First off, yes that is the game’s real name. It’s the work of developer James Silva, and he’s apparently the sort of game maker that believes that if he’s going to do something, it’s worth doing with the volume at maximum while he grinds down a stairway rail on a magical rap singing skateboard and being chased by chainsaw-wielding penguins that are on fire while he shoots lasers out of his eyes. What I’m trying to say is that his latest twin-stick shooter is so intentionally over-the-top and ridiculous, that it falls so far into being stupid that it wraps around into being ’epic win.’ With "Z0MB1ES!!!1", he offers an excellent twin-stick shooter at a bargain price.

The basic idea is like any other twin-stick shooter; you control a character from a top-down perspective with one stick, and use the other to shoot in any direction you like. It starts off with just a swarm of zombies closing in from every side, while an absurd song plays that tells you about how he did, indeed, make a game with zombies in it! As you gun down zombies, you’ll obtain various power-ups; flame-throwers, rocket launchers, machine guns, lasers, and so on; all suited to taking on different crowds. But not long into this, strobe lighting begins flashing everywhere while the background changes, and blobs that split apart into smaller blobs join the attack on you, followed shortly thereafter by even more enemies; glowing pixel faces, and those ’expanding snakes’ from games where you have to guide a line/snake to food without hitting your increasingly long girth with your head. And a few other types of enemies are eventually introduced, until you’re pretty well surrounded.

While you’re doing that, the backgrounds and graphics get increasingly ridiculous and the game gets faster and faster, with hundreds of monsters chasing you down as you scramble to the tiny little pockets of clear space you’re able to make, while struggling to get to a new power-up so you can get a better gun. It’s simple, but fast and perfectly paced; you’ll be frantic the whole time but always able to spare the tiniest of moments to plan a move and react to things. It’s everything a game like this ought to be, and easily one of the best twin-stick shooters I’ve seen... certainly the best one at its price point.

There are just two things I need to point out. First, if you have an epileptic condition you might want to pass on "Z0MB1ES!!!1", because the developer has decided to toss in so many over-the-top flashing lights and laser effects that each purchase of this game really ought to come with an autographed picture of him, reading: "lol, enjoy ur seizures!!11one - James Silva." Second, while the game has support for up to four player co-op, it’s only local play; there is no online. On the other hand, the game costs a dollar, so I can forgive that. So, what’s my verdict? I’ll let this video speak for me: