Judge Dredd vs Zombies

Judge Dredd is one of the few iconic British comic book characters that we have left, but his justice-bringing, neo-fascist antics have never quite translated into video game fun.

The latest pocket-sized attempt, Judge Dredd vs Zombies, even throws in the ever-popular undead to try and snare in a few more unwary or unsure purchasers.

And whilst killing zombies is a perfectly legitimate way of passing a sedate afternoon, an obtrusive in-app purchase system and some odd design quirks mean that, yet again, Dredd's digital incarnation is left floundering.

Judge Dredd vs Zombies is a top-down shooter that sees you clearing Mega-City One of a zombie infestation. Taking on the role of the titular anti-hero, you kill everything that moves in a barrage of bullets and terrible one-liners.

Movement is controlled with an on-screen D-pad, with shooting and reloading handled with buttons on the opposite side of the display. Your aim automatically snaps on to the nearest of the shambling horde, letting you blast away without too much fiddling.

The combat is a little rough and ready, but when the screen starts to fill up with flesh-eaters things do get tense.

There are three episodes for you to slaughter your way through, each split into ten levels, with tougher zombies introduced throughout. A counter tracks your carnage, and once you've killed enough meatbags you can move on to the next stage.

The levels are littered with golden spinning judge shields, and you'll need to collect all of them if you're after the highest scores. The better your score, the better your rating at the end of the level and the more credits you have to play around with.

Credits are the game's currency, and you can buy them with real-life money as well as earning them. You can then spend your credits on upgrading your small but well-formed arsenal, or use them to kit yourself out at the start of each new mission.

The problem is, these credits are incredibly scarce, and without them the game is tougher than an old Judge's boot. Spending cash makes you feel like a super-powered killing machine, but paying for all the upgrades is going to set you back more than £20.

This leaves you with a choice. You can either play through the game without spending an extra penny, and end up weeping in frustration after about the fourth level, or you can spend a frankly ludicrous amount of cash to tool yourself up.

Except the game isn't enough fun to warrant that sort of spending. More often than not it comes down to standing in the same spot, hammering the 'shoot' button until you've turned everything into a fine green mist.

The levels are repetitive and offer nothing other than constant zombie slaughter. There just isn't enough content or enjoyment here to justify spending any more money than the 69p/99c the game costs. And for that, all you're buying is a pointlessly tough grind.