Worried about infestations of Zombie hordes? ‘Round my digs, it’s easy to mistake roving bands of 13-year-old girls for zombies – they eat everything in sight (well…so far my brain is intact), moan loudly (although I suspect that’s their music, probably some banshee they refer to as “Lady GooGoo” or something) and go through clothing like the undead. (Take my clothing bill. Please.) But now, from the fine folks that brought you Contract Killer, the game I’ve found to be the best sniper simulation on the iOS platform, comes Contract Killer Zombies. Zombiephobic Shooters of the World Unite!

Preparing for the Zombiepocalpyse on your iPhone or iPad requires no more effort than to hook up to a WiFi connection and download the game from the iTunes store. Did I mention it’s free? Well, it’s a free download. But just as in real life, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. In the Zombified version of Contract Killer, Glu has taken the same game engine and game structure, and applied a veneer of Zombie action. Being a newer game, CK Zombies has quite a few improvements over CK “Classic” – ones which I hope will soon find their way into the earlier title.

In CK Zombies, you take on the persona of Shooter, a wheelchair-bound, grizzled veteran who wants to shoot every sacred cow zombie he sees. In the expository dialog/backstory we hear at launch, we learn that Shooter has rescued a way-less-than-helpless damsel by the name of Evelyn, who was busy being attacked by zombies. They form an unofficial partnership (doesn’t hurt that Evelyn is one hot little anime number) and go on missions to find supplies, rescue survivors, and just plain survive the zombie hordes.

Like it’s earlier incarnation as a sniper game, you have a weapon (in this case a .44 revolver) and a secondary weapon (at first, a fully auto machine gun, but you’re forced to buy a shotgun soon thereafter). And then there are the zombies. Fat ones. Skinny ones. Male ones. Female ones. Ones that pop up from manhole covers. Ones that shuffle. Ones that jog/trot. All thirsty for Evelyn’s brains.

As in Contract Killer “Classic” headshots are a certain kill. Body shots, not so much. It’s also possible to score a “multikill” (1 round/multiple targets). Fortunately, you can blow a good-sized hole in a mutant zombie attacking your gal pal Evelyn, without worrying about collateral damage. There are also barrels with some kind of explosive substance in them that you can shoot to blow up whatever’s nearby (presumably zombies).

Ultimately, the game is all about survival, for which you need better weapons. Like in the CK world, weapons can be earned through game play – a somewhat time-consuming process, or they can be bought for cash, via in-store purchases. The first few levels lull you into a false sense of having gotten something for nothing. Pass Level 4, however, and you’ll find the missions “suggest” a weapon, typically one you don’t own. In fairness, this is how they make their daily bread, and you can opt to play without buying the weapons that require cash. Clearly, Glu is counting on people with penchant for purchasing what they need immediately, deferred gratification be damned.

Compared to CK Classic, CK Zombies seems to move at a somewhat faster pace (at least so far) because they’ve dropped the idea that you use up 5 units of energy with every mission. That’s both good and bad. It’s great, actually, if you want to play marathon sessions of shoot the zombie. It’s bad, if you were relying on running out of energy in lieu of impulse control and discipline.

Overall, I’d bet Contract Killer Zombies is going to be a big hit for Glu, and given the current fascination with all things zombie, very likely a bigger hit than the original game. The game is well-thought out, fairly seamless, and fun to play. My only nit to pick is that, at no time, do we hear the zombies say “Brains!” But there’s always hope for an upgrade.

Publisher: Glu
Platforms: iPhone, Android, iPad (special free HD version available)
Price: FREE (for the basic game)
Customization: Lots of weapons available, with more unlocked as you conquer levels.
Playability: Excellent
Fun Factor: High
Overall Rating: ***** (5 out of 5, despite the absence of talking zombies)

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

48 COMMENTS

  2. I have been playing this for about 2 days.
    issues: defn , with other games you can be patient, then work your way up to better weapons. right now, its almost impossible to advance.

    I have saved the game on mybackup root, at a point before I buy a gun, and try it out.
    then i back and restore if the gun I bought isnt’ good

    to this point, i have $10,000 dollars and the tactical shotgun isn’t that much better.

    they want you spend money buying GLU points to get better stuff…

  3. DELETE GAME NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SPEND LOTS OF MONEY!!!!
    Game play is awesome, I could really get addicted. But you quickly get to a point where you can’t advance unless you spend money, you can’t go back to earlier levels and progress slowly. I HATE THIS GAME FOR THAT…. found many other games that are just as fun and you can play for months without getting bored, this one took a day before it pissed me off…

  4. I have been playing this game for a few days. When you first start out, it is awesome. But after a while, the zombies get really hard to kill which forces you to buy better guns. Although, after each mission, you get a very small amount of money which means it will take you longer to but better guns. I am now stuck on some stupid mission, and I cant continue cause i have a pistol, shotgun, and Smg. All the weapons are very cheep and not powerful. They made the game this way, so you get hooked and buy guns with real money. It is a good game but another scam to get real money off of you.

