Earlier this summer, I reviewed Zombie Dice, a new game from Steve Jackson Games. I’d stumbled across the game at PAX East and had an absolute blast playing it. The first day it went on sale, I was at my local game shop to pick up a copy and I’ve given a few as gifts over the past couple months.
So I was very excited when I learned that Zombie Dice was coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. As excited as I was about the actual dice game, I’m sort of disappointed with the app. First of all, gameplay drags a bit. This can be fixed in future versions, but it feels like there are too many pauses that last longer than they should. It makes gameplay a bit disjointed.
On the upside, the basic game is free (iTunes link), so you can learn how to play the game if you’ve never seen it before. But to get any sort of multiplayer experience, you must upgrade for 99 cents. This allows up to eight players, if you don’t mind passing your phone around because there’s no networked play. Upgrading also gives you more animations, sounds and levels of difficulty, which is good because the basic version is far too easy.
Maybe this is just a game that doesn’t translate to a screen very well or maybe it’s just a game that plays better with friends (and all the zombie-like, groaning role playing that goes along with it), but Zombie Dice on the iPhone and IPod Touch feels flat. Hopefully future versions will be better.
Wired: Free app
Tired: Slow play, no network multiplayer, not as fun as original game
