Test de Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes

25% Zombie Defense

After a faster loading to be done than the outstanding time of the Deadalic & Co logos, we arrive on a homepage that takes directly into the atmosphere: the zombies are not there to scare, they are even very cute with their big eyes and the big cel shading. But that’s not going to attract them my clemency.

• 25% Zombie Defense
• 70% flipper
• 5% Rogue-like
• 100% fun

A single character playable at the start, named Grillam The Pyromaniane. Nine others are unlockable according to various criteria for which I will talk about later.
One of the characters is defined as the “daily hero” which allows you to recover a gold box in Chapter 1 and 35% more score for the unlock advancement score.

Then we choose the difficulty among three different knowing that only the normal is available at first.
It is then the moment to be parachuted on the card composed of hexagons and generated randomly with a basic biome corresponding to the current chapter (the first being for example based on forests) and then choose the special skill of our character., Grillaume being specialized in the fire.

We move on the boxes of the card as we wish and as many times as we want to fight against zombies. Following this battle, time advances one day, resulting in the progression of the zombie plague that invades the tray and makes damage if we go through boxes affected. Before going to combat, we can visit merchants, open offers or clear a way with storms or shovels if we have. This makes it possible to recover capabilities, objects or gold to pay for improvements and other boosts of statistics.

70% flipper

The heart of the game is therefore fighting against zombies. We then find ourselves on a playground having more or less the looks of a pinball (ramps and bumpers are not systematic) and we project our ball to cause maximum destruction.
A progress bar at the top of the screen indicates where we are, the fights being scripted by phases in their great line.
The first minutes of play are very brothel, because the least we can say is that the game is explosive and dynamic. The physics of the ball, without being fanciful, is not particularly realistic, but it goes well to the gameplay.
The flippers itself, which can be variable according to the tray, of course allow to return the ball with more or less force depending on the angle and the moment of typing. Note that in relation to a classic pinball, it is very rare to lose the ball because the space of the environment is often very small. The sanction in case of ball loss is only a loss of life, it is also the only important element concerning the loss of the part (and the run): once at 0 is finished and we is rewarded in progression points and potential objects that can be used at the next part.
Flippers also allow to type zombies who are approaching too much, but it often costs some valuable health.

5% Rogue-like

The trays are inventive and do not do anything to win, because by typing without thinking we can not progress in the phases of the fight. In the same way, boss fights must be taken seriously, because generally the ball does not make them a lot of damage while they typize us regularly, so it’s a race against the watch that is committed to Find out how to make the boss weak before bursting and it is often on these fights that we lose, because the mechanics are not always obvious to find.

Following each fight, one can choose a new power or increase the level of an existing power. Activated easily by the various keys of the controller, their importance is essential in the success of the proposed challenges. There are for all tastes, but I still had the impression that some of them are really very strong (the rain of meteorites makes huge damage for example).

These different powers give a certain stamp to combatants and dialogues (stuffed with humor with a good French translation) change according to the character taken. On the other hand, I did not feel too much effect in terms of statistics differences.

The rogue-like component of the game is it pretty light and finally pure because it consists only in a global progress bar to unlock elements and the principle of having to start again after each defeat. There is no global table of improvements or level change depending on the previous parts.

100% fun

If the mixing of genres could scare, Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes gets pretty well because despite parts that often saw the brothel more or less controllable, the fun is present thanks to the dynamism of the game and The various powers often available to cause even more destruction. Just as playable in nomadic mode in Dock mode, we note only slight slowdowns when there is a lot to display, the Switch does not allow miracles and the game is technically the road. Permanently original, it may be both its strength and defect, because the mixing of genres gives birth to a product resolutely different from its inspirations. Unable to advise “play the game if you liked the game XXXX” because it is unique and it is its first success. _Testé by armagnis on switch with a version provided by the publisher.