Zombie Panic in Wonderland Review

Zombie Panic in Wonderland is a quirky game from Spanish developer Akaoni, which offers a new take on how to deal with zombie infestation. Instead of looking at it from the perspective of survival horror, it instead decides to go all guns blazing, all while displaying a wonderfully charming art-style inside an adorable world.

The game focuses on an overarching story, while paying close attention to different character in each of the game's three segments. It initially starts off in a rural Japanese town inside Wonderland, but quickly goes more into the realms of fantasy. Both Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz, and Snow White appear in the plot alongside their respective worlds. Random, yes, but it certainly doesn't detract from the experience, especially when looking at how the story, which is extremely basic, is displayed.

Momotaro, the initial protagonist arrives home, only to find that it's entirely deserted. He's then set upon by a group of zombies, leaving him no choice but to pull out his trusty machinegun and start blasting. He then follows a trail and meets up with Dorothy and together they start to investigate how the zombie infestation started. There are brief cutscenes before each of the nine levels, but they do very little other than serve as a brief introduction. Then again, this type of game really isn't played because of an in-depth narrative.

The aim of the game is to destroy as many zombies as possible. Players take control of a character, who is armed with a machinegun with infinite ammo. They are then confronted by waves of zombies and other interesting enemies, which slowly amble towards them, or throw objects. To counter this, players can walk in one dimension along the base of the screen, and use a dodge move, all while they're directing where the pain is going to be inflicted.

The majority of the enemies can be shot in different points of their anatomy, and obviously headshots are the most effective way of bringing down enemies - they offer the most points too. The variety of enemies is actually pretty impressive though - they range from the generic zombie, to sumo zombies and even Robin Hood imitation zombies. There are also huge trees, skeletons and crows. Each enemy adds something new to the gameplay, as players attempt to take down the horde, while attempting to stay alive themselves.