Review - Dead Trigger

I never thought that I would be playing a First Person Shooter on a mobile device. But after seeing Dead Trigger, I figured I'd give it a try and see how good it is. I mean, why not? The game is free now.

Dead Trigger is your generic, zombie-survival FPS game, but for smartphones and tablets. As much as I'd like to compare it to other, popular zombie-survival FPS games like Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty's Nazi Zombies Mode, it isn't quite the same, as the game is designed more towards shorter missions you can play that usually last about 2 to 5 minutes each, instead of a long run to safety across a hoard of zombies.

Controls - Usually I don't talk about the controls, but this was something I was very skeptical about at first; playing a FPS game on a touchscreen only. I have tried some games out that were on display on tablets at Best Buy, and didn't quite feel right to me at the time. However, it may just be a matter of getting used to using a device that runs entirely on touchscreen. If you can say that you are good at texting/typing on a touchscreen, there's a good chance you won't be too bothered by the controls, as I was able to jump into Dead Trigger without too much trouble, after having had my phone for a while.

Left half of the screen is used to move your character like with most game's left joystick or WASD, and right half is used for aiming. On the right side are three buttons near the bottom. A big button to shoot, a small button for reload, and a small button to scope/auto-aim. You can also switch weapons at the top of the screen on the right, and use items that you've brought into the map right below that. Now, this could be a problem for people who may have a smaller phone than others. With there being many buttons on the right half of the screen, you have to touch and drag a certain spot on the right half of the screen just to look around. It is even more of a problem for smaller phones because each time you do, you're covering the screen with your thumb, which might not be the best way to look around effectively, especially in a rush. But on the Galaxy Nexus with its 4.65-inch screen, the game seems to fit its controls in the screen fairly well.

By going in the options, you can choose to have a stationary move pad that's locked in place, change the aim sensitivity, toggle inverted vertical look, and toggle left handed mode, allowing some flexibility in the control scheme.

Gameplay - The main flow of the game is simple and basic. You first start off at the main map which is both your menu and mission select. You can change your equipments, go to the shop, and check your user profile, as well as choosing what missions to play from here.

At the shop, you can buy new guns, upgrade guns that you own, stock up on usable items, upgrade your characters, and buy currency themselves with cash. Some items in the shop are bought with Dollars you earn from missions, and some items are bought with gold, earned from special methods. Normally, they are obtained by spending cash for them, but there are methods of getting them for free. The game offers free gold for trying out other apps that are listed, and more, but you can also gain some gold from leveling up, and doing the daily missions that rewards you with gold, once a day.

In your equipments, you can choose what guns and items to bring with you, as well as check what character bonuses you have. Once you buy a gun, you can swap between the guns you own freely between missions. As for items, they are one-time use items, so you will have to restock on them to take with you on your subsequent missions.

Once you choose a mission, the mission briefing will be shown with your mission objective. There are several different types of objectives, such as...

• Survive for a certain amount of time.
• Kill a number of zombies.
• Collect supplies.
• Guard doors and/or vehicles.
• And other special missions with unique objectives.

Completing missions will reward you with experience and money. Occasionally, you will get a mission with additional rewards, such as missions dropped by a supply chopper.

Leveling up will unlock new guns and items to be bought from the shop, as well as unlocking story missions as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't make your character any stronger through leveling up alone, as far as I know. However, gaining access to the later equipments and upgrades will greatly make the game easier from your earlier levels, as zombies start becoming faster and tougher.

The zombies' AI are fairly simple and straightforward; walk/run to player, attack. They can also crawl through gaps in the walls, or climb over barricades, giving the zombies more map mobility. It may be possible to herd them, but when some zombies move faster than others, it makes it more difficult to do. Later on, you will encounter much faster zombies that can move faster than you, or zombies that spit some caustic blob at you, which can test your ability to react to the change in the situation you are put in.

Tip: Take a quick look at the map to see where zombies can crawl in from. If you can find a part of the map where zombies don't spawn, and has a choke point, it will make your survival missions much easier. If a choke point isn't available, consider staying mobile and run around the map while shooting down zombies in front of you. Might seem unorthodox, under certain map conditions, it may be the better strategy than trying to secure a corner.

If you'd like a challenge, the game also offers an Arena mode where zombies come in waves, until you die. It is a great way to challenge your high scores and aim for higher scores while gaining experience and money. This is probably the closest thing in the game that you can compare to Call of Duty's Nazi Zombies Mode, except you don't spend money on barricades or buying new weapons during Arena mode. Regardless, with increasing difficulty with each wave, Arena mode will surely test your survivability against the never-ending hoard of the undead.

Graphics - Like I've mentioned in my review for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, this game has impressed me with what a smartphone device can be capable of, graphically. It isn't the prettiest looking game, sure, not that I really expected a zombie game to look "pretty", but how well the 3D models are rendered and textured, while running smoothly on my phone was what amazed me the most.

For those concerned that their phone/tablet may not be able to handle this game, there is an option to change the graphics from low, medium, and high. There is also an auto-detect option. I just leave it on low on my phone, and yet, it looks pretty good, so I have no complaints at all. I would assume most phones will have "low" be the default setting as phone devices will most likely lack the hardware that tablets are installed with.

Sounds - The sounds in the game are fairly standard; a few zombie grunts and moans, your usual gun sounds, and a protagonist that does say a couple of things occasionally. Sound effects are good and appropriate, making each action give a sense of clarity of what you're doing. There are about half a dozen music tracks in the game that I've heard. They are far from being catchy tunes, but sets the mood for shooting zombies pretty well. Of course, there is the option of turning the music down, or completely off, so that you can listen to your own zombie-killing-tracks while you play.

Overall - Dead Trigger is a surprisingly good FPS for mobile devices under certain conditions. Given how many different models of mobile devices out there however, I can't promise that everyone will have as good of an experience as I have with this game. The game can be difficult at times, and the excitement of zombie survival in bursts of 3 minutes or so is a good way to kill some time on the go. If you're looking for a zombie-shooter, give Dead Trigger a try. There's a good chance you'll like it.