GDC 2010: Hands on with Zombie Infection on iPhone

If you're not diligent about cleaning the screen on your iPhone or iPod touch, the biohazard in your hands most likely trumps the outbreak in Zombie Infection. It's liable to only get worse, too, if my prognosis of this zombie-killing spree is accurate.

Gameloft has clearly modelled Zombie Infection after the best-selling Resident Evil series with its ambling undead and tense shootouts.

As the muscly military man Anderson, you're sent to South Africa following the outbreak of an unusual virus that has transformed the locals into flesh-eating monsters. Anderson's brother has gone missing amid this mess and tracking him down means dealing with the zombie infestation.

Later on during Anderson's trek, you gain access to a second playable character. Investigative journalist Shawna comes into the picture, helping Anderson find his brother while uncovering the root of the zombie outbreak.

Incapacitating attacking zombies requires targeted shots from a small arsenal. From an over-the-shoulder perspective, you move Anderson using a virtual analogue stick and prime his attack stance with a tap of the fire button. Pressing the same button while primed fires his gun. Moving the sight is done by sliding a finger anywhere on the screen (when not attacking, this also adjusts the camera).

There's no targeting system - instead, you're in complete control over the laser sight. The first mission obviously walks you through the basics of aiming and firing, during which I took out a few infected loitering around a butcher shop decorated with bloody animal carcasses.

Well-aimed headshots earn satisfying cranial explosions, after which the infected bodies dissolve from the screen.

Anderson's rescue mission begins in the slums and moves to more exciting locations including a research lab, boat, mine, and infested zoo. It was here in the zoo that I squared off against speedy hooded zombies and a ferocious lion that didn't want to be put down. Accurate shots and quick footwork were the keys to survival.

The aforementioned hooded zombies, which were skilled at dodging shots and darting up close to Anderson, were most easily dealt with using contextual finishing moves. These close-range manoeuvres require hitting a red button that pops up, after which Anderson does his dirty work in snapping the zombie's neck or bashing in its mottled face.

Get too close and fail to take a zombie out, however, and it'll go for your throat. Shaking your handset or mashing on a special button pushes it off.

Defeated foes drop ammunition and health packs, which can be picked up by tapping a contextual action button that appears whenever you approach an item. It would be preferable for the game to automatically pick up items rather than prompting for input, as this would support more fluid action.

While there's much more to explore - specifically in terms of how varied the levels and objects are - I like the way Zombie Infection takes the best qualities of notable survival-horror games and tailors them to iPhone and iPod touch. The familiarity of it all could be an issue, yet it's hard to knock it too much given that it looks to be enjoyable. It helps that the graphics are pretty nice, too.