Zombie Wranglers Preview

It’s after school and four friends are hanging out looking for some way to pass the time when a frantic call comes in from the CDA – Central Doom Agency. Zombies are on the loose and someone needs to take care of this menace before it overwhelms the peaceful town of Potter’s Field.

Now place tongue firmly in cheek and kick back and enjoy the ride – this is Zombie Wranglers, part of Sierra’s upcoming XBLA lineup. The title was shown off during a media event in mid-April in San Francisco and the title is a bit quirky but while arcade in nature, it has elements of role-playing games as well.

This is a third-person action game with up to four-player co-op or competitive game modes tossed in. Sporting cel-shaded graphics, the game has many of the mechanics one associates with a title of this sort, like upgradeable weapons, powerups scattered in the environment and different environments and mission types. Each of the wranglers has a unique weapon (like one of them has a boom box that shoots CDs) and as you dispose of the zombies, you collect zombucks. Each of the missions is broken down and you have a chore’s list to accomplish.

The co-op mode is handled with a top-down look and plays almost akin to the classic Gauntlet game.

The graphics are lighthearted and fun, drawing people in and supplementing the look with an easy control scheme and entertaining story. In other words, it is a solid XBLA style title. Look for Zombie Wranglers to release in late summer.