Containment: The Zombie Puzzler
- March 2, 2012
- Bootsnake Games
- 20h median play time
Get on Steam"Containment: The Zombie Puzzler" is an action-puzzle game where you surround zombies with survivors of the same color to eliminate them, while avoiding infection. The game features fully animated character tiles that interact with each other and the environment, and unique storytelling through in-world text. It offers a real-time/turn-based gameplay experience in a pulse-pounding campaign and multiple survival modes.
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Reviews
- Containment: The Zombie Puzzler offers a unique twist on the puzzle genre with engaging gameplay that combines zombies and strategic thinking.
- The game features a variety of power-ups and environmental interactions that add depth and excitement to the puzzle-solving experience.
- It's a fun and casual game that can serve as a great distraction, making it suitable for short gaming sessions.
- The game is quite short, with many players completing it in under three hours, leading to a lack of replay value.
- Gameplay can become repetitive quickly, as the core mechanics do not evolve significantly throughout the game.
- The graphics and sound design are basic and may not impress players looking for a more polished experience.
- story43 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered basic and clichéd, often described as a weak backdrop to the puzzle gameplay. While some players appreciate the humor and the way the narrative is integrated between levels, many find the writing amateurish and the overall plot unengaging. Despite its shortcomings, the story adds a layer of interest to the gameplay, making it a decent experience for those not primarily seeking a compelling narrative.
“A fun puzzle game with an interesting storytelling method.”
“Fun mechanics, well done, nice bits of story between puzzle bits to keep it interesting.”
“I really like the story mode; they tell it with absolute precision after every 'battle'.”
“The story (if one even goes so far as to call it that) is just text you can read while the camera slowly moves from level to level and bloats the length noticeably if you play it all at once, not to mention the text itself is something you could come up with if you took a course in 'how to make a barebones zombie plot'.”
“The levels are tied together in a 'story mode' format, and to be frank, the story is pretty rubbish, and terribly amateurishly written.”
“The story was dull and boring; it sucked.”
- gameplay42 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "Containment: the Zombie Puzzler" features a simple tile-matching mechanic where players swap survivors to surround zombies, offering a unique twist on the puzzle genre. However, many reviews highlight that the gameplay quickly becomes repetitive and lacks depth, with basic mechanics and a lack of engaging audio-visual elements leading to a tedious experience. While some players find the game enjoyable for a brief period, the overall consensus is that it fails to provide a compelling or lasting gameplay experience.
“Containment is a great casual puzzler with solid gameplay, enough variation to keep it interesting and no glitches or problems in my almost 15 hours of gameplay.”
“The gameplay is easy to learn but can definitely keep you on your heels.”
“While the core puzzle mechanics in Containment: The Zombie Puzzler are engaging initially, they quickly become repetitive and lack the necessary complexity to keep players engaged in the long run.”
“The gameplay itself is very basic, just switch different colored tiles (survivors) around a group of zombies to eliminate them.”
“Stale gameplay, repetitive, challengeless.”
- graphics28 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics of "Containment: The Zombie Puzzler" are characterized by a simple, minimalist art style that some players find charming, though many describe them as dated and unimpressive. While the visuals are functional and feature decent detail in character models and zombie types, they lack the polish of modern games, evoking a nostalgic feel reminiscent of early 2000s titles. Overall, the graphics serve their purpose within the context of the game, complementing its puzzle mechanics and aesthetic without being a standout feature.
“The aesthetics are nice, the different zombie types and character models have a decent amount of detail.”
“Really good mechanics, an awesome graphics style and even the campaign mode is actually really entertaining!”
“Good graphics, great sound, and a puzzle concept that grows on you the more you play.”
“The graphics are dated, but the aesthetic packaging is good.”
“The graphics remind me of the video game dark times in the early 2000s.”
“The graphics aren't exactly state of the art.”
- music12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the atmospheric zombie-themed soundtrack that enhances the gameplay experience, while others criticize the lack of variety and creativity, noting that it can feel dated and basic. Some users prefer to mute the in-game sounds in favor of their own music, indicating that the sound design may not be engaging enough to hold their attention. Overall, while there are moments of effective music that contribute to the atmosphere, many feel it falls short in terms of depth and variety.
“The music builds as the zombies take over.”
“With each map, the only soundtrack you get is a pulsing heart, which heightens the sense of 'must kill them all before I have too few survivors!'.”
“The setting is well-realized, the text is well-written, the music fits nicely and you will be in for a few clever twists.”
“There's no music and few sound effects.”
“You stop caring about the story in the first 5 minutes; gameplay is still the same, atmosphere is none, music as well... why would you waste your time with this?”
“Starting to look dated, not terribly creative, no music, and limited assets for sound effects.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, "Containment: The Zombie Puzzler" has limited replayability, primarily due to a lack of compelling achievements, unlockables, and depth, resulting in a short-lived experience. While the game offers multiple route splits that provide some variation, the repetitive nature of gameplay and brief campaign length contribute to a general consensus that it lacks long-term engagement.
“The main campaign lasts around three hours, but there are multiple route splits that ensure some replayability.”
“The absence of compelling achievements or unlockables diminished the replay value significantly.”
“In conclusion, Containment: The Zombie Puzzler offers a brief burst of puzzle-solving fun but falls short in terms of content, replay value, and overall depth.”
“Not much replay value due to its eventual repetitiveness.”
- atmosphere5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
Reviews of the game's atmosphere are mixed; while some players appreciate the well-crafted zombie-apocalypse setting and atmospheric music, others feel that the overall atmosphere is lacking and fails to engage them. The campaign's narration is noted as a strong point, contributing positively to the experience, but some critics argue that the gameplay could easily be detached from its thematic elements.
“Game music: if I remember well, this was actually really good, atmospheric zombie music.”
“I also have to mention the campaign's narration - it's visible on the road as you move from board to board - it's really well written, gives quite an atmosphere :)”
“You stop caring about the story in the first 5 minutes; gameplay is still the same, atmosphere is none, music as well... why would you waste your time with this?”
“But: while you can certainly replace the zombies and survivors with gems or fruits or whatnot and you’d have the same puzzle aspect, the zombie-apocalypse atmosphere the designers created for 'Containment' can very well stand equal to other 'serious' zombie fiction.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by a charming blend of quirky elements, including intentionally bad voice acting that complements its unpolished aesthetic. Players appreciate the unique comedic moments, particularly in the context of puzzle-solving mishaps, which add to the overall fun and engaging experience.
“Extremely fun puzzler with a good sense of humor.”
“Containment is a blend of great puzzle design with a sprinkle of charm, humor, and bad voice acting that fits the unpolished aesthetic.”
“This game has unique humor and a good story.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players note that while the game involves some grinding, particularly for achievements related to zombie kills, the overall experience does not require excessive grinding to progress. The gameplay can become tedious, but many achievements are relatively easy to obtain without extensive effort.
“The story isn't the best (though better than you might expect from an indie puzzle game) and gameplay does get tedious pretty fast.”
“For any achievement hunters, many of the achievements for this game are easy to get; however, there is quite a bit of grinding for the zombie kills (5000 and 10000) ones.”
“With how much I've played this game just normally trying to beat everything and not even grinding, I have killed 3,207 zombies.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of Containment is mixed; while some players report a smooth experience with no issues during extensive gameplay, others have encountered significant bugs and crashes that detract from the overall enjoyment.
“It's heavily buggy given the number of crashes I experienced, but when I was actually playing, I enjoyed the simplicity of the game.”
