Released in July 2014, Zombie Driver: Ultimate Edition, from Exor Studios is part of a growing trend of established PC titles being ported across, in various guises, to the new generation of consoles.

It makes sense really, from both the console manufacturer and the game developer’s perspectives. From the console manufacturer’s perspective, the title not only provides an additional entry in their release lists; demonstrating a greater raft of available titles to encourage prospective customers, but the game also has a proven track record of being viable commercially; it’s already sold units on another system. For the developers, it’s a no-brainer really; they can expand the available customer-base for their IP without having to make major changes. It replicates the sales avenue and projection of a new game, but without the trouble of actually having to produce a new game. For the gaming public it means they have a wider variety of games available to them on their expensive new console than they would otherwise have had.

Everybody wins right?

Well, really, that depends on the games themselves. Just because they worked on another system doesn’t mean they will on the console medium. There have been many titles that are massively successful on PC, but have been, at best, underwhelming on console. I mean, I’m still recovering from the various Command & Conquer titles released on sucessive consoles.

(For anyone about to comment that they loved C&C games on console and that the control structure was underappreciated and wrongly judged – you are wrong! I don’t often resort to empirical absolutes, but in this case you are definitively and demonstrably wrong… just deal with it!)

So, how does today’s subject; Zombie Driver: Ultimate Edition, fare?

Well, to be honest, not too badly; all things considered.

When you see a new game for the first time, it’s pretty standard for you to find a few previous games that it reminds you of and, perhaps, you hope it will be like. For me, Zombie Driver conjured up images of the heady days of Grand Theft Auto (the original one) and Carmageddon; both pretty lofty titles to be compared to.

The problem with these sort of comparisons is they they’re very rarely fair and usually a double-edged sword at best and such is the case with Zombie Driver.

The comparisons to GTA are fairly evident, in the top-down camera perspective, with the game tracking your car’s movements from above, feeling almost exactly like the first two games of Rockstar’s opus. The game’s theme, however, is 100% Carmageddon. I defy anyone to play a game where your sole activity is ploughing through zombies in a motor vehicle and NOT be reminded of Carmageddon. Well, unless you’re under 25 this is, I suppose…

The thing is; this image suggests the game will be a huge, sprawling amalgamation funhouse of comedic splatterhouse action and gritty social satire; which isn’t really what the game is all about, not really.

The game itself is, fairly restrictive, with the levels being fairly compact and, if we’re being honest, fairly short in the variety stakes. Each level gives you a mission to achieve, which is usually a variation on the ‘go here, kill all the zombies and then return to start’ theme. This mission is played out in a small area map, with a lot of solid objects to manoeuvre around, which, while perfectly adequate for a small, tight mission-based game, is somewhat out of sync with your mind’s eye’s initial expectation.

The retrieval missions are broken up by the occasional boss battle, which do add a bit of variety; though these are, again, fairly standard bullet-sponge affairs. Again, perfectly adequate and appropriate for the type of game Exor have produced, just less than you might have hoped.

However,the above ramblings might give the impression I didn’t enjoy the game, which is unfair. I DID enjoy the game; I enjoyed it quite a bit. The actual core mechanic; running hordes of zombies over, gunning the rest down with various weapons and then nitro-boosting on to the next batch; was great arcade fun, even if the controls were a little loose feeling. The game is good at what it sets out to do, which is provide bite-sized chunks of arcade fun.
What it suffers from is the perception I went into it with, based on the pre-conceived hopes and expectations I projected onto it ahead of time. Now, that may just be unique to me, but I don’t think so. The complains we see across the industry from consumers regarding various games these days suggests that consumer expectations are higher than ever and, perhaps, smaller games are starting to suffer from these heightened perceptions.

Zombie Driver: Ultimate Edition isn’t a AAA game. It’s not a grand sweeping epic, or a time-sink experience that will steal hours of your life; but it was never intended to be.

What it is, is a fun, but limited arcade driving game with more things in its favour than flaws and, while at a retail price of £11.99, for some that’s not quite enough, for many that’s pretty much exactly what it should be.

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