Video Game / Age of Zombies

One original adventure of one super badass. Bullet-powered jetpack not included.

"This is Barry Steakfries. After failing to revive dwindling gramophone sales, Barry ventured into the lab of Legitimate Research. Uncovering the newest breakthrough in aviation technologies, Barry liberated the world's greatest jetpacks from the scientists, who would use them only for evil. Along the way, he also rode a robot dragon and the bird that shoots money, which was awesome and super fun. Landing in a world with monsters, Barry laced up and ran like a wind to his next destination.
Now, the mild-mannered gramophone salesman, turned dragon riding, monster blasting Jetpack-based hero is ready to face a challenge, that will echo through the ages. This. Is. Age of Zombies!"

—The Story of Barry Steakfries Trailer

Age of Zombies is a 2010 Top-down Shoot 'Em Up by Halfbrick Studios, originally released on PSP as part of the "Minis" collection and re-released on iOS, Sony Xperia Play, Android, PlayStation Vita, and Ouya.

Evil Mad Scientist Professor Brains has created an army of mindless zombies and plans to destroy the mankind by sending them back in time to invade various time periods. It's up to Barry Steakfries, the badass Action Hero, to travel through time (initially Prehistoric era, 1930s, Ancient Egypt, Feudal Japan and the Future, later updates and ports introduced 3 more chapters: Wild West, Barry for President^note Also takes place in the Wild West, but themed around Independence Day and Professor Brains' Lab) and put an end to the Zombie Apocalypse.

Player starts with the basic gun, but can get weapons from randomly-spawning crates, ranging from Shotguns and SMGs to Riffles and Flamethrowers. Additionally, there is a secondary weapon in form of Grenades, most useful against large groups of zombies, especially if you are cornered. You always start with 5 of them and need to refill them through specific weapon pickups. There are also few weapons that can replace them, such as Bazookas and Sentries that can also be found in the crates.

The goal of each level is to defeat a horde of zombies that appear through portals. Every third level features a boss, who will also be accompanied by even more undead. At that point, they will keep spawning endlessly, so your goal changes to taking down boss' healthbar until they're finished.

Barry would later appear as the main protagonist of Monster Dash and Jetpack Joyride, spawning a franchise as a result. Barry, Professor Brains, and Zombie T-Rex would also appear in various crossovers by Halfbrick.

Shoot it up in Trope times, Steakfries!

