PSP Minis Review – Zombie Tycoon

Zombie Tycoon
Zombie Tycoon

This is not Your Typical Tycoon Game

This is not a world where neighbors live in peace and visit the corner store. This is a world where zombies live in pieces, eat their neighbors, and destroy corner stores.

Welcome to Smallbee
Welcome to Smallbee

The story begins with the introduction of a group of mad scientists who are working on a formula to bring the dead back to life.

Ernest, the wonderful helper who appears to have the IQ of a shoe, is the first guinea pig to try it out, and he seems okay after he drinks it.

Ernest and the Formula
Ernest and the formula

Dr. Brainhov
Dr. Brainhov becomes the first zombie

Dr. Brainhov, the head scientist, decides it must be safe, so he tries it himself.

Due to his ill timed drink and subsequent zombification, someone else has to step in and take control of the zombie horde. Enter the player, whom Ernest and the zombies will assist in taking over the world one city at a time.

After the introduction, the game explains the controls, revealing itself to be in the Real Time Strategy (RTS) genre. The analog stick controls a cursor that can be used to drop brains that will call zombies to that spot. There are three separate groups of zombies that are controlled by dropping different colored brains for each group. Each group can have as many as eight zombies each, but the combined IQ of every zombie in the game still doesn’t add up to 1, so the player must stay on top of each group. Using the right shoulder button allows the player to switch the camera between each group, which players will have to do so quite frequently to keep tabs on the brain-dead zombies.

Luckily there are ways to make the zombies more efficient. Items are picked up along the way that can enhance the zombies’ destructive power and defenses. Pencils, rolling pins, dead fish, and Hawaiian shirts are just a few of these ecclectic powerups. Pressing the left shoulder button pulls up a menu that allows the player to assign these items to different parts of zombies’ bodies. In addition to powering up the zombie troops, these equippable items also give the undead soldiers some unique looks.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

There are ten levels in total, and the graphics are pretty nice for a PSP Mini. The soundtrack is fitting for a zombie movie: spooky, creepy, and downright disturbing at times. The storyline is well thought out, albeit a little short, and the gameplay is fun. The price is $7.99, which seems a little high for 3 or so hours of gameplay. There are in-game achievements and an overall completion percentage, so players who are always looking for that 100% in a game might be able to get a few more hours out of this one.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score



Fun Gameplay.

Simple but effective controls

Decent graphics for a Mini

8 out of 10
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