Yeah, Age of Zombies doesn't take itself very seriously and that's probably one of the game's biggest strengths. I'm all in favor of videogames advancing as an artistic medium, but after spending a few emotionally crushing hours with a game like Heavy Rain, it's nice to just be able to shut your brain off for a while and plow through a horde of robot zombies (yes, robot zombies). And once the story mode is complete, you can compete for offline high scores in an unlimited survival mode for each level.

Being a top-down shooter for the PSP, Age of Zombies uses the analog nub (or d-pad if you prefer) for movement, while aiming in eight directions is relegated to the four face buttons. This has pretty much become the standard control scheme for PSP shooters, so likely if you're a PSP owner you already know your tolerance for this control layout. Age of Zombies adds a nice little extra to the controls by allowing you to hold the right shoulder button to strafe while firing in whatever direction you were already aiming.

Barry Steakfries' arsenal might not be the most original, consisting of genre staples like SMGs, shotguns, and flamethrowers, but the way they are used is fairly unique. When you pick up a weapon power-up, every zombie you kill with that weapon counts toward a combo meter. When you run out of ammo or pick up any other weapon (including another power-up of whichever weapon you are currently using) the combo is broken and you collect a score bonus based on the combo you built to that point. This encourages a bit of restraint in terms of how you ration the power-ups that are dropped in the level, which can become a challenge when trying to balance 40+ zombies coming at you from all sides.

The zombies themselves are actually quite varied. There are generic male and female zombies common to every level, but then there are also unique zombies to fit each level's time period theme. Sometimes it's merely a cosmetic change, but in cases like the Chicago gangster zombies or fuedal ninja zombies they will actually attack you with projectiles that help to keep the gameplay varied. You'll also come across giant, fast, or exploding versions of each zombie type which further prevents Age of Zombies from falling into the repetitive gameplay traps of many similar games. One nice thing is that when Barry is attacked by zombies it isn't a one hit kill scenario. Taking a cue from the modern FPS model, Barry can regain his health if he stays out of the action for a few seconds. But don't think that takes away the difficulty of the game, because If stuck in a corner or against a wall he'll still go down in no more than three quick hits, which will happen fairly often with the huge numbers of zombies on screen at once.

Now, it's worth mentioning that Age of Zombies is playable on the PS3 in addition to the PSP. The controls are not modified in any way for the shift in systems, which may rub PS3 gamers the wrong way. On the PSP it's not so bad to use the face buttons for aiming, but the face buttons on the PS3 controller are spread a bit further apart making diagonal aiming with two buttons more uncomfortable. Using R1 to strafe helps this issue some, but it's no substitute for using the right analog stick. There's also the fact that there are two very similar zombie shooters already available for PS3 through the Playstation Network, so console zombie hunters may already have their undead splattering fix covered.

On PSP, Age of Zombies is fairly easy to recommend. As much as there are tons of zombie games out there, the PSP has managed to avoid most of them making Age of Zombies an excellent choice for zombie slaying on the go. On PS3 I found the game slightly harder to recommend thanks to a control scheme better tailored to the handheld, but it's still fun enough to easily compete with the other (more expensive) zombie shooters available on PSN.

PSP minis: 8/10
PS3 minis: 7/10