• Announcer Chatter: The announcer is used for weapon pickups, who changes an accent depending on the current time period. These accents include:
  • A slurred-out neanderthal accent for the Prehisotic times.
  • An exaggerated Mafia accent for the 1930s levels.
  • A deep monotone voice for the Ancient Egypt.
  • A Gratuitous Japanese accent for the Feudal Japan levels.
  • A synthesized robotic voice for the Future levels.
  • A stereotypical Southern American cowboy-esque accent for Western levels.
  • The weapons that would be introduced in later updates don't have new voice clips recorded for them, so the game uses generic non-accented comments, such as "Holy Balls" and "Kick-Ass".
• Autobots, Rock Out!: The game's entire soundtrack consists of metal-oriented themes, made to fit into zombie-slaughtering action.
• Bond One-Liner: In pre-2014 versions, Barry will occasionally make a one-liner after killing some zombies. Of course, he also has some things to say after the round is over. Downplayed in level 5-2, fittingly titled "Hooray for running out of ideas!", where he starts having trouble coming up with them on the go.
  Barry: I wouldn't be a badass action hero if I couldn't come up with the solid one-liners all the time. "Yeah, I sure showed... those guys." Ooh yeah. Still got it.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: There are three types of Sentry Guns — Shotgun, SMG and Flamethrower. While the crates containing them use the exact same icon, they are colored for easier idetification: blue, green, and red respectively.
• Cliffhanger: Eighth world, Brains' Lab, ends with Professor Brains announcing that he opened a portal to another dimensions and plans to invade another worlds.
• Credits Gag: The original PSP version gives special thanks to Steve Bennett in its credits. Steve Bennett is the name Barry wanted to give a pet caveman zombie at the beginning of the game and mistakingly calls Prince Runingunin by this name due to not recognising him upon returning to the present.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: After losing a life, you respawn not far from where you died. Not only that, but the amount of lives you have always resets to the default 3 after completing the level, even if you had only one or two remaining. Getting a Game Over doesn't punish you much either, as you simply restart the level. The only place where this actually matters is in Survival/Horde modes, which have you survive for as long as possible with a single life.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Unlike Monster Dash and Jetpack Joyride, Age of Zombies is not a 2D Endless Runner, but a twin stick shooter from the top-down perspective. This is also the only game in the trilogy to not rely on Bloodless Carnage, with all characters leaving pools of blood when killed. This is especially noticeable with Monster Dash, where you still get to blast zombies and mummies in the face, but their death animations are a bit more comical in nature and don't rely on blood. Finally, the series' iconic Machine Gun Jetpack is completely absent.
  • The original PSP version of the game leaned more towards realistic designs for characters (at least in the promotional material) and featured plenty of profanity, courtesy of Barry Steakfries, who was also always shown with a cigarette in his mouth. All of the game's ports would settle on more cartoony designs and Bowdlerise Barry's smoking habits and language, making his original characterisation at odds with how he is depicted everywhere else.
• Flunky Boss: Every single boss battle is accompanied by an endless amount of mook zombies to keep you busy.
• Gatling Good: Minigun, the fastest bullet-firing weapon, although it decreases Barry's speed upon being used.
• George Lucas Altered Version: The game went through several changes since it's original release. The very first port for iOS mostly just impoved the game's graphics and slightly altered Barry design to be more cartoony and not have him smoke a cigarette. The latter revisions started changing some of the dialogue, mostly altering or removing the swears. 2014 saw "Season 2", which overhauled some of the graphics in 3D, before reverting them back later. 2023 re-release changed the dialogue even further, such as connecting the Royal Consult to Queen V or removing sexual tension between Barry and Ruby due to certain implications as revealed at the end of the Western chapter.
• Giant Mook: Some of the Zombies have bigger versions of themselves. They require more bullets to go down.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Ancient Japan announcer shouts weapons' names with a very heavy japanese accent. Barry also tries to speak Japanese in some of his dialogue.
  Barry: Watashi wa KILL DES!
  Barry: Nenrei zonbi no ruuru. Watashi wa subete watashi no tomodachi ni itteoku! My Japanese kicks ass.
• Noticing the Fourth Wall: Halfway through Brains' Lab, Professor Brains explains Barry that they are in a video game. Barry realizes that he knew he "had what takes to be the best game action hero of all time".
• One-Steve Limit: Subverted, as there's two Barrys: One is the main protagonist, Barry Steakfries, and the other is the Big Bad, Professor Barry Brains.
• One-Winged Angel: By fusing zombie powers with the future technology, Professor Brains turns himself into a zombie mutant◊, which is a Final Boss of this game.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Regular Zombies, Caveman Zombies, Mafia Zombies, Mummy Zombies, Ninja Zombies, Cyborg Zombies, Cowboy Zombies, Washington Zombies and a Zombie Dinosaur.
• The Promise: After defeating the third boss, Barry teleports to another time era, before Prince Runningunnin could grant him immortality. Barry asks to find him in the future, which is exactly what Prince does after Barry returns to the present.
• Regenerating Health: In earliest versions, Barry's health slowly regenerates over time, so as long as you are not completely surrounded by zombies in every corner, you don't have to worry about being bitten by one. Later versions combine this with three hearts system. It functions similarly, but when one heart is lost, it won't regenerate unless Barry picks up a crate that restores all health.
• Resurrective Immortality: Prince Runningunnin is a member of Royal Consult, all members of each live for over hundred years and can come back after being killed. He rewards Barry with this immortality after he comes back to the present, though he loses them in a Noodle Incident by the time bonus sixth episode kicks in. This trope also seems to apply to Professor Brains, who's killed by Barry five times throughout the entire game. His first recovery was explained by him traveling to the future long before Barry crashed his lab, while the rest are him Exploiting the Fourth Wall, due to him knowing they're in a video game.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: One of the collectable weapons is the SHOTGUN, very effective in the close range.
• Smart Bomb: Grenades are a downplayed example. They do not destroy every single zombie on the screen, but are limited in usage and are still very effective against a huge waves.
• Sprite/Polygon Mix: Season 2 update changed 2D sprites for Barry, zombies and NPC's to 3D models. Despite that, the landscape and bosses all stayed in 2D. It was changed back very next year after a negative responce.
• Stationary Boss: King Pharoah Shattinbricks, boss of the third world, who sits in his sarcophagus, throwing pink energy beams, fire balls and sickles at you.
• Time Traveler's Dinosaur: Zombie T-Rex is one of the enemies Barry encounters after traveling to the prehistoric era. The same dinosaur became a recurring character in later Barry Steakfries games, implied to have been brought to the present.
• Your Head Asplode: King Shattinbricks has his head exploade after you defeat him, complete with blood pouring from his body.

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