Zombie Gunship Review: It’s a Blast

App Name:	Zombie Gunship
Platforms:	Universal (Optimized for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch)
Publisher(s):	Limbic Software
Version Reviewed:	1.0
Genre(s):	TD
Release Date:	July 21, 2011
Price:	$0.99
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Zombies, zombies, everywhere! No, I’m not just describing the current state of the App Store; I’m describing the barren landscape of Zombie Gunship , the latest iOS game to draw on the walking dead trope. Thankfully, Zombie Gunship delivers a fresh and interesting take on the living dead genre, offering up a fun little slice of post-zombie apocalypse survival.

The backstory of Zombie Gunship is taken care of in the load screen, where you catch a quick look at a number of newspaper headlines about the zombie apocalypse. Then you’re put in the position of a gunner on a military gunship, winging your way above the zombie-infestation. Your mission: protect the bunker from the encroaching horde and help shepherd survivors to safety. Your tools: military-grade air-to-surface weapons and plenty of ammo.

Gameplay itself is pretty straightforward. You must shoot the hordes of zombies while avoiding survivors. You begin with a single 25mm Gatling gun, but will quickly earn enough money to buy a 40mm Bofors  gun and a 105mm  Howitzer.  Each gun uses a different zoom and offers a different level of destruction. As the game progresses, the waves of zombies become thicker and the survivors become harder too avoid. It’s an endurance battle; the game has no ending point, just two “lose conditions”: either zombies enter the bunker or you kill too many survivors. The goal is to take out as many zombies as you can before either of those things happen. It’s a simple but compelling concept that definitely has that “one more time” quality to it.

Between plays, you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade your weapons — better damage, faster load times, a larger spread — and to purchase one-use bunker bombs to help stave off the end of the game. The upgrades are purchased with coins earned during play — you get a bounty for zombies destroyed and humans saved. You can also purchase coins through IAP, but you really earn them quickly enough in the game that there’s no compelling reason to (especially if you invest in improved “Zombie Bounty” early).

What I described above is all that the game offers; and if there were one big thing to hold against the game, this would be it. While each game is a different experience, since the zombies lack predictable waves or patterns, there’s only ever one landscape to defend, one scenario to play through, one goal to achieve. I hope that in future updates, the developers offer up different landscapes or goals — why not a more difficult map with two bunker entrances to defend? Or destructible terrain? Something to spice things up.

In terms of design, I really liked what they did here. The whole game is played through the perspective of the gunship’s radar display. The grainy black-and-white camera shot, where zombies show up as black figures [cold] and living humans as white [warm], was a great decision on the developer’s part. It makes the whole thing feel realistic, especially when the screen vibrates with the engine or shudders when you fire off a Howitzer round. Despite the small figures and limited palate, the visuals are pulled off cleanly and distinctly with plenty of nice shading. Even at maximum zoom, I appreciated the game’s aesthetic.

As I played Zombie Gunship, I was put immediately to mind of games like Zombie Highway, iBomber, and, oddly enough, UFO on Tape.  If you enjoyed any or all of those games, you will probably get a kick out of Zombie Gunship. I certainly did. It’s a game that will probably be on my iPod for some time to come.

Our Score: 4 out of 5

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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