It used to be vampires and werewolves that scared us. But now, with those old horror staples relegated to fighting for the affection of a sullen, lip-biting teenage girl, it’s the humble zombie that has risen to prominence as the horror icon of the modern age. Sure, ghosts are making a bit of a comeback – you only need to look at the opening weekend figures for Paranormal Activity 3 to see that – but when it comes to games, it’s the shambling gait of those undead brain-munchers that developers rely on to give us the creeps. So, with Hallowe’en just around the corner, what better time could there be to pick out our finest zombie games on the App Store?
Plants vs. Zombies
PopCap’s perennially popular tower-defence strategy offers a cartoonish take on the undead, as they blunder comically towards groups of powerful plants, from seed-spitting flowers to fume-releasing fungi. The objective is simple: harvest sunlight to create a barrier of plants in order to hold back the hordes from reaching your peaceful suburban haven – though you have a row of lawnmowers as your last line of defence. If the plants are the horticultural heroes, it’s the zombies that are the stars, as they shuffle onscreen with ever sillier accoutrements, like a snorkel, a traffic cone or even a dolphin. It’s hardly the most horrifying game on our list, but comfortably the most scarily addictive. (69p)
Zombie Gunship
Most games like you to get up close and personal with the undead – after all, there’s no better way to gross out your audience than to splatter blood and guts all over the camera. But here there’s a chilly distance to the mass monster murder, as you view the action through the monochrome filter of three long-range weapons perched aboard an AC-130 gunship that is hovering high above the battlefield. Your job is to protect a military facility from the undead army, allowing sprinting survivors to make it safely back to base. Collateral damage will not be tolerated, however: kill three humans and it’s game over. (69p)
Contract Killer: Zombies
Providing satisfying movement controls on a device without sticks or buttons is a design problem many iOS developers have wrestled with. Glu Mobile’s frantic first-person shooter has a novel solution: put the protagonist in a wheelchair. So instead of darting between cover positions, you simply rotate on the spot, acting as a kind of human turret gun as you try to survive the zombie onslaught while protecting others. Its grim post-apocalyptic environments and fittingly brooding soundtrack add atmosphere to the action, and best of all, it’s absolutely free – although if you want to reach the end in one piece you might need to spend a couple of quid to purchase the most powerful guns in the weapons store. (Free)
Paper Zombie
A real zombie massacre requires a fairly substantial clean-up afterwards. Yet in Wildbit Studios’s slice-em-up, the only blood you’re ever likely to have trouble with is a paper cut. With the undead hordes constructed of nothing more substantial than a few sheets of A4 you could be forgiven for thinking that disposing of them would be easy. But you’re shy of a shredder, and so you’ll need to use a variety of other weapons to prevent them from infecting you. From a chainsaw to a cattle prod and a clutch of duck-shaped grenades, your arsenal might not be ideal for getting rid of these recycled rampagers, but the single-finger controls allow you to cut a swath through each wave like the world’s sharpest scissors. (Free)
Age of Zombies
Zombies might seem like a fairly modern idea, but this addictive twin-stick shooter is out to prove they’ve been around since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. You really haven’t lived until you’ve blasted an undead Tyrannosaurus Rex into middle of the Cretaceous period. Time-travelling hero Barry Steakfries (who you may know from the sublime Jetpack Joyride) is a wise-cracking delight as the hero, and the variety of locations – from the aforementioned prehistoric stages through feudal Japan and Al Capone-era Chicago – makes up for the fairly repetitive run-and-gun action that is ideally suited for short-burst gaming. (£1.99)
Zombie Scramble
If you were thinking that a domesticated rabbit couldn’t possibly defeat an advancing tide of undead, you’d be wrong. The buck-toothed hero lobs explosive eggs from her Easter basket, with your finger controlling their trajectory. Connect with an enemy’s arms and they’ll briefly stumble; hit their legs and they’ll crawl slowly towards you, giving you the time to ready another dose of yellow-and-white death. A headshot, as ever, is the most effective method of despatch – removing the skull is enough to see them collapse from the force of a single egg. Steve McQueen would be appalled. (69p)
Zombie Highway
If, like us, you’re engrossed in AMC’s splendid TV adaptation of The Walking Dead, you’ve probably been wondering why the survivors ever bother clambering out of the comparative safety of their vehicles – after all, they’re only ever attacked when they’re on foot. Well, RenderPaz’s game is a lesson to never underestimate the persistence of the undead, even when you’re driving at high speed. The barren road in Zombie Highway sees the flesh-eaters leap aboard your car, attempting to unbalance it like a group of cheetahs bringing down a large wildebeest. Your job is to shoot or skim them off driving past debris to dislodge your hungry foe before they can prise open this moving tin to get at the meaty contents inside. (69p)
Zombie Flick
Full Fat might have made its name with more sporting pursuits in the excellent Flick Golf and Flick Soccer, but getting a hole in one or hitting a thirty-yarder into the postage stamp simply can’t compete with the satisfaction of killing zombies with Frisbees, guitars and tins of baked beans. Nor can bending it like Beckham come close to decapitating three zombies with a ricocheting wrench. The action is fittingly frantic as you defend against increasingly tough waves of enemies, with helmet-wearing nasties requiring two perfect headshots to go down – not easy when you’re lobbing rolls of toilet paper in their direction. (69p)
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