Infectonator: Hot Chase Review (iOS)

The folks at Armor Games have continued the Infectonator series with a running game. Infectonator: Hot Chase has the player as a zombie trying to chase down an attractive newscaster  in a helicopter. With the fun pixel graphics and the off beat, stupid humor of the previous games, does Armor Games have another winner for their Infectonator series?

The answer is both yes and no. The fact that is an endless runner with very repetitive gameplay and super simple controls makes it lose some rating in my book. But what this game lacks in creative gameplay, it makes up for in it’s pure addictiveness. The idea of the game is simple: chase the helicopter, infect people in the streets and collect coins to buy upgrades. The only control is to touch the screen to move your character up and release it to bring it back down again. Players collect coins by infecting people or buy running through groups of them.  There are some items that cause the player to mutate or get bonuses. Simple enough, but why does it make Hot Chase super addicting?

The answer is the humor and easiness of the game. Need a game to pass some times when you’re between things? Or how about a game where you can see a giant zombie with a football helmet plow through a group of police men? This is the game. Armor Games put a lot more detail into this game to hook people. This game makes you want to sit down and beat your best while trying to upgrade your character. When I first got this game, I ended up playing it for a solid 2 hours straight. I do think part of is the subtle humor. One of the zombie mutations is called “The Swag”. It’s special ability is instead of staying at the bottom of the screen when the player’s finger is removed, it stays on the top. Some of the better characters you play as include the Gangam Zombie (doubles the coins you make) and The Nyan Zombie (attracts people and adds a speed boost). They also pay tribute to Left 4 Dead by including mutations that are parodies of zombies from the game.

This game gets 3 and a half stars. The repetitive gameplays gets really boring after a while, but what I described above makes the game totally worth it. Infectonator: Hot Chase is free on the App Store, with a couple in-app purchase for removing ads and adding some coins.

Final rating: