You may not know this about me, but I am a huge fan of dual-stick shooters. Age of Zombies, Monster Shooter, Weapon Chicken. I have literally played them all and probably spent way too much time with them, but there’s just something about the addictive gameplay in dual-stick shooters that I can’t put down. And the fact that I can play some of the greatest dual-stick shooters (In recent years) on my phone/tablet is amazing in itself. Dual stick controls shouldn’t be a problem on touchscreens, because of the simplistic control-scheme. But that isn’t always the case, so let’s look at what’s up for review today: Call of Mini Zombies!
Name: Call of Mini – Zombies | Developer: Triniti Interactive | Category: Action | Players: 1+ | Version: 1.1 | Size: 164MB | Price: Free |
I know that there’s an argument to be made about Call of Mini – Zombies actually being a 3rd person shooter (along the lines of GraveStompers), but I consider it to be a dual-stick shooter with a third-person perspective, there is a difference.
So, Call of Mini – Zombies is a third-person dual-stick shooter from Triniti Interactive developed for Android and iOS, and released on the Amazon AppStore and Google Play. In Call of Mini – Zombies, you play one of a handful of survivors in a small town where a strange virus has taken over the citizens! and you have to stop them! Zombies! There are 8 maps in total filled with weapons, power-ups and even a chainsaw!
Needless to say, there isn’t a lot of story in Call of Mini – Zombies, but there doesn’t need to be and I’m happy that the developers didn’t try to shoe horn in a story where it didn’t belong. Because really, they plop down you into a map and you shoot your neighbors-turned-zombies, with their creepy little zombie-dogs. It’s that simple.
Plainly put, the graphics in this game are generic and uninspired to say the least. This game takes more than it’s fair share of visual ques from games like Minigore or Zombie Wonderland and the block-y, square-headed character design only augment the unoriginal aspects of the game. Arenas are where you will spend your time shooting zombies in this game, and while I appreciate the size of these areas, most of them just feel…empty. There just isn’t enough detail in the environments to warrant their size. Also, the textures are severely lacking detail in this game. Walking around, it feels like you’re waiting for some detail to pop-in, but it just never does and its a shame. Because I’m sure with a little extra polish, this game could really shine. (No pun intended.)
Call of Mini – Zombies uses an IAP (or Free-to-play/Freemium) pricing model and as such, weapons, items and characters are all available in the store. In this game, your currency – Money/Coins – can be earned by playing the game the old-fashioned way, or they can be bought with your actual, hard-earned money. By know you probably know what in-app purchases are and how they work, and they aren’t that pervasive in this game, as long as you don’t try to buy anything (Earning money is a grind).
While actually playing the game, the controllers are somewhat of a mixed bag. In some instances the controls worked wonderfully, I was able to survive entire rounds without damage, and in other instances, the controls would freeze up and allow the enemies to eat me alive. The controls are pretty standard-fare for this type of game, a virtual analog stick on the left and there’s a fire button on the right. You use the right side of the screen to aim the camera, which – like the controls themselves – worked well most of the time, but in certain situations the camera would freak out and become completely unresponsive. These are both pretty major problems and they definitely dampened my experience with the game and it’s really disappointing to me.
It should come as no surprise that I like music. I also like video game music. This music though…no way. The music in this is even more repetitive than the gameplay, and in some situations that isn’t a bad thing, but it is in this one. It is, in this game it is. I like the Metal genre as much as the next guy, but the soundtrack for Call of Mini consists of multiple, generic heavy-metal tunes on loop. Though the levels have different music, they music in each stage loops for as long as your playing the stage! I know music isn’t the focus of a game like this, but there should have been way more effort put into this game’s soundtrack.
In closing, this game really could have been something special, given a little extra work. But in it’s current state, it’s just a bland, repetitive, cookie-cutter title with decent gameplay, but the bad aspects far outweigh the positive ones. It’s a free download that’s worth a try, but I don’t think you’ll be keeping it for long.
