Zombie War—Gun ‘Em Down
Another Zombie Game?
How many zombie games have you played in your lifetime? I can count at least ten off the top of my head. To be sure, video gaming is oversaturated with zombie titles. To stand out, a zombie game needs to offer something special. Wangming’s Zombie War is a simple FPS action; you stand in one spot, aim your weapon, and fire at the incoming zombies. Despite its simple mechanics, Zombie War takes this basic format a little further and offers up some real challenges.
Short but Sweet?
Zombie War is deceptive at first glance. When you open the game, you’re greeted with a low-resolution scene of an apocalyptic event; there is a zombie sitting in a chair, with what appears to be a bunker and an animated fire pit above a green play button. The game offers one hundred levels—this is, as some reviewers mentioned, a problem with the game, as this leaves the game very short-lived. However, each level does get progressively longer with more and more zombies. I myself managed to finish the game in about five to seven hours across the span of a week.
Sweet, Sweet Upgrades
Zombie War’s upgrade system works as it should. Before each level starts, you are shown a weapon upgrade screen. You start off with a pair of fairly weak Glocks. As you play more and gather more coins from victories, you can upgrade your current weapons and even unlock bigger, more powerful ones. It is quite satisfying to earn coins after each victory and watch as your gun evolves into a more powerful version of itself, especially so when you unlock a new one and get a shiny 360° view of it.
Ready to Slaughter Zombies?
The combat system is fairly simple. There are two buttons on the right side, one for firing your weapon and another for reloading. You can drag your left thumb across the screen to aim and shoot at incoming zombies. Getting headshots brings their health bars down faster. Shooting any other part of the body costs you not only more bullets, but your chances of survival. This is because the only thing protecting you from the zombies is a barricade in front of you. The barricade’s health is gauged by a red heart on the top left of the screen. Once it reaches zero, you lose. Honestly, it may have been better for the developer to allow you to continue with a broken barricade, as the zombies would still have to reach you before they would kill you. This would make the game much more hardcore and fun. Another thing that you’ll need to consider is which zombies you’ll dispatch as they come at you. Some of them, depending on their characteristics, will be the obvious target, though you may slip up and let a zombie or two approach your barricade.
Easy-Hard Mechanics
At the end of the day, Zombie War is a fairly casual game. It’s not a complete pushover, though. This is because the beginning of the game is really easy, but it does get challenging. I found myself starting to lose missions once I passed level 40. It was past this point that the game really increased the number of zombies in each level and added more special zombies—which are harder to kill. There were times where I bought a new weapon and it simply wasn’t doing the trick. The number of zombies, paired with the special zombie’s higher health, made the new gun I purchased a really bad choice; it just couldn’t kill them fast enough. After losing a mission or two, I would switch back to my previous, fully upgraded weapon; only then was I able to pass a few more levels. Once I raised some more money to upgrade that new, weak weapon I bought, I was all set. So, the trial and error aspect serves as a nice mechanic in a bare bones survival game like Zombie War.
Conclusion
Zombie War is a fun game even though it’s a casual title. Despite this, you will have fun blasting away at zombies as the gibs go flying across the air and ground. The combat system, while simple, is still fun, and the upgrade screen does bring excitement every time you have enough coins for that upgrade or new weapon. The addition of zombies, every ten levels, will make the game’s repetitiveness less of a bother, and you’ll enjoy figuring out the best way to take them out.
Hardcore?
Kinda.
The first half of the game is easy—you won’t have much of a challenge getting through it. It’s the second half that you will enjoy playing, however. The combination of special zombies and the number of them really makes for an engaging game. It’s not hardcore though as the title becomes repetitive and predictable over time.
