Why is the theme important and how Kids vs Zombies uses it to stand out ?
The mobile gaming industry is thriving and players have a lot of options to choose from for any genre. PvP shooters is an immensely popular genre and keeps growing. Cutting through the clutter them becomes very important and Kids vs Zombies: Battle for Donuts (which is in Alpha stage of its development on Android) is a great example of how to do that through a unique theme.
Unique and beautifully executed theme
The premise is simple. All the adults have become zombies and its up to the kids to save the day. Zombies per say is not a new theme. There are plenty of shooter games with the Zombie theme. What sets it apart is adding kids to the equation giving it a very quirky vibe that is immediately relatable. It has piggy backed on the success of Stranger Things and is a reminder of old 90's movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
The core loop is very simple
The main gameplay is easy to pick up. You start by choosing a character to take in. It is a top down shooter where the main goal is to collect more donuts than your opponents before the time runs out. You do this by shooting zombies which drop them. If you choose to, you can store your collected donuts at particular points. You can also steal them off other players when they die. The shooting is made fun by the ability to trap your opponents. Here you don't attack other players. You just attack the Zombies. This makes the experience less aggressive and more fun at the same time. Winning matches gives you trophies that unlock characters that you can upgrade with the trophies that you have collected.
The personality in the Character and Zombie designs hook you
What sets the game apart is the love that has gone into creating the personalities of the characters. There is the Bedwetter who is so scared of the zombies that he has to stay up by eating pills. There is Dislike, who was Instaroyalty but even after the zombie apocalypse, she has managed to #NeverGiveUp and ‘shoots’ the crazies with her camera gun. The zombies themselves are also unique and every one of them behaves differently. There is the energizer bunny that drops batteries to power up your gun and there is also the ice cream zombie that freezes you. There is a lot of charm and quirkiness around all the character and enemy designs and makes me come back for more.
Multiple Modes and a Battle Pass based reward system make you come back
Kids vs Zombies provides you ample reward moments through the Battle Pass. Its also gives you multiple modes to pick from to keep pace with your skill level. You get the character cards at random and that makes you upgrade and try out different characters. All this keeps the game from becoming boring and keeps you coming back for more.
The core gameplay is fun but we have already seen these mechanics in action before. However, the quirky character and enemy designs straight out of the 80’s is enough to set this game apart from the rest. I am eagerly waiting to see how the game shapes up on its way to launch.
