Game Review: Pro Zombie Soccer – iPhone

Summary

3/5 – I really wanted to give this game a ‘2’, but being that I round up from a 2.67 means this goes down as a ‘3’. It’s cool that you get credit for head-shots, it instantly kills the normal zombies, and some zombies can only be killed with head-shots. It is not cool however when you are unable to get in head-shots due to some of the bad positioning angles the game presents to you, even on the lower ‘Normal’ difficulty setting. I can only imagine how much more improbable the game would have become, had I not of given up on a level after several hours replaying it.

Controls

2/5 – Awkward angles is what you will face for the entire game. While it seems neat at first, you soon realize that it is not viable for certain enemy types, or when enemies with one immunity stack on top of another enemy with another immunity, adding in a full wall of 4-5 of these in a row. The “kill all” laser doesn’t “kill all”, and the area where you set the angle and release of the soccer ball is so small, that I often found myself starting off at incorrect angles when shooting the ball in rapid succession.

I do not understand why the main character/kicker cannot move up and down the screen to better avoid zombies or to engage at better kicking angles, bouncing off of the ceiling and floor; that would have made so much more sense to me, and have made some of the levels largely less frustrating.

Graphics

4/5 – The graphics weren’t too horrible. A few chopped off limbs with soccer ball kicks, small animations for head shots, etc.

Sound

4/5 – The sound track isn’t bad, and various enemies give different sound effects when you hit them.

Story

3/5 – Unlike most zombie games I have played recently, this game has a few cut-scenes between sections which tell a… very odd.. story. While most of the storyline makes no sense or could have the character reacting in a more normal way, there is at least something to tell you what happens between the same redundant levels of more improbability in completing.

Replay Value

1/5 – Good games are fun games. And fun games are winnable. I spent hours attempting to get past a certain level, with random luck allowing me to get to the end of it, only to realize that the monster that is immune to everything but the super charged kick, seems to not be phased by it. And again, the “kill all” laser doesn’t seem to function properly.

Pricing

2/5 – At the write up of this review, this application is still under a buck; if you’re looking for a challenge for a few minutes followed by massive frustration, then feel free to throw a dollar in this direction. I, however, will likely be deleting this app when finished. Available at iTunes.