Simple Fun Yet With a Flawed Item Pickup System
This is one of those shooter survival games that’s repetitive but satisfying nonetheless. It’s replay-ability relies upon the Vial Run portion of the game where it basically becomes an endless run.
Unfortunately, your “endless” runs will absolutely end by the time the game’s frame rate drops to 0 as the hundreds of vials that drop from enemies fills the entire screen — that is if you’re still able to hold your device that is now capable of steaming a sauna.
Seeing as how the last updates were likely over 2 years ago at the time of my writing this review, it’s unlikely this obvious issue will ever be resolved nor the additional maps promised at the end of the campaign ever released. It’s okay, you can play a game like this a while before it’s best to just write your review, enjoy your sauna, and move on.
Unfortunately, your “endless” runs will absolutely end by the time the game’s frame rate drops to 0 as the hundreds of vials that drop from enemies fills the entire screen — that is if you’re still able to hold your device that is now capable of steaming a sauna.
Seeing as how the last updates were likely over 2 years ago at the time of my writing this review, it’s unlikely this obvious issue will ever be resolved nor the additional maps promised at the end of the campaign ever released. It’s okay, you can play a game like this a while before it’s best to just write your review, enjoy your sauna, and move on.
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Great game
Honestly what a surprise. Really the perfect little zombie shoot ‘em up. I played through the entire single player progression in one sitting!
There is a fair amount that is done very well here. The single finger movement and auto target is perfect. It even recognizes subtle gestures toward an enemy to switch focus—which is indicated by the yellow dotted circle underneath. A way more satisfying experience than say a Diablo immortal where you point abilities by long pressing them. It just never felt right to me (not to mention the insane monetization scheme).
The ability bonus layering is also great. It’s super satisfying to setup a combo of something like a arrowhead (that makes arrows fly out of the dead zombie on hit) and a ricochet. Arrows flying everywhere, zombies exploding, it’s great!
A nice variety of monsters with unique abilities and enough frantic action to keep you engaged. I especially like the behemoth with car doors for armor.
Great visual design as well to the maps. The hardware store in the supermarket level was especially well done.
Good job guys, thanks for making a great game!
There is a fair amount that is done very well here. The single finger movement and auto target is perfect. It even recognizes subtle gestures toward an enemy to switch focus—which is indicated by the yellow dotted circle underneath. A way more satisfying experience than say a Diablo immortal where you point abilities by long pressing them. It just never felt right to me (not to mention the insane monetization scheme).
The ability bonus layering is also great. It’s super satisfying to setup a combo of something like a arrowhead (that makes arrows fly out of the dead zombie on hit) and a ricochet. Arrows flying everywhere, zombies exploding, it’s great!
A nice variety of monsters with unique abilities and enough frantic action to keep you engaged. I especially like the behemoth with car doors for armor.
Great visual design as well to the maps. The hardware store in the supermarket level was especially well done.
Good job guys, thanks for making a great game!
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Tired of half way done games
Stars going down because of the unfinished story. Also, New levels coming “soon” has a different definition to me. Again, half finished games is not what I’ve paid for. Please don’t allow this to happen. Developer must be making enough money to not care about the actual story or negative reviews. So sad.
This is a really great game to play. The graphics, mechanics, and weapons are cool and enemies are balanced. I am, however, sick and tired of halfway done games. Do not read the story, it will abruptly end without the obvious needed resolution. I emailed the developer and their response was “we don’t comment on upcoming features.” I guess they are fine getting money for those who play for a while and leave. Apple should be ashamed to allow SO many obviously half done games. I paid for whole games!!!!!
This is a really great game to play. The graphics, mechanics, and weapons are cool and enemies are balanced. I am, however, sick and tired of halfway done games. Do not read the story, it will abruptly end without the obvious needed resolution. I emailed the developer and their response was “we don’t comment on upcoming features.” I guess they are fine getting money for those who play for a while and leave. Apple should be ashamed to allow SO many obviously half done games. I paid for whole games!!!!!
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Just ok
I really wanted to like this game. Everything about it is great, except one thing….me! Lol. I’m terrible at it, and it’s very frustrating when you die you start back at square one. Why can we just start from where we left off? I’m probably going to delete the game. I got to the diner once after about 5 tries, died at the diner, and decided I’m not doing that all over again. Plus you lose everything you got. *sigh* I’m sure with practice I would get better, but as of now, I think I’ll find another game.
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Fun game!
