Game Review: Monster Mayhem – iPhone
Crazy monsters lurk in the dark of night, trapped behind the rusty iron graveyard gates. As the Gate Keeper, you must keep the monsters behind bars and stop them from escaping by any means necessary. This is classic castle defense with a twist: no gun turrets, blocks or speed reduction – just all out ATTACK with explosive weapons and action-packed combat!
Summary
4/5 – This simple, addicting game will leave you locked in for hours. Choose your favorite weapon and spend some “therapeutic time†mowing down everything the developers created for you.
I wanted to give this “Zombie & Friends” game a 5-star rating, but I couldn’t get the average up enough with what I reviewed below. So, take that as a good sign, you may find this to be a rare 5/5 app.
Controls
4/5 – I found the slaying of monsters to be very exciting, and later an added challenge with swapping weapon types. This is one of the few games I am sure is better on a smaller iPhone/iPod screen than on the iPad. I stayed with the basic knife (unlimited ammo, of course) weapon a majority of the time, switching to heavy artillery when the situation required it. Choosing which weapons to swap to is really the main strategy portion, along with which monsters to kill first.
When swipe-attacking with the melee weapon, the angle at which you attack determines if you can hit multiple enemies. I found myself rotating my iPhone around while taking different arm motions to kill monsters more efficiently; definitely a workout towards the later levels that would rival your Nintendo Wii.
I did unfortunately hit the menu several times when swiping back and forth in a frenzy, which pauses the game for you momentarily, even when undesired. It had no lasting effect that ruined gameplay however. Also, coins that drop from monsters need to be tapped to pick up, meaning you temporarily put a hold on your monster slaying; and the coins fade after a few seconds, equating to you either collect cash for much-needed weapon upgrades or protect your gate from the monster rush. I did run into accidentally picking up coins as I slid the melee weapon back and forth, which would halt my slaughtering tactic.
Graphics
4/5 – Cute critters with their own unique death animations. Flat graphics with monsters continually entering from the right and moving to the left – I feel a better change in background scenery would have been nice (or more noticing that the background had changed), or perhaps monsters moving in the opposite direction, with your protect-gate being on the other side as well.
Sound
4/5 – No outstanding music, but different sound effects for the various weapons and monster attacks.
Story
3/5 – There’s a quick 10 seconds or so of story in the intro, and that’s it. Monsters attack, you defend. Pretty basic, and new monsters are profiled during the onslaught. Some bit of dialogue would have been nice between major stages.
Replay Value
5/5 – I’m going to keep playing this game once this review is completed, honestly. You can go back to previous levels to gain easy coin and restock on ammo, and then progress back to where you were. I have finished through the levels, and will continue playing to max out the few weapons I did not often use, and will try stages where I only use, for example, grenades. That should be fun.
Pricing
5/5 – One of the most fun iApp games I have ever played! I enjoyed it the first 5 seconds I got into it, and enjoyed it just as much hours and hours later. This is also one of the few games that I did not finish in a matter of a few hours. Your cash towards this purchase will go a long, long way here. Available at iTunes.
