Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia

In putting a smile on faces of nostalgic gamers, Monster Madness also gives them a black eye with it's maddening stretches of gameplay. Games like this are definitely needed, but the quality really has to be there to match the historic theme. It's well worth a look, but go into it knowing that it offers some problems that you thought that developers destroyed years ago.

The gameplay can be quite sloppy and frustrating at times, a problem not helped by the poor checkpoint system. Still, this has "sleeper hit" written all over it.

Despite all this, there is something about Battle for Suburbia that will keep you coming back for more, even if you are not too sure why. It has a delightful old school feel about it that is reminiscent of The Chaos Engine or the aforementioned LucasArts gem, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, but if you're interested in gameplay over middling next-gen visuals, you'd be better off browsing eBay than dipping your toe in the very American world of Monster Madness.

It's sad that there are no great Gauntlet-style hack-and-slash multiplayer games anymore. Despite its flaws, this is the best that an old workhorse of a genre has to offer so, if you must play it, play it with friends. Don't expect too much though.

Monster Madness hat ein riesiges Problem – Seine Steuerung. Diese ist leider so ungenau und schwammig, dass dadurch der gesamte Spielspaß leidet und der Kampf gegen die Monster einfach keinen Spaß macht. Insgesamt hat jeder Bereich so seine Schwächen. Die Monster sind blöd, das Missionsdesign ist teils langweilig, der Sound eine Zumutung und die Grafik ist nur gehobener Durchschnitt. Einzig der Multiplayer mit seinen vielen Modi und dem Koop-Modus verdient sich ein Lob. Abschließend ist zu sagen, dass man Monster Madness getrost ignorieren kann und sich lieber den kommenden und schon erschienen Hits zuwenden sollte.

Monster Madness : Battle For Surburbia est un titre sans prétention qui parviendra peut-être à séduire les joueurs en manque d'action et qui n'ont pas envie de se compliquer la vie. Au fond, son principal défaut est de ne pas offrir aux gamers la possibilité de parcourir la campagne ensemble sur le net. Pour le moment, il ne mérite sans doute pas son prix et on conseillera donc aux futurs acquéreurs d'attendre de le trouver en occasion.

And this awkward gameplay makes the repetitive nature of the game even more annoying. I mean, I'm all for killing the legions of the undead, but at least you could change it up a little. Because even with all the different monsters and weapons, the game was putting me to sleep.

All told, Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia feels like a wasted opportunity. The premise is cool, and the combat seems like it has potential. However, the controls and lousy co-op camera muck the whole thing up so that nearly all the fun is sucked out of it, regardless of how many people play. Plus, as mildly amusing as the online multiplayer can be, it's absolutely criminal that this game doesn't include some form of online campaign mode. Though considering how unwieldy and awkward everything else in the game is, maybe that wouldn't have helped all that much.

After playing the game I feel like the concept of Monster Madness was a sound one. However the majority of most of the things were implemented so poorly that it ceases to live up to any of its potential. If you use this as a party game and only play it when friends come over then you could have a lot of fun with it. Otherwise you are going to get frustrated quickly. The fact that this game is priced at $60 doesn’t help matters either. If this game was priced around the $30 it would be easier to recommend to; however in its current state I really can’t do it. My advice to people is to download the demo off of Xbox Live. If you like the demo then rent the game first to see if you like the final product. If you like it then by all means go out and buy it. However don’t just go out and blindly purchase this game or you could find out that you wasted $60 as well as your time if you are one of those players that didn’t enjoy the experience.

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You’d think that you couldn’t miss when you take a solid, hip formula and add even more spice in the way of furry monsters, vampires, boats and hovercrafts. Not in this case, unfortunately. It wasn’t executed with much focus, and more attention seemed to be given to look and style rather than gameplay and a plot. Why the heck are the evil creatures upset with the ‘Burbs, anyway? Why does the camera have a mind of its own, and why do I have to suffer for it? These questions and more will keep you on the edge of your gaming seat!

All told, Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia feels like a wasted opportunity. The premise is cool, and the combat seems like it has potential. However, the controls and lousy co-op camera muck the whole thing up so that nearly all the fun is sucked out of it, regardless of how many people play. Plus, as mildly amusing as the online multiplayer can be, it's absolutely criminal that this game doesn't include some form of online campaign mode. Though considering how unwieldy and awkward everything else in the game is, maybe that wouldn't have helped all that much.