The walking flying dead

What do you get when you mix in a dash of Jungle Strike, Choplifter, and a healthy sprinkle of The Walking Dead? You get Dustoff Z, an air combat, zombie shooting frag fest that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. Despite the cartoonish visuals, the game is riddled with fun especially if you’re feeling destructive but morally uptight about any form of senseless killing. Dustoff Z will satisfy that itch to land a few blows for the good of humanity while causing a crazy amount of destruction to the undead.

With other games, there always seems to be plenty of time to land and pick up hostages, whereas in this game, for example, the moment the chopper touches down and when it soars back into the sky, the player is sweating bullets.

Zombie strike

Right from the start, you’ll get to pilot a makeshift chopper assembled from what seems to be parts lying around a junkyard and point it left, right, or straight ahead over various terrain and scenarios. Each level has a distinct objective ranging from escort missions to rescuing citizens trapped between salvation and the undead.

The post-zombie apocalypse storyline unfolds nicely as you fire at identified targets and some unexpected jumping enemies all the while trying to keep your chopper in the air without taking on too much damage. Thankfully, upgrades abound and you can even recruit an AI partner to ride shotgun to help you take down the undead. From the moment you boot up the game, you’ll find there is plenty to do and many, many zombies to take down.

The beauty of Dustoff Z is its ability to combine resource management, strategy, and a sense of unfolding nerve-wracking adventure from start to finish. In regards to graphics, the game is very nice to look and the music synchs perfectly with the action going on. While enemies often look comical and cartoonlike, the various missions and endless waves of zombies really do feel like you are being overwhelmed which inspires dread and fear as you swing your gun around to stave back any unforeseen attacks.

From the moment you boot up the game, you’ll find there is plenty to do and many, many zombies to take down.

One giant killfest for mankind

But the biggest thing Dustoff Z brings to the table is the tension that many games in this genre lack. With other games, there always seems to be plenty of time to land and pick up hostages, whereas in this game, for example, the moment the chopper touches down and when it soars back into the sky, the player is sweating bullets. Somehow, many games miss the mark on this, but Dustoff Z brings out this small human drama in such a subtle but impactful way. Well done, Invictus Games, well done indeed.