I knew I was in for a rough ride with Favela Zombie Shooter the very first time the game started. The game glitched out and left me stuck on the main menu screen, unable to progress to the actual game. First impressions count, and leaving me locked in a menu screen, forcing me to restart the game is a desperately poor one.
The game worked the second time I booted it up, at least, but unfortunately things didn’t improve in terms of an experience. Dreadfully shallow, broken and lacking in functionality, Favela Zombie Shooter feels little more than a bunch of pre-made assets, thrown together to in the loose shape of a playable game.
Call of Doodie: Zombies
Originally launching at the tail end of 2023 on PC, Favela Zombie Shooter has subsequently released on Nintendo Switch and now PlayStation 4. It’s name and format is very obviously designed to mimic the wave based Call of Duty Zombies modes, while also harking back to the classic Favela map from Modern Warfare 2.
The format will be similar to anyone who remembers wave based Zombies modes; play is broken down into waves of enemies that spawn around an enclosed area. The aim is to ‘survive’ each wave and kill all of the zombies. Doing so grants you a brief reprieve between rounds, where you can restock on health and ammo before it begins all over again.
Unlike Call of Duty, you’re limited to just the gun that you start each run with. Killing zombies does reward cash, and you can spend that money on new weapons from a limited (and uninspired range) in the main menu. These can then be taken onto your next run.
The fact that it’s a shooter, has zombies and is in a wave based format is where the similarities between Favela Zombie Shooter and Call of Duty begin and end however. The former is a charade of Activision’s mega hit, making a mockery of itself in the process.
A Boring Apocalypse
Let’s start with the ‘Zombies’. Between 6 and 13 of these shuffling undead spawn with each round and they come in 3 different flavours. Completely useless, completely useless but faster, and completely useless while running. The AI for these enemies is incredibly poor. They simply stand still until you get close to them, beeline towards you once you’re near, pause for a second or two, then attack. Take a step back once they’ve started their attack animation, and they’ll simply swipe at the air. They offer little to no threat, and as such, Favela Zombie Shooter feels more like a bland firing range rather than an actual shooter.
What’s even more vexing is that the AI for the zombies in this game only seems to be interested in attacking when you’re touching the floor. Jump and stand on a table, or a bin, or even climb up a building, and the zombies just switch off. I’ve had more fun playing ‘red light, green light’, jumping off and back onto a balcony to watch the zombies stop, then go than I did while shooting them. If the developers weren’t going to develop the AI to attack when the player jumps to evade, why even give the player a jump button?
Visually, the zombies are amongst the most generic I’ve ever seen. They’re very obviously a pack of Unity assets with very little alternation made to them. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s this asset pack.
Faulty Favela
Talking of assets, the 4 maps you can play on in Favela Zombie Shooter (which is actually just two, repeated with different lighting, one during the day and the other version during the night) look like asset packs too. They’re poorly put together, full of visual glitches, penned-in by invisible walls and are frankly not very fun to play on. More than a few times, the textures on the maps have disappeared altogether.
Performance is incredibly spotty with this game too. Despite there not being a vast number of enemies to contend with at once, the frame rate can dip and there’s been a number of moments when the game has frozen for a second. This seems to happen more often when using one of the better weapons.
While the balancing for enjoyment is poor with the starting weapon, it gets even worse when you start to purchase the better weapons. Pick up the SCAR in the main menu and your next run at the game will be like shooting fish in a barrel using dynamite. The zombies don’t stand a chance, falling after a short burst of fire, and you’ll end up quitting the game through sheer boredom rather than ever feeling under threat.
Brazilian Bugs
So the game play is insipid, but it’s never more so than when you’re hit with one of the frustrating bugs in Favela Zombie Shooter. The most annoying is when one of the zombies spawn outside of the map. The waves in the game can’t end until all of the undead are dead again. Because you’re trapped inside of the map by maddening invisible walls, you’ve got no other option than try to lure the zombie back to its death. Waves that usually last a minute or two can take three times as long as you try to bread crumb the wayward zombie back to their death.
And the music. Oh heck, the music. One song plays on repeat throughout the entire experience, from the menu to the game play, and while it’s pretty peppy when you first hear it, it quickly becomes grating.
It’s probably apt that the one positive about Favela Zombie Shooter is likely an accident. The zombies don’t make any noise, which you can presume is a result of the developers being reluctant to pay for a an asset pack of zombie voice lines. The fact that the zombies are essentially silent and can creep up on you if you’re not paying attention is coincidental and likely unintended positive of this title. When I got bored and picked up my phone in one instance, I didn’t see or hear one of the useless zombies shuffle over to me. It was my one and only thrill while playing Favela Zombie Shooter, as I scrambled to pick up my controller again.
If you’re hankering for a wave based zombie shooter, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of better alternatives than Favela Zombie Shooter. This title is one of the worst this critic has played in recent times. With Black Ops 6 on the horizon, and many much better games in the rear view mirror, it’s impossible for me to recommend this bland, broken and uninspired game to anyone.
Visually lacklustre, poorly designed, riddled with bugs and painfully dull, Favela Zombie Shooter is a turgid entry into a genre that’s on the cusp of yet another resurrection. Let this one shuffle quietly into the night.
Favela Zombie Shooter is available now on PS4 (review platform), Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.
Developer: HALVA Studio
Publisher: HALVA Studio
Disclaimer: In order to complete this preview, we purchased a copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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