Infected

Reviewed by Jonathan Levy
January 15, 2006

Developer: Planet Moon Studios Publisher: Majesco Consoles Available: PSP Number of Players: 1 - 8 ESRB Rating: M for Monstrous Violence Review Rating: 8 out of 10

It was Christmas time in New York City . It was supposed to be a time for celebrations and festivities. The New York Biohazard Team had just been called in for some serious overtime. An infection had begun. Zombies began to take over the city and only you can stop them. Your blood was discovered to be immune to the zombie virus and would also make zombies explode if you could add it to their bloodstream.

Screenshot from Infected. Click image to enlarge.

The game begins with choosing a name for the one's character to be Officer <INSERT CHOSEN NAME HERE> Stevens. After choosing a name, one gets to customize the look of the character. There are also some unlockable skins one can get throughout game play. After designing an avatar a player gets to the main menu. The first time one selects the Campaign menu a short video describing how to kill the zombies begins playing. After the video, it brings the gamer to the Campaign menu which will be the gateway to all single-player needs. As one progresses through the game there will be yellow question marks that provide hints and tips. Also, as missions are completed, upgrades are unlocked to help the fight against the ever growing zombie onslaught.

The controls were easy once I got the hang of them, but it took a while to start feeling like I was mastering them. The combo system is pretty simplistic, but it is tricky to get the large combos because of the zombie movement pattern and especially if one forgets to charge the viral gun, but even then the big combos are tough.

The multiplayer is an entertaining experience. Infrastructure allows a gamer to play a one on one deathmatch. Ad Hoc allows a gamer to play four modes: Savior, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Mad Cow. Mad Cow is basically king of the hill with the basic principle of maintaining cow-form as long as possible. Savior is all about saving as many civilians as one can. Multiplayer even allows one to infect the world. When one wins a multiplayer game one infects the losing player with a virus and they play multiplayer games as your avatar while infected. The only way to clean the infection is to beat the three highest level missions in single player.

Overall, this game was quite a wonderfully entertaining experience because its violence, gore, and uncensored language. The single player mode is very challenging. The multiplayer is awesome with its unique idea to infect the losers. The infection is an excellent way to get players to go back to the campaign to clear the infection which in turn helps them improve their gaming skills. The game is also great to just pick on some zombies and watch the blood and guts fly.

I recommend this game to anyone that enjoys playing violent and bloody games.

More Screenshots (Click image to enlarge) :