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The thing I love about simulation games is that they usually put you in a situation that
wouldn’t normally be possible or at least is very different from your own situation.
In this case, I don’t think it would be possible to live life as a zombie, at least
not until some kind of T-Virus is invented, and even then you probably would be eating
brains, not mopping up floors... it’s Zombie Life for the iPhone.
Developed by The Play Forge, Zombie Life is a zombie simulation game, but not your traditional
kind of zombie. No in this game you’ll be getting a 9-5 job and buying clothes attempting
to fit in with regular society. The jobs range from food service, maintenance type jobs and
even medical. Once you have a job, you head to your place of employment, punch in, and
away you go, earning gold, XP, and job points for each action completed. XP is for overall
level and JP will go toward job promotions which give you more money per action completed,
award new digs and open up new tiers of jobs in your career. Every action takes energy
which will recharge in real-time.
This is your main activity, working, but there’s a few other things you can do around town.
You can go shopping for clothes and furniture, buy groceries, get a makeover at the clinic
or you can hit up the Soda Bar for a drink which will increase your mood, but decrease
freshness. Your mood will determine how quickly you move around, it goes down by working and
up by buying things, eating food and hanging out at home. It is hard to keep up the ruse
of an average Joe as a zombie because as you walk around you are decaying decreasing freshness.
The more you stink, the more suspicious people will be of you. Let them take too long of
a whiff and you’re discovered to be a zombie, causing a panic, which won’t let you work
for about five minutes till the panic is over.
You’re given a home from which you have risen. It’s not much to start off, but as
you work you can earn some money and buy some furnishings for your home. The more stuff
you have there the more your mood is increase when you relax. You can also change your outfit
here to clothes you’ve bought or earned from work.
If you want to indulge in your zombie nature, you can always take it out on some townsfolk.
You can walk right up to them and take a big chomp at them. Biting them without getting
discovered will increase mood and they’ll drop their wallet in fright. Getting caught
though will cause a panic making everyone run from you also dropping some cash as they
flee.
The aesthetic of the game is very similar to Zombie Farm, The Play Forge’s other game,
anime-ish and light-hearted. It’s a fun little setting for a fun little game. The
game is free on the App Store, but you are able to purchase both gold and gems with real
money. Gems will buy energy restoring items, certain clothes and furniture and also used
to unlock new jobs. What I like about this game though is that it’s possible to earn
gems randomly while working. So if you don’t really want to fork over any real money, you
can keep playing trying to earn the gems in-game. I like this feature. Anytime I get a game
that’s free and find out there are hidden costs to experience the full game I always
feel a little tricked. But that’s not the case for Zombie Life. It’s a simple, enjoyable
game that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.... Or your brains...