Review: Into the Dead
Score:
69%
A clever mash-up between the constant running genre and the likes of first person shooters like Doom and Quake, Into the Dead is finely balanced gameplay. Very finely balanced. On a knife edge - for some it will be all the zombie killing they crave for just the initial purchase price, for others the groundswell of extra in-app-purchases will prove rather more expensive.
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The core idea here is that you crash land your gunship in the middle of the zombie apocalypse wilderness. Starting out with nothing in the way of armament (by default), you start running, dodging from side to side as approaching zombies flail their limbs at you. Get too close and you're injured, get closer and you're down, with zombie jaws and talons tearing at you. In short, you die.
To help keep you alive for a bit longer, you can dodge better (obviously), control can be via tilt sensors or on-screen controls, you can arm yourself with hand gun, then chainsaw, then assault rifle, and so on, each progressively taking out more zombies more effectively, in order that you can run further. The weapons (and ammo) appear in 'glowing' graves that you just have to run over in order to collect the contents.
Ultimately you'll still die, of course - your score is simply the distance you manage to run in total. The atomosphere generated by Into the Dead is impressive, with running motion effects, zombies appearing out of the mist, varied terrain (including fences to hop over), graves to trip over, occasional trees to dodge between, and with appropriate scary zombie snarls in your ears the whole time.
All the while you're running, you amass coins, and these can be used to improve your chances (and distance), from starting with a weapon to getting more ammo, to a companion dog by your side to help despatch snarling zombies. Coins? Yep, you can see where this is going, can't you....
Thankfully, especially given the fact that this isn't completely freemium - you've had to buy the game in the first place (if only for a dollar or so), there coins aren't that hard to amass - in small quantities anyway, and there's a lot of zombie slaying fun to be had before you feel absolutely compelled to dip into your wallet further (of which more below).
The addition of a chainsaw provides variety in weaponry, even if it's perhaps not for the faint hearted in use. Still - they're only zombies, right? it's not as if they're alive?
As with (firing) guns, tap the screen to lash out with the chainsaw at any zombie you stumble on - result: more than a little zombie blood and one less zombie in your way....
The average length of a game, without any extra purchases, is of the order of two minutes, putting this firmly in casual game territory. Which is fine, though you probably don't want to be seen slaughtering zombies in class or at work or on the bus - someone sensitive might be sitting next to you?
Add in extra weapons, extra advantages, and you've got at least another minute or two - it doesn't change the gameplay much, but it does extend it and add variety. These all come through slogging through the game earning coins or, perhaps as the developers hope, taking a few shortcuts with the in-app purchases here, letting you acquire coins faster or in job lots, so that you can buy advantages immediately.
In addition to the more varied combat, there are extra cosmetic purchases to consider. Both different dogs...
...and different zombies. There are two extra packs available right now, "American football"(!) and "World War II", both nicely realised though rather less credible (as if a zombie apocalypse is credible in the first place! - Ed):
Equip yourself with enough coins for some decent weapons and a dog, plus a weapon from the start of your run each time, and you can get away with another three or four dollars (or pounds or Euros, etc.) worth of purchases (on top of the initial dollar purchase price). Go mad with the dogs and themed zombies and you're talking the best part of 100,000 coins - working out, depending on exactly what you buy, at about £8 in the UK. Which is arguably expensive for a mobile game, but at least you know what you're getting at each stage and even the maximum coin purchase is capped at £12.50, again in the UK.
As I say, finely balanced. You can have fun with this with nothing more than the initial purchase, but you can have more fun by paying more - which is perhaps as it should be. At the end of the day, given some other games being a totally free download but then ramping in IAPs very quickly and savagely, I'd rather have something like Into the Dead, making the developers a little money up front, so that they can be a little more generous in terms of when and if in-app-purchases become necessary.
Atmospheric, savage and gory, plus a terrific advert for the graphics possible in Windows Phone, you can buy 'Into the Dead' and start running here in the Store.
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at