By Ned Jordan
The Last Guy is one of those games with such simple play that some are going
to find it addicting while others will absolutely hate it. Most will agree
that it's not your typical game, downloadable or packaged, and it should provide
some degree of entertainment to the majority of gamers.
There is a story to the game, although it is told in Japanese with English
subtitles while the screen displays a TV test pattern. It seems that the
Earth has been hit by a giant ray from space that has turned everyone who was
outdoors at the time into a zombie. Those lucky enough to have been
indoors at the time (which presumably includes 90% of gamers) have survived with
their humanity intact, but are forced to remain indoors because of the marauding
zombies terrorizing the streets. It is your job as 'The Last Guy' to
escort the survivors from their hiding places to evacuation safe zones where
they can be picked up and rescued by a rather cool-looking spaceship.
Rescuing people involves running up to a building and waiting as the people
come pouring out. If you run past the people they will start following
behind you, giving you a tail made up of a living mob. As more people join
the parade, the line behind you will continue to grow longer. The longer
it gets, the more vulnerable your crowd becomes to attack by zombies. If a
zombie charges into your crowd, the people will scatter in fear and try to find
shelter in nearby buildings, forcing you to go back and collect them again.
Your goal is to bring a minimum number of people to the evacuation zone within a
set time limit. You won't have time to bring people in small groups
because a lot of shuffling back and forth will eat up the clock. However,
with a huge mob you run a greater risk of a zombie coming along and sending all
of your people away. Thus there's a fine balance between being too
cautious and overly aggressive here, and a big part of the fun is trying out
different strategies to try an maximize the number of people you rescue in a
level.
The game has a unique look to it because the level maps are taken from Google
Earth images of real cities. Some locations are famous, like Fishermen's
Wharf in San Francisco, others, well, not so famous. At least after
playing the game you'll be able to find your way to the New Mexico Supreme Court
building the next time you're in Santa Fe...
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
78%. Definitely not your typical zombie game...
