You wake up in the trunk of a car with no memory of how you got there or why, but as soon as you get out, you wish that you were still in the trunk. That is the premise of Garage. It’s up to you to battle through the Garage, an underground mall formerly owned by shady corporation Smith Investments.
Control wise it is a twin stick shooter with movement and aiming on the left and right sticks respectively. Punching, swinging, and shooting are handled with ‘ZR’, and you can kick water coolers, traffic cones, rats, and severed heads with ‘ZL’. There’s a weapon wheel on ‘R’ containing an ax, plus the assortment of firearms you’ll find on your journey. Be careful of ammo management and timed reloads are the order of the day. Also, you must be careful of not running out of ammo, while a zombie creature rams at you at full speed. Luckily, there is ammo in generous quantities so you will always have on hand.
While exploring the Garage, you’ll need to kick doors open to get access to new areas, which thankfully are illuminated. You can also find secret rooms containing equipment or notes to read, which are found through cracks in walls. The facility is shambles with fires and fluorescent strip bulbs providing most of the lighting. The attention to detail is worthy of praise with some neat tricks in the environment. There are pipes running across the ‘ceiling’ and bulbs falling to the floor around you. The sense of dread and not knowing what will happen after opening a door can give you some good scares, even more with headphones. However, I have noted one thing: that Garage is dark, and it can be tough to make out details. It can be a little hard when playing in handheld mode, since the picture gets softer. This is especially more noticeable if you’re on the move during daylight hours.
Garage has a lot of B-movie horror references, and they become apparent in its story. There are some funny moments and some really disturbing ones too. I feel that they get the job done in terms of setting of the atmosphere of a sinister underground facility hidden in a mall with grotesque creatures like the films it nods to. Details like TV screen crackles with occasional static and a persistent scan line effect evokes old CRT televisions and VHS video era. They get the job done, and this works and meshes well with the painterly character portraits that pop up alongside dialogue boxes. The twin-stick mechanics are well implemented as you progress and find smarter enemies that carry guns, so hot swapping real time is a necessary skill to survive.
Items and enemies appear on-screen only when Butch has a clear line of sight to them, which increases tension, especially when searching for keys to progress. Also, you will have to shoot exploding barrels, hunt fuses to power up generators, kick debris onto land mines and watch CCTV footage for clues to enemy positions. You’ll also come across passcode-protected caches containing goodies or letters that flesh out the story. A few vehicular set-pieces offer a change of pace, although these interludes vary in effectiveness. Collapsing ceilings and regular checkpoints prevent too much backtracking and, although the darkness can be disorientating, levels are not a labyrinth that you can’t beat.
Bottom Line: Garage is a good top down zombie shooter with some cool VHS-era references and great spooky atmosphere. There were times in which I almost threw the Switch because of the scares. Honestly, if you like top down shooters Garage is for you. With tons of secrets and a compelling story, Garage is a game that must be on your Switch.