Annihilation Undead (Review) Iphone — (Warning, Mature Content)

Calling Annihilation Undead a mindless shooter is probably flattering to its developer. It’s certainly literally true, since this $1.99 twin-stick gorefest is about killing lots of zombies with lots of weapons, and pretty much nothing else.

There’s an audience for this stuff, just like there’s one for the endless Living Dead movie sequels. But Annihilation Undead stirs about as much horror and bloodlust as a script reading. The action is endlessly repetitive, and the terrain, characters and weapons weak on distinction.

It’s slickly packaged mediocrity to be sure, and indie developer Stargazer Studios issues regular updates that have fixed some crippling bugs (but not all) and expanded playability. It takes a bit to try the more than 20 weapons on the large assortment of undead and there’s a variety of scenarios offering challenges suitable for everyone from stiffs to immortals.

If only it didn’t feel so … lifeless.

Menu screens offer modestly amusing descriptions of the weapons and allow a bit of tweaking of controls, sound levels and graphics (you can have your blood in red or green). You also select a distinct-looking male or female character, each armed with pistols and a different non-shooting weapon.

That’s largely the story of the game as well, as most of the tiny attacking icons are distinguishable mostly for their colors and have little spook quotient (a couple of massive specimens that show up eventually or during certain scenarios are a pummeling exception). Those twentysomething weapons, acquired as you run up the body count, feel more like four or five. You’re either clubbing, blasting, machine gunning or disintegrating your already lifeless nemeses, with some minor pixelation variations in the explosions. Go online and compare it to the rush of collecting power-ups from an overhead-view game like Ikari Warriors, written more than 20 years ago – now that’s a rocket explosion.

None of this would be, um, fatal if the scenarios were deeper, but they aren’t. The action takes place on one of two relatively small scrolling playfields, the Swine Farm or Parking Rot. Scenarios include a practice mode where you’re invincible and can access all weapons, and regular games where your lifespan is determined by a health meter and/or time limit. There’s subcategories where an emphasis is sometimes placed on specific weapons or creatures, but again distinctiveness is less than the sum of options. A couple of timed options stand out, such as the over-before-it-starts “28 Seconds Later” and prospect of not surviving much longer against the gargantuans of “Future Shock.”

The zombies don’t come too fast and furious at first in most scenarios, but too often they suddenly appear en masse and quickly pummel you into bloody bits. Speaking of blood, there’s plenty of it splattered gratuitously, although thankfully “persistent gore” can be turned off so it’s possible to see the action on previously visited turf.

The electronica soundtrack by bands Battle Circus and Neurotyk is decent, and available free from the developer’s blog at  http://annihilation-undead.blogspot.com. Online ego boards for scores and achievements are offered, as are regular updates that seem genuinely responsive to user feedback.

But there’s still work to do cleaning up irritating and sometimes fatal bugs. Initially imprecise and graphically confusing controls have improved significantly, but still lock up at times when under heavy attack or taking screenshots. It’s also necessary to exit the app before shutting down, since the music keeps playing otherwise.

This game has its fans if comments at the App Store and developer’s blog are any indication, and it’s not like an epic saga is expected for $1.99. But superior bargain-price offerings of the genre are available for those not obsessed with zombies, and a $4.99 overhead shooter like Space Invaders Inifinity Gene is a far superior value since its variety and depth will keep you occupied long after Annihilation Undead has gone to its grave.