Back in the early 90’s when the console of choice only boiled down to two, the SNES and Mega Drive there was one game that was making peoples dreams come true, that’s if your dream was to mow down a hoard of zombies with a lawnmower with friends. That game in question was Zombies ate my Neighbours and it seems that the people at South Peak games had that dream because you can see with there new game Monster Madness that it was influenced by Zombies, however unlike Zombies this isn’t a good game.

Players take control over one of four characters, Zack who is a computer geek, Carrie is the typical goth chick who Zack has a big crush on, Andy who is the typical Skater and a game like this wouldn’t be without the no brainier cheerleader in the form of Jennifer.
After selecting one of these four misfits you are thrusted into a world where zombies have taken over and it’s your job to bring peace back to your suburbs with any means possible.
To help you out on your journey you have a lot of weapons at your disposal ranging from the standard handgun, to the simple shotgun and more powerful weapons like a rocket launcher and a gun that fires a bolt of electricity, however you also have secondary weapons that can be used to help you out like bombs and bottles that will set your enemy on fire.

During the course of the game scattered around the levels are item like blots and screws that are used to trade in with Larry the weapons expert who is there to sell you the typical upgrades and extra weapons that is need for the game.
Also scattered around the levels are items that can be picked up and used as a weapon to throw at the oncoming menace.
after killing one of the nasties they drop gems that are also used to upgrade your weapons or for you to purchase needed drinks so you can revive some of your health as you will really need it with this game.

The levels are your typical bog standard ones ranging from parks to a school all the way to hell (well maybes hell isn’t your typical level).
On each one of these levels there is vehicles like a tanks to a swan boat used to shoot down zombie pirates and even a mech suit that can be used to inflict a lot of damage.

So with all of this stuff in the game what is it like well in one word average.
There are some major problems with the game ranging from the terrible difficulty level when playing on your own to the nightmare that is the camera that doesnt want to give you a good enough view therefore getting you killed a lot and i mean a lot.
To start off with the graphics for a Xbox 360 title are very basic and would of been really suited if this was a Xbox Live arcade title but it isn’t instead it’s a full price retail game (yes the full 39.99, the music is so annoying that you’ll want to have ear plugs at the ready because your brain will explode with the terrible tunes that are being pumped out.
The character design doesnt fare any better with the developers going with the typical four standard characters instead of going for something unique and original plus controlling them can be a nightmare instead with the attack butto being the right trigger and for you to jump you have to press the right stick in which makes it really hard for you to try and reach an item that is just above you characters head.

There is one saving grace and that’s the multi player this is where the game starts to become a little bit more fun, playing with up to four friends over Xbox live or offline can be a real laugh however there is another downfall in this, when playing offline with your buddies on one console you can go through the main storyline however the developers have decided not to allow you to do this over Xbox live instead they just give you the typical capture the flag or see who can live the longest mode and this is really annoying as it would of been a much better game if you could play co-op over Xbox live.

Overall this game could of been a lot of fun instead it turns out to be extremely frustrating only offering you a little bit of goodness now and again.
It was a great idea to do a game like this but they were let down but the average graphics, the terrible camera, the basic characters and the lack of online co-op.

If i had to give one piece of advice to the developers i would tell them that for the sequel instead of releasing it as a full price game put it on the Live arcade and make it more fun instead of a very very bog standard game
4/10