Geoff’s post about the sad puppy and no XBLIG Thursday had me feeling pretty down, but then I remembered I could directly influence the fate of this feature and its (thus far) absence from today, October 28…a clearcut Thursday. Let’s remedy this situation.

With so many Halloween titles rolling out on the channel in preparation for the upcoming holiday, I decided to pick one from the hat and just see what I got myself in to for better or worse. That game was dollar twin-stick shooter Mutant Zombie Onslaught.

The game takes place in post-apocalyptic 2012. Most of the human race has been wiped-out by a horrible flu virus that has left some alive, mutated and completely feral. It’s up to you to go into a facility where the virus was created and retrieve the storied antibody. As either the ‘Hero’ or ‘Heroine’ you, your cash and your guns must make a path down into the underbelly of the structure and come out alive; of course standing between you and the prize are the aforementioned monster zombies.

The game plays pretty typically for what it is, you walk through a hallway and into a room where you’re promptly attacked by enemies, who look kind of like regular zombies more than mutant ones–though the screenshots show some bigger, badder dudes in the later levels. The music is alright and the sound effects are good but some I thought necessary (such as zombie noises) just weren’t there.

That said, where the gameplay lacks a bit in polish it makes up for in depth. A variety of weapons to purchase and upgrade (I went with the nice shotgun/chainsaw starter combo) and all the fun of back-pedaling from and blasting at the expanding hoard you could ever ask for. Perhaps best of all, the title offers up to four-player co-op, always a welcomed feature in a game like Onslaught.

One issue I did have specifically with the trial version is that it took so long to pick my weapons and settings that by the time I got a minute or two into the actual gameplay the time expired. I had to run through it all over again to get a reasonable hands-on session in. That’s more of a complaint to the system in place for the XBLIG demos rather than the game itself.

For 80 MS Points there’s no reason I can’t recommend MZO for fans of the top-down or twin-stick shooter niche. Check it out, it’s definitely worth a spin.

[Buy/Try]

[This is not a review. This is a "first impressions" piece based on less than an hour of gameplay.]