Big Pixel Zombies
Man, I hate dogs. Little dogs. Little zombie dogs. Little zombie dogs that come nipping at you while you are unleashing your fury upon much larger zombies. Oh, how these little zombie dogs have cost me. Because when the horde is upon you, you are left with little room for error. Thankfully you can increase your odds with a little help. Like Steak. And hand grenades. And dual shotguns. And a dog with a gun strapped to its back. That's a dog I love. This is Big Pixel Zombies.
You'll find no argument here that there are already plenty of games where you run around from a top-down perspective and mow down the walking dead. Box Head and Zombie Horde are two fine examples, not to mention the excellent iOs game Minigore. And I see no reason to argue that Big Pixel Zombies doesn't have a more-than-passing resemblance to the last game, nor that it is really any different to other games in the genre. Well, I would, but just for the sake of seeing you get red-faced with anger. Then I would ask: "Need to blow off some steam?"
Big Pixel Zombies is a perfect way to do that. You are stuck in some town square and cube-shaped zombies are stumbling in for the kill. You have to hold them at bay with your firepower (either though a [WASD] and mouse control scheme or just the mouse; but the former is arguably the better method). To help even things out are three shops in the town: Guns, Kennels and a Butchery. The butchery supplies meat, which serves to distract the zombies. Gun, as you can deduce, carry weapons and armor. The Kennels supply different types of dogs that have guns on them. Think of the dogs as an invulnerable sidekick. Kills are currency, so the more you kill, the more you can buy. The square is also littered with vehicles, which can serve as shields, bottlenecks and, if destroyed, provide health.
Dying does not mean death. The game has a series of difficulty levels to mark your progress; die and you respawn at the start of the last notch, your kills and gear intact, but your score nullified. On the one hand this makes the game a tad easy and a little bit of a grind fest, as you can just keep dying and dying, racking up kills until you can afford adequate firepower. The alternative approach is to stay alive as long as possible and get a high score that you are proud to submit.
There's no pretending that this hasn't been done before or that Big Pixel Zombies won't get tired after an hour or so. The limited upgrades also makes this a pretty short experience. But if you have some late-afternoon steam that needs blowing off, a game with an armed dog as your buddy is the place to go.
Found a problem. There doesn't seem to be any way to switch between the dogs you have already purchased. Plus, you can only have one sidekick at a time. So, if you did what I did, and bought the best dog first, then bought another, cheaper dog out of curiosity, well, you might as well start over, because you won't be getting the minigun dog back.
Yea I became VERY bored early on, just clicking constantly is no fun. Like the idea of pixel zombies though, makes it feel more pg :)
Anyone beat it? I maxed everything out and killed a bunch more zombies, got to level 22 and got bored. I kind of think it just keeps getting harder, with no end.
Same here, although I was more patient. After level 26 I still stopped. Nothing happened, except the levels keep taking longer to go through... Talk about grinding!
I don't know how he got the idea that a black hp bar on a dark red background is a good idea. It's hard to tell, but it doesn't matter that much.
The armor seems to stack. I got the 2nd armor last, and it made a significant improvement to my ability to soak up damage.
You can't turn if you're moving (ie a zombie is pushing you). What this means is that if a dog gets you from the side, checkmate.
Simple strategy
Get a dog asap. It's probably the best meatshield ever: he blocks zombies, and never dies. He can be pushed by the zombies, and that sometimes makes things hard.
What I do is get to the edge of the map (eg top right corner, near kennel), and sandwich myself between the dog and a car. As long as the car stays alive, the chokepoint is small enough that larger zombies can't touch me. Even the small zombies have come at me single file, and if 2 of them try to get in at the same time, traffic jam.
Due to my camping, it seems that the dual shotgun is the best weapon, though its spread sometimes injures the car.
@cevgar
You don't get to keep your old dog; as long as you have the kills, you can rebuy your minigun dog.
@Bahbar
I gave up on level 24. I have a feeling that the level resets every time you die.
It isn't a bad game but it lacks fun over time. Automatic gameplay is so boring it shouldn't even exist. I gave up on level 24 too. It seems that it has no end.
@k2ulu
You can click and hold
My strategy:
Once you have built up enough firepower, attacking zombies is not worth it. Attack cars. The chainsaw makes you invincible and one-shots anything; charge the swarms with it and spin. This quickly builds up kills. The cars with the speed boost allow you to move to a clear section of the map searching for chainsaws; and the health cures you of the misc. damage you will accumulate.
As for weapon choice
I found the shotguns to be one of the worst weapons; they don't fire fast enough to stun-lock zombies well, and you seem to be more vulnerable to dogs. If you don't shoot the dog instantly, the fire shot won't kill it, and it will get to you before the second. Other guns will hold the dogs back with the knock-back. The higher rate-of-fire weapons are better, since they knock-back the zombies more effectively. Damage only applies to the front zombies, but knock-back holds the entire hoard at bay, since they can't walk through each other.
Minigun. Minigun all the way, baby.
Also, cars respawn, so it's worth it to move the fight to another corner every few seconds or so. It's also a well known fact that chainsaws make you invincible. Same logic applies here.
My best tip is to only destroy cars when the zombies start to gather round. The blast radius of the car is just enough to kill off the first few zombies, so you can dive in and get a powerup. If you happen to receive a chainsaw, that's even better, because you can put it to use immediately.
I quit this game pretty fast. Played on manual and when I tried shooting, it would just fire in one direction - no matter where I was pointing the mouse. Lame. Cute graphics, though.
David, I'm guessing you weren't using your mouse to aim.
@4Tran
You are absolutely right. You can buy the old dog again. It had never crossed my mind that I would have to re-buy something I already own. It not like I sold the dog back to the pound and got a refund on kills.
As for strategy:
Don't write off the automatic control. Since all the zombies are pure melee attackers, the 'fire at the closest enemy' of automatic mode works like a charm. No more chasing down those irritating ankle biters. Also helps out with the chainsaw.
I hit level 26 before I just plain quit. Minigun, minigun dog, full armor and automatic mode was a walk in the park. Considering the unlimited ammo, there really should be a way to toggle autofire. Holding down the left mouse button gets pretty tiring after a while.
Also, a flame thrower would be awesome
Maybe it's just my computer, but the game would start to lag on the firing, so I would be trying to shoot the zombies, and it wouldn't shoot, so then I'd move, and it'd stop me from turning and start shooting for the shots I'd already clicked, off in a direction that didn't work any more.
End of game (not that there is one but if there was...): The someone that comes and ends the madness:"my goodness! what happened!the road is splattered in blood!" you: "what road?
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