Boxhead: The Zombie Wars is the fifth game in famed web-developer Sean T. Cooper’s Boxhead series. If you’re different with Sean Cooper and his history, you can find out more about him at his website.
Before we start I should note that I’m review the updated 4.0 version of Boxhead: The Zombie Wars which features better graphics, three new maps, and several new enemies. This is the version currently available for iOS in iTunes.
The basic premise of The Zombie Wars is simple: You play as soldier Jon Bambo and shoot wave after wave of enemies coming from all sides. It’s a top-down shooter that plays like a hybrid of the arcade classic Smash TV and Call of Duty’s Zombie mode. The notable exception is that here you’re going solo.
You begin with just a simple pistol in the middle of the map and although the early waves of enemies start slow, things rapidly get frantic. You’ll need to choose from an arsenal of 11 different unlockable weapons to survive and there’s everything from shotguns, uzis, and exploding barrels, to a full blown airstrike at your disposal. If you prefer a more tactical playing style then you can use defensive weapons like barricades and turrets to block pathways and slow down the impending horde. In order to be successful in later waves you’ll probably need to use a mixture of both offensive and defensive strategies to make it through. Luckily, switching weapons is as easy as tapping the weapon icon at the bottom of the screen and making your selection. You can do this at any time and while selecting the action pauses allowing you a moment to make your decision.
Besides zombies you’ll encounter a variety of other enemies such as devils, mummies, vampires and more each with their own unique forms of attack. For example, devils can breathe fire across a large distance while vampires hover around draining your health. Occasionally dead enemies will drop aid in the form of weapon upgrades and health replenishment which is welcome as you only get one life and must maintain a green health bar in order to stay alive.
The controls are as responsive and accurate as I’ve seen for an iOS game using an on-screen joypad. Many games attempt this control scheme, but it’s very difficult to get right. Here it feels fluid and natural and doesn’t take up too much screen real estate. Occasionally my character would get trapped against a piece of battlefield geometry, but the more comfortable I grew with the controls the less this happened. Alternatively, you have the option of controlling Bambo via the built-in accelerometer and this works well enough, although it can be hard to see the on screen action when you’re tilting it. I personally chose to play with the default joypad and it was nice to see an option for left-handed people, something all too rare.
Visually Zombie Wars maintains the art style of the other Boxhead games with characters literally having box-shaped bodies and heads. It’s simplistic and almost cute right down to the blood splattered ground you find after completing a wave. You can tell this game doesn’t take itself too seriously which provides a lightheartedness to the over the top violence.
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