Zombicide: Tactics & Shotguns

by Aethyna May 6, 2019 | 1 Votes | 1 Played | 0 Reviews

10 rate

Genres:

Strategy , Board

Graphics:

Labels:

Turn Based , Zombies , Post Apocalyptic

Platforms:

Publishers:

Asmodee Digital Zombicide: Tactics & Shotguns is the mobile adaptation of a much-beloved board game where players get to assemble a team of pretty wacky characters and try to get them to work cooperatively to complete missions for cans of food while, of course, slaying zombies along the way. Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Community Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Zombicide: Tactics & Shotguns is the mobile adaptation of a much-beloved board game where players get to assemble a team of pretty wacky characters and try to get them to work cooperatively to complete missions for cans of food while, of course, slaying zombies along the way.

Plotline

The game doesn’t exactly explain how the town of Dead End managed to become ground zero for a zombie infestation but all you know is that you play as Doug. He was a “lone ranger” so to speak, and had believed that he should only care for himself if he wants to survive, but then he met up with some quirky but somewhat reliable allies who gradually changed his mind.

Together with his new buddies, he will not only need to scavenge for more canned food to survive, but also to find a way to escape from Dead End.

Gameplay

In terms of its gameplay, Zombicide is very similar to a story-driven, turn-based RPG. Basically, you and the zombie horde will take turns making moves. Your characters can perform around 3 actions (unless new perks kick in) per round each, and you can choose between attacking or moving your characters along the gridded map.

Every level has slightly different objectives, with some having boss fights (zombies with a lot more health) or an unexpected objective that will only be revealed near the end of a level. Sometimes, if you kill enough zombies, you’ll trigger the spawning of tougher-to-kill ones as the danger level for that map rises. However, in return, your character’s next danger level skill will also be unlocked.

Zombicide provides you with 4 free characters out of the 12 available. It opted to lock 7 more characters behind a pretty hefty paywall despite the game being already a “buy-to-play” and one more behind a free account sign-up. Granted that playing these extra characters don’t really change much in terms of the gameplay and that for most missions, you can bring along up to 4 characters at a time, but it’d still be nice to be able to access them without having to shell out more money. Lock them behind missions or levels is fine, but a paywall of around $20 might be a bit too much.

Anyway, by completing these levels as flawlessly as you can, as in no one got injured or knocked unconscious, you can earn even more canned food from every mission you undertake. Even if you failed a level, you will still earn some amount of canned food and your characters won’t be worse for wear.

Why are canned food so important though? Well, you’ll need it to upgrade your character and funnily enough, your weapons as well. You can unlock up to 2 weapons, one primary and the other a secondary, per character and for some, having a second weapon can be incredibly useful mainly because it allows you to have both a ranged and a melee attack option.

Guns in this game work like they are in real life, to some extent at least. For instance, shooting zombies in a grid with your allies using an SMG may result in friendly fire since the bullets from an SMG do tend to spread out a lot. Missed shots from a pistol may accidentally hit a friendly character as well. However, melee weapons are more precise, allowing you to choose which target to attack.

A general rule of thumb is to not rush towards the objective unless you’re 100% sure that’s the way to go. It’s often best to “waste” a move o two by ending a turn rather than rushing onto a tile where there are zombies on it. Let the zombies come to you instead!

Community

Unlike the original board game, Zombicide is a single-player experience where you control a party of survivors. The game isn’t exactly a social game.

Graphics/ Sound

The game has amazing comic book-style graphics which fit perfectly with its overall somewhat crazy, post-apocalyptic theme. The sound is fantastic in Zombicide as well, providing players with the creeps from time to time, in addition to hyping you up with some rock music.

Conclusion

Despite being originally a board game, this digital version of Zombicide looks, feels and plays like it belongs on the digital platform. The essence of the original game is still there though, complete with its biting humor and somewhat wacky characters. So, even if you have not played the physical board game, you should be able to easily ease yourself into the gameplay, especially if you are experienced with turn-based games.