VGRC

Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Namakubi!

Once every few years, some unknown company drops on the industry a game incredibly odd and quirky, then fades out of existence, never to be heard from again. That is the case of Zombie Nation, brought to us by Meldac; a publisher so unknown they don't even have an article about them on Wikipedia. Zombie Nation is notable for one thing: It is a side-scrolling shooter where you control a giant floating disembodied head that spews eyeballs and vomit at his enemies.

Zombie Nation is the tale about Namakubi: A bodiless man with a mission. It appears a meteor has brought an evil alien to earth who goes by the name Darc Seed. Upon arrival, he takes over the US, and turns everybody into zombies, brings the Statue of Liberty to life, and steals Shura, which I guess is supposed to be a legendary sword of some sort. Namakubi, with the morals of a great samurai and the face of Benjamin Franklin, cannot put up with this travesty, and sets off to put a stop to Darc Seed and his nation of zombies.

So, how exactly is a game about a floating head that looks like one of our country's founding fathers going about and barfing on zombies going to play out, you ask? Simple! The game screen scrolls from left to right, while you control Namakubi; shooting eyeballs and vomit at zombie snipers and zombie controlled tanks, helicopters and various other monsters and what not. There are 4 levels, each with 2 regular stages and a boss stage. (except for the 4th level, which is only one stage and a boss stage) Upon completing those 4 levels, you face off against Darc Seed himself. The nice thing is, you can complete the 4 levels in any order once you power on your NES, making Zombie Nation fun for quick pick-up-and-play sessions.

On the regular stages, you simply scroll towards the right, and have to fight your way to the end of the stage, which involves gratuitous amounts of blowing up buildings and barfing on tanks. Along the way, you can save people who were taken hostage by the zombies. Collecting enough of these people will gradually increase your attack powers, which is practically needed for the game's enormous bosses, such as a reanimated Statue of Liberty.

For shoot-em-ups, despite the creative subject content, this ranks at about standard fare. Just replace the floating head with a spaceship and the barf with regular missiles and bombs, and the sole reason to play Zombie Nation just about disappears.

The graphics are poor, even for NES standards. While some of the levels themselves are fine, and Namakubi's head has a lot of detail crammed in, everything else just seems sort of... indistinguishable. I'm actually not sure if it is eyes that Namakubi shoots at people. It looks as though it could be laser bombs, rocks or even small bicycle tires; I'm only guessing at eyeballs because that is just totally badass. Projectiles from enemy zombies and aircraft and such all look exactly the same too, so maybe it isn't eyeballs, who knows.

The controls are also pretty shoddy. A single tap on the D-pad sends poor Namakubi floating nearly halfway across the screen. And not in a responsive way, but a "floaty" way... sort of like trying to walk on ice in a platformer; it's pretty bad. Because of the NES controller only having two action buttons, his two main attacks, barfing and shooting eyeballs, are done with the same button and happen at the same time, which some would argue makes the game easier by putting more firepower on the screen for you, but it really only serves to distract. "Am I shooting here or there? Argh!"

What could've been a great game based on the premise is in the end, just a bland side-scrolling shooter whose only real notable point is that you play as a floating disembodied head. In fact, I'm boosting the game's overall score a few points based just on that fact. However, if you want something a bit more playable and fun, then be advised that Zombie Nation doesn't deliver.