Van Pershing by The Oak Team is probably best described as yet another take on the Zombieville USA / Inkvaders style of horizontal beat'em up action. Van Pershing (the non-union ethnic alternative to Van Helsing) is out to thwart 'generic evil' of 'evil place' and as you progress you'll not only pack heavy amounts of firepower in the form of weapons, but also a few magical abilities to turn the tide.

The controls will be familiar for those who have played these games before, with buttons to move left and right, a fire button and a few added buttons will make an appearance depending on whether you have any shield or magic potions spare. As you shoot, zap or otherwise conflagrate various enemies you'll earn cash and ammunition that can in turn be used to upgrade or purchase new weapons to make life a little less hazardous.

The artwork is a bit clunky, with some transitions between background to foreground art and even basic animations being a bit stiff, however the overall style is fun and each of the game's environments and enemies are detailed cleverly. It's almost a shame that the gameplay feels so slow, with upgrades and progression through levels being so sluggishly paced and methodical as to make reaching later levels (where the game really starts to shine) a difficult proposition.

Van Pershing is nothing special in this genre, but with a few tweaks it could easily line itself up with other similar titles; however, until then it's not an easy game to recommend while older titles still put up a good fight.