We normally get invited to meet new boy bands or to see the latest west end musical so when Attitude was invited to kill Zombies in an abandoned shopping centre to celebrate Resident Evil: Retribution being out on Blu Ray and DVD we jumped at the chance. 'Let the gays have a go at saving the world for a change,' we cheered.

So on a cold wet miserable day in the centre of Reading, we are in a group of 15 men’s magazine journalists, standing outside a run-down monument to the recession and the boom of internet shopping. We are ushered through the doors and greeted by men dressed in bio-hazard suits. One by one we are shouted at with our instructions and the game has begun - the game being that the world has descended into panic brought on by a Zombie apocalypse and we are the lucky few who have so far survived.  A few minutes in and one of the group, a girl I was chatting to in the rain outside, has been declared infected and is dragged off kicking and screaming never to be seen again. It becomes clear that everything is not as it seems.  We are ushered into a room and greeted by guards who explain the safety tips and who give us basic weapons training. We are dressed in protective gear and provided with realistic looking pump action rifles that fire polystyrene pellets at any rampaging Zombies that might come near us.

Without giving two much away we spend the next 90 minutes running missions and challenges around the abandoned shopping centre trying to survive. The very realistic looking Zombies appear from behind doors, in the corners of dark rooms and attack when you least expect it. We had a specially created experience with villains and some references to the movie thrown into the mix and, whilst it’s hard to be totally scared with some of the group giggling and screaming like girls (not us), it was great fun and at times we probably did take it all far too seriously.  Highly recommended if you are a big fan of the Zombie movie genre or shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ or simply want to get some practice in for when the apocalypse happens for real.

·       The Zombie Mall Experience was provided by Zed Events and is available from £139pp

Resident Evil: Retribution is out now on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD