Monster Madness Grave Danger

A little over a year ago, a zombie-filled hack and slash title hit the 360 under the name Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia. Monster Madness gave gamers a chance to guide a group of four weapon-totting teens through an infested suburban locale. Unfortunately, the game was given a less-than-enthusiastic greeting and didn't make much of an impact on Microsoft's console. Now, Monster Madness is stumbling back to consoles again in the form of Monster Madness: Grave Danger, a port of the 360 version with several new modes and mini-games to give it an edge over its predecessor. And while Grave Danger is certainly an improvement over Battle for Suburbia, I think it's safe to say that this is still a severely lacking zombie experience.

Grave Danger offers a familiar top-down, hack and slash mechanic where you choose one character out of the four and fight your way through hordes of the undead (and other assorted baddies). Up to three other friends can hop in at any time to join in on the action, which definitely adds to the arcade-like feeling. Grave Danger is a silly game that references a lot of other popular games and films throughout its paper-thin story, but its overall sense of humor is commendable.

The premise of Grave Danger is very straight-forward: four high school teenagers end up at uber-geek Zack's house one night for differing reasons, but they soon find that their neighborhood has been completly overrun by the shambling hordes of the undead. What starts as a desperate trek to the police station turns into a frenzied investigation as to why Suburbia has become a breeding ground for zombies and the like. That's really all there is to it and you're promptly thrust into the action to repel the moaning masses.

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