You Know What Endless Runners Need? ZOMBIES!

Posted 3 months ago By - Michael Dulson

The developers over at Pik Pok did something brilliant with the endless runner genre. They added zombies! The undead creatures have their own first person endless runner now. How does the endless runner fair when zombies are added?

Into The Dead starts out with your character waking up - in first person - and you see a crashed helicopter with some dead folk lying about with a horde of zombies coming your way. Naturally, you turn the other way and run. The further you run, the higher your score gets, and the more zombies will appear on screen. This, of course, makes it that much more challenging. Oh, and the kicker? The moment you run into a zombie, it’s game over. You get one shot at it. There are lots of missions to complete, with objectives ranging from killing a number of zombies, to not using weapons, to using all the perks, and so on. Along with leaderboards and achievements, and there are more modes and content as updates become available. The replayability is on the high end here. There are four different control schemes to choose from; three different tap control options and one is tilt-based. Believe it or not, the tilt control scheme is the best of the bunch, as the tap controls are often unresponsive. The game becomes much more interactive when you have it set to tilt. You actually feel like you are placed in this dark, zombie-filled world. I have not been this impressed with a first person title since Mirror’s Edge.

The graphics have a very strong Walking Dead vibe to it. This game is dark and grim, and feels very much like the universe that Robert Kirkman built. Fans of the comic will feel at home here. Though, crop fields are way too dark. It is often hard to tell where the zombies are as they blend in too much with the crop field. There are randomly placed crates which will provide a temporary weapon to fend off the undead with. Weapons include guns, a chainsaw, grenades, among others, but each one feels the pretty much the same - one or two taps on a zombie kills them regardless. Every run you do gets you coins. These coins net new weapons or perks. Some of the perks may start you out with a weapon, or a head start against the onslaught, and another gives you more ammo. If you would like to use the perks or get all the weapons, you can purchase coins as in-app. My problem with Into The Dead, and I had this same problem with Pik Pok’s other title, Oreo: Twist, Lick, Dunk, is that these freemium titles ask you to pay for the in-game currency - if you choose to - and then there are the in-game ads front and center as well. They pop up too often, sometimes during gameplay, which will take you out of the experience.

Final Focus

Imagine the looks of The Walking Dead with the first person action from Mirror’s Edge in an endless runner and you get Into The Dead. Even though the in-game ads are a nuisance, Pik Pok has something very special for zombie lovers here. The game is one of the better examples of less is more. Should we be surprised when zombies start appearing in more endless runners? I know I won’t be.

If you want to give Into The Dead a run (pun intended), head on over to the App Store.