Zombies are a craze in the UK. Slingshot designed a street game where you’re in a “safe city” and you’re being chased by the undead. Trying to read the map that they supplied you with was hard enough; trying to survive was harder. As the writer James Wheale said, “If you can’t be batman during the apocalypse, then there’s no hope.”
Friday: The starting point consisted of being sprayed and disinfected, and being briefed on where to go. Then the carnage began. Our group’s first point was an emergency stay, for the which we needed papers (which none of us had) or three forms of ID (which none of us had. Someone asked if Facebook was good enough. You can guess the answer to that!) So we went ahead to find the rooms, only to have the utter crap scared out of us by the sick. After seeing a protester with a “Honk if you hate the coalition” sign, we embarked down a high street. It looked safe, but our guard was down when zombies sprung out of the phone booths and in various locations. It was all action packed, from being chased in a car park to find medical supplies and being marked by policemen and someone telling us how to get to The Asylum (and more zombie sprang out). The end was a mad dash, otherwise known as “The Killzone,” and everyone just ran and forgot about the three medical supplies that we were told to collect before entering. I got cornered by a zombie and succumbed to my demise. After entering into The Asylum everyone got checked and for those who got caught got, we got made into zombies.
Saturday: Today was zombie time, and I got dressed up. I told the makeup artist to “do her worst” and she wasn’t kidding! I was designated into “The Killzone,” where we were briefed by the writer, James. In his speech, he said “Yesterday, one in 8 people survived. Tonight, I want no survivors!”
I was situated at the point where I was the first one to be seen. When I say that, I mean I was in a hiding place where I sprung out and scared the hell out of the runners. As the evening progressed, there were more going through the entry point, and more kills. At the end, it was time to party. Seeing zombies and humans dance was surreal, and for those who stayed at the end were treated for a bit of “Wallace and Gromit” and various theme tunes.
The structure of the game was brilliant, and the actors were far too believable. The only problem I could think of was that the plot was a bit too similar to Resident Evil in the sense of “We’re in a perfectly safe place, there can’t be any zombies here!” and that it was a bit too free to go around the city. It was too easy to get lost and our team ended up missing one of the zones that we were given coordinates to, so if it was a bit more restricted then it would help to keep the action flow a bit more.
It was a bit upsetting going home on the Sunday, it was a great two nights. Seeing the public’s face when seeing zombies was hilarious, and there were some great memories made over the two nights. I hope this goes over to the U.S. soon, as I’m sure everyone will love it. For the time being, it’s waiting time til 2014 and more time to find some more brains to munch on…
Photos by Jamie Sweetlove Photography
