Shoot the Zombirds (iOS) Review

Man, we hate zombies. The unnatural sepulchral stink of the restless dead really sticks in our craws, and that dislike extends even to the animal kingdom. Be it zombie dogs in Resident Evil or undead birds in Infinite Dream’s Shoot the Zombirds, we love hacking, sawing, and in this case putting a feathered arrow in their rotten little hearts.

Shoot the Zombirds, the sequel to 2011′s Shoot the Birds, brings you more satisfying aviaphobic action with a side order of spooooooky.

Gameplay

Shoot the Zombirds

Imagine Katniss with an enormous orange dome.

You find yourself in the shoes of Pumpkin Boy, the hero to the original Shoot the Birds, tasked with protecting the Pumpkids from the wicked talons of the winged menace. I feel like there’s a back story there. Some kind of horrific accident that transformed this amateur archer’s head into a giant pumpkin, one that maybe explains his hatred for birds, but I don’t think this is that kind of game. Shoot the Zombirds. It’s in the title, in command tense. Do it. Shoot ‘em.

The interface is simple, clean, and no nonsense. You flick your finger down the touch screen and roll it around, finding the best angles for your arrows and flinging them at rotting, jerky, brephophagist birds. The big fat cow-like birds aren’t so hard to hit, but the sleek ducks and the flitting sparrows are a bit tougher. The tension spikes a little more when those quick birds have grabbed one of the pumpkids, your charges, and is trying to escape. Presumably to eat the pumpkids, or maybe turn them into pies. I don’t know. Don’t let it happen.

You start with a limited amount of arrows, and the only way to gain more is to kill birds. One per kill. The trick, of course, is to spear as many birds with one shot as you can. This not only conserves arrows, but it multiplies your score, and also makes you feel like a bad ass. The birds collide with each other when hit, so if you time a shot correctly and arc it properly, you can smash a dead bird (well, dead again) into a few others on the way down.

There are also little skull-headed birds that rain money when you shoot them (like in real life), and you want to nail as many of these as you can to earn more Coins. Coins buy power-ups for Pumpkin Boy, improve his skills, and even allow you to dress PB up as monster-movie themed characters.

The rounds themselves throw a ton of birds at you, but the trick is to complete the objective given to you at the beginning of the wave. The objectives change, sometimes asking you to rack up a certain amount of points, shishkabob three birds at once, or kill a number of birds in a limited time.

Graphics

Shoot the Zombirds has a cartoony Halloween aesthetic that works well on a tiny screen. Pumpkin Boy’s giant head is hilarious to behold, and the models of the rotting Zombird adversaries are detailed without being gross. You definitely don’t feel bad about striking these putrid winged foes to the Earth with great vengeance (furious anger is optional).

The graveyard setting is fun if a little depressing, and for some strange reason recalls memories of the Halloween level of Gex. I know that’s a weird pull, but I couldn’t stop thinking of it.

Sound

All the bird noises, death squelches, zinging arrow effects, and screaming, plaintiff pumpkid cries you could hope for. The whole game evokes the feeling of a well done Saturday morning cartoon, and the sound doesn’t disappoint. The music is suitably creepy in a Disney Channel kind of way, and it all pulls together to create aural delight.

Portability

Fantastic portability. You could easily play half a round of Zombirds, pause it, and drop it in your pocket. Pulling it out again (presumably after cracking skulls or putting Two-Face back in Arkham) and jumping back into the game is a sitch. There is no story, no great conflict, no complicated fight or crazy action. Sling a couple more arrows, feel the satisfaction of extinguishing twisted mockeries of life, and sink coins into “More Arrows” or “Better Luck” or one-time power-ups that let you unleash fiery arrow hell on your enemies.

Overall

ZombirdsLogo

Shoot the Zombirds!

Shoot the Zombirds is an uncomplicated game that is both fun and forgettable. It doesn’t have the addictive “one more round” quality of an “Angry Birds” or a “Plants Vs. Zombies”, but it’s a great way to while away time spent in lines or getting your oil changed. There are enough persistent awards and skill boosts to make it feel like you aren’t completely wasting your time, and the costume skins for Pumpkin Boy are a novel distraction, at least for a little while.

I recommend picking it up on your iPhone or Android (though I played it on iPhone) and reliving all those boyhood memories of slaughtering revenant birds bent on stealing your ambulatory pumpkin-children.

Overall Ratings – Shoot the Zombirds (iOS)

Gameplay:

8/10

Graphics:

8/10

Sound:

8/10

Portability:

8/10

OVERALL SCORE:

80%

B.C. Johnson

B.C. Johnson

Part-time swashbuckler and full-time writer, B.C. Johnson lives in Southern California and yet somehow is terrible at surfing or saying "whoa." His first published novel, Deadgirl, came out this year and is available for Kindle, Nook, and even old dusty paperback. When he's not writing or playing video games, he can be found writing about playing video games and occasionally sleeping.
B.C. Johnson

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