Last Deanimator Post
I've grown bored with the game since I hit a mark I haven't even come close to beating since, but a reader asked for my secrets (such as they are) and I suppose I can oblige.
I guess it's a matter of arranging the priority kills in the game. You can always kill the two smaller zombie types with two shots no matter how far you get in the game: they both will fall down if you shoot them in the lower legs, and then one shot will kill them as they're getting up. Aim lower on the lower leg than high because a hit around the knee won't necessarily knock them down, and when they're down it's easiest to let them start to get back up before finishing them off because when they're flat it's difficult to actually hit them. Now, the middlish size zombie with the big head is easiest killed by knocking its head off and putting another shot in its chest, but with a horde of zombies rushing you you're probably best off knocking it on the ground to slow it down while you take care of the big ones.
So, about the big ones. They grow progressively stronger, requiring more shots from the revolver as the game goes on; I stop using the revolver on them unless absolutely necessary around 400 kills, but I seem to recall 7 hit kills around then. Basically at that point it's impossible to kill more than two or three with just the revolver and then only if they're alone and you have time to reload. The big ones are best taken care of with a single shot from the revolver before they even get out of the ground, of course.
The answer to killing the big ones is the shotgun. For about the last 150 kills I was using a true combination of the revolver and shotgun rather than just running one dry and switching, which is suicide. I'd try to keep the revolver as full as I could while switching to the shotgun to take care of any big ones, relying more and more on the shotgun for the ones already up and killing as many as possible before they got out of the ground with the revolver. Very quick shooting and counting your shots is vital because the fourth shot with the shotgun always misses and it's slow as hell to reload.
You're up shit creek if you have four or five zombies coming using the shotgun and an empty revolver; at that point you're best off blasting any big ones (up to 3), not reloading, switching to the revolver, reloading, and killing the rest with it. But! You'd want to switch back to the shotgun and shoot off the shells before the CLEAR thing was all the way on the screen, because you can reload while it's up so long as you are done with the actual firing before you can click to the next level. I do not know if you can begin the reloading (but not finish it) and click to the next level and still have a reloaded gun because I never took the chance.
Reload management is the absolute most important thing in the game besides actually being able to hit your targets, and I'll still occasionally struggle through lowish levels (like 14-15) if I make a crappy reloading decision. I've died at only 150 kills a bunch of times because a big bastard got the jump on me when I was reloading. Oh, when you're done reloading if you start firing as soon as possible sometimes you can get an extra shot before it starts subtracting from your 'magazine,' but I didn't spend any time trying to figure out what sort of timing or conditions there are to do so, because it feels somewhat like cheating. I don't complain if it happens on accident, but I won't strive to do it.
Er, some miscellaneous tips... Any lull in the fighting means shooting off the ammo and reloading if the revolver has four or less and the shotgun if two or less. If you hit the big bastards in the right spot (around the hips?) sometimes they'll take a step back, which is helpful. I don't practice that technique, really, but it's worth knowing. It doesn't matter where you hit the big ones with the revolver, they don't die any quicker. I could go on for a while (sorry if I repeated anything I wrote before) but the best help you can get is practice and luck.
