Think about your favorite systems from the past and the type of games that came from them There of course is action, adventure, horror, fighting, and sports to name a few. But I am talking back a little further with light-gun games where the NES had the NES Zapper, Super Nintendo had the Super Scope, Sega had the Light Gun, the Light Phaser Gun, even the Menacer Light Gun, and the most recent PlayStation VR’s Aim controller. But as we move over to other VR headsets, the accessory for arcade shooters may not really have an official option (yes, you can 3D print some), but that doesn’t stop from holding a weapon and firing at whatever may come your way in Virtual Reality. So does Developer XR Games give us that old-school feeling from the 90s and show us the fun and addictive way things can be? In a short answer, yes they do. Let’s find out more with Zombieland: Headshot Fever for the Oculus Quest/Quest 2.
In Zombieland: Headshot Fever we find that you a zombie apocalypse survivor (the player) is well accidentally rescued, well discovered as you are hiding out in a billionaire’s panic room inside their mansion by none other than the fearless four of Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock from the Zombieland movies. But since there is a greater chance of survival in numbers, even though it’s you that is putting your life on the line, gets trained by them in hopes to make it to the Zombieland Invitational and win it all.
So as I mentioned, you will need to be trained, but before that, you have some options to pick from. This includes selecting if you are right or left-handed, your skin tone, if you want to play seated or standing, and if you want subtitles on or off. Once you have made your choices, you are then introduced to Columbus who narrates everything from the beginning. What I want to say first is a thank you, to XR Games for allowing the simplest way to move from point A to point B and that is to just look at the marker to move and not having to worry about which way to move because you will have other things to worry about in the form of zombies. Firing your weapon is as simple as it gets. Pull the trigger to shoot and to reload, pull down on the analog stick, lower your weapon and keep on shooting. XR games really made super simple so you can concentrate more on the action and the leaderboards (more on this in a moment).
Once you are introduced to everyone, you are told about the Zombieland Invitational. But you just can’t go entering an invitational without some proper training, because, for one thing, you have been in a panic room for years) and you will need to go on some missions to help with that training and to get your zombie-killing feet wet. There are four different levels that are each represented by one of the Zombieland hosts. Little Rock is set for the Rookie, Columbus is the Advanced, Wichita is Expert, and Tallahassee is the Pro level. Within each of the levels are different themed missions where you have a target time to beat. Beat it and get the best score you can, you are up higher on the leaderboards vs not beating the time, and still hoping your score was enough to get you a higher spot.
But this is Zombieland right, so you gotta remember rule #2. Double Tap. In those moments when you’re not sure the undead are really dead dead, don’t get stingy with your bullets. Shoot the zombies twice in the head allows for adrenaline and things will slow down some and gives you more time to make your shot count when zombies are coming at you. The more headshots, the more combos, and points you get to get closer to being the top Zombieland ruler of them all. But as you go through levels, you will collect toilet paper that can be used as currency so you can then upgrade your weapons. Your pistol has unlimited ammo, so that’s a good thing. Your other weapons like the shotgun and other powerful weapons have limited bullets, so you will want to try and use those for the bigger zombies that come at you or for when zombies may throw objects at you and you can try to shoot those objects out of the air.
If an object hits you, you will blackout a little bit which is not good when you have zombies in front of you. If zombies get too close, then all this time training you might as well have been wasted or until you retry the mission as many times as you like until you pass it or just want to keep trying to get a higher score. Before each mission, you have some different options. Wichita will introduce you to the Gun Range once it becomes unlocked but other than that she and Columbus are upstairs with the achievements. Little Rock is where you go for the missions, and Tallahassee is in charge of the weapon load-outs and upgrades such as increasing the amount of ammo or different type of perks. It might be better to work on your aiming at the Gun Range just so you can get the feel of the Oculus Touch controllers and see how well the tracking actually works with the Oculus Quest 2 headset (not saying that it doesn’t work well with the Oculus Quest, I just have an Oculus Quest 2 and have not tried it on the Oculus Quest 1 headset). The Gun Range will also have different skill level sets from Easy to Hard with you having to beat the target time in order to unlock the next level. And yes, you guessed it, the Gun Range levels have leaderboards to try and compete with.
And oh, the leaderboards. This is part of the fun. Having leaderboards not only in the main action of each round, but the Gun Range as well is a nice added bonus. We all like some competition and even if you are not on the top of the top of them all, you will want to keep trying, no matter how many times you may need to repeat the level, just so you can try to get closer to the top of the leaderboards. And when you think about it, this is about getting and winning the Zombieland Invitational and what is a better way to see who can win it then with the leaderboards. It’s a nice way to tie in everything.
Let’s talk about the graphics for a moment. One thing I noticed was the eyes and the face of the Zombieland hosts. Somehow, XR games really got the likeness down here with the actual actor counterparts. Someone may look and know that the Oculus Quest 2 can provide much more detail to the graphics, and in all honestly, it is not so much about the graphics here in Zombieland: Headshot Fever as it is for the quick rounds and trying to get on the leaderboards. But when you hit the zombies in the head and see the blood splatter, it’s pretty fun. Remember, the developer bringing inspiration from the 90s arcade shooters and it did bring back some fun memories for me. Soundwise, hearing the characters talk, it almost does sound like them to a point, well at least for two of the characters. Tallahassee, who is played by Woody Harrelson did not reprise his role here, but his brother, Brett is the voice behind the character in the game and Abigail Breslin does reprise her role as Little Rock which is a nice touch and does add to the Zombieland immersion. When you add the music that is not overwhelmingly loud, the different sounds of each weapon, and those zombie sounds, it just adds to the experience.
If there is anything I would love to see are some additional levels for the different holidays. I mean having zombies wearing Christmas lights or hats or even them holding fireworks for the Fourth of July would be awesome. I would like to see additional weapons and even more load-outs and perks added to the game (remember rule #15. Bowling Ball). And the only other thing I would love to see added would be the ability for online co-op. This would add even more leaderboards and challenges if you had to worry about someone else (remember Commandment#1 Teamwork).
Zombieland: Headshot Fever brings the fun of the arcade shooters and tries not to be anything that it is not. It gives some fast-paced action, some competition, and just wants you to have some fun. Sometimes in our own lives we get busy while forgetting to have some fun along the way. And if we don’t stop to take a break every now in then, we could become zombies ourselves with the distractions in our own lives.
Zombieland: Headshot Fever is out now for the Oculus Quest/Quest 2 on the Oculus Store and will be coming to PCVR including the Oculus Rift/Rift S on the Oculus Store and to PlayStation VR. A review code was provided.
To learn more about the game, please visit the site and join their Discord. To learn more about XR Games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, follow them on Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have a Zombieland Invitational to try and win.