The iPhone game developer Freeverse first flew onto my radar with the stellar space trading game Warpgate, released earlier this year. The most recent release from Freeverse is a hack and slash game based on the popular book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the strange, modern literary conversion of Jane Austen’s classic work. So has Freeverse delivered another top-notch iPhone game? Or should Pride And Prejudice And Zombies be relegated to the AppStore basement with the thousands of mediocre side-scrolling hack n slash games?
As a child living in a house with three sisters and my mom, I was forced to endure many movies/TV shows geared towards females. One of the atrocities I was forced to witness was the PBS/BBC’s “Pride and Prejudice” miniseries. I haven’t read the novel (the zombie one), but I do have a limited idea of who the characters are and what Jane Austen’s story is about. So imagine my surprise when I started up this app, and realized that the game follows the story of the original book pretty faithfully. Of course, this time there are zombies in the mix.
Each level (or “chapter”) starts with a title card and opening story sequence. All of this is really just an excuse to get you to hack apart the zombie hordes that are ravaging the English countryside. You play as the story’s protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, who just wants to find a husband, namely the rich and elusive Mr. Darcy. That’s about as much as I will describe the story here, as it’s not all that important – unless you’re a Jane Austen fan. Really, Freeverse just wants you to get in there and start killing zombies. The developer should be commended for staying true to the source material, however.
As usual for iPhone games, movement is controlled via a virtual joystick located at the bottom left of the screen. Bennet is armed with a rapier-style blade, and the combat is based around a variety of attacks she can perform. Attacks are executed on the bottom right area of the iPhone screen by performing taps and swipes, as opposed to having actual buttons on the screen. Simply tapping the screen will cause Elizabeth to perform a basic attack. Most side scrolling hack-and-slash games on the iPhone would stop there, but Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has a very deep combat system. By performing swipes in different directions, special attacks can be performed. Swiping downwards will make Elizabeth do a spinning attack that hits Zombies on both sides. Diagonal swipes perform “sweep” and “kick” techniques. Swiping upwards will cause Elizabeth to jump, and another swipe while she ‘s in the air performs jumping attacks. Special Attacks do eat away at a ‘special ‘ meter in the top left corner of the screen. This means you can ‘t spam the most powerful attacks, instead you will have to use them sparingly (at least until you upgrade your ‘special ‘ meter to allow more attacks).
The combat system is deep, and gets even deeper as you progress through the game. This is because of a full-featured upgrade system that takes place during ‘tea-time ‘ after every level. Each style of attack is upgradeable (through seven levels of upgrades), and you can also upgrade your life and ‘special attack ‘ meter here. You earn money to buy these upgrades by collecting coins that dead zombies drop throughout the level (they also drop health refills once in a while). I usually quit playing most of these side-scrolling games after the first couple levels, but Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ‘ upgrade system kept me hooked right through the finish of the game.
Enemies come in a wide variety, from ‘normal zombies ‘ to ‘tough zombies ‘ and ‘flaming zombies. ‘ You ‘ll even end up fighting zombie Deer, and killer zombie rabbits (which are more hilarious than scary). There are also a number of mini-bosses placed throughout each level, and every 3 or 4 levels you ‘ll face a very tough, very big boss. It should also be noted that this game may not be for kids. Groups of zombies fall apart and explode into showers of blood. After you kill a zombie, his severed arms, legs, and torso will stay on screen for a while. This can lead to hilarious pile-ups of zombie body parts in the later levels, when enemies are plentiful. It ‘s hilarious to an adult gamer like me, but it may not be appropriate for children.
I was so pleasantly surprised about how deep Freeverse ‘s game is, I put a hold on the other reviews I ‘m working on just to focus on this one. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies really is a great – and hilariously weird – experience. From a deep upgrade system to a funny story, from varied enemies to varied environments and attacks, I have to say that Freeverse has done an excellent job with this game. After the exceptional Warpgate and the uniqueness of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I can ‘t wait to see what app they ‘ll put out next.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is available from the App Store for $2.99.
This app was independently purchased by the post author in the iPhone App Store. For further information regarding our site ‘s review policies, please see the ‘About ‘ page.
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TAGS: iPhone, ipod touch
