Arrgh, the roamers are back again ta plague me, and I thought a man ‘o the sea would never have to watch the apocalypse happen twice. O’course, the sea does offer a brief respite from the monsters as they can’t swim. Alas, zombies are here to stay and distinct fear is that they be the ones from 28 Days Later. For those who are afraid of the shambling death like I be, then ye might like to have yerself a viewing of the newest Walkin’ Dead booty, but if that takes too long for yer tastes, then Free 2 Die should tide ye down.
The Gameplay
Ever since that film 28 Days Later came out, zombies have taken multiple forms to accommodate the every changing tastes of the public. In fact, Left 4 Dead actually went as far as to add new kinds of zombies to fuel your nightmares. The thing is that it didn’t really do that feature justice as the gameplay gets in the way. The Free 2 Die gameplay is sort of repetitive, it is a top down shooter after all, and the fear that you might lose to one of those special zombies diminishes once you find out how easy it is to kill one of those things.
There is some charm in the assortment of weaponry you can carry and use as well as the different characters you can hire. Each character will have a special skill or trait. The skill or trait can only be used once you’ve finally achieved enough kills and filled up your special meter. Interesting, right? Unfortunately, hiring characters can be quite pricey both in in-game currency and actual money, which may dampen things for more than a few gamers.
The best reason to pick up this little app, though, is that it has a multiplayer feature. This means you and a few of your pals can slog through the zombie hordes together garnering you a few more points in the long run. Now, ain’t that something?
The Look
Mobile devices can often be surprising, as they really have a ton of tech under the hood. These visual techs allows for more detailed graphics and 3D environments. The 3D in Free 2 Die obviously does not take full advantage of that tech as there are a lot more titles that look much prettier than this one. However, the effects in-game are well animated, showing off enough gore and blood to make you forget that the game still looks sort of dated.
The Verdict
If you’re looking for a good time on your own, there are a lot of reasons why you should pick up this game, but there are also a few reasons why you shouldn’t. The solid multiplayer is a big winner. Couple that with unfettered gore brought about by the variety of killing tools the game allows you to play with. And with the game being totally free to play (which kind of makes the whole Free 2 Die name quite apropos) it may be kind of stupid not to take a crack at it. Of course, since the game is only available for iOS systems at the moment, you may need to plunk down a good chunk of change for an iPad or iPhone.
