By: Derek Yu

On: March 15th, 2011

Atom Zombie Smasher is the latest release from Brendon Chung and Blendo Games. The game plays out across a number of missions where your goal is to evacuate zombie-infested cities with a helicopter and groups of mercenaries. If you can reach your goal (determined by the number of civilians you’ve saved) before the zombies, or Zeds, reach theirs, you win.

Each month, new cities are infected and you can choose one of them to evacuate with a random set of mercenary groups, which include mobile infantry, artillery, barricades, and more. The makeup of your mercenaries plays a big part in how you do, so choose each mission wisely – conceding a difficult one will give the Zeds points and widen the gulf between you. One the other hand, beating tough missions earn you more victory points and offer more opportunities to level up your squads.

Planning and executing the perfect evacuation is a lot of fun (especially when it involves nuking the Zeds from orbit), and it feels great to make off with a gold medal victory against all odds. The cities in AZS are randomly-generated, too, so each time you play through a campaign it’s a bit different. Plus, the game has that wonderfully irreverent and stylish sensibility that’s become a hallmark of Brendon Chung’s work. Check it out on Steam – the game’s only $9 for this week (10% off).

TIGdb: Entry for Atom Zombie Smasher