Infected

Shhh… hear that? A slow shuffling, low moaning and the distinct odor
of rotting flesh. It’s either a zombie or dad’s been out with his
buddies again. Unlike dad though, zombies have come a long way since
they shambled onto screen in the early 30’s. Romero’s Night of the
Living Dead really introduced the genre and paved the way for film
farces like Shaun of the Dead and video game franchises like Resident
Evil. 28 Days Later redefined what a zombie was, turning him from a
slow moving but persistant shell of a human to instinct driven
creatures who carried a virus that could be transferred like rabies, to
anyone they scratched or bit. The infection theory carries the most
plausibility and adds that extra bit of fear, especially to
hypocondriacs.

Taking their viral queue, Majesco Entertainment offers up Infected for
the PSP. A viral outbreak in New York City is turning citizens into the
living-impaired, and just days before Christmas. Last minute shoppers
become shamblers and as a member of the NY Bio Team, it’s your job to
prevent further spread of the virus, first by weakening each zombie
with a barrage of weapons, then hitting them with a few drops of your
own blood. As it turns out, your blood is a potent anti virus that
causes an explosive chain reaction when introduced to infected blood.
Remember the end of Blade, where the blood swollen bad guy gets
injected with Blade’s cocktail? Explosive internal combustion! A gun
specially fitted to your arm lets you fire projectiles of your own
blood to finish off a weakened zombie.

Gameplay is made up of
rescue missues, seek and destroy and timed challenges. Completing bonus
objectives like clearing a level in less time than required pays you
cash with which you can buy power-ups like armor, speed and weapon
upgrades. Pistols, machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers and even
chainsaws are all available for turning the undead into chunks. A lock
on control helps to target your enemies properly and keep on them as
you dance around. Once you’ve weakened a zombie enough, indicated by a
meter above their heads, hit them with your viral gun to explode them.
Weaken a group of them and hit one with your blood to string together a
chained combo which errupts the screen into blood and guts.
Pre-rendered cut scenes and audio clips that play while levels load
offer up quite a bit of adult humor. Language and visuals are
deffinately NOT intended for children, hence the M rating.

Single player run and gun is pretty standard fair, as is multiplayer
except for one unique detail. Using the built in Wi-Fi for the PSP, you
can connect via the net for one on one gaming. If you lose an online
match, your PSP then becomes ‘infected’ with the virus of the player
who just whooped you. Single player levels you’ve already beat now have
additional challenges added to them and every regular zombie-joe now
bears the resemblance of your foe, a custom avatar created and
maintained for multiplayer use. Likewise if you win, your virus is
transferred and this continues to each PSP the loser plays until he
‘cleans’ his infection. Using a world map, you are actually able to
track and see how far-reaching your infection has spread. If a player’s
system is infected and he wins a match online, he spreads his previous
infection, instead of his own until he goes back to the single player
modes and beats those levels touched by the infection. The problem is a
lack of motivation to actually play online. Playing on the net means
you have no choice with whom you connect to, which means a high-drop
out rate and since you’re only playing against one person, deathmatch
is the only mode available. Ad-hoc games offer a little more variety
and up to eight players in a match, but its still just back and forth
firing, the kind of gameplay offered by the original Doom.

Despite a truly unique way of tracking scores and claiming bragging
rights, Infected still tends to be a monotonous shoot-run-shoot game
with an emphasis on throwing as much blood into the snow covered New
York streets as possible. It doesn’t offer anything truly innovative in
gameplay, but does provide a limited fun-factor if frenetic action is
your thing. As a bonus, fans of the metal band Slipknot will be happy
to know they are among the soundtrack contributors and band members can
be unlocked as avatars for use in multiplayer.