‘Zombie Flick’ Review

Successful iPhone games usually fall into established popular categories. Zombie games, in particular, do well. Zombie Flick, a new zombie-themed iPhone game, is nothing sort of a success. What would appear to be a simple game of point and shoot is actually a lot of fun. However, despite the title, there is little here that resembles a movie, aside from the game’s menus.

The game’s objective? Simple. Score as many headshots on the onslaught of zombies as possible. By pressing on a zombie’s head and flicking a finger, anything from flowerpots to wrenches will be hurled at their rotting heads. Players can also curve the projectile to chain multiple headshots by using a curved finger motion.

There are several different types of zombies, and players will need to adjust where they hit each kind. There are a few different general zombies who look like they are from the 1970s — rocking some bell bottoms or some Michael Jackson attire. There are also some specialized zombies, like the creepy old ladies who seem slow, but always end up sneaking up to the player’s barriers the fastest.

The graphics alone show how polished Zombie Flick is. With detailed high definition graphics using Apple’s new Retina Display, the game really pops. Although I was testing this game on the iPhone 4, the graphics shouldn’t degrade much on older devices. Most importantly, there were none of the frame rate issues that are often found in HD games. That becomes especially important when players are warding off separate onslaughts of zombies on each of the four sides of thier boundries.

Yes, players will have to properly manage four separate areas at the same time. Once a body builder zombie starts heaving weights at the player, defending those barriers will slowly become impossible. Luckily, the defensive barriers in the game can be healed, but doing so takes precious time away from warding off the onslaught.

Getting back to the game’s menus, they look like a rundown theater’s interior, complete with supplemental creepy music. Although it doesn’t use the recently released Game Center, Zombie Flick does have achievements and leadboards on OpenFeint. The menus also hold a simple photographic tutorial, as well as a hands-on tutorial; however, the game is already quite simple to pick up and play without them. Players can select between Survival Mode, which puts them in the middle of a huge rush of zombies, and Last Stand, which is exactly like survival mode, but with an increasingly large number of zombies who continue attacking with no time limit.

Sadly, the story just doesn’t add much to this otherwise polished game. The theme is put in place, and there are interesting characters and great graphics, but there is no real story to follow. There are little bits and pieces, but essentially this is just a game that is great fun to play when players have some time to kill. Zombie Flick just doesn’t have an in-depth plot like Zombie Shock.

The good news, however, is that this game is currently free. Apparently it was supposed to be free for a only day, but that was two weeks ago. So what have you got to lose? The graphics and re-playability make Zombie Flick a great game, even though it could use a more fleshed-out backstory.

Zombie Flick is available now from the iTunes App Store.