Dead on Arrival – Android Game Review
Overview
Zombies crave brains like gamers crave a good game, and there’s a new Zombie shooter that can make the living and dead both happy in the form of Dead on Arrival by N3V Games. This slick top down shooter has killer graphics, fast paced gameplay, and a whole lotta’ zombies to take out. All zombie shooters are not created equal, so how does Dead on Arrival stack up against the competition? Read on to find out…
Gameplay
Upon firing up the game you’re hit with some slick cut scenes that get you pretty pumped up for the carnage that awaits. The premise of the game is simple; you’re stranded in a hospital after the Zombie Apocolypse hits which wouldn’t be a bad thing if you weren’t being assaulted by wave after wave of zombies. The controls are simple as well as you’ll have 2 joysticks – one for movement & one for shooting along with a change weapons button at the top-right. Your health, ammo, and z-buck count is displayed on the top-left side of the screen along with the wave count. Everything is laid out nicely and leaves you with plenty of on-screen real estate to watch the action unfold. Dead on Arrival’s hospital level is massive and while you won’t be able to exit it, you can open up different rooms to get a temporary reprieve from the zombie hordes. There’s really no end to the game either, you just want to see how many waves you can survive. Any weapons or ammo that’s available can be found scattered about the hospital in plain sight or behind locked doors. I would advise you to remember the location of the glowing weapons icons, as it’s always nice to run to a shotgun or chainsaw when things get hairy.
Features
Weapons are one of the first things I tend to check out in a game like this, and Dead on Arrival has quite a few to choose from. Some are readily available, but others will have to be purchased using Z-bucks which we’ll get to in a minute. The rough count of the weapons comes in at around 12 or so including a laser, rocket launcher, freezer ray, and my personal favorite the good old shotgun. There are a few powerup items as well like an extra layer of armor, double ammo, and instant cash. A lot of free games are turning to forms of in-game currency to bring in money, and it was nice to see someone do it right for once. You can purchase 2000 Z-bucks for $3.99 which gives you enough to unlock all the goodies in the game. Z-bucks can also be earned (slowly) by playing the game or through completing offers via Tapjoy. You are going to get some ads in the game unless you pay $0.99 to remove them; personally, I didn’t mind the ads in Dead on Arrival as they weren’t intrusive to the gameplay. Dead on Arrival has its own online leaderboard and also uses the ever popular Openfeint scoring system.
Verdict
As a Zombie fan I was looking forward to Dead on Arrival, and it didn’t disappoint when it finally arrived. The graphics are great; the zombies and the environments are all very well done, and there’s plenty of blood as well. The gameplay is just as solid, and I even though it gives you the option to turn down the graphics, I had no trouble running the game at full speed. The hospital is actually just Chapter 1 in Dead on Arrival with a Chapter 2 listed as coming soon; there’s also a nice tutorial for people that want to test the waters before jumping right into the fray. I was a little disappointed that they’re weren’t more weapons available or at least a few melee weapons if you run out of ammo, but that’s really my only knock on the game thus far. Overall, it’s a very polished game that should keep players busy for quite some time; especially if you’re like me and like to try for the top scores. You can pick up Dead on Arrival in the Android market for free.
Filed Under: Reviews
