SouthPeak Interactive's Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia was expected to be in from the beginning of the Xbox 360's lifetime, but after a number of delays the title has finally been given a release date. While not specific, April is when gamers will finally be able to get their grubby mitts on the third-person action shooter.

Developed by Artificial Studios, Monster Madness features a group of teenagers facing an onslaught of supernatural enemies that have infiltrated their small corner of suburban America. The game's style tips its hat heavily in the direction of LucasArts' Zombies Ate My Neighbors, but next-generation polish supplied by the Unreal 3 engine ensures that the player's experience is a lot more action packed and dynamic than its 16-bit Super Nintendo and SEGA Mega Drive cousins could ever have been.

The game begins with teenagers Zack and Carrie attempting to study together. Their buddies Andy and Jennifer soon arrive to crash the 'study date,' but their disturbance is nothing compared to the gaggle of brain-hungry zombies who suddenly burst through the front door. Rather than barricade themselves in the basement, the four intrepid teenagers take it upon themselves to save their community from the alien threat and discover the source of all the strange happenings.

Monster Madness' comedic approach to the supernatural invasion includes fifty different enemy types, each boasting their own offensive and defensive techniques for players to crack. The game's brave teenage heroes must traverse 20 horror-filled levels by dispatching all manner of deformed foes and solving tricky, physics-based puzzles.

Lucky American gamers who pre-order a copy of Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia will bag themselves a beanie adorned with the title’s logo – perhaps not the most effective deterrent to any threat from the proper world of the undead, but nice all the same.

Not one for the faint-hearted, then. Play alone... if you dare!

[insert evil cackling]