Flaming Zombooka 3… Carnival : Review by Daniel Simpson

Yes, flaming Zombooka is back for it’s third in the series.

What is flaming Zombooka??

Zombooka is a game in which the objective is to destroy all zombies and eliminate their threats, to save mankind [TOO DRAMATIC??? No - Ed]. The player takes up the life of Barry Zooka, and his trusty, rocket launcher. Zombies can be killed in a variety of ways some just standard shots to the body, some physics puzzles and some tricky shots using upgrades and different types of ammo. This keeps the game fresh and never really gets boring… 

The Idea of different varieties of ammo has been used in previous games in the form of upgrades which you have to shoot to pick up, this is a good idea I liked it, I like equally their new Idea of having different characters, for different types of ammo.
In Zombooka points are earned from the types of deaths that you can inflict on zombies, high points are rewarded of headshots and using whatever objects in the level to inflict death. 

I think the fans of the series are going to enjoy the newest instalment.
The first thing that greets you in the game is the menu with fantastic artwork and creepy music which fits the theme of the “Creepy Carnival” perfectly. 
You will notice the game still has the same wit and charm as it ever did with occasionally humorous narrations to introduce you to each level.

What I loved

When I played the second game in the series I thought that that was really the limit for the artwork and beauty of the game…boy was I wrong! With a great effects step up, and quirky things in the earth and more art in general. The artwork definitely entertained me more, my credits to RobotJam.

Many players may not notice this but there is a “NEXT LEVEL” button, I was so pleased by this, overjoyed in fact, I now know that many will be giving me strange looks (why am I overjoyed by a simple button you may be thinking O.o) but if you have played the previous games you will know that to get to the next level you would, have to choose from the list, personally I did not want to play any of the previous levels after I had completed one so I did not know why it was there, a “PREVIOUS LEVELS” and “NEXT LEVEL” button would have been very welcome. 

Some of the narration and level names made me laugh, making the game more enjoyable, level 13-“BIG Whanger”, made me chuckle. 

A laser guide aim system…thank you, the system with the arrow filled in was used in the previous games (the arrow itself representing the angle of the shot, the meter and proportion filled in represents the power the projectile is launched with) the problem I had with this system was, you could not easily identify what power is needed, I could argue this by saying that a laser system would make the game too easy. A link to the walkthrough button has been very helpful, and so has the walkthrough itself, I only needed it for about 3 or 4 levels but it was very helpful. 

I liked some of the ideas of logic in this game for example in level 4 you see a man tied to a bill board that says “Bob the Human Cannonball” it has a picture of the man who is tied up and a picture of the ammunition that he will shoot later on. I love how the small are of text and a few images gives you such a large clue as to who the person is and what the benefits are if you save him. I don’t really know if others really like these clues but I appreciated them. You have to save characters in order to get their benefits, this reminded me of an arcade game in “the House of the Dead” series in which if you save villages and innocent people they would give you lives…but for some reason, I’d still have to empty my wallet to complete it! 

I’d call this game a puzzler rather than an action game, the physics based puzzles were not too hard and they were rewarding to solve and there was always something new around the corner.

I love the references to other games and characters made by the developers.
Great effort has been used to still make the game original but I don’t know how far it will go, in terms of a sequel, though I do hope there is at least one more game related to this series.

What I did not like and suggested improvements:

One day while I was playing the game, the phone rang so I assumed that the hot key for pause would be the ‘P’ key, which it was, but later when I went back to the game, I tried pressing the key again and found that the hot key did not would to get back to the game, I don’t know if this was a particular choice by the developers but it was just a minor inconvenience.

It would be nice if there was some kind of opening animation or a short film to establish a storyline, it is not critical but would really be nice.

The laser guiding system, as helpful as it may be does make some of the levels (in fact a whole lot of them) a bit too easy. So could it be an option that the player could revert back to the “arrow filled in” aiming system as this can make the game more of a challenge. 

A combo bonus would be very welcome to for example for each accurate shot you get in a row after 5, you could get an extra 200 points” I have had no huge problems with this game and none of the above will affect your enjoyment, I assure you!

The round up:

A very nice and refined, flash game that uses it’s full potential to be an enjoyable experience to the player with a few minor technical issues but these do not affect my enjoyment of the game. On the Turbonuke site the game has been given an 82% like rate, my personal rating is un affected by this and is an 8 out of 10 as it is not my favourite Turbonuke game series but I have definitely grown to like it.

The future of Zombooka

There is only a certain amount of content a game can have and still be original and not stale, I think that you are dangerously close to that amount and a final game would round off the series nicely, thank you for reading. 

Please voice your opinion on my review in the comments below and tell me if there is anything relevant you think I have missed.