Unpopular opinion coming up. I hate the Zombieland movies. The first was decent but the second was crap. That’s why I wasn’t really fired up to try out Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded, one of the launch titles available for the Playstation VR2.

It didn’t help that the other Zombieland game (Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip) on Playstation was complete trash. The brand’s tainted enough as it is!

So, after weeks with Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded, how does it fare?

What is Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded?

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded is a VR first person rail shooter (or light gun game if you prefer) and is the upgraded and enhanced version of Zombieland: Headshot Fever. It is a Playstation VR2 only title that’s developed and published by XR Games.

Our key was kindly provided by those same folks and we thank them for it!

I have no idea why SEGA and Bandai Namco are not jumping in headfirst into bringing their lightgun I.P.s into the VR realm. I mean, who doesn’t get excited at the prospect of playing House of the Dead or Time Crisis in VR?

Sure, Horizon looks nice and the gameplay’s amazing but if you just want to shoot stuff without thinking much about it, this is hands down, THE best experience you can get for your brand new headset.

Thankfully, XR Games stepped up to the plate.

Like a cartoony version of House of the Dead, the game has zombies, guns and you shooting said zombies with said guns. Repeatedly in the head. Headshots aren’t just the best way to kill the zombies, it’s also the most efficient.

Two taps to the head triggers the game’s slow-mo, which lets you plug more zombies (with more headshots) to extend the time everything slows down.

I’m not going to mince words.

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded is the best game you can play on the Playstation VR2.

It’s also damn addictive.

Trying to chain together the perfect slow-mo spree is hard, but that’s the beauty of it. When you finally get it and everything clicks into place, it’s perfection.

Aiming is super accurate now with the Playstation VR2’s controllers (no more weird trembling like you get with the PS Move wands) so shooting is down to skill.

It’s also cool how the game handles reloading.

You just press the analog stick down on the right controller (which ejects the clip) and then you move the whole controller in a downward motion at the clip attached to your belt. No need to manually insert the clip like in Resident Evil Village or some other VR games. It honestly makes me feel like a damn action hero, with ammo strapped to my body.

So damn cool!

Oh…and if you get hit even once…it’s game over.

While it might sound unfair, the game actually makes a lot of allowances for this. Whenever you’re about to be hit, the game actually kicks into slow-motion so that you have extra time to kill whoever is about to hit you. Then it’s a frantic race against time to kill or be killed!

There’s not really much of the plot to the game other than you meeting up with the movie’s characters and killing zombies for some event or something but that’s fine. Nobody cares about the story anyways. This isn’t an RPG.

It’s the shooting that needs to shine and it does (brilliantly) in Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded

While you initially start with just a handgun, you’ll soon get access to better weapons as you progress. Even better, with the toilet paper you get from completing objectives (and killing zombies), you can even upgrade your guns to be better.

You’ll also unlock perks, which allows you to customize your experience (such as bringing two handguns with you instead of just one or getting more toilet paper) to a level.

Levels also have objectives.

There are always four of them and they’re (sadly) the same for every stage; survive, find the secret item, finish the level under the par time and get an X combo streak (this changes as the difficulty goes up).

If there’s anything I’d change about Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded, it’d be the visuals.

The cartoony visuals are fine I guess, but I’d rather they be realistic like zombies in Resident Evil Village or The House of the Dead. There’s no damage modelling on the zombies too so you don’t get to see the zombies lose pieces of themselves as you unload into their bodies or faces.

Yeah, it’s a letdown. Can you imagine if the game had the damage modelling of Resident Evil 2 or 3? That’d be damn awesome, huh?

The Bottom Line.

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded is the epitome of a sleeper hit.

I never expected it to be anywhere near as good as it is, yet somehow it is!

The simple gameplay coupled with the PS VR2’s power makes for a good pairing and Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded milks it for all its worth.

While the PS VR2 will undoubtedly have better shooters in the months ahead, Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded is king of the hill for now. Deservedly so.

TLDR:

Fun gunplay and quick pick up and play action makes this the best shooter on PS VR2 currently.

The Good:

  • Fun VR gameplay
  • Shooting and reloading feels satisfying.
  • Upgradable arsenal and perks spice things up.

The Bad:

  • Gun can be randomly inaccurate.
  • Needs lengthier stages.
  • Zombies don’t show damage.

Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.