I started playing it about the time it released. Some of the levels do take some time, so it’s not a quick 30 second play. It is intensive enough that you need to focus on it too. It’s not a mindless game. It is fun and isn’t too hard to start, but it does pick up difficulty pretty quick. It’s an addicting game too, so be prepared to get sucked in. Im a fan. I like it. I haven’t played it as much in the last couple months, but not because I don’t like it, but because I haven’t had time. Fun game!
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Higher difficulty levels!
I like this game alot. Not gonna lie. But I wish the difficulty ramped up a little bit more/faster in the main story mode. It’s like the zombies can’t keep up with my upgrades and new equipment so I end up blasting them all away the first time I play through a new level if I equip the gear I found in the previous level and upgrade it all the way. Anyways other than that I like the game you should play it but I hope that there is more difficult stages in the updates to come
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Good but
This is a good game, fun to play mechanics are ok but it’s way too fast paced for its own good, maps are too small, character is too slow, shooting is too slow and zombies are too much and too fast. That’s really the only issue here, if you slowed the zombies by like 10% or something or made maps less cramped or just bigger or made the character slightly faster it would be much better. As of right now, dying it fast and the character is slow. Not a good combo when zombies are nearly as fast as you, have ones that shoot and are hard to see along with just having tons of them. Also like I said before dying in this game is WAY too fast especially considering you lose everything and then have to start at a harder level and can’t grind so you’re just banging your head against a wall for awhile. Too many small issues to be called a good game as of right now
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Fun. Hard to Advance. Cant Install on all Devices.
This is a fun game but the levelling is a bit confusing and it's quite difficult to survive. It would be nice to have some difficulty modes to choose from. One hit can take 1/4 to 1/2 your health and you can't heal until you do more missions so you have to play almost perfectly to survive to the healing stations.
Also, I installed on my Apple TV and iMac but am unable to install on my iphone or ipad. It starts to download but always eventually stops. When I try to finish it just starts the process all over. I have plenty of space, the OS is updated... it's just a glitch.
Also, I installed on my Apple TV and iMac but am unable to install on my iphone or ipad. It starts to download but always eventually stops. When I try to finish it just starts the process all over. I have plenty of space, the OS is updated... it's just a glitch.
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A surprise hit
Gave this a try after a bit of waiting. I wasn’t sure about the graphics based on the previews but wow, I appreciate the level of details in each area. I was playing the game and just suddenly realized how beautifully varied and highly detailed the backgrounds and foreground of the stages are, the artists really worked hard and had a great sense of creativity and style, and it shows.
I’m not even talking about the gameplay, which is simple but great just how it is; focusing on both loot, and dodging hard hitting zombies and other monsters on just one life. It’s a survival but atleast you keep your gear and gold every respawn.
Love this game.
I’m not even talking about the gameplay, which is simple but great just how it is; focusing on both loot, and dodging hard hitting zombies and other monsters on just one life. It’s a survival but atleast you keep your gear and gold every respawn.
Love this game.
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Perfectly Balanced Game
This is popular one of 2 games I play for Arcade. This game is very well balanced, I read few reviews about being to hard to get coins. But if they make it easy what’s the point of the game and it’s tactics? You increase your health, speed and weapons each level little by little by playing smart. I was able to beat this game in about a week and half playing a little here and there. Overall it’s a really good game. I wish they get an update for new levels so I can keep playing and maybe give each survivor a special perk when using them. Maybe multi player in the future? I’m playing on an iPhone 11 Pro very minimal on issues.
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Love it, a few suggestions...
Hi! I just started playing this game! I got this game on the arcade and I defeated the FIRST BOSS!!!😃😃😃 but a few suggestions...
1:It is hard to get coins for upgrades. Maybe you could add a few more coins when you defeat a zombie and it increases by one every time you defeat a boss? Anyway, it’s a little bit more coding and anyway, I’ve always wanted to work at the arcade!
Update:
Hello again! I know when I said I wanted to ask for more suggestions, but I didn’t but I will give you more so I’m writing more:
2: yes, I know you have to gain health by going to the healing tent or get the trait that gives you health after each level, but it would be cooler if you gained 1+ after defeating the week zombies the more powerful they are the more health you get. It will also let me get past level two!
1:It is hard to get coins for upgrades. Maybe you could add a few more coins when you defeat a zombie and it increases by one every time you defeat a boss? Anyway, it’s a little bit more coding and anyway, I’ve always wanted to work at the arcade!
Update:
Hello again! I know when I said I wanted to ask for more suggestions, but I didn’t but I will give you more so I’m writing more:
2: yes, I know you have to gain health by going to the healing tent or get the trait that gives you health after each level, but it would be cooler if you gained 1+ after defeating the week zombies the more powerful they are the more health you get. It will also let me get past level two!
