Review: Dead Rising Mobile - When Zombies Go Shopping
by Staff Writer
December 10, 2010
Overview
When you go to the mall, and zombies want to go shopping you’re in for a hell of a time in Dead Rising. The game is based on the original Dead Rising console game where you play as Fran West, a photojournalist looking for the huge scoop, but get trapped in a mall overrun by zombies. Now you need to use whatever you can find to fight them off, and survive.
Features
The game is mainly mission based so you progress from one to the next of killing a certain number of zombies in a specific area to finding certain items. You also come across zombie battles along the way with 15 in total, they’re extra strong zombie boss battles, and you have to beat all 15 to beat the game. If you die you can send out a rescue call on FaceBook and Twitter, and a friend can save you to continue your game, and Game Center is included for online high scores and achievements.
The Good
There’s no zombie mashing like Dead Rising zombie mashing, and it finally comes to the iOS device. There are tons of zombie games in the App Store, but not many with 3D environments and characters. Plus you get to pick up anything you can find to kill the zombies.
The best aspect is using all kinds of different weapons whether it’s typical like knives and guns or more extreme with katanas, baseball bats, golf clubs, chainsaws, mowers, benches, trash cans, and even a toy lightsaber. There is an explosion of blood with each hit, and you can hit multiple zombies at once. As you go along the zombies become stronger taking longer to kill them, and there are mad zombie bosses to face at regular intervals.
The mission based gameplay keeps the action going as there is always something to do, and the next mission to face. The included mallscape is pretty expansive with a number of areas to visit, and mall shops to explore for new weaponry and food. If you play through the whole game it will take a considerable amount of time, and Game center is included as well.
The Bad
The biggest problem is that the game doesn’t feel like a release candidate, and is somewhat buggy. Every time you level up or complete a mission, notifications pop up on screen that are all scrambled and unreadable. Occasionally half a zombie appears or your head gets stuck behind a post.
The graphics themselves are rather disappointing, and look somewhat archaic for iOS gaming with a lot of better looking games. You expect more from a game based on a console game. You can count the number of zombie characters on one hand, and they’re just repeated over and over throughout the game.
New zombies appear only when you’re close enough to them, so there aren’t a bunch on screen, and the graphics don’t even look retina quality. The game doesn’t control very well as the joystick doesn't provide smooth movement to turn or spin around which is essential when zombies are encircling you.
The gameplay is extremely repetitive as you just tap one button to hit the zombies, and there are always more and more zombies. It’s not a very engaging mechanic because no matter the weapon it’s tapping one button. The guiding arrow on the top of the screen is a little confusing because the pointing direction can be obscured, and it doesn’t point in the most direct route when moving between floors.
When you lose you have to restart at the beginning of the game rather than being able to continue. The only way to continue is to have someone on Twitter of Facebook help you out, but they must own the game too. It’s frustrating going back to the beginning just because you couldn’t find any food.
The Verdict
Dead Rising has a quality pedigree with well made console versions, and a lot was expected. Sadly it doesn’t deliver in a number of ways with many bugs, disappointing visuals, and very mundane gameplay. It’s not necessarily a bad game, it’s just not good and leaves a lot to be desired.
Dead Rising is not worth $4.99, as it’s simplified way too much for iOS devices.
