I know it’s cliché but…
The inevitable zombie apocalypse is upon us. It is up to your tough, rugged, take-no-prisoners self to save the little girl you have befriended and your rag-tag group of equally hard characters to survive the hordes of the undead. Sound familiar? It should, because IGG took Doomsday: Last Survivor and rammed every zombie fighting cliché in the book into a fun mobile strategy title. Can it survive two crowded genres?
It’s all so familiar…
Doomsday: Last Survivor quite literally starts off as a mobile Last of Us. You are the rugged vagabond protecting a child running in an isosteric RTS shooter. After a short, honestly beautiful, and well-polished sequence, the base building begins. All of this should be second nature for mobile strategy gamers at this point, but newbies should find the tutorial both easy and intuitive.
Doomsday: Last Survivor copies so much from the genre and the generic versions of many of zombie’s stories. The Last of Us, Lolipop Chainsaw and Resident Evil just to name a few. At one point I was wondering if my priest was going to “kick ass for the lord.” Yet, what this game does best is it takes those cliches and makes them better.
Aim for the Head
Players will find themselves lost in the smooth southern guitar weaving a melancholy into everything you do. Base building the necessities of a new home amongst the rubble of a dead world will feel natural at first but gets weird later when you house thousands. This is one of my only complaints about the genre as a whole. Harboring an army of thousands does not feel like an “end of the world” kind of shelter.
The good news is that I have played for over 30 hours and have not hit a paywall or sharp increase in building times. The game is well-paced with a variety of missions designed to mix things up and level up your main generals.
The cliched generals all come with slightly more unique stories and the (what I hope) are unique ones have some heart-wrenching doozies. This excellent writing has players wishing they had more XP to hand out to watch their generals win at life.
The Sun Will Rise Again
It is a rare event for me to review a title here and continue playing it after. I just do not have the time. This title has earned my respect with its stellar pacing, beautiful scenery, and a plethora of enjoyable events to participate in.
It is not perfect and could use to have some rot chopped off, but if I had a choice of a time killer at the end of the world, Doomsday: Last Survivor would make the list.
Is it Hardcore?
Absolutely!
IGG proves its moto by taking a familiar path and improving it in every way. This is a great way to spend the end of the world.
