As the long dark nights set it what could be more attractive than some warm Arizona Sunshine? Sure, you are going to fight past hordes of zombies to get a sun lounger by the pool, but that’s a small price to pay if you want to top up your tan.
The original Arizona Sunshine launched in December 2016 with favourable reviews and was followed by a sequel last year. Vertigo games have now taken all the improvements from that sequel and applied them to a total remake of the original, bringing new graphics, new mechanics and even a few tweaks to the maps.
The story remains the same. Our unnamed protagonist wakes up in their cave seemingly months or years into a zombie apocalypse, but has his spirits lifted when he hears a radio message. Could there be more survivors? A five hour campaign follows which can be played solo or with online co-op as our man works his way through caves, train stations, and factories in a bid to locate the source of the broadcast.
The gameplay loop is fairly predictable, a few zombies at the start of each level and then you reach a blocker of some kind which will require a specific item to let you continue. From then on it’s some exploring, more zombie culling before returning, unblocking the doohicky, and being swarmed by a huge number of zombies.
When I say I huge number I am not exaggerating, the difficulty spikes through the roof. One one encounter I used every single bullet I had but the zombies were still coming and I had to run an lap of the map to lead them away from the exit so I could make a dash for it. You do need to play tactically and take out the fast moving critters first, then the armoured zombies and leave the shamblers till last.
The new graphics allow for plenty of gore with limbs popping off and blood gushing from wounds, plus new lighting, explosions effects. The realistic gun reloading mechanic from the sequel is now in place which really adds the tension, fumbling around for a new magazine, inserting and then cocking the gun may just take a second but when you are being chased by zombies, every second counts.
Arizona Sunshine is fairly simple but a lot of fun, casually head-shotting a zombie in the distance is immensely satisfying and the co-op mode is a laugh, whether it’s waving a bendy sausage at your friend or watching their pained ‘I really need to go to the toilet’ walking animations.
The script is also good. While our man does that video game trope of talking to himself so the player knows what to do, it’s not over used and there’s incidental dialogue which really make you warm to the character. He feels like someone that’s spent a good long while alone and started talking to the Zombies.
Unfortunately the remake has also inherited some of the problems of the sequel, most notably that you can stick you head through certain objects and walls and the screen goes black. When you are being chased by rabid zombies you do not want to lose your vision just because you have backed into the arm of a cactus. The engine does seem to have been improved upon as the pop in that was really annoying in the sequel is not present, although the levels are much smaller. I’m also happy to report I didn’t encounter a single bug, a relief given that the sequel was a bit of a mess when it launched.
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On top the base game you also a get a Horde mode and both DLC packs in the price which makes up for the shorter campaign, and you can upgrade from the original for $10 which seems very reasonable consdering the huge improvements that have been made.