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Response from developer
Great suggestions, thanks for playing and enjoying the game!
It’s Absolutely Great! (But...)
This game is absolutely great super fun and easy to pick up but now i have beat the game in its entirety and i just wish there was more?I don’t know if there are plans to add more maps and levels and such but i also could see this game seriously benefit from a almost wave based endless mode after you beat the game? It’s just an idea maybe it’s a plan already or maybe the developers don’t have an interest?Either way this game is absolutely great and i would definitely recommend it and would be so happy to see this game get even a bit bigger!
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Great (but unfinished) game
Fun game with great touch controls. Some might complain about auto-aim, but I appreciated it while playing on my phone. Tip: Be sure to pick up all items before advancing to the next level, but don’t worry about leveling up gear all the way. The weapons and gold drops are significantly higher with each advancing level, and while you might die early on the first time through, it is worth it. My only complaint is that the game feels unfinished, with the story ending very abruptly. Little reason to keep playing after all levels are completed. Would be down to see a endless-mode or something along those lines to increase playability. But definitely worth the download.
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Good concept. Could be better
I like this game (the only reason j got apple arcade was for this game) but sometimes zombies get stuck in the spawn preventing you from shooting them this not allowing you to advance… also the game could definitely use an “endless” mode for replay ability.. another thing i would love to see is the ability to move on with your traps to the next level (on the map), i believe allowing this would make the player think a bit further as to which level they want to save up for so that they can beat a more difficult one… some other types of weapons would also be greatly appreciated (the game feels repetitive at this point).. co-op mode would also be fantastic where instead of the survivors (they’re dumb as f) following you, one could have a friend…. Also what’s the point of having me save all the survivors if they add nothing to the gameplay? I mean sure they’re cosmetics and that’s cool in itself but i would’ve loved to see some kind of special ability with each character, like for example the hazmat guy being able to walk in poison poodles or the swat girl being able to run faster… some levels could definitely be longer as well I’m dashing through these levels in a couple of seconds at times and that makes the experience quite “jerky”
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Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! There's a lot of good stuff you're asking for here and I'll pass it on to the team. We're currently developing some updates that will add to the experience including an endless mode :) Thanks for playing and keep an eye out for those updates!
Fixed, great game
Update: they fixed it and it really is a very good game! Upgrades to the equipment gives a semi rpg feel to the arcade game. Quite fun overall.
I really want to like this game, it is really good.. it is. However, across 2 devices I’ve now had 6 different save games fail. They hit a point where when you attempt load the next level (or load the game after a force quit) it just sits at 50% loading forever. The only way I’ve been able to get around this is to create a new game which obviously is extremely annoying after playing for a couple hours. If that bug gets fixed would definitely be a 5 star game.
I really want to like this game, it is really good.. it is. However, across 2 devices I’ve now had 6 different save games fail. They hit a point where when you attempt load the next level (or load the game after a force quit) it just sits at 50% loading forever. The only way I’ve been able to get around this is to create a new game which obviously is extremely annoying after playing for a couple hours. If that bug gets fixed would definitely be a 5 star game.
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Response from developer
This issue has been addressed in the latest version (1.0.5) now available for download. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for playing Survival Z. - Ember Entertainment
Awesome game but 16hr+ save not loading *UPDATED*
Had a blast with this game, not too crazy of a grind and just enough challenge for leisure player who doesn’t have ton of time. Love the esthetic of the game and the design. Looking forward for the updates that’s to come. With that said, after 16+ hr of play, my game stuck at 50% when loading. I’ve upgraded all the gears and now unable to play my save. Also every time I finish stage 5 multiple times the achievement keeps popping up. Willing to share my save with tech to see what bug(s) caused this issue.
*Update*
Appreciate the the team address the 50% loading issue promptly. I was able to access my save again. Now I expect something to look forward to on future update while i continue to slay the endless walkers.
*Update*
Appreciate the the team address the 50% loading issue promptly. I was able to access my save again. Now I expect something to look forward to on future update while i continue to slay the endless walkers.
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Response from developer
This issue has been addressed in the latest version (1.0.5) now available for download. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for playing Survival Z. - Ember Entertainment
Top notch game
This game has:
Zombies, strategy, upgrades, adventure, the works!
Not a whole lot of storyline, wish there was an explore mode. Beyond that very solid game. If you’re looking to kill some time, kill some zombies, you’ve found the right game. The customisation options are awesome, upgrading defence where you notice a difference feels satisfying, same for tactical gear & weapons.
Overall highly highly recommend checking out if you’re at all into puzzles, zombies, survivals strategy games.
