‘Pet Zombies’ Review: When Loading Times Ruin the Fun

Everyone loves zombies lately. Comic books, video games and television seem obsessed with the things lately. As a result, the market is literally infested with anything zombie-oriented.

The idea of a pet sim with a zombie is too cool a premise to not take a closer look at though.

And upon that lengthy gaze, Majesco’s “Pet Zombie” proves itself more than adequate, in spite of several glaring problems. Running an engine similar to Nintendo’s smash hit, “Nintendogs,” the game has everything a good pet sim should. With a host of unlockables, different types of zombies and five mini-games, there are literally hours of gameplay opportunities here.

There’s a big problem that comes with that though. Many of those minutes will be spent waiting. For the next screen. Unlike other pet sims, the menus haven’t been streamlined well and getting from the care screen, to the shop, can take your momentum away. While playing with your zombie is fun, the fact that you can only play with one at a time and have to wait too long to go from the main game screen to other modes, drags the time and makes it feel like a chore. That’s the last thing you want in a pet sim.

There is fun to be had though. The fact that you get to torture the things, as well as care for them immediately kill a few minutes of your life. Setting your zombie on fire and shocking it is an experience every gamer should have. It opens up so many options in the genre that Majesco should spend more time developing the brand and the engine. At the same time, many of the game’s problems take the enjoyment out of that brain-dead fun.

The process in which you get money to pay for new devices to nurture and torture your zombie, through a handful of mini-games, most of which are tedious mazes or flash-type games you’ve seen on the Internet for years (Except for the Zombie Launch game; that was a blast) needs work. In order to get many of the cool unlockables, you have to play these repetitive games for far too long. Had Majesco added a few more games and possibly even a tournament of sorts, which would shuffle the games in a random way and award points to you for scoring better than a computer-controlled zombie, then maybe the game wouldn’t feel so lather, rinse, repeat at times.

Add in the fact that there’s no voice recognition and it’s easy to see this title wears thin after a few hours, rotting away like the zombie you take care of. The colorful graphics and fun animations help some, but not enough to keep you hooked. Sad, too, because there will be a few moments, especially in the beginning, when you will be.

Had the loading time been better and more gameplay options inserted, this could have been a sleeper hit. At any rate, it’s still a nifty little title, just not as nifty as it could have been.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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