Rule #1: Manage Your Expectations
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Zombieland movies. I even saw the original film in theaters, which now feels like a strange badge of honor. So when I stumbled across Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip, I didn’t need much convincing to give it a shot. It’s a licensed game tied to the second movie, and it appears to take place somewhere between the first and second films.
Right away, it’s clear this is not aiming for prestige. This is a budget, arcade-style twin-stick shooter built to let you mow down zombies for a few hours and then move on. Once I accepted that, and kept my expectations firmly in check, the experience turned out to be pretty... well, okay.
Rule #2: Always Know Where You’re Going
At its core, Road Trip is a straightforward twin-stick shooter. You move, you shoot, you reload, you throw grenades, take out zombies, and you repeat. I appreciated how "pick-up-and-play" the whole thing felt. There’s very little friction here, and within minutes I was comfortably clearing out packs of undead and pushing forward.
Objectives are generally clear and always marked with on-screen waypoints, which helps a lot once the screen fills up with zombies. Even when things get chaotic, I never found myself confused about what the game wanted from me.
Controls are smooth and responsive, though I did find it mildly disorienting that actions like reloading and the use of grenades were mapped to the shoulder buttons. That said, it didn’t take long to adjust, and once it clicked, I had no real issues.
The bigger problem, though, is longevity. Playing solo, the repetition sets in fast. The game does offer local co-op, and while I didn’t play with anyone, it’s painfully obvious this was designed with shared chaos in mind. Alone, the cracks in the overall experience show much sooner. With a friend on the couch, I’m confident this would be a noticeably better experience.
Rule #7: Limber Up (Because You’ll Be Moving a Lot)
Combat, the game's main activity, feels fine. Competent, even. But rarely is it ever truly exciting. You have access to a decent selection of firearms and melee weapons, yet outside of obvious differences like fire rate and damage output, none of them feel particularly distinct. I never developed a favorite weapon or felt encouraged to experiment much. I take that back. While horribly inaccurate, the mini-gun was fun. I mean, when is a mini-gun not fun?
Enemy variety exists on paper. You’ll encounter fast-moving zombies, big bullet sponges, and enemies that attack from range. In practice, though, none of them really force you to change battle tactics or make you change how you approach a combat situation. Keeping your finger on the trigger is usually enough to solve every encounter, and over time, that starts to feel monotonous.
One bright spot is environmental interaction. You can trigger traps or use objects in the world to take out groups of zombies, and these moments do a nice job of breaking up the tedious pacing. Unfortunately, they’re more of a "nice-to-have" than a core mechanic, and they’re not enough to fully offset the repetition.
Rule #22: When in Doubt, Blame the Budget
Visually, Road Trip gets the job done. Environments are serviceable, and interactive objects are clear enough during combat. Nothing is outright ugly, but very little stands out as I'm sure you'll have noticed with these gameplay photos I've used here.
Character models are the weakest link. Up close, they look like they belong to a console generation or two ago, which is especially noticeable when you’re playing as characters that are supposed to be instantly recognizable. It’s not game-breaking, but it does reinforce the feeling that this is a modest production across the board.
Speaking of modest, gameplay progression as a whole is light and somewhat unsatisfying. You can level up basic stats like health and damage, but it happens slowly and never feels particularly impactful. Additional characters can be unlocked like Madison and Nevada from the second movie, but I never felt compelled to stray from the main cast.
Once the campaign wrapped up, there wasn’t much pulling me back in. No meaningful endgame hooks, no exciting unlocks, and no systems that made me want to push further. There's some relatively easy trophies/achievements to be had, but those require some mindless grinding. The game feels content with being a one-and-done experience, and maybe that’s the most honest thing about it.
Rule #32: Enjoy the Ride, Not the Story
There is a story here… I think. It’s poorly presented and largely forgettable, to the point where I often had no idea why I was doing what I was doing. Thankfully, this is a game about shooting zombies, and that motivation alone is all I really needed. If you were, however, looking for some amazing narrative experience for some reason that ties into the movies, well... It was a nice thought.
All the main characters from the films are present, and their personalities are mostly intact. The writing leans into the quippy, sarcastic tone of the movies, and when it works, it works well. I genuinely enjoyed some of the dialogue. However, the voice acting is inconsistent at best. The original cast did not return, with the notable exception of Abigail Breslin as Little Rock, and she stands out immediately. She actually sounds like she wants to be there and probably had a lot of fun recording her lines. As a fan of the franchise, I just wish the rest of the performances were the same way.
Worse still, the humor suffers because the characters rarely get to play off each other the way they do in the films. Repetitive battle dialogue becomes annoying quickly as well, and what should feel like banter instead feels like audio looping in the background. The license is used, but not fully leveraged, which feels like this game's biggest missed opportunity.
Rule #44: Know What You’re Signing Up For
Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip fits neatly into the traditional “licensed game” mold, and that’s not exactly a compliment. It’s competent, occasionally amusing, and very forgettable. It feels like it could have been more with deeper mechanics, smarter writing, or a stronger sense of identity. I didn't have a bad time with this game, but I didn't have memorable one, either. This Expedition Log will probably serve best for me as a reminder that I actually did play this game at some point.
That said, if you go in with low expectations and just want to shoot zombies and kill some time (especially if you have a friend who doesn't mind occupying the same space as you), there’s a decent chance you’ll find it enjoyable enough. Just don’t expect this cross-country experience to stick with you once the road trip is over.