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Sneak Peek: Hands On With Zombie Smash - Castle Defense with Zombies!

March 3, 2010

Zombies are coming to attack your house, and eat your brains, wait haven't we heard that before in Plants vs Zombies? Well now you don't have any plants, and instead you use your fingers, and an arsenal of weapons to smash the zombies into submission. Zombie Smash is an upcoming castle defense game to compete with the likes of Knights Onrush, Stick Wars, Castle Frenzy, and Defend Your Castle. Zombie Smash sets out to differentiate itself by first providing zombies, and second adding a deluxe physics engine. You can pick up and fling the zombies, but these are some tough ones that crawl back up and keep coming. Your best tactic is to smash them to the ground which will always have a different animation based upon the force you use because of the included physics engine. Zombies even crawl towards your house legless if you haven't completely killed them. Each zombie is a ragdoll, and behaves likewise with varying parts ripping off, and different amounts of blood squirintg out. Speaking of blood, there's tons of it as a result of the splatter engine, and it's always different depending on how you kill the zombie. Certain smashes or drops result in different blood splurts, and using varying weapons maximizes the effect. Now the game isn't just mad flicking on the screen because of the included weapons. All weapons are unlockable and upgradeable, with 20 in total giving you a pile of rocks, guns, huge boulders, mines, and grenades. Also included are a few types of zombies from the standard to the fast, and even big ones you can't impact with your finger. The main part of the game is the campaign mode which is a calendar, and you need to survive for 31 days (levels). The entire theme is like Night of the Living Dead, but luckily you have weapons, and your finger at your disposal. As you progress you have to defend one side of the house, and then the other side, and sometime both sides at once using your thumbs. Also included is an endless survival mode that is unlockable based on how many days you survive in campaign mode. As soon as you pick up the game you're instantly blown away by the production values. Every single zombie is packed with detail and style. On top of that all of the animations are always different, and are a joy to see whether it's slamming the zombies or blowing them up. Chillingo's Crystal is also included for online high scores and achievements. Just beginning in Zombie Smash I can already say look out Knights Onrush, and similar games. There is plenty to do, and so many weapons to kill all of the zombies. A nice added feature is that stars pop out of dead zombies which you tap to collect so you can buy weapon upgrades. This could be the best Zombie game in the App Store when it gets there, though it's too early to tell. The physics and splatter engine look great in motion, and helps this game already stand apart. We will have a full review once Zombie Smash when it's released sometime later this month for $1.99. See our hands on video of the game in action of Game Doctors first release.

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