of what is going on when zombies are all over the screen, much less see what's going on. Here lies the problem when it comes to control: The enemy sallies on screen, outnumbering you, and when you actually try to move you move with both analog sticks which gets kind of tricky and confusing.

Destructible

 

The graphics in Monster Madness is a nice saving grace for the game. Since the game is using the Unreal 3 engine mostly everything in the game is destructible which adds to the effects. Another thing that I thought the developer did well was that pretty much everything in Battle for Suburbia could be used as a weapon. Have a crowd of zombies coming at you? Throw a couch at them! All out of ammo? Pick up a TV and hurl it at them! This does add to the fun in the game when it comes to not just using the same basic weapons found in most games. There is also the fact that around the game there are nuts, bolts, and wood pieces for you to collect and use to create new and exciting weapons.

Hear That?

 

What one would hear when it comes to this game would be nothing short of classic comedy or lack there of. The game itself tried to be very tongue and cheek with some of the dialogue in the game and it had its hits and misses when it came to comedy. The cut scenes in the game are done in comic book style; pretty much self explanatory but done rather well. The only bad thing I could say about the sound in the game would be the fact that it really doesn't have that many sound effects when it comes to things being destroyed. When stuff gets destroyed it just has this kind of nonchalant factor in the game. There should be nothing more satisfying in the game than hearing the actual effect of throwing a TV upside some zombies' head.

 

PlasmaFactor

 

The PlasmaFactor of Monster Madness would have to be the multiplayer aspect of the game. The multiplayer features the ability for four players to simultaneously play Battle for Suburbia, which is a blast. Online and offline this game rocks but the downside is that the actual adventure portion of the game is only available in LAN mode and not on Xbox Live. The online multiplayer is kept to actual enclosed environments. I have a problem with this due to this game being built around gamers being able to pick up and play the story mode. I don't see why the game has it available for one console but when you try and hook it up online that option is not available. This should have been the very first thing implemented into a game that was built around multiplayer.

 

How it All Adds Up

 

With everything that the developers did for Monster Madness it falls quite short. The problem here is that a lot of the ideas that were put into this title were great ones yet they were implemented wrong. One of the good ideas that was put into the game was the fact that pretty much everything can be used as a weapon in the game. Battle for Suburbia also lets players upgrade their weapons to bigger and better ones. Another thing that was done very well would be the fact that a lot of the environments in the game are destroyable. The biggest gripes I have with Monster Madness are: 1. The fact that the controls are way off and should have been centered around one analog stick and 2) The multiplayer. Having LAN party play is fine for the story multiplayer but with Xbox Live the game needs to be accessible online to have that jump in and play type feel to it. Every game now pretty much has this feature included and I'm not exactly sure why it is missing in a game like this. Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia does do some justice in regards to giving homage to Zombies Ate My Neighbors but then again I think this game needs to go back to the drawing board before a sequel comes out.