Game Reviews

Zombie Road Trip

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| Zombie Road Trip
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Zombie Road Trip
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| Zombie Road Trip

Killing zombies in an iOS game could be the modern equivalent of the popular turn of phrase 'shooting fish in a barrel'. At the current rate, it's likely that some time within the next eight months the zombie infestation of the App Store will be complete.

Spurious statistics aside, Zombie Road Trip never attempts to hide the fact that it's cashing in on the undead re-murdering trend, and as gore-soaked endless-runners go it's perfectly adequate.

If you're looking for a bit more meat on your recently deceased bones, though, you'd be better off looking elsewhere.

Are we there yet?

The game is all about staying one step ahead from the zombie horde. You're driving a car across a post-apocalyptic wasteland taking pot shots at the undead in front of you and pulling off backflips to keep away from those behind.

Two buttons on the left and right of the screen control the angle of your vehicle, and tapping anywhere else fires out a volley from whatever weapon you have equipped. You don't need to worry about steering, because in the zombie-afflicted future, every town is a straight drive along from the next.

Flipping and pulling off skill shots fills a boost meter that, once it's full, let's you blast off at ridiculous speeds. Landing tricks well gives you a brief boost, too, making them essential to keeping ahead of your ravenous pursuers.

Towns act as short-lived havens of respite from the oncoming flesh-eaters, and an ominous darkening of the sky lets you know when the horde is almost upon you. It makes for an effective and entertaining experience - to begin with at least.

No one's going to Disneyland

Unfortunately, Zombie Road Trip can't sustain its early intrigue. The gameplay gets very stale after a few tries, and the urge to push further into the game is muddied by the overwhelming feeling of grind that accompanies each run.

It's entertaining in small doses, but you accomplish so little in those bites that eventually you'll lose the taste for it. Zombie Road Trip is just the latest in a long line of gore-dripping cartoon undead-fests that doesn't manage to imbue its content with enough fun to recommend.

Zombie Road Trip

Interesting to begin with, Zombie Road Trip quickly veers off-course
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Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.