Madfinger Games are synonymous with the mobile gaming scene on Android, what with the massive success of their previous titles – Samurai II: Vengeance and Shadowgun. Their games have been known to be the standard bearers on mobile platforms, especially in the graphics department. Released amid high expectations amongst Android gamers, how does their latest game, Dead Trigger, fare?
Name: Dead Trigger | Developer: Madfinger Games | Category: Arcade & Action | Players: 1 | Version: 1.01 | Size: 101 MB | Price: $0.99 |
Gameplay
The premise of the game is simple – zombies have taken over and there are small pockets of survivors left. You join a resistance movement and start taking out zombies. The progress of the game is stitched together in the form of a story. A text-based story actually – one that you wouldn’t bother reading because it’s uninspiring, and not reading it is inconsequential because either way it doesn’t affect the gameplay.
Through the story boards, you communicate with other survivors, but it’s pretty depressing that none of them are shown in the game. The game only has four different modes, and these are repeated time and time again. You either have to hold on to an area for a certain period of time, kill a certain number of zombies, ferry supplies or guard entrances. The gameplay becomes so repetitive that you might eventually become a zombie yourself.
In fact, the gameplay isn’t the only repetitive aspect of the game. The maps used are heavily recycled as well. Madfinger has trumpeted the fact that the game is only 100MB is size, but they never mentioned that there are only four unique medium-sized locations. During most missions, you start off with a small area of the map and as things progress, doors are unlocked and the area is expanded.
The so-called story mode ends abruptly, and after that you can carry on playing side missions indefinitely. The only reason you’d want to carry on playing the game, if you last that long, is to upgrade your weapons which have a nice variation. There are also items and gadgets to aid you, but I’ve never really used them. I prefer the idea of incessantly raining bullets onto the zombies and collecting headshots without any outside aid.
Graphics & Sound
The graphics on Dead Trigger are arguably the best we have ever seen on a mobile device. Running on the Unity3D engine, you can safely assume that Madfinger has used every trick in the book to showcase what Unity3D is capable of. For those who have played Shadowgun, in particular the Tegra 3-optimized version, you’d be able to draw many parallels between that and Dead Trigger, such as the water effects and ragdoll physics.
The new additions in the graphics department include water droplets on the screen, leaves flying around in the environment and detailed character modelling such as blood splatter. Some of these graphical enhancements however are only available on Tegra 3 devices. Having said that, the environment in which the game is set in feels pretty bland. But it’s a post-apocalyptic world, so maybe that’s how it’s meant to be.
In terms of sound effects, the game nails it as well. The guns, besides looking very detailed, sound ultra-realistic, whether it’s while firing or reloading. The zombies let out groans and shrieks which add well to the atmosphere. There are also sounds from the environment, such as water dripping to the ground. And finally, Dead Trigger has also got a good soundtrack which will get you pumped up while shooting the zombies.
Controls
Dead Trigger’s controls work well, with the left thumb to move and the right to pan the camera. There’s also the ‘fire’, ‘zoom’ and ‘reload’ buttons on the right-hand side of the screen. With the default buttons layout, I’d often hit reload while trying to aim. The good thing is that these buttons can be reconfigured to your own liking. One slight grouse I have about the controls is that sometimes aiming can get wonky, where all of a sudden the camera faces the floor or sky.
In-app Purchases
Something that’s sure to earn the ire of gaming fanatics is that the game employs in-app purchases despite it being a paid app. Here, IAPs can be used to buy in-game cash or gold. Half the weapons and items can be bought using cash, and the other half exclusively with gold. While cash can be readily earned by completing missions, gold can only be earned by either liking a few of their Facebook pages or winning the boss battles which come in later in the game.
Even then, the gold earned is scarce. On the bright side, I can say that the game neither forces you to make IAPs nor is it a prerequisite to enjoy playing the game and making progress at a good pace. The only downside is that you may have to forgo owning some of the better weapons. However, if you see good value in the game, I reckon there’s no harm done in eventually making an in-game purchase.
Conclusion
I can’t help but feel that Madfinger missed out on making something great. They did the hardest part right – creating mind-blowing graphics, but the gameplay and content is left wanting. It almost feels like Dead Trigger is just a ‘filler’ game, with Madfinger trying to get the most out of Unity3D and testing the waters of in-game purchases without wasting too much resources. A proper non-text-based storyline, with cutscenes and in-game voice interaction, would have been amazing.
According to the developers, Dead Trigger is going to be updated with new content in the future, but frankly I can’t see a dramatic upheaval in the way the game is played. Still, at $0.99, you can’t go wrong. You’ll get an hour or two of good gaming before things start getting repetitive and a chance to adore the best looking game available on Google Play currently.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Have you played Dead Trigger? What are your thoughts on the game? Feel free to share by leaving a comment below.
