Zombie Slayer Diox Review: A Dull Rock Show

Zombie Slayer Diox
Nintendo 3DS eShop ($5.99)
UFO Interactive Games
Action, Adventure

Zombie Slayer Diox is the latest rhythm-action hybrid game for the Nintendo 3DS eShop. You are a samurai guitarist in the year 20xx on a mission to eradicate all zombies with the help of your mighty katana and guitar. Unfortunately I would have to side with the zombies after playing this game. From here things only go downhill for this game.

The main issue about this game is the controls. The game uses your stylus on the touch screen to do a slash in the direction the symbol above the zombie’s head tells you. The problem with this is that it can be somewhat difficult to see your upcoming notes with the limited screen width and with the notes fading into the background. To give you an idea on how difficult it can be to know which slashes to make: In games like Guitar Hero, the notes are brightly colored on a dark background. This makes them easy to see. In our game here, the notes are completely white on a light transparent background, meaning the notes will fade slightly into the background making them hard to see.

For increased difficulty above Easy, the game will throw more zombies at you with different color schemes which you have to match. Before making a slash with your stylus, you use the d-pad or the ABXY buttons to change your slash to the matching color of the zombie you are about to slay. This is simple enough to handle, though may take a tiny bit to get used to.

The music of the game is your standard non-licensed rock music. I feel the rock music fits well with the game. If you like this kind of rock music, you will find it enjoyable, as did I. The only thing I fault the music is that there is little variety with a good bit of repetitiveness. Even if you like the music, you may start to get bored before the level even over. Sadly the music tends to over stay its welcome here.

The length of the game can also be considered an issue here. I ended up beating the game with just over 45 minutes recorded. Unless you’re really into the game, there is not much reason to revisit the levels. There are three main areas to the game with three normal levels and one boss battle per each area. To complete a level, you must finish it without dying and achieving a minimum score per level. Scoring is pretty simple, all you have to do is kill the zombie correctly in the right direction and color scheme. If you hit the note correctly and at the same time you can get a higher score then if you hit the note right as it came into the area. If you don’t hit the note at all and the zombie attacks you, you will lose some health. But don’t worry, as long as you continue to hit notes in a row, you will start to regain health.

Sadly the 3D effect is barely to be seen. In fact, it might as well not even be included for how it’s barely used. But even with that, the sprites are nice on the eyes and the menus and environments are also nice to look at.

In conclusion: I cannot recommend this game to anyone. There is too much issue with the controls and lack of length for this to be a fun game for anyone. It’s a shame really, as this game has a good bit of potential to it. Perhaps the next zombie rhythm game will do it for us. Until then, stay away from this game.

Rating: 4/10