Game Play: Burn Zombie Burn! (PSN)

I actually thought this would be the weekend I'd properly bust into Resident Evil 5, but instead I got hooked on this PlayStation Network title, Burn Zombie Burn!. Dual stick shooters are becoming practically a genre on itself, but BZB has a few tricks which make it at least slightly inventive.

The basic strategy goes like this: zombies are afraid of fire, unless they're already burning. Burning zombies increase your multiplier, but they're also not afraid of you anymore - so the more burning zombies, the more of a fiery mob with which you need to contend. It's a bit like someone got just a bit of The Last Guy stuck in my peanut butter. And by peanut butter, I mean my boomstick.

The game itself it a cartoony parody-pastiche of zombie flicks, from a big chinned hero named Bruce to settings ranging from the shack in the woods to the evil lab where all of this probably got started. In general the game is pretty damn fun and highly addictive, my only real complaint is that some of the weapons are actually pretty useless for most situations. Your standard gun is actually pretty effective and there are times when you'll curse the game because you just ran into the somewhat-unique-and-entertaining-but-leaves-you-without-a-way-to-kill-zombies Brain Gun.

Oh, and the constant left stick/left shoulder push had a tendency to pull my tendons out of whack. Ouch. Pain aside, though, safely recommend for the $10 entry fee.