The James Logan Courier

By John Chau, Courier Managing Editor

The night settles, and stars rose into the tranquil sky. On the ground however a group of desperate survivors were loading their weapons, adding debris onto the pile that was the only barrier between walking bags of fresh meat,

And the legions of zombies that was your life.

The first rotting mounds inches forwards, and across the bunker gunfire erupted. With a ‘boomstick’, you dispatch the shambling form that once volunteered at the local animal shelter, backing away to reload. Morale is low: eight grown men knew they have little chance to survive against the filth that hammered at their walls, eager for their morsel in their damnation.

One round blew away the head of Screamo, the traveling circus clown; another knocked down Mr. Jameson, the manager of the local gun club. Dawn was approaching quickly, but already it was too late: a bloody man ran forward with insane glee, scattering the debris that was your wall along with the rest of your surviving teammates.

You are going to die, but you didn’t care: Revving a bloody chainsaw, you rush forward, cleaving and swinging, meeting your creator in an embrace of dead teeth and blood…

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The Last sStand is no conventional zombie defense game: It places you in the role of a survivor of an apocalyptic zombie outbreak, protected by a makeshift barricade and an arsenal of deadly arms. Aside from killing the personalized, phobia inducing swarms of undead, the game also features a handy customization system, allowing the player to find fellow survivors, better arms, and repair their shelters. The gunfire sounds are realistically deafening, and the background shows the night skies changing from the darkest moments, to the glorious dawn that was the level’s end.

The game is not without however, its weak points: Although the game hints specifically spoke of players being able to salvage weapons from the undead, no amount of work so far had gotten zombies to hand over the weapons they held. The game also did not address ammunition issues, but instead had player avatars pull out endless clips of ammo from their vests. Moreover, the game distinctly lacked the exotic weapons other successful flash games offered, such as the rocket launcher or the flamethrower from Zombie Horde! Last Stand also fails on its difficulty: Once a player recruits the maximum amount of survivors, the cost for repairing the bunker and the amount of zombies successfully reaching the barrier becomes ridiculously low, making this game at times more of a fish-fry than a tense struggle for survival.

Regardless of its shortcomings, Last Stand is the perfect game for Flash gamers eager to cleanse the world of yet another zombie outbreak.

Score: Graphics: 3.7/5
Difficulty: 2.5/5
Fun: 3/5
Sound: 3.5/5
Smoothness: 5/5