Zombieville USA 2

So what’s up with me and my video game posts lately? I dunno. I like how I make them pretty with screenshots. That’s my favorite part, really. Good times.

Anyway, I have no idea what the first Zombieville USA was all about, but I can assure you that this game is simply the best game on a mobile device I’ve ever played. That’s right, screw Paper Toss. This one takes the cake. Absolute number one in my book.

It’s called Zombieville USA 2, made by the same folks at Mika Mobile that created Battleheart. The thing that makes it better than Battleheart is that it’s a lot more action oriented and there’s MULTIPLAYER. Yes, you can play ad hoc via Bluetooth or you can match up with your friends or randoms via Apple’s silly Game Center. And the best part is that it works really really well. There definitely needs to be more cooperative games in existence today.

So here’s the skinny on the game and why you should care. The objective of the game is dead simple (which is always good in my opinion). Zombies come, you kill them, you survive for a specified duration, and then you jump on the helicopter ladder to escape. Dead zombies drop loot, and you can destroy other objects along the way to find ammo or more cash. Ammunition is in short supply, so you have to keep moving to keep your guns a-blazing. If you run out of ammo, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and turned into zombie food.

Surviving stages will result in bonus money, and your cash can be used to upgrade weapons, purchase new ones, and unlock other character skins. You can also purchase and equip up to three skills that can greatly aid you in staying alive. Some skills will give you regeneration, others will increase your damage with melee weapons, some will improve your speed. In short, you can completely customize your method of obliterating zombies. You wanna mow zombies down with uzis? Go for it. Want to beat them down with a baseball bat? Maybe you’d like to use a giant rocket propelled grenade. There’re pistols, landmines, and of course shotguns. Plenty of options.

The game keeps track of the number of zombies you’ve slain, and you unlock new and harder stages as you progressively kill more and more. It’s a lot of fun to jump in a coop game with some random person to discover how good or horrible they are at surviving difficult stages. (Most people I’ve encountered die a lot. I always find this funny, by the way.) Yet it’s still good to play with others to see what weapons and skins they use, and the extra money you gain from two players is always mutually beneficial.

In conclusion, buy this game. It’s only a dollar, it has a ton of replay value, and it has a full 5-star rating with 10,000+ ratings. The one and ONLY complaint you might have with the game is that it uses the crummy simulated directional pad for movement, but I found it very easy to adapt to and the controls in general feel fluid. Buy it. Buy it now. Play with me.

Battleheart

A lot of times I’m late to the gaming party. Oh well, I’ve been on a roll lately. Sorta.

Whatever. Alison dropped a copy of Game Informer on my face one day, and she had it open to a page with a bunch reviews and recommendations for mobile games. One of them caught my eye because it looked very RPG-ish, and it was only 3 bucks. Turns out it’s pretty awesome, and I’ve already spent like… 20 hours of my life on it. It’s good.

It’s called Battleheart. The game itself is very simple. You micromanage four dudes of different classes via touch controls. Waves of enemies appear, and you beat them down using your mad tanking and kiting skills. Winning battles earns you items, XP, and gold, which you can use to buy equipment and accessories from the merchant or upgrade the weapons and armor that you already own.

There are 14 different characters you can choose from to form a party. Each character is one of the 10 different classes that exist in the game. Each class is pretty different, so you’ll have a fun time exploring all their strengths and weaknesses. I usually went the traditional tank and spank route with a party comprised of a Paladin, Barbarian, Ranger, and Cleric. There are plenty of other combinations that are worth a try.

Every 5 levels, your dudes earn access to new skills. Some are active, some are passive, and sometimes you get to pick between two skills. The nice part is that you can toggle between skills whenever you like, so you’re never locked into a particular build. It makes sense too, because the skills you want to have equipped are very situational. Often times, you need to be able to shoot of a lot of AoEs, other times you need a lot of CC. It depends on the battle.

Apart from some interesting boss fights, the game is a lot of battle, buy, rinse and repeat. However, the excitement of new skills and better equipment will keep you very interested in playing. Plus, there are quite a few levels before the end of the game, as well as arenas that are worth fighting in even after defeating the final boss. Give it a shot. Battleheart is available on both iOS and Android.