The Zombie Apocalypse has taken place, as it seems to do from time to time, and overnight all of the food became alive, and you, as a half-eaten anchovy, find your self in a spooky, eat or be eaten world.
That’s the plot of “Zombie Food – No Candy for Halloween This Year,” a game for iOS devices from Michael Granzin. When I first loaded the game and began playing, my first thought was “oh great, another *#$*@ Flappy Bird clone!” But, as I played, I was proven wrong.
Overview
While the game shares the usual control features with Flappy Bird-esque games, it has enough quirks and twists to keep the game interesting and fresh. Hidden in the “cute-scary” graphics and “flapping” gameplay, is a quirky, challenging game that will likely keep players coming back for more.
Playing as the aforementioned anchovy, players must navigate a path between their foes, from which a mere touch takes away part of your life force. Touch the bad (and ugly) guys too many times, and it’s Game Over! You’ll be faced with scary meatballs, howling watermelons, bloodthirsty tomatoes, and many other foes.
While meandering down the path, (things start slow, but get faster, and tougher later), you’ll need to eat various foods that haven’t yet mutated enough to kill you. (Hey, even a half-eaten Anchovy has to grab a “bite” now and then…)
You’ll be assigned a wishlist at the beginning of each level, and you’ll need to eat those items before you’ll be able to mark the level as completed. As well as eating your way through the path, you can also collect foodstuffs along the path that will give you special abilities, such as:
- Invisibility-mode – hide for about a second
- Barbecue-mode – collect garlic to ignite the grill
- Electrical shock attack – very effective
- Twister attack – spin them all around
The game consists of five different chapter, with levels of increasing difficulty, set in a number of different settings. 18 different characters, drawn in a “spooky-funny” style, challenge you throughout the game. The background music, and sound effects only add to the enjoyment of the game.
While most of the game controls consist of “tap-tap-tap,” Zombie Food throws in a “swipe” here and there, where your character can unleash some of the powers it collects along the path. For example, in the first chapter, players can collect three garlic bulbs to allow them to unleash the barbecue mode, which allows them to burn their way through the bad guys. In later chapters, your character earns other skills to allow them to make it through the long and winding path it is forced to wiggle through.
I found the game was a great way to kill time while I was waiting in my dentist’s waiting room, or for other appointments. I also found myself playing a few rounds before going to sleep at night.
Verdict
While Zombie Food starts slow, and the first few levels can feel a bit long, things start picking up in later levels. Version 1.1, released this week, has sped up the early levels a bit, and by Chapter 5, you’ll be faced with a challenging “X-treme speed mode.” (You can’t prove that by me, I have yet to make it that far.)
I found Zombie Food to be an entertaining way to kill time here and there. While the game controls will seem familiar, the game throws enough twists at you to be worthy of its $0.99 price tag. (Another thing I liked, they grab their money up front, no nickel-and-diming you for in-app purchases.)
Rating: 3.5/5.0[rating:3.5]
Price: $0.99 – Available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in the App Store. [GET IT HERE]
Pros:
- An entertaining play on the Flappy Bird theme
- The music and graphics add to the enjoyment
- Has enough twists to set it apart form similar games
- It’s not a “freemium” game
Cons:
- It’s a little bit of slow-going at the start
- Sometimes it’s tough to easily tell the bad guys form the food you’re supposed to be grabbing, but maybe that’s just my old eyes.
*Note: The above review was commissioned by the developer in accordance with our app review policy, and has been written in an objective, unbiased fashion.
