(There’s some amusing easter eggs, like a hospital named after the Godfather of all zombies)
It was a nice idea. That’s the greatest praise I can heap upon Crenetic’s Trapped Dead. Billed as a real time strategy zombie survival game, Trapped Dead fills a very specific place in both genres. Set in a small town during the 80s, a zombie outbreak is caused by genetically modified corn (I kid you not), and you take control of a group of survivors attempting to escape the madness.
Initially, you’ll only control one character named Mike, but in time you’ll control six different characters, all with different abilities and proficiencies. For example, Professor Harper is the second character you’ll encounter. He has the ability to recover health on a character by using a medical kit, where most characters can only staunch bleeding (to avoid attracting zombies). He also possesses a greater accuracy with firearms, but the trade-off is that he is wheelchair-bound and cannot use melee weapons. He also moves slower than an average speed character like Mike, and so you have to plan accordingly when using him. Other characters are just as unique, having damage resistance, certain weapons they can’t use, or bonuses when using certain weapon types. The key to survival is using these characters effectively.
The zombies in Trapped Dead are unique from most current zombie games because, rather than have a bunch of specialized types of zombies, they are instead cast in the mold of George Romero style zombies. That is to say, no sacrilegious running zombies, no fat exploding types, no long-range attacking zombies. These are the original shambling legions of the undead. The only concession to modern zombie archetypes are larger meat-cleaver wielding zombies, who have much more health, are more difficult to stagger, and act as mini-bosses in many stages. The only other zombie that really breaks the mold is the boss at the end of the game.
Another unique idea in the game are traps that can be used to dispose of zombies instead of wasting precious ammo, or putting your characters in harm’s way. The traps are varied – such as a car on a hydraulic lift you can use to flatten a zombie in the tutorial, or a floor drenched with water around an electric chair in the prison – and at least one is present in every stage (although some take more mundane forms, like fire extinguishers).
Like I said, it was a nice idea; Trapped Dead has the structure of an interesting game. It’s too bad that all the potential it has gets buried under flawed execution and a host of bugs. The tutorial gives a glimpse of what the game could be; introducing you to the controls, melee weapons, traps, and zombie behavior. But even then you see some problems you’ll be dealing with.
In a real time strategy game, the responsiveness of your mouse and the camera are key to being successful. A wrong order issued or not being able to quickly focus on where the action is not only can, but will lead to failure. Considering that, it’s inexcusable that Trapped Dead has what can only be described as a built-in lag on both the mouse and camera. The only option available in game to try and remedy the problem is changing the mouse sensitivity, but frankly it did nothing. It’s no small amount either; it’s highly noticeable, especially when you start dealing with moving multiple characters, switching weapons, luring zombies to choke points or traps. You know, generally anything that involves playing the game.
Another thing that becomes apparent is that none of the characters you control want to survive the zombie apocalypse; they have no sense of self-preservation. I mean that a character – with a weapon equipped – will gladly stand by and let an errant zombie chow down on them without lifting a finger. The game does give you the ability to select a group of zombies, which a character will engage as they enter range of the weapon. It works fine for organized ambushes, but you can forget trying to repurpose it for self-defense if wielding a firearm; because if a character has line of sight they will open fire, even if there is no danger to their person (and ammo is limited, true to the survival horror genre).
Even when actively controlling a character, the AI is unreliable; in particular with melee weapons. You would think that using a katana or a baseball bat would give you a reach advantage over a zombie’s arms, but that isn’t the case; not most of the time, at least. Sometimes a character will beat a zombie’s brains out as soon as it comes in swinging distance. Other times a zombie will be playing tonsil hockey with your medulla oblongata before the character reacts. It’s frustrating, and made even worse by the fact that you’re gambling with every encounter; no matter how well you plan. Not a good look for a strategy game.
The game’s checkpoint system leaves much to be desired as well. Not only are the save points only usable once, but they require every character to be present on them to activate. This wouldn’t be a horrible problem, but too many of the checkpoints are located in strange places. Add to that an oversight – I believe it was an oversight rather than a bug – where, upon loading a game, any previously opened doors are closed. That’s a problem, because there are levels (like the prison) where some doors can only be opened from one side.
It seems to be a recurring theme with Trapped Dead: some kink, that on its own wouldn’t be too bad, runs into another aspect of play, then snowballs to create an unbearable situation. Have that happen one too many times, and then you have a game that’s easy to lose interest in playing.
There’s also the bugs, including many that are game-breaking, that I’ve been assured the developer is working on. However, if for some reason you choose to adopt the game early, expect bugs including, but not limited to: no sound, crashing upon start-up, crashing on load, crashing during play, game loading with no character or inventory present (see screenshot below, I could barely believe it myself), tactical pause not pausing, characters being damaged from no discernible source, enemies respawning that were killed before that save point if the game is reloaded. The game also has a multiplayer mode, but it was so broken that I could never get a match working. It’s like a grab bag filled with nothing but nightmares.
(Seriously? Seriously?!)
Trapped Dead has rare moments of greatness when everything works correctly – usually involving a masterful setup that decimates a large group of zombies with traps and a coordinated assault – but these moments happen almost in spite of the game. It’s a disappointing affair (and not one I could recommend to anyone in its current shape), but hopefully one that has been a learning experience for Crenetic. They were on the right track and had a little explored concept that could have turned into a Magicka-level success, the execution just needs work.
