Windows Phone Central Gaming Roundup: Zombie Games
Just like the Zombies themselves, the Zombie gaming genre doesn't seem to want to die off. We have a huge collection of Zombie oriented games available in the Windows Phone Store and many are rather successful gaming titles. Titles such as Plants vs. Zombies, Dredd vs. Zombies and Zombies Can’t Jump are but a few of the many offerings in the Windows Phone Store.
This week’s Windows Phone Central Roundup focuses on the Zombie genre of games with four of the top rated titles. Each game involves the undead, is rated at four-stars or higher and while not necessarily new to the Windows Phone Store they are new to the roundup. They all are entertaining options for your Windows Phone gaming library and are fun ways to pass the time with.
Shelter (trial/$.99)
Shelter caught our eye the other day when it was featured in the Windows Phone Red Stripe Deals. It is not your typical Zombie game and has you battling the undead through a card game as opposed to running around the screen shooting them up. Graphics are outstanding, game play challenging, and Shelter has a bit of an addictive quality.
Shelter's Main Menus
The storyline has you working your way through the city, battling zombies, in an effort to reach your girlfriend. The main menu for Shelter will launch the story mode, replay the game tutorial and access the game’s settings (music/sound effects/etc.).
When you first jump into the story line, Shelter will walk you through an extensive tutorial on game play. In a nutshell, you work your way through a city map and defeat the zombies. Along the way your card deck grows and the challenges increase. Combat is accomplished in card game fashion.
Personally, card battles can be a little on the boring side but Shelter does a good job of making it interesting. You do have a way to skip through the Zombie’s turn with a fast-forward arrow on the game screen or through the game’s settings.
Shelter Game Screens
Shelter has over one hundred game cards and combat is more strategy oriented than action packed. There is more than one-way to skin a cat with Shelter so no one strategy is necessarily correct for victory. Overall, Shelter is a surprisingly entertaining Zombie game for your Windows Phone that you can pick up and play for a short bit while being strong enough for longer gaming sessions.
There is a free trial version available for Shelter with the full version running $.99. Shelter is available for Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices and you can find it here in the Windows Phone Store.
CoM Zombies (free)
CoM Zombies is short for Call of Mini Zombies and has you defending your town from the walking dead. When you first launch CoM Zombies, the game takes you through a helpful tutorial that covers your gaming controls and general gaming objectives.
CoM Zombies Gaming Screen
You control movement and your weapons by two virtual joysticks that sit, respectively, in the left and right bottom corners of the screen. You move your character’s orientation by sliding your finger across the screen. It isn’t the easiest control layout for movement and I found the best strategy to avoid having your brains eaten is to keep your character moving. Run away from the zombies, turn and open fire. The bad thing about this tactic is that often zombies will pop-up from the ground behind you and attack. CoM Zombies will definitely keep you on your toes and it will take a little time to get used to the controls.
Your character's vital statistics are spread across the top of the gaming screen with health boost sitting just above the weapons control. Your current weapon of choice is highlighted in the upper right corner. When you feel the need to switch weapons, just tap on the icon to rotate through your arsenal.
CoM Zombies Map
The game is spread out across a map of your city with various areas that you have to visit and wipe out the zombies. CoM Zombies also has a spot on the map marked Survival, which is another gaming mode that calls on you to survive as many zombie attack waves as possible.
As you take out the zombies, you earn cash, cash that can be used in the game’s store to upgrade existing weapons or buy bigger and better weapons.
CoM Zombies Store
Graphics are decent and there are plenty of zombie types to keep gaming interesting but I think the main difficulty with CoM Zombies is the controls. Moving around and shooting up the zombies is not impossible, it just takes a while to get used to swiping the screen to change the orientation and using the joystick to move about.
Still, CoM Zombies isn’t a bad game to choose when you need help passing the time. CoM Zombies is a free game, available for Windows Phone 8 devices that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store.