Biggest requests as I saw the developers are active (also a huge plus, thank you ahead of time for the response ♥️):
Have a stat menu under the settings screen or have a drop down button / pop up menu during the planning phase. Would be awesome to see how the stats (crit, ricochet, increased damage) correlate to overall DPS. Maybe adding a life steal ability (if not already available, I’ve only made it 3rd phase)?
Would be nice to have slightly bigger maps for more intricate planning, maybe a “zen mode” or side games to earn different perks for the characters.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Genuinely love the game, please do not sell out or ruin it by feeling the pressure to do more. It’s amazing, go with the flow and don’t let the haters get you down. All the best 🥳
Zombies, strategy, upgrades, adventure, the works!
Not a whole lot of storyline, wish there was an explore mode. Beyond that very solid game. If you’re looking to kill some time, kill some zombies, you’ve found the right game. The customisation options are awesome, upgrading defence where you notice a difference feels satisfying, same for tactical gear & weapons.
Overall highly highly recommend checking out if you’re at all into puzzles, zombies, survivals strategy games.
Biggest requests as I saw the developers are active (also a huge plus, thank you ahead of time for the response ♥️):
Have a stat menu under the settings screen or have a drop down button / pop up menu during the planning phase. Would be awesome to see how the stats (crit, ricochet, increased damage) correlate to overall DPS. Maybe adding a life steal ability (if not already available, I’ve only made it 3rd phase)?
Would be nice to have slightly bigger maps for more intricate planning, maybe a “zen mode” or side games to earn different perks for the characters.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Genuinely love the game, please do not sell out or ruin it by feeling the pressure to do more. It’s amazing, go with the flow and don’t let the haters get you down. All the best 🥳
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Almost perfect
This is a classic dungeon dive, quite well done... but the missing star is for the decision to make your hard earned loot disappear if you don’t collect it quickly enough. It feels great to mow down swarms of zombies and see all the gold and weapon upgrades covering the map, but you also get to watch as they start to flash and disappear seconds later, as approaching zombies continue to prevent you getting close to where you killed the last ones. In later levels with ranged, running, teleporting, and exploding zombies it is just too chaotic to not lose 80% of your loot by the end of the level. Really bad design in my opinion and should be balanced differently. Either collect automatically, or leave the loot on the map until the break between waves... and if the intent is to have you earn less loot, just reward less.
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Response from developer
This issue has been addressed in the latest version (1.0.5) now available for download. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for playing Survival Z. - Ember Entertainment
No reward for playing well
You pick paths in this game. Either go towards a zombie hoard or to a healing tent. That’s one big negative for this game is how health is managed. You can only gain health if you choose a path that has a medical tent. There are many times where the path doesn’t have any medical tents so you can’t regenerate health. If you die due to not being able to regenerate health, then you start at the beginning and lose all of your perks.
Perks are virtually worthless, choose a higher fire rate, more damage, it hardly makes a difference in terms of effectiveness. Enemies take too much from your health, they can take almost a quarter of your health with one hit, and when the screen gets chaotic with particle effects from enemies, it’s hard to see which ones are dying and which ones haven’t.
There is equipment to help you but they are very sparse and rarely given to you in a meaningful way, and their effectiveness is very low until you upgrade them which requires a lot of gold coins.
The way it’s made, the devs counted on you dying repeatedly throughout the levels. It just a cheap ploy to make the game seem harder when the mechanics are needing improvement.
Perks are virtually worthless, choose a higher fire rate, more damage, it hardly makes a difference in terms of effectiveness. Enemies take too much from your health, they can take almost a quarter of your health with one hit, and when the screen gets chaotic with particle effects from enemies, it’s hard to see which ones are dying and which ones haven’t.
There is equipment to help you but they are very sparse and rarely given to you in a meaningful way, and their effectiveness is very low until you upgrade them which requires a lot of gold coins.
The way it’s made, the devs counted on you dying repeatedly throughout the levels. It just a cheap ploy to make the game seem harder when the mechanics are needing improvement.
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Game Ruined by Auto Fire and No Multiplayer
If you have a game controller you can’t fire manually. I understand that for touch screen gameplay auto-fire is nice but with a game controller it just makes the game feel too over simplified, like the computer is playing for me. It would be nice to have an option to disable auto-fire. I can tell the developers put a lot of time into this by how polish this game is but I simply can’t enjoy it as is. I also would ask for some haptic feedback for people who are using a controller. Apple gives the developers the API to easily do this. Adding haptic feedback for controller would take less than a day to implement. It would be nice to have some multiplayer too, like having my friends play with me.
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