A follow-up to the excellent Nation Red is a tricky thing. Sometimes a bowl of deliciously simple ice cream isn't improved upon by adding a pile of whipped cream, sprinkles and other toppings. And Versus Squad doesn't quite find the right balance but you still wind up with a pretty good dessert.

The premise is simple: A twin-stick shooter where you mow down waves of zombies in a never-ending endurance fight. Weapons and power-ups abound and you gain selectable perks as you progress. Versus Squad adds a defense element by allowing the player to purchase and place walls, fences, sentry turrets, explosives and other items to protect themselves and funnel the zombie hordes. Unfortunately, the defense part didn't always seem to make the game better. In my first game, it bugged out and locked up the game (that hasn't happened since). In other games, no one had enough coins to do much between waves. The UI is clunky which just adds to disrupting the flow of the game. There's also a survival mode where you place items once and then fight continuously without wave breaks.

Although I didn't think the defense aspects were entirely ready for prime time, the game itself remains solid and the other improvements are nice: you can earn points to buy permanent perks, the graphics are much improved and the game still feels solid. It's not a bad game by any stretch; it's a pretty good one. But the new elements need some more tweaking to match the simple beauty of Nation Red. Fortunately the developers remain involved in updating the game and I expect good things for it.

A follow-up to the excellent Nation Red is a tricky thing. Sometimes a bowl of deliciously simple ice cream isn't improved upon by adding a pile of whipped cream, sprinkles and other toppings. And Versus Squad doesn't quite find the right balance but you still wind up with a pretty good dessert. The premise is simple: A twin-stick shooter where you mow down waves of zombies in a never-ending endurance fight. Weapons and power-ups abound and you gain selectable perks as you progress. Versus Squad adds a defense element by allowing the player to purchase and place walls, fences, sentry turrets, explosives and other items to protect themselves and funnel the zombie hordes. Unfortunately, the defense part didn't always seem to make the game better. In my first game, it bugged out and locked up the game (that hasn't happened since). In other games, no one had enough coins to do much between waves. The UI is clunky which just adds to disrupting the flow of the game. There's also a survival mode where you place items once and then fight continuously without wave breaks. Although I didn't think the defense aspects were entirely ready for prime time, the game itself remains solid and the other improvements are nice: you can earn points to buy permanent perks, the graphics are much improved and the game still feels solid. It's not a bad game by any stretch; it's a pretty good one. But the new elements need some more tweaking to match the simple beauty of Nation Red. Fortunately the developers remain involved in updating the game and I expect good things for it.