Game Review: Gunner Z

Take your fleet of customised AC-HMV armoured trucks out on to the urban streets to fight off hybrid zombies and other deadly enemies, before time runs out!

Gameplay

Post-apocalyptic zombie games are all the rage at the moment; Gunner Z is just one of the free, zombie shooter Apps available on the iTunes store.

Gunner Z is a zombie gunship game; the basic objective is to customise your truck and take out the demanding and deadly waves of the un-dead before they reach your truck and destroy it. You are up against vast amounts of enemies, from biological beasts to aerial drones; the world is against you. Unfortunately soon into the gameplay it became apparent that something was missing from the experience.

The game has the player taking the wheel behind an impressive armoured truck to protect the streets, these are equipped with a standard gun and a heavy-duty rocket, with limited ammunition. The interactive buttons on the screen are simple and easy to use, one of the buttons adjusts the height allowing the player a perfect angle to aim and shoot at the aggressive zombies. If the player allows the zombies to get too close, dramatic damage occurs, the truck runs out of health rapidly, once it has the mission is failed.

Consequently, if you fail the mission, you will be left waiting around for a lengthy time for the truck to be repaired. This seems a bit unfair as the missions become increasingly difficult, and it becomes impossible to complete certain missions in one go. The player can either choose to wait or cough up the cash to eliminate the waiting period.

The game is free to play, but the player can pay for perks to upgrade trucks, or skip waiting times. Games which feature similar upgrade systems do well in persuading players to want more, while offering other players the choice to play free, no strings attached. Gunner Z didn’t seem to grasp this successfully, the game became too demanding with constant adverts asking whether you want to pay real money for Z$.

Graphics and Sound

This was the most attractive trait of Gunner Z. The infrared camera and the zombie characters impacted the game in a positive way, giving the typical zombie shooter a run for its money. The zombie sounds add to the general creepiness of the game, setting the post apocalyptic scene really nicely.

Pros

* Graphics and sound suitable for a zombie shooter.
* Potential to be a great game.

Cons

* Difficult missions leading to unfair consequences.
* A lot of waiting around.
* Can become costly.

Conclusion

The gameplay doesn’t seem to be able to support itself, the lack of detail to a storyline, difficulty and unfair consequences lead to this game falling short of the mark. This game has the potential to be special but unfortunately it focuses too much on luring the player to spend real money to advance faster within the game.

Graphics and sound: 4/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Score: 3

Game developer: BitMonster Games.
Price: Free
Last Update: 24 November 2013
Platforms: iPhone, iPad