Hello everyone I'm Jack Red or XboxClown89, today I'll review one game from my past I speak highly of. I also got to talk about the sequel to that as well. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a classic that must be played close to or on Halloween. Don't worry you will know how I feel about Ghoul Patrol soon enough. Sadly this will be a mixed review for many reasons.
I actually want to talk about the actual compilation package before the actual games included. I do kinda liked the picture chosen for it. I just prefer it showcase more of the monsters or a little of Ghoul Patrol. After all this is a two game compilation but other than the titles on the cover. How you would know what Ghoul Patrol looks like prior if you never played it or even seen anything of it?
This isn't even my big issue with the compilation. How they chosen to display the extras is kinda strange. There is a section you can mostly view sprite animations from both games. It also involves one interview video for ZAMN. I could excuse that one video but it's just weird you have to move down to see stuff like this.
I will say achievement wise mostly solid good job. Sadly a handful of passwords either got switched or doesn't work. The switch part is more notable in Ghoul Patrol's portion. One boss password gave me a different boss level instead of the original boss level it gave you in the original game. Another boss password gives you a regular level now.
I should point out they don't seem to fully have the ZAMN theme song. Last I checked this didn't have any licensed songs. I don't understand why such an iconic song to the genre isn't present how it should be. Some options are altered to be done through the emulator. I would say password system is kinda better. Choosing your character would be better for Ghoul Patrol's case but not for ZAMN however.
This surprisingly doesn't have the rewind feature. Which is being used more in game compilations in the last few years. Save state feature is back to how it used to be. But hey it still works so that's not an issue. I did get some notable lag through the emulation at times. When you look how they went about some of the options, it just comes off like a cash grab.
It is almost like let's give em ZAMN then rip em off. Yes emulating the random item factor for ZAMN is a bit off as well. This also affects reaching some bonus levels as well. Now I will start reviewing the games included. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a parody run and gun game where you rescue people from all kind of creatures.
I am not going to sugar coat this, ZAMN will get notably more difficult as it goes on. The first couple stages aren't even a fraction how challenging it truly gets. Some enemies like Merman, Red Ants, Werewolves, Frankenstein's Monster and Chainsaw Maniacs can be annoying. Of course, Vampires are the most annoying enemy of all.
Vampires takes a lot of patience. They can be tricky to hit at times. They will constantly stalk you even further than most enemies. Sometimes they can go after a survivor you can't reach in time. Some bosses can be frustrating as well like Giant Baby and Snakenoids. Thankfully, some bosses you don't have to fight much or at all in the case of Martin's Mothership.
You get to face Dr. Tongue twice, trust me they will make you rage. Both times are challenging with the final boss being very cruel. You got two phases this time with a lot that can go wrong. I actually liked the stage designs for the most part. Overall, ZAMN is a great but flawed game. It can be frustrating to quickly switch weapons or items while on the move or attacking.
Thank god this isn't a problem in any of the Dead Rising games. Which still remains the closest thing I ever played to ZAMN. The music is very solid as well as the sound effects. I should point out Konami's name got removed since they aren't going to remain as publishers for this compilation. I do want to clear a popular misunderstanding very quickly.
A lot of people just remember the Konami logo to this game thinking it's a Konami game. Back in the day, they just were the original company to publish the game on the market nothing more. LucasArts Games were the actual company to made the game. I been trying to hold off from this point, let's discuss Ghoul Patrol oh god help me!!!
Ghoul Patrol has a weird development story. Originally a game lost in development. Rather than canned it, they chose to quickly rework it. Then labeled the game as an sequel to ZAMN. Yes folks this actually happened confirmed by one of the team's top guys years ago. You still play as Zeke and Julie from ZAMN.
One weird presentation problem is Julie matches up perfectly while Zeke doesn't. In cut scenes, he is a boy with brown hair not wearing 3D glasses. But Zeke has blonde hair with 3D glasses. Which the character in game play has. I should mention one cool thing about ZAMN is every level has a cool horror movie title.
A lot of them are direct horror movie references. Sadly none of those are present in Ghoul Patrol. Unlike ZAMN, there's more of a story this time around. Yet I can't help to shake how original (sarcasm) this plot is. It is oddly similar to that of Evil Dead series. Both involves young people who opens up an evil book to read a particular part out loud.
In turn releases ancient evil on the world. Our heroes has to take that evil down. Considering parts of Ash vs Evil Dead as well as most of Army of Darkness involved time travel. Ghoul Patrol goes between a few time periods including a Medieval era. It's amazing this team didn't get sue for this. Not to mention, there's a couple Evil Dead games as well as Ash in Dead by Daylight.
ZAMN having little to go on for it's story actually worked in it's favor. Sure both games has a good variety of enemies. I do like transforming into a purple beast at times in ZAMN. One surprisingly cool thing Ghoul Patrol does is allow you to transform into the Grim Reaper I'm not kidding. You can't slide or jump while in this form.
Which means if you go down the wrong area, you have to wait to transform back. Most platforming in Ghoul Patrol is horribly done as well. I do think ZAMN could've had the slide move at times. Ghoul Patrol has a more serious arsenal than the more comical ZAMN offers. Ghoul Patrol doesn't have any hidden levels either.
There's a couple of those in ZAMN though. I felt ZAMN's levels worked way better. Speaking of the bosses, unlike ZAMN you do have to face all of them. But unlike ZAMN, all people you can rescue is automatically placed away prior to the boss fights. Which means when you defeat a boss, all of them appears ready to be rescued.
Most of them are repetitive as well as boring, I seem to like Robot boss though. The final boss kinda sucks in comparison to Dr. Tongue's. The sound track is alright but the sound effects aren't great. I just felt in more ways than one ZAMN had more variety. You kinda expect the sequel to push the envelope to go further but nope it doesn't.
Ghoul Patrol just felt like a game that isn't a sequel to ZAMN at all. Yes you can rescue up to ten people. But when you rescue the last people, the exit shows up. In ZAMN, almost anywhere the exit will appear. Sadly in a particular set spot in Ghoul Patrol's case. Not many enemies shared between both games as well.
I actually felt those you rescue look more interesting as well as their animations. Which is the opposite for ZAMN. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Ghoul Patrol I rather play Blood II: The Chosen over this. Ghoul Patrol to me isn't worthy enough to be ZAMN's sequel. I can't recommend this game but I do highly recommend ZAMN.
I also can not recommend this compilation. I played Castlevania Advance Collection that nailed everything way better in comparison. It's a real shame because for years I wanted to revisit ZAMN yet I got left with this? Personally, ZAMN by itself is a game you need to play. But do me a favor do not play Ghoul Platrol please?
