When I read the Previews and saw the promotional material about this game, it looked and sounded quite awesome. The promise of killing zombies and assorted monsters — using a superb gaming engine to do it — who wouldn’t want to try it? However, it fell way short of my hopes. I understand that not every game is going to be the next Halo, but I also do see when something was put together in a hurry or otherwise missed the Quality Control process before release. For such a project and ambitions, how does something fall so short on the potential?

Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia is a standard third-person shooter that longs to be respected, but with the lineup of playable characters, can’t be taken too seriously. None of the choices are appealing to anyone old enough to drive. I opted for the nerdy character, but only because the huge-chested bimbo and slacker were even less appealing. How about offering Generic Joe? Do we always have to be a lame “kid” with a ‘tude or special look? Anyway, your stereotype player is Suburbia’s only hope against a random assault from the forces of evil. Zombies of all kinds, vampires, werewolves and etc are all on a rampage and you must use various uninspired weapons that you can pickup along the way. Once you realize that not many of them are worth testing, stick to a couple and focus on ammo. Once in a while, you get to jump in something that moves, and the walk-and-slash takes a break. Such deviances from running around are few and not worth much as a change of pace. Too soon, you are back on foot for no-objective clue gathering and boss killing. The first several levels are peppered with tasks and objects that enable you to progress forward, but for some reason that aspect seemed to lessen, and it was more straight-forward as a killing game. Again, such variety in the play doesn’t add enough to the game to make it better, but as the levels get deeper, you miss that variation in play. I just feel that if all I want to do is turn and burn, I can play Mortal Kombat or such.

The controls for the game (PC version) are painful. It is not intuitive, and seems to beg for external controlling. Maybe it plays better on a platform, but this PC version was a trial of patience. I usually get familiar and more comfortable with any game that requires this kind of time, but even after half a dozen levels, I felt lost. A lot of that had to do with the vertigo I encountered from lousy camera controls. The views can get beyond crazy, and interfere with your reactions. That can be expected in most games from time to time, but this one exceeds that expectation in a negative way. There are several levels of difficulty, with the Easy one being very generous in allowing you to plow through it steadily. However, the harder versions are askew and challenge you in negative ways. The bosses are a monumental headache, and the end forces you to engage all of the previously encountered fiends for a blood-fest of repeat action—before the “reward” of tackling the last Boss. By then, you just want to uninstall it and move on.

The audio is littered with inconsistent laughs, as they get repetitive too soon and the acting is mostly below average. There are occasional smile-inducing zingers, but they’re too little and too far apart. The music and environmental sounds are scraped from the cast-out remnants of a Vincent Price movie — mixed with tracks that sound like similarly rejected Danny Elfman tracks. I don’t take too much stock in music, as that is a factor that can be adjusted or turned completely off. However, this mix of lost audio mash-ups confused me! Maybe it was hypnotism?

The visuals were very nice, but the camera issues and overdone explosions made it a mess. It was like looking at nice artwork — through a distorted window. The objects are plentiful — and look nice. Even when you destroy things, they maintain their “pieces” instead of resorting to a blob of ash. It’s just that the ADHD inspired explosions take away from anything you might admire. The characters also maintain their look and distinctive features (chest) during action. Their look is way better than their speech.

Southpeak Games has provided all of the ingredients for a fantastic, thrilling action game along the lines of Zombies Ate My Neighbors — with more than just the living dead to vanquish. You’d think that you couldn’t miss when you take a solid, hip formula and add even more spice in the way of furry monsters, vampires, boats and hovercrafts. Not in this case, unfortunately. It wasn’t executed with much focus, and more attention seemed to be given to look and style rather than gameplay and a plot. Why the heck are the evil creatures upset with the ‘Burbs, anyway? Why does the camera have a mind of its own, and why do I have to suffer for it? These questions and more will keep you on the edge of your gaming seat!   

Gameplay: 5.0
The game is a nightmare to learn. The controls are not friendly, and require some serious study of the manual for success. Even after knowing them well, it was a struggle to enact a good combination for a clean result. Instead, you get cramps and, combined with the camera angle fiasco, the action is muddied up beyond hope. The array of objects to gather and use is fun for a while, but they seemed to dwindle and leave you with a straight forward (albeit poor) walk-and-kill action game.  

Graphics: 7.0 
The greatest component of the game is the visual style. It is “edgy” and overflowing with colors and style. I award a big “A” for creative effort. That goes away quickly with the unintended chaos caused by poor cause-and-effect thinking, along with the camera craziness. It’s a shame to drag down the whole project by annoyances that were not intentional but nonetheless painful. Aside from that, it is very nice looking … madness.    

Sound: 5.0
The voice acting is below convincing and when it does rise to a decent level, seems to be extinguished quickly by repetition or a flat joke. The jokes and wise-cracks come along steadily, and try hard enough, but are a few chuckles short of a decent laugh. Maybe it was the pain of the other factors that kept me in a sour mood, but it was like broken instruments trying to play a symphony. Not literally, but you get the idea.  

Difficulty: Hard
The game is difficult, but not in the good, challenging way. It’s a sharp pain, and there is no cure. If you master the controls (meaning you have 14 fingers), the camera craziness will get you. In the heat of battle, the action will swirl and jerk on your screen as it adjusts to your movement. Too little, too late.  

Concept: 4.0 
Although it uses current technology for its execution, the game is old and familiar. I felt painfully aware of having played it before, but didn’t seem to like it as much as “before”. Except for the physical characters, it isn’t very new and fresh. It falls short on its promise to take to you a place of scary beats and the challenge of saving the world (or neighborhood). Maybe if they had inserted a Lemonade Stand from Hell. ... That might have come off as new and refreshing.    

Overall: 5.0
It has the promise and expectation of being a much greater game than it is. The packaging and promotion was top-notch. The gaming engine is enough to make a hard core gamer get the “tingles.” They state that it was specifically designed “Ageia NovodeX Physics platform, including use of the PhysX PPU.” That sounds good, right?? Even the load/install and introduction to it generated a smile. I read the manual — a little — during the installation and jumped right in. My expectations were crushed very quickly. I honestly gave it a fair shake and as many chances for redemption as I could, but it never regained the mantle of excellence I had programmed in my head. The game actually got worse as it progressed, which further dampened my hopes. I’m sure they’re capable of creating amazing work with the tools at their disposal, but this effort spun out of control in a hurry. I know the creative ability is there, but the application and process of bringing that to life was a false start out of the gate. In the mean time, this one needs to be left in the ‘burbs, and maybe they can redeem it — if the monsters attack the City! We can hope….