Game Reviews

Pro Zombie Soccer

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Pro Zombie Soccer

Zombies play football. No, they really do.

If you're wondering how the living dead could possibly slump onto the football pitch and drudge around the place moaning and groaning as they go, just set aside 90 minutes for the next France match.

In truth, Pro Zombie Soccer's title is a touch misleading – it's not the zombies themselves that are the soccer stars, but rather a down-and-out former player who, upon being bitten, takes it upon himself to rid the world of as many zombies as he can before he himself becomes one.

Luckily for us, doing so is anything but lifeless.

Don't lose your head

Your one and only weapon – in keeping with the spirit of the game – is a football, with your job being to kick it at the approaching hordes of zombies as they creep towards you.

Almost any contact the ball makes with the zombies themselves is enough to to either dismantle or at least delay them, headshots the ultimate but equally tricky aim.

All such action is handled via touch controls, with Pro Zombie Soccer taking the Angry Birds approach. You essentially fling the ball rather than kick – whatever the animation might suggest – by pulling your finger back from a touchpad.

This determines both the angle and the power of your shot, the latter depending on how long your hold down for.

Angling for a kicking

It's the angle that's perhaps the most important element, with the gang of approaching ghouls coming in all shapes, sizes and, most perilously, speeds.

Determining just which mass of munching murderers deserves your attention first is the key to survival, with just the shortest of contact with any of the zombies taking you down and, ultimately, leading to a rather sticky end.

In short, Pro Zombie Soccer – much like Monster Mayhem – relies on both reaction time and consistency, continued takedowns filling a bonus bar that, when topped up, opens up one of three power-ups.

Each one lasts for just a short time but can prove vital when the influx of zombies is beginning to prove a bit much.

Of most use, perhaps, is the bonus that cuts through your foe like a knife through butter, the ball continuing on its path and taking down zombies aplenty rather than bouncing straight back to you like a boomerang on first contact.

Once each bonus has been unlocked, however, it's up to you just which you use, with the ability to slow down time and even fire upon set targets from a satellite in the sky almost equally compelling alternatives.

Dead famous

But it's the zombies themselves that are Pro Zombie Soccer's lifeblood.

It's no secret that a game such as this, no matter how often the backdrop is repainted and the plot (which, itself, is just the right side of comical), can have a tendency to get a touch repetitive.

By throwing in a true mix of zombies, however – fast and small, big and tiny, weak and strong – play manages to stay alive and kicking throughout, impossible as that might sound.

It's the fact that Pro Zombie Soccer remains engaging from beginning to end that makes what could so easily have been a five minute filler so hard to put down.

Indeed, once you're on a roll, stopping for a break isn't to be advised – continued kills requires your full concentration.

As such, any game that can keep you kicking a ball for hours without even ever coming close to letting you score a goal has to be doing something right. Maybe France are onto something after all.

Pro Zombie Soccer

Replacing guns and glory with a good old fashioned football, Pro Zombie Soccer's line-up of ghouls aplenty manages to endear and excite in equal measure
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Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.