The Game Itself
The cut scenes and storytelling in Trapped Dead were reminiscent of a comic, in fact often showing artistic panes that you would see in a comic book. I found this added quite a bit of flavor into the storyline and telling of the plot.
The gameplay in Trapped Dead reminded me instantly of the early days of playing Fallout Tactics. You get to control your squad and direct them around the map either individually or as a group to make it to the end of the scene.
Characters
While playing Trapped Dead you unlock several different characters that can help Mike along his journey to survive in Hedge hill, including a doctor in a wheelchair, washed up doughnut eating sheriff, redneck veteran, perky reporter and a foreign hard working laborer. Each character has his/her own strengths and weaknesses making gameplay more challenging throughout the adventure.
Weapons and Resources
Trapped Dead also gave you resources to locate and use in game, such as weapons and first aid kits to add to the strategy and decide on how best to use them. To start you off on your way you start out finding a bat in the gas station at the beginning and then moved on as progress further to an automatic pistol. Some of the other weapons found later in the game include a sniper rifle, taser, chainsaw, colt pistol, shotgun, grenades, axes, katanas and even some blood bottles to help distract the zombies as well as get them to attack their own kind.
Locations
Trapped Dead allows for many different scenarios from zombie films vstarting off with a gas station and providing you with entertaining scenarios such as a hospital, prison, church, graveyard, swamp, train station and even a morgue. The detail and intricacies of each level is astounding, really making you appreciate what a small group of developers can do when they put their minds and hearts into the game. The Headup game developer’s motto of “by gamers for gamers” really shines through went you put all into perspective.
Environmental Traps
One of the unique features of Trapped Dead was the ability to use the environment to help defeat the oncoming hordes of zombies. I found this feature added something totally different than your average RTS, not only were you expected to use your brain to figure out the best use of these items, but also required perfect timing in some cases. Some of the most memorable in game examples of the game included pressing the lowering button on a jacked up car to squash the zombies underneath, or timing the firing on an extinguisher to blast the zombies around it, and one of my favourites, pressing the power switch on an electric chair to char every undead in the vicinity.
