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Category: Games
Seller: Bytemark Games
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 43MB
Version Reviewed: 1
Price: $1.99
Age Rating: 12+ (frequent/intense realistic violence, infrequent/mild horror/fear themes

I’ve never seen Dawn of the Dead, and I apologize for that. I’ve seen nearly ever other zombie movie that matters, but not that one. Still, I feel safe in the assumption that the iPhone game captures the spirit of the source material. You are trapped in a mall. Zombies are trying to kill you. You try to kill them. Is that it? I mean, aside from the whole mindless consumer metaphor?

Dawn of the Dead is a top-down action game not entirely unlike Robotron or Smash TV (I feel safe dropping those dated references even those this game is based more on the 2004 version than the original from 1978).

You are one of three people (a cop, a nurse or a salesman). They’re weapon is numbers, yours is everything from a golf club to a shovel to a shotgun. There are positives and negatives to each, and you’re likely going to use them all throughout the course of the game.

Controls are the usual iPhone fair. You’ve got a virtual d-pad on the left for movement, and a virtual d-pad on the right for aiming and attacking. Theoretically, this allows you to move one way and fire another, but it’s a bit off. Movement is fine, but I found attacking hard to control. You can’t just hold your thumb down, you have to tap or swipe in the direction you want to attack. Oftentimes I’d miss or the iPhone wouldn’t register my swipe. Occasionally, it would send me attacking in the wrong direction. When you’re completely surrounded by zombies, that can prove extremely frustrating.

There are only five levels in the game, and they’re mostly fairly short. Any longevity you get from Dawn of the Dead will therefore come from playing through at the various skill levels, and believe me; the higher skill levels are very tough.

Running through the first time, though, was quite fun. The levels are part exploration (find an item and the goal, more or less) and part fighting, and believe me, there’s plenty of fighting. The zombies will keep coming, just like zombies should, but the game never gets too fast or throws an insurmountable number at you at once (at least not on the easy skill level). Carefully manage your weapons and power-ups and you shouldn’t find yourself…

When you’ve finished story mode, you can play in survival mode. Here, you just fight wave after wave of zombies until you’re dead. It’s an exercise in futility, but it harkens back to a time when all video games were designed specifically to beat you; it was just a matter of how long you could fight off the inevitable. Seems appropriate in a zombie game. I didn’t have much interest in survival after completing story mode, but it’s a great way to show off the game.

And speaking of showing off, the graphics for Dawn of the Dead are pretty impressive, and the audio is fun and creepy. Who doesn’t love the sound of baseball bats hitting groaning zombies? No one, right? Plenty of blood will fill the screen as you leave zombie bodies strewn about the mall, so take the age rating seriously if that offends.

Dawn of the Dead is a decent game; exactly what it should be for $1.99. Being on a major motion picture and having the backing of Universal Studios, I was expecting something…different. I don’t want to say “more,” because this game delivers if you’re just seeking some fun arcade action. It’s easy to pick up and get going, with no pointless movie clips to get in the way of the fun. In fact, the only thing that does that is the frustrating virtual attack button.

Five levels may seem short, but honestly, it’s right around that point that you will have had enough. You’re not getting an epic adventure here, you’re getting a quick burst of fun, and isn’t that exactly what zombies are good for?