Zombies!!!

The name Babaroga should be familiar to anyone who has used an iOS device, such as an iPod Touch. They have made a string of classic games on that and other mobile platforms, such as Spore Creatures and House. So it’s with great delight that their debut title for Windows Phone 7 is now available in the Marketplace, and despite a steep learning curve, is quite a fun turn-based game. Entitled Zombies!!!, the game is a mobile phone version of what I understand to be a classic board game produced by a company entitled Twilight. This is the first turn-based game I’ve experienced in quite a long while, but thankfully the game itself is quite a lot of fun - if you could call a game in which you play one of a small group of survivors during a zombie apocalypse fun. It’s interesting to think that 2010 really seemed to be the year of zombie media products - first we had The Walking Dead, and now we’ve got this awesome game for Windows Phone 7. Read on if you want to find out how you too can enjoy hacking up zombies on your HTC Mozart 7 or Samsung Focus going forward into 2011. It’s actually really quite a satisfying experience.

The plot of Zombies!!! is actually pretty straight-forward. You take control of one of 4 players in the game, with the other 3 being controlled by the game itself (or, in a first for Windows Phone 7, via a local Wifi-based gameplay option which allows your nearby friends to take control of the other characters). The aim of the game is to make your way through the various tile-based locations within the city, and make it to the Helipad to escape the zombie infested locations. The locations you can visit in the game include a number of generic city-based locations, such as drug stores and fire stations. The game is turn-based, which involves using a combination of cards and roles of a dice to make your moves, and undertake certain actions against the zombie hordes. In terms of taking a board game and turning it into a mobile phone game, Zombies!!! actually works quite well. While at times the process can feel slow and daunting, and yes there is a steep learning curve like there is with all games of this style, once you master the gameplay you’ll be ploughing through the locations and slicing up those zombies without a second’s thought.

The graphics and sound in the game are all very nice, and the artwork design right across the game seems determined to evoke a feeling that is part Hammer Horror, and part George Romeo. It’s hard to decide if the visuals in the game are comic or gruesome, as they tend to tread a very fine line in that department quite well. Sufficed to say, all of what you’d expect or want out of a zombie game on your Windows Phone is present, and there’s no feeling of being short-changed. The sound effects and music are all quite suitable, and in particular I liked the simple musical score that accompanies the game. It has a lovely contrasting quality to the sort of content the game focuses on, which I like. And it must also be said that as this is an XBox Live game for Windows Phone 7, that means there are around a dozen or so Achievements that one can strive to unlock over the course of the game. I must say, having now played several XBox Live games, I can see why people get so pumped about the notion of unlocking Achievements as they go. It is quite addictive.

Overall, I have to say that Zombies!!! is yet another excellent XBox Live title to emerge on Windows Phone 7. The tense atmosphere created by the game is wonderful, and if you’re like me (and I suspect a sizeable chunk of the general population), then getting a chance to play a game in which you carve up a bunch of the undead is well worth chucking $10 at and whiling away an afternoon. Or better still, late at night when the real atmosphere can be so easily created. If the zombie antics of The Walking Dead were simply not enough for you, then check out Zombies!!!, and prefer to unleash your inner Rick Grimes on their undead arses. It’s oh so satisfying.