Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ review

A vertically scrolling shooter that mixes old-school arcade values with some real zombie splatter

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In an arcade-style game, anything that requires the player to take a break from shooting is a questionable call. We’re okay with reloading, but handicapping us with awkward controls is just uncool.

This is especially true in Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ, because as you get deeper into the game, fewer and fewer enemies appear on the top screen. No, they’d rather pop up on the bottom screen, maybe even directly in front of Red and maybe in groups of three or more.

Sure, you can dodge some of them (possibly) because they often just walk straight down and offscreen. But the point is you’re going to have less and less warning that your life is in danger, and the gimped controls constantly handicap your ability to actually shoot the enemies.

Oh, and if you want to duck to avoid an attack? You don’t press down on the D-pad, even though that isn’t used for anything. No, you need to tap your actual character. Which requires you to stop … well, you get the idea. Basically, by the time you notice that Red has a French-ish accent in the limited voice-over moments but speaks in a typical teen-ditzoid accent in all her, like, totally awesome written dialogue, you’ll be too worn down by other flaws to gripe about it.

Nov 25, 2008

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GenreAction
DescriptionThis vertically scrolling shooter mixes in old-school arcade values with some real zombie splatter. But strange controls and some cheap moves as you get deeper in spoil the happy ending.
Platform"DS"
US censor rating"Teen"
UK censor rating""
Alternative names"Zombie BBQ"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.