Zombies & Trains (Video Game Review)

For as long as man can remember, or at least since George Romero, John Russo and friends created zombies in the classic film Night of the Living Dead, fans have wondered what would happen if a horde of zombies collided with a train moving at full speed. Ok, maybe they haven't, but we can tell you it's pretty cool to see with enough blood, gore and body parts flying through the air that would put most 4th of July fireworks displays to shame. In the new iOS title Zombies & Trains, players can join in on the gory fun and tear through the undead masses like a hot knife through butter With plenty of power-ups and equipment to utilize in-game and a variety of game modes to try out, Zombies & Trains is bloody good fun that is worth the one or two dollars you'll pay for to download the game. 

Zombies & Trains is one of the most simplistic games around. Your job is to attack zombies conducting a railway of trains you'll send roaring through the tracks, mowing down any zombies caught on the tracks when the train comes barreling through. The zombies will be attempting to reach the center of the map and steal away your prized brain trophy. More powerful zombies exist beyond the slow stumblers including fat zombies that explode, runners and more, but luckily, you'll have a few tricks of your own as you equip special gear or activate items for special boosts such as massive death causing bombs or trains that set the tracks they pass over ablaze. It's good fun that gets old after several hours of play, but the game includes four different game modes to mix up the action fairly well.

You'll spend a large portion of time in the Arcade mode of the game where the goal is to protect your trophy while simultaneously receiving small bits of storyline and gaining new objectives during play. Zombies & Trains also includes a Wave mode where you'll face off head-to-head with increasingly difficult waves of zombies to see how many sets of hordes you can survive. Crossing is an addictive and challenging mode where you'll have to keep a large wave of zombies from reaching their destination for a whole minute by using a few strategically placed tracks on the stage. Finally, you can let the most gore fly in Slaughter mode. Each game mode offers a unique challenge that will have you addicted for hours at a time, but a lack of any real depth to the gameplay makes the game not stay fun for as long as it should. A little more fun can be had trying to shamble your way up the leaderboards and unlock the many achievements the game features.



The presentation of Zombies & Trains is pretty stellar. The controls work perfectly for iOS devices as you send countless trains zipping down the lines with a swipe of your finger, and activating power-ups is as simple as touching them when they appear after completing large combos. The game also has great train sound effects including blaring train horns and plenty of squishing noises as the blood of crushed zombies flies down the line. Zombies & Trains won't be a game you'll want to download if scenes of gore make you a bit squeamish, but obliterating the undead with a 200-ton, titanium bullet is pretty satisfying for the rest of us. Check out Zombies & Trains on iOS today!

Zombies & Trains is now available for iPhone and iPad and can be purchased for $0.99 or $1.99 respectively. Zombies & Trains is rated appropriate for ages 12+ for Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence & Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence. For more information on the game, check out the official Zombies & Trains website.

Game Features:

Single Player

4 Unique Game Modes

Plenty of Power-ups and Equipment

Leaderboards

Achievement Support

Game Information:
Developer & Publisher: Dragonhead Games
Platforms: iPhone (reviewed) & iPad
Release Date: February 7, 2013

Score: 7 out of 10