Final Fight Z (free)
If you are looking for a minimalistic approach to fighting off zombies, Final Fight Z might be a perfect fit.
The main menu for Final Fight Z has options to jump into game play, view your gaming achievements, view the gaming leaderboards, access the game’s options, and exit Final Fight Z altogether.
Final Fight Z Tutorial
Final Fight Z minimalism is illustrated best with the game screen. Your character is represented by a brown (could be tan) dot on the screen. The zombies are represented by all the other colored dots. Scattered about the gaming screen are lettered blocks that represent bonus items (health, laser gun, shotgun, etc.).
Movement controls are similar to CoM Zombies in that you have your directional and weapons joysticks in the bottom corners of the screen. You can go into the settings and opt to have the joysticks relative to the respective halves of the screen (not anchored in the corners).
Final Fight Z Game Screen
Game play with Final Fight Z has your scurrying around the screen, shooting up the zombie dots. One hit by a zombie (making contact with them) and you lose a life. Lose three lives and the game ends.
Final Fight Z plays more like a zombie invasion on the molecular level and your character is the white blood cell, blasting all the infectious cells. It is an entertaining game, just minimal. Final Fight Z is an exclusive to Windows Phone and might be a good choice of games for those times when you only have a few minutes to kill.
Final Fight Z is a free game and available for Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices. You can find your copy of Final Fight Z here in the Windows Phone Store.
Zombie DOOM (free)
Zombie DOOM is modeled after the classic video games DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D, just with a zombie theme. The pixelated graphics, animations and the 3D mazes that you have to navigate through are all reminiscent of the classic duo of games.
The story line has a group of aliens invading earth, capturing humans and turning them into zombies. Your mission is to search the maze of hallways and rooms to destroy the zombies and aliens while rescuing the human captives.
Zombie DOOM Intro
Controls for Zombie DOOM have movement (forward, backward, left, right) controlled by a touching the left side of the screen. Your orientation is controlled by touch from the right side of the screen. A fire button is in the upper right corner of the screen. It takes a little time to get used to the movement controls but not too long.
Game play is spread out across six episodes with five levels of difficulty ranging from easy to impossible. As you work your way through each episode you can earn coins that can be used to buy ammo and weapons that will help you survive the zombie onslaught.
Zombie DOOM Tutorial
The only downside to Zombie DOOM is that a large ad banner runs across the top of the screen. You can use cash earned in the game to remove the ads. If you do not want to wait until you earn the $45 (game cash) through game play, in-app purchases for game cash are available (removing the ads will cost you $.99).
If you are a fan of the old DOOM-styled games, you’ll want to give Zombie DOOM a try. It is another entertaining option to consider for those occasions when you have a little time to waste.
Zombie DOOM Game Screen
Zombie DOOM is a free, ad-supported game that is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices. You can find your copy of Zombie DOOM here in the Windows Phone Store.
Standouts?
While each of the four games in this week’s roundup receives high marks in the Windows Phone Store, I would have to tap Shelter as the best in the bunch.
It lacks the faster game pace as the other gaming titles have but the graphics are top notch and game play calls for more strategy than muscle. Shelter will remember where you left off in the game so it is well suited for shorter gaming sessions or when you have a little more time to devote to the game.
Beyond Shelter, Final Fight Z grabs your attention due to the uniqueness of the game. Graphics are very under whelming but game play is intense, fast paced and challenging. You just need to use your imagination to picture the colored dots as rotting corpses who are wanting to eat your brain.
I would have to call it a push between Zombie DOOM and CoM Zombies. I like the control design better with Zombie DOOM with the presence of the fire button but the graphics on CoM Zombie stand out more. Zombie DOOM does have the nostalgia factor but the game just doesn’t seem to rise to the level of the original games it is modeled after.
All are worth trying and who knows, you may find that Windows Phone zombie game you have been missing. If we have missed your favorite Windows Phone zombie game, feel free to speak up in the comments below.
