Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov's Revenge

 PlayStation 3
User Score
5.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 4 out of 15

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  1. teflontactics
    May 3, 2013
    8
    Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge is a game about Orville Tycoon and his heavy-duty zombies facing off against his former mentor Dr. Brainhov and his own breed of berserk undead. There’s not much story here, but what's present is played out in a slap-stick manner (in which nobody seems to know how to talk). The story isn’t the focal point of this game though; it’s definitely game-playZombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge is a game about Orville Tycoon and his heavy-duty zombies facing off against his former mentor Dr. Brainhov and his own breed of berserk undead. There’s not much story here, but what's present is played out in a slap-stick manner (in which nobody seems to know how to talk). The story isn’t the focal point of this game though; it’s definitely game-play driven.

    The idea behind game play is fairly straightforward; you’ve got two zombie packs, a mobile base and a monster at your beck and call each controlled using a different symbol on the controller (X, O, etc). The mobile base is your “King” so to speak (using a chess analogy here) it’s the piece to which you must protect at all costs as having it “die” ends the game. It also has other functions, such as a turret to attack zombies or protect itself and the ability to spawn zombies and monsters to fill out your ranks. Speaking of zombies and monsters, there are six and four of each respectively. The zombie types and their usefulness is as follows;

    Brawler zombies hit harder and are much, much tougher; they can stun and are perfect for rush attacks. Cleaner zombies can move through and neutralize chemical waste, and explode upon death. Engineer zombies are required for anything technical (such as moving a crane) and can take buildings faster than others. Samurai zombies are strong but have low defense. Scavengers are the only zombies that can hit from afar, throwing random items at your enemies. Scout zombies are for spying on your enemies and keeping track of their whereabouts.

    You also have four different monsters; Badgerker, Skidmark, Bearhug and Braintrust who round out your mobile army. Badgerker is quick but with low health, while Skidmark is slower with more damage dealt and more hit points. Bearhug has a lot of health but lacks in the other areas, and Braintrust seems to be the weakest with no discernible 'good' attributes. These monsters are your powerhouses and you must use them to their specific advantages in order to win.

    Attacking different buildings will also give you a slight advantage (or more, depending on the building type). Controlling the buildings is a key part of building up your army. When you have enough buildings, you can use a helpful power called “Dead Rush.” This power sends a huge horde of zombies out to help you. The amount of zombies in the horde depends on how many buildings you have taken over. Taking over shops will actually upgrade your squad zombies. You can even get new powers for your main monster; he gets experience by killing more and more enemies. His powers are very useful at times when things get hectic. Everything works together really well to say the least.

    Story levels usually have you taking over an area, or completing a simple task; they aren't overly complex and most of your time is spent fighting or navigating towards your goal. Though this game isn’t overly long, the chapters can clock in at an hour or so if you’re a completionist (or an RTS beginner) so it definitely takes a little time to complete, depending on how you play. If you’re looking for jump-in-and-play type gaming story mode isn’t the right place to look and you should head over to multiplayer, which we’ll cover next.

    In multiplayer mode (player vs. player) both teams start out at the opposite ends of a single town map and proceed with one goal; destroy the other team’s mobile base. As they move across the play field towards each other, players capture buildings to give their ranks strength, and try and gain the upper hand over their opponent in both numbers and zombie/monster type. Matches can be anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour it seems, and it depends on strategy and sneakiness how quickly the game can be played. I’ve only completed a few multiplayer missions but I can see this is where most of the fun can lie, especially combined with party chat and some trash talk.

    The game looks great on the Vita; the bright colours and crisp models popping out nicely on the OLED screen. The game is built on the Unreal 3 engine; and as such is built to look good and play smooth; and it does, though a few of the cut-scenes seemed to suffer from frame-rate issues. The sound is crisp and not unpleasant; though as usual I prefer my own music or mute when playing games that aren’t story based.

    Zombie Tycoon 2 is a unique title; zombies, real time strategy, and great multiplayer are a strange but surprisingly pleasant combination which offers much fun and little extra to worry about. Once you’ve gotten a hang of the controls, you just need to memorize the strengths and weaknesses of your zombies and play them to your advantage to win. A game akin to chess with the undead as pieces, this is a fun title which only the learned or lucky will win.

