Deadlings Review
PROS
- A good range of puzzles and zombies
- Simple controls stack into complex solutions
- Fun comic aesthetic
CONS
- A few too many levels seem to retread the same puzzles
- Levels only have one solution
VERDICT
Despite pacing issues, Deadlings undead puzzle platforming is a charming enough diversion. Just don't expect it to consume your life.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
Zombies have a rough time in video games. They spend most of their afterlives getting mauled, shot, impaled, and dismembered. However, in comic-styled platformer Deadlings, the aim is to actually keep the walking dead walking, as you try to guide a troop of brain eaters through lethal laboratory mazes.
Each of the 2D mazes are filled with doors, spikes, saws, and other obstacles. There's a blueprint view of the current area which you can call up at any time to help you plan your route. The game moves at a surprisingly gentle. allows you to stop and plot out your next manoeuvre whenever you feel the need.
There are four different flavours of undead guinea pigs to choose from, each with their own abilities. Zombies travel either left or right automatically, leaving you to activate their individual skills - jumping, climbing, flying, or standing still - by touching the screen.
Zombies’ abilities dramatically changes how they handle, and mastering all of them is necessary if you want to get the maximum three stars on each stage. While the first star is gifted to you for finishing a level, you need to finish within a time limit and collect all of the brains scattered around each level to gain the rest of the stars. This is the real of the game - though the familiar goals make revisiting levels less thrilling than it could be.
Deadlings’s spin on zombie mutilation is an entertaining experience, but suffering from pacing issues. The range of zombie abilities allow for a good variety of puzzles, but the game doesn't mix up the challenges often enough, sticking with a single mode for 15 levels at a time. However, while it could do with a bit of a structural shake-up, its gently paced gameplay offers a charming enough challenge for platform fans.
Screenshots
$1.99
