Zombieville USA 2 is the sequel to Zombieville USA, which I still hold as one of the iPhone’s best games. It was an addictive zombie-survival side-scroller with plenty of weapons and enough carnage to satisfy any ambitious zombie-hunter wanna-be, such as myself. When I saw that Mika Mobile had produced a second, I was ecstatic, and eager to see what had changed. I was pleasantly surprised… and also a little disappointed.
While Zombieville USA 2 may appear to be incredibly similar to the original, don’t let the screenshots fool you. The developers have made some favorable changes that deliver an all-new approach to the zombie-slaying gameplay of the last game.
The first thing to notice is the new emphasis on customization. You still can buy new weapons between rounds with your hard-earned cash, but this time the customization doesn’t stop there. In addition to a very large and varied selection of weapons – we’re talking shotguns to Tesla cannons – you have three additional slots in which three abilities can be assigned, much like perks from the Call of Duty series. Each perk has its own unique benefit, some will increase your health and others will increase damage. This provides a nice incentive to keep playing and perks can be mixed and matched to fit your play style. These perks can also be upgraded to increase the effects, as can weapons.
Another notable change is the directional movement. You’re no longer limited to walking back and forth during your many zombie hunts, and can instead weave up and down through the many different environments as you please. The game is still played like a side-scroller, but more like Streets of Rage instead of Metal Slug. This is a great change because this allows for more zombies on-screen, and makes the game more fast-paced. In the first game, if you ever found yourself in a “zombie sandwich” type scenario, as long as there was a house nearby, you could quickly enter it and wait for the zombies to pass. This felt kind of cheap and was probably the only thing I disliked about the first game, looking back. The sequel though does not allow you to ever go into hiding, and instead you’ll just have to run if you ever find yourself in a potentially life-threatening position, which will happen often, by the way – and that’s another reason I love this game – the difficulty. The game is definitely no cakewalk. You’ll die time and time again to the zombie horde, especially if you’re not careful about conserving ammo. Z:USA 2‘s zombies are much more aggressive this time, and there’s a bigger variety in the zombies you’ll face. Romero-zombies, big zombies, 28 Days Later zombies, and goo-spewing zombies – there’s plenty of zombie variety here.
Luckily, dying isn’t such a problem. If you die, you’ll still get paid and be returned to the world map. In fact, it’s safe to say that there is no death penalty. The game does reward you extra dollars for having more health and being accurate with weapons once each stage comes to a close.
Zombieville USA 2′s other change is a new world map, from which you select a level to play. Each level must be unlocked by killing a certain number of zombies on previous levels. Unfortunately, this is ZV:USA 2‘s biggest downfall. This type of level progression leads to a game that feels repetitive in a way the previous game never was. Now that you unlock levels this way, you’ll have to go back to previous levels again and again to make the new level unlock requirement, which means zombie-slaying by the hundreds. Because the gameplay is so fun, this would normally not be a huge problem, but because this is a sequel, it feels like a huge step back from ZV:USA‘s traditional level progression.
VERDICT
So is ZV:USA 2 a huge improvement over its predecessor? In some ways. I had a blast with the game at first and still do because of how awesome the zombie combat is, but the repetitive nature of the game is a serious flaw and quickly diminished my interest in it. I would have loved to see what the developers produced if they took the new improvements and brought back the traditional way of level progression – think Turtles in Time or Streets of Rage but with zombies, and a unique boss for each level. That would be awesome, and it makes me realize how much potential there was here to branch away from the casual gameplay of the first and create something with a lot more depth. Instead, Zombieville USA: 2 is merely some improvements on the rather solid foundation of the last game.
If you loved the first Zombieville, its sequel is worth checking out. There’s an enjoyable arsenal of weapons, the new customization system is a great addition, and the gameplay itself is as smooth and polished as ever. It’s safe to say this is the best mass-zombie slaughter title I’ve played on the iPhone. That being said, if you’re still content with the first, you’re probably better off waiting for Zombieville USA: 3.
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