    I’m giving Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge a solid 7.5/10. (8 here, since it's definitely not a 7)    … Expand
  2. skydivefh
    May 13, 2013
    8
    Zombie Tycoon 2 is a simple RTS/MOBA hybrid. It is simple in that you only control 4 different units at a time. Also, your hero unit (called a monster in this game) levels up without the player deciding how to allocate stats and skills. This simplicity does not take away from the game. Instead, it enhances it and allows new players to the genre a nice entry point. In Zombie Tycoon 2,Zombie Tycoon 2 is a simple RTS/MOBA hybrid. It is simple in that you only control 4 different units at a time. Also, your hero unit (called a monster in this game) levels up without the player deciding how to allocate stats and skills. This simplicity does not take away from the game. Instead, it enhances it and allows new players to the genre a nice entry point. In Zombie Tycoon 2, you don't build a base. Instead you capture buildings which then allow you to change the type of squads you control. There are various different kinds of squads which you can use, all which have different pros and cons. The game's story is so-so. However, the cut scenes in which the story is told are well done and quite humorous. On a related note, the game's ending is epic and one of the best ones I've seen in a while.
    Zombie Tycoon 2's multiplayer is a blast. In the multiplayer, you play head-to-head with another human opponent and try to destroy that opponent's mobile spawner (essentially their base). The multiplayer is held back, however, because of there only being one map. Also, I believe the power of the monsters is unbalanced. The badger monster seems to be too weak while the Braintrust monster seems overpowered, especially because it self destructs upon death killing all enemy units within a certain radius. In addition to these flaws in multiplayer, unit control can be a problem in single player. During the campaign, I lost total control of my units and I needed to restart the level.
    All in all, Zombie Tycoon 2 is worth checking out especially at its low price point.    … Expand
  3. Slizarus
    May 3, 2013
    10
    This is a really cute tale about the zombie apocalypse brought about by the mad scientist Tycoon and his struggle to wipe out the last humans on earth. It comes as no surprise that he's got competition, his old mentor Brainhov has a zombie army of his own (the blue "ferals) and wrecks your life in the beginning.
    The first few levels get you used to the game and it's RTS stylings, you work    This is a really cute tale about the zombie apocalypse brought about by the mad scientist Tycoon and his struggle to wipe out the last humans on earth. It comes as no surprise that he's got competition, his old mentor Brainhov has a zombie army of his own (the blue "ferals) and wrecks your life in the beginning.
    The first few levels get you used to the game and it's RTS stylings, you work with your mobile zombie respawner that's armed with a turret when at rest on triangle, then 2 squads of zombies, and a single monster.

    Now wait, you're asking, where are the zombie hordes?
    They're mapped to the R button, once you start capturing houses, they'll each spawn a wandering zombie, that when you tap R, they'll all perform a dead run on your target, it's pretty impressive with enough zombies.

    The gameplay is fun, I was never bored, the missions are almost too short for me (a casualcore RTSer like myself) but there's plenty of little things you have to do to keep you busy, objectives you have to capture, objects you have to work with certain zombies, houses to capture, or even secret trophies to find scattered around.

    Now, there are a number of little achievements you can get in each level, but, if I'm not mistaken you can't see what they're looking for until after you complete it which means you don't know on your first run what you should do to get trophies (I assume) which is lame.

    Multiplayer, I haven't tried it yet but it looks so much fun.

    I am disappointed at the apparent lack of bot gameplay, I guess they figure that later in the game certain missions will be compelling enough to get your fix on PvE.

    I would love to see this game get attention, I think it's worth it, it's certainly the best handheld RTS I've played.

    Also.
    Boss fights, they're pretty cool and I felt, pretty unique.
    Looking forward to playing more, but I'm so busy with SS, MGS HD, GOW GoS.. oh, sony.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 13
  3. Negative: 2 out of 13
  1. Official PlayStation Magazine Benelux
    Sep 4, 2013
    69
    A zombie game that lets you control your own Zombies in the way of a classic RTS? Sounds cool. Looks cool, too. Plays … decent. But it gets boring real fast and some mechanics simply are not all that well executed. [June 2013, p.91]
  2. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Jul 12, 2013
    50
    Cross-buy, cross-play, cross-save: the three non-words every ‘PS3ita’ gamer hungers to hear. Zombie Tycoon 2 has all of these, and that’s what it does right. What it does wrong: its solo play is boring, and gets in the way of its rather decent multiplayer action. [July 2013, p80]
  3. Eurogamer Sweden
    Jun 28, 2013
    40
    This is a mediocre and lackluster RTS that clearly isn’t ready for launch. When the playtime is doubled because of crippling bugs and still feels far too short you know something is not right. It gets extra credits for a charming design but demands that the player doesn’t need a motivation for killing innocent civilians.
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