Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
A darkly comic adventure where zombies are good.
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What’s It About?
Zombies are normally the bad guys, but that's not the case in the darkly comic adventure game TEENAGE ZOMBIES: INVASION OF THE ALIEN BRAIN THINGYS, which stars a trio of undead teenagers fighting off an invading army of evil brains. Each of our lifeless heroes has his or her own special powers. Lori \"Lefty\" Lopez, for example, can jump higher than her companions and replace her arm with a variety of devices, including an umbrella, a rivet gun, and a vacuum. Much of the action involves activities typical of the platform adventure genre, including running, jumping, and climbing. But there are also several unlockable minigames, including one in which players dig tunnels to let rats and brains crawl up from underground and another in which skateboarding zombie Zack \"Half Pipe\" Boyd does tricks in mid-air to whack flying brains.
Is It Any Good?
It sounds grisly, but Teenage Zombies is actually a surprisingly charming play, thanks in large part to a genuinely witty humor delivered through the game's convincing comic book motif. From menus to character design to pulpy story sequences, everything about the game is meant to make players feel as though they are playing an interactive comic book -- and one that never takes itself too seriously. Our main enemy, for instance, is a hilariously narcissistic, bumbling papa brain. Simply put, it's much funnier than it is scary or gross.
Looking beyond the endearing narrative and art, Teenage Zombies is a satisfying, if not particularly original, platform adventure game. The action is composed mostly of activities such as leaping to higher ledges, shimmying across wires, and rolling down hills. Players are often required to switch between the three zombie teens so that they can use each character's distinct powers. You may get stuck for a few moments now and then as you try to figure out which zombie ability is needed in order to overcome a particular obstacle, but navigation is, by and large, simple and evident. Suffice to say that most players will remember Teenage Zombies for its style and story, and not for its adequate but uninspired action.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the concept of dark humor. How is it that subjects normally thought to be frightening, appalling, or depressing can be made funny? In your view, is this game a successful example of dark humor? You can also talk about the concept of zombies and the different kinds of "living dead" creatures that have been produced by our popular culture. Does it make biological sense that something dead could somehow still function and move around? Do you think stories about the so-called "undead" are best categorized as horror, science-fiction, or both?
Game Details
- Platform: Nintendo DS
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
- Release date: April 17, 2008
- Genre: Adventure
- ESRB rating: E10+ for Animated Blood, Crude Humor, Mild Cartoon Violence
- Last updated: November 4, 2015
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