Zombie knights? Set in medieval England? That premise has great potential in the same way as combining pirates and ninjas and dinosaurs. Undead Knights largely lives up to the promise.

In this hybrid of a hack-and-slash adventure, real-time strategy, and role-playing game, you play the bad guys, in a sense. Romulus and Remus are brothers, Sylvia the king’s daughter who was to marry Remus, and they have all come back from the dead to enact revenge for the annihilation of the Blood family by order of the king.

You can play as either of the three, but the fighting styles don’t really differ, and you’ll not only have to fight the English soldiers, but you’ll also need to turn them into zombie soldiers to fight by your side.

And it can be tricky trying to balance killing enemies with transforming them. Your zombie soldiers are nothing more than glorified fodder, and you’ll use them to overpower tougher enemies, break down barriers blocking your path, and to form zombie bridges when necessary.

See what I mean? It’s the epitome of excellent.

The controls are simple. Two buttons are used for weapon attacks, another is used to evade attacks, and another picks up the body closest to you for zombie making or throwing, depending on whom you pick up.

But Undead Knights is repetitive, in terms of combat and the environments you’ll be fighting in. A little more attention to making the game more varied, a little more polish, could have gone a long way to make this a must-have, not just a game loaded with potential.

Undead Knights (Tecmo; PSP; rated mature)

Cross-posted at the Georgia Straight