Yet Another Zombie Defense

Pretty good free arcade game :) Probably better if you've got some friends to play with you, but its also fun alone. I like the global ranking system.

Yet Another Zombie Defense is a very simple zombie survival game that understands exactly what it wants me to do. During the day I spend my money buying weapons, ammunition, barricades and turrets, then night comes and I have to survive another wave of zombies. The longer I stay alive, the stronger and more numerous the zombies become. I like how quickly the game gets going because there is no huge story or complicated setup getting in the way. I can start playing almost immediately and the whole point is simply seeing how long I can keep my little base standing. The building side is what gives the shooting a bit more purpose for me. I can place barricades to create a safer area, set up automated turrets and choose where I want to spend the money I have earned from previous waves. I have to think about how much ammunition I need and whether I should spend money improving my weapons or making the base harder to break through. It is not a deep tower defense system, but I like having to prepare before every night. Once the zombies start arriving, I am dealing with the consequences of the setup I made during the day. The actual shooting is basic but satisfying enough. I have several weapons to choose from, including things such as shotguns, rocket launchers and flamethrowers, while mines and other defenses give me more ways to deal with large groups. I can also improve my character with upgrades to things like movement speed, reload speed, health, health regeneration and pickup range. I like these small improvements because they make each run feel slightly different and give me something to work towards while I am trying to survive longer. The power ups dropped by enemies also add some nice moments when a difficult wave suddenly gives me something useful. The biggest problem for me is that the game does not have much depth once I understand the basic loop. I am building a base, shooting zombies and buying better equipment, then doing it again when the next wave arrives. The enemies become stronger, but the basic way I deal with them does not change enough. That means I can have fun trying to beat my previous survival time, but I do not get the same feeling of discovery that I would from a larger strategy game. The title is also pretty accurate in that there is not much here that I have not seen in other zombie survival games. I do like the extra modes because they give the simple formula a little more life. The standard Defense mode gives me the day and night cycle, while Endless removes the normal buying phase and makes the focus almost entirely about surviving. There is also Deathmatch and a Sandbox mode where I can build with unlimited resources before facing the zombie swarm. I think these are useful additions because they let me play around with the mechanics in different ways instead of making Defense the only thing worth launching. The multiplayer side is another good part for me. The game supports both online and local cooperative play, with up to four people taking on the zombie waves together. I think the simple design actually suits co op quite well because I do not need to explain a huge collection of systems before getting started. I can concentrate on protecting one part of the base while dealing with zombies somewhere else. At the same time, I would not say the multiplayer completely fixes the repetition. It makes the basic loop more enjoyable, but underneath it is still the same fairly small selection of mechanics. Overall, Yet Another Zombie Defense is a fun little arcade survival game that I think works best when I want something simple and quick. I like the day and night structure, building defenses, automated turrets, different weapons, character upgrades and the extra game modes. The main thing holding it back is the lack of deeper progression and variety, because after I have learned the basic strategy there is not a huge amount left to discover. Still, the free original version gives me a straightforward zombie game with both single player and co op, and the simple design makes it easy to pick up whenever I want a quick survival challenge. Rating: 7.6/10