Gamevil’s side scrolling shooter, Zombie Gunner, unleashed hordes of hungry corpses into the app store, debuting the latest title to feature the Undead. Packed with enough walking dead to populate a small city, Zombie Gunner is hoping to succeed in a crowded social gaming genre.
While it is up against stiff competition, it should be said that Zombie Gunner is a very good game. The story introduces us to Andrew, a desperate survivor of an apocalyptic disaster; searching for his daughter, Lisa, in a world overrun by zombies. Lisa has been kidnapped by the Undead, and Andrew must fight his way through a series of increasingly difficult levels to keep his daughter off the zombie’s dinner table.
As the hero attempts to conquer the various challenges and rescue Lisa, he will encounter a few humans still alive in the chaos. He can team up with some of the survivors, who come equipped with additional skills and weapons to help beat back the surging hordes.
The game has a nice retro look, with slightly fuzzy, brightly colored graphics. Game play is straight forward and relatively simple. The virtual thumb controller on the left moves Andrew and the thumb-stick on the right allows him to fire his weapon. Zombie Gunner has one particularly nice touch that will please fans of shooters. Players are not restricted to firing only to the left or right, but may direct their fire at unusual angles when needed.
There any many classes of zombies in the game and they require different types of damage to destroy them. The player must stay alert and figure out which weapon works best against each class of Undead. The special weapons that Andrew will find as he attempts each level have limited amounts of ammunition, requiring him to rely on a backup pistol or his punch attack when all else fails.
Zombie Gunner is available in the app store as a free download. The game also offers players a robust in-game store from which they may purchase a wide variety of items to improve their character. Items include ammunition, health potions, bombs, companion characters, special weapons such as tanks and upgrades that offer increased health, speed and stamina.
It should be mentioned that while the lower levels can be easily defeated without using the in-game store, players may be tempted to rely on the item shop later in the game. A word of caution; pay attention to how much you are spending. It is easy to imagine running up a large bill if you don’t keep track of your purchases.
Fans of social gaming will find Zombie Gunner a welcome and enjoyable new game. Zombie Gunner is challenging, well made and it draws players into the action quite successfully. Give it a try and help Andrew rescue his daughter. After all, you wouldn’t want her to be the feature item on the menu at the zombie horde’s Halloween banquet, now would you?
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