n most zombie-infested games, the player is allotted more than enough time to cycle through his or her arsenal to find the most painful means of downing the brain-eating assailant. As they slowly stumble toward you, moaning incoherently, one usually thinks “I bet I could de-limb this zombie before it even gets within five feet of me” or more commonly “Oh man, I am totally going to rifle butt this zombie in the face, and then when he falls, I am going to step on his head!” Zombies are very much video games’ fleshy punching bags.

In Touch of the Dead, the undead legions attack from all angles and in great numbers. What makes this zombie game different than the others is that the user doesn’t control the movements of his or her character. The action unfolds on a pre-determined path. All you are tasked with is firing the gun. Now, this may seem like a cakewalk. Just pointing the gun at a sloth-like enemy seems like the easiest challenge ever devised for a video game. What you would imagine to be headshot city is, in reality, the most challenging zombie game to come along in quite some time.

As the zombies struggle to walk, their heads jerk about violently, making it an incredible test of skill to place smoldering steel between their eyes. One slight targeting miscalculation likely leads to a zombie breathing down your neck. Since the game is designed like a shooting gallery on rails, developer Dream On Studios was able to balance each encounter to be as difficult as can be, but also entirely passable if the player is on his or her game.  Whether it’s a group of five zombies approaching from 10 feet away, or two zombies attacking at close quarters, every shot counts. A wasted bullet usually means a loss of life.

The fevered gunplay is sharply executed, and each new stage continues to throw new curves at the player (such as zombies removing and tossing their heads at you), but these challenges are almost too hard. The life you have at the outset of play must be preserved throughout the entire game. Once your health is depleted, it’s game over. Progressing through the game relies on the player’s ability to maintain a base of health between each level. This becomes quite the feat when you go against a boss that tears you to shreds.

This is a game that every zombie fanatic could love, but only the hardest of hardcore gamers can excel at.