By William Bernard
Zombies have become a bit of a pop culture sensation over the last few years, so it’s no surprise to see zombies are also slowly shuffling their way towards social media. Zombie Lane by Digital Chocolate is one such attempt to bring the walking dead to Facebook, and it’s actually not half bad.
A few hours playing Zombie Lane and it becomes very clear that the game has taken much of its core mechanic inspiration from the popular Zynga title Frontierville. You clear debris and rubble around your house, grow trees and crops which you can harvest for energy, build structures, and repair your home and fence from wear and tear, amongst other things. This is classic Frontierville. The difference being, you now have zombies to contend with.
Having zombies around your land is generally a bad thing, and you will constantly be fending off the undead while going about your daily business. You can do this by building fences around your home and crops, as well as attacking zombies directly. Fighting off zombies is a simple affair of clicking on them, and this is deepened somewhat by the inclusion of a weapons inventory. As you play, you’ll unlock a plethora of weapons to add to your arsenal, including a variety of firearms and even some off-ball creations such as flaming boxing gloves. Getting hit by zombies will stun your avatar for a period, but otherwise no harm done. There’s a wide variety of zombies to deal with, and as you gain levels, the game introduces more and more challenging zombies to deal with. In this sense, the game stays fresh and interesting as you progress.
There’s a loose quest system implemented that helps guide players along, and it’s well done. It’s not so strict that it wouldn’t allow players to stray away if they so wished from the task at hand, but it’s also interesting enough that player’s would feel like they are actually building towards something greater as they continue to play. Zombie apocalypse stories are generally all the same, so it’s nice to see the developers made the effort to at least push the game towards a “happy” ending.
At this point I should be clear that Zombie Lane doesn’t take itself seriously. There is no gore whatsoever, and the zombies are cartoonish caricatures. The game has a whimsical charm to it in much the same vein as Plants Versus Zombies. Graphically, no one is going to be scared of these zombies, but the game looks great overall regardless, with fluid animations and plenty to see, it is actually a fun game to watch.
Socially, the game allows you to visit your friend’s and help them out by shooting a few zombies. There’s also the prerequisite gifting of items and energy, but that’s really it. As far as the social aspect of the game goes, it’s generally run of the mill.
Despite the inclusion of zombies, the game is still Frontierville, at its core. If you don’t care too much about the walking dead, then you’ll probably find nothing to keep you interested in Zombie Lane. Then again, you probably wouldn’t be checking out the game if you didn’t have an interest in the undead. That said the game has enough stuff going on for it that it doesn’t feel like a total rip-off of its inspiration, but familiar enough that veterans can easily jump into it. Zombie Lane is fun, so definitely give this one a check if you have the time.
Click here to play Zombie Lane
[Download the file here Tukko Rating - Zombie Lane]
[Tukkolabs]
Tukko Rating – Zombie Lane
By William Bernard
Zombies have become a bit of a pop culture sensation over the last few years, so it’s no surprise to see zombies are also slowly shuffling their way towards social media. Zombie Lane by Digital Chocolate is one such attempt to bring the walking dead to Facebook, and it’s actually not half bad.
Having zombies around your land is generally a bad thing, and you will constantly be fending off the undead while going about your daily business. You can do this by building fences around your home and crops, as well as attacking zombies directly. Fighting off zombies is a simple affair of clicking on them, and this is deepened somewhat by the inclusion of a weapons inventory. As you play, you’ll unlock a plethora of weapons to add to your arsenal, including a variety of firearms and even some off-ball creations such as flaming boxing gloves. Getting hit by zombies will stun your avatar for a period, but otherwise no harm done. There’s a wide variety of zombies to deal with, and as you gain levels, the game introduces more and more challenging zombies to deal with. In this sense, the game stays fresh and interesting as you progress.
At this point I should be clear that Zombie Lane doesn’t take itself seriously. There is no gore whatsoever, and the zombies are cartoonish caricatures. The game has a whimsical charm to it in much the same vein as Plants Versus Zombies. Graphically, no one is going to be scared of these zombies, but the game looks great overall regardless, with fluid animations and plenty to see, it is actually a fun game to watch.
Socially, the game allows you to visit your friend’s and help them out by shooting a few zombies. There’s also the prerequisite gifting of items and energy, but that’s really it. As far as the social aspect of the game goes, it’s generally run of the mill.
Despite the inclusion of zombies, the game is still Frontierville, at its core. If you don’t care too much about the walking dead, then you’ll probably find nothing to keep you interested in Zombie Lane. Then again, you probably wouldn’t be checking out the game if you didn’t have an interest in the undead. That said the game has enough stuff going on for it that it doesn’t feel like a total rip-off of its inspiration, but familiar enough that veterans can easily jump into it. Zombie Lane is fun, so definitely give this one a check if you have the time.
Click here to play Zombie Lane
[Download the file here Tukko Rating - Zombie Lane]
[Tukkolabs]