PixlBit

These days, zombie games seem to be a dime a dozen. They've been comrades and enemies, units in tower defense, and even the player's character itself. Disregarding the apparent glut of titles, Tecmo has created yet another starring the undead. Undead Knights puts players in control of the creator of the zombie horde. In order to complete the missions in each level, players must convert enemies into zombie soldiers in order to do their bidding.

Undead Knights channels the energy of games like Overlord and Pikmin. Players are given a weapon when they enter the battlefield and use it to wear down the life of attacking soldiers. When these soldiers flash red, they are easy-pickings for zombie conversion. Using the Circle button, players will lunge forward and instantly convert them. They will be reborn as the undead and can be used as a tool to complete the level.

Some sections of the game require players to amass a certain number of zombie soldiers to continue, others require players to tear down some sort of structure utilizing their troops. In sections where players must destroy buildings, similar to Pikmin, a certain number of zombies are required (sometimes suggested) to perform the task, and it takes them a variable amount of time depending on the structure. The Pikmin-esque gameplay continues further with attacking bosses. Players will need to grab their undead and hurl them onto the boss, similar to the way Olimar tosses Pikmin onto enemies. The exception here being the fact that players must in turn slash the boss with their own weapon in order to reduce its life. Many of these bosses will also eventually blink red and, like normal knights, can be converted to an undead monster.

The gameplay in Undead Knights is fast-paced and very directed. In this sense, it bears quite a bit more similarity to the Overlord series. The missions have a clear begin and end point and over the course of the journey, a variety of tasks must be completed to move on. However, Undead Knights is not quite as expansive as Overlord, and draws influence from some of Koei's games like Dynasty Warriors.

Each given area is stocked with enemies, some of which infinitely respawn. These areas take some time to conquer thus many missions do not occur over a vast landscape, but rather within a collection of small arenas strung together with dirt paths. It's not the most complicated or intricate of layouts, but what's there definitely works given the concepts.

Undead Knights also features a nice character building system wherein money made during missions can be used to purchase both weapon and character upgrades. This gives players a secondary goal to work towards, that in turn helps in accomplishing the goals of each level.

The game proves to be quite fun, which is unsurpising given the properties it draws influence from. Unlike Pikmin, and to an extent Overlord, the game lacks a certain polish. Some maneuvers are a bit awkward to execute due to a lack of buttons on the PSP. Because the concept of grabbing is mapped to a single button, contextually doing different things depending on who is grabbed, players will often find themselves grabbing their zombies instead of their enemies, or vice-versa.

There were also some other odd design choices made by the developers, such as forcing players to hold the R button in order to sic their troops on either an enemy or an objective. When players send their undead troops after either, all player control is ceased and the camera moves focus to the waypoint selected while holding R.

The problems begin when players get hit by an enemy and the troop control is cancelled. This causes the troops to depart from the objective or enemy before completing the task. With an objective, this makes sense because it ensures players beat their foes before they are even allowed to complete the given objective. However, when attacking an enemy, players should've been able to send their troops to do their bidding while they tended to other matters.

The last frustration comes from the fact that players will need to constantly convert enemy soldiers to undead in order to remove them from the battlefield. Because it takes many, many blows with your sword to kill an enemy, it proves easier to just convert them once they flash red; an event that takes no more than two swings of the sword to occur. This becomes frustrating because the game will in turn kill your zombie troops very quickly. Worse, your horde can only grow to a certain size, making the entire function feel repetitive over time.

Regardless of its flaws and lack of polish, Undead Knights is a blast to play. The objectives may not have the most variety, but it was always enjoyable to meet all of the criteria of the mission and push deeper into enemy territory on the map. While the game might not be for everyone, fans of Overlord and Pikmin will at least want to try this title out.