  5. I spent roughly a weekend playing this game and while I get the complaint that you need the better weapons to advance, as you can’t get very far with just the shotgun you can buy after about two or three missions (as they’re very easy to complete), you can also advance minus using real money to buy the game’s top weapons. All it takes is patience and skill — for once you have an automatic weapon (the basic Uzi-like gun) you can breeze through several levels (I’m curently on level 7) having NOT purchased any other guns than the basic level automatic. I suppose I’ll need heavier firepower once I get past level 10, but by then, I should have saved enough cash (as unlike in Contract Killer, you have to keep spending money on ammo and medkits) to buy a good enough gun to get to level 20!

    • Yeah, sglick, just try getting farther than level 8 using that strategy. Doesn’t…work. The game has zero replayability.

  6. Its a clever way to get you to spend real money. What they say is the same as my experience. The game feels easy enough, then after 4 or so levels, it gets really difficult. As I don’t want to spend real money, I quit while I can. I deleted it from the iPad. It was fun while the “free” portion lasts.

  7. Yup! I spent my money on this “free”game. But I like the game… The trick is not wasting your money aaannnnddd(wait for it)…NOT shooting every zombie in sight. Certain levels keep respawning those suckers and it is a major hassle to fend them off. Notice that you don’t get the major monies for the outside purchases like in the “classic” version. Glu has figured out that the better incentives lie in getting folks to drop dolla$ with them than with Netflicks….oh well..

  8. If the makers of this game are the same as regular contract killer. They should make the shoot settings the same and be able to fire by tapping anywhere on the screen or the fire button. I aim better with my right hand.

  9. Does anyone else have a major problem with the location of the pause button? I press it accidentally all the time! In my opinion it should be in the top right so as to avoid accidentally pressing it with your shooting/left hand.

  10. well.. though i agree with most comments, I’m on level 12 xp12300 withouth having to spend any money. It can be done with a little patience and time.

  11. Great game I’m on level 10 without spending any real money. The key is to take them up some of their “free GLU points” offers in the “store” by downloading other GLU Apps and you’ll be able to significantly upgrade your weapons. Best options are to get the Technic 9mm machine gun for 70 GLU points and the Tri-Heal Medgun for 45 GLU points. The Medgun allows you to “shoot” the other survivors and restore them to full energy. I’ve found having a shotgun or handgun as option #2 just doesn’t help you as it takes to long to switch weapons in a pinch.

  12. I lOVE this game at first i was getting fustrated cause i got stuck… but then there is ways to get free gold so i got some by downloading other apps… well now i keep advancing im up to lv 17 and Im no longer getting money as rewards how i used to when beating missions… and another thing is there is some missions that i kill all the zombies and i gotta wait for the girl to get supplies like almost as if who ever created it did not expect for ppl to pass it lol funny.But i still need to find out up tp what lv is this game. I love the graphics and all. Anyone know any other good games? Never spent a dime on this game 😀

    • Have u got past lvl 20? It is kicking my ass I have the mini gun grenade launcher tried the fast reload power up decoy ect 4 days stuck on the helo pad ????

      • I am also stuck on Level 20 in CK Zombies and it’s driving me nuts. I have the Hellfire gun, tons of grenades, Tri-med gun. Haven’t tried the decoy grenades.

        Theres no way to go back and play earlier levels, which would at least make it an enjoyable game, for what I paid ($16+). I’ll have to move on to other games unless there’s a change.

        JSJ, how many x did you play to get through 20? Any tips?

      • I made it to 25. For level 20, it takes a few tries. Clear the exit when a survivor is 3/4 of the way (there’ll be one coming down the path), use the survivor as bait to kill as many zombies you can. As soon as a survivor exits, the hordes will run toward the ramp for the next survivor. Don’t let them get on the helipad before the survivor gets into view. I used several grenades. If stuck in a reload when a survivor is under a pile, sometimes lobbing a grenade does the trick.

  13. I am unable to make money while playing. The only thing I can receive is xp points. I don’t know what they are for. Also I bought some gold and while purchasing a a grenade…at the same time I then bought a decor which was also 10 in gold, and lost all the grenades I purchase. You can only buy things one at a time….if not I’ll lose it. What are xp points good for.

    • I actually tend to play survival mode when just killing time or stuck on a mission. You can do it repeatedly and that’s how I get my mucho money! Got upset at spending 100 k and gun sucks and way too long to reload. Yes gold is necessary to get tech machine gin and med gun. Stuck on 17 right now

  14. I reached level 25 without paying a dime. What u need is a medgun, which u can earn via downloading a free apps which you can delete immediately after. Always wait as long as possible to kill the last zombie because a whole new round will come as soon as u shoot.em.dead. no money needs to be spent if u have skills.

    • Yep, the medgun made all the difference for me, too. Unfortunately, the game seems to top out at level 25. Now what?

  17. What the hell happened to the money????
    All you get now are XP points – no money means no guns!!!
    That sucks… really ruined it for me.

    • Based on the timeframe of completion for early purchasers, I’d say Glu has never updated it with new levels despite its promise. Level 20 is “boss” level and it taps out at 25. After that, you get $900 for each round of games, and the daily bonus, but that’s it. Scenarios have always been mix and match, so you can still play but its repetitive. Time to move onto other games. Anything good? I refuse to play CK since it’s a waste of money and boring.

  19. Someone needs to do a review of the weapons. Because buying the wrong or just plain crap weapon totally kills the game. I was using dual micro SMG and saved up for the AR-19 only to find that even though it costs twice as much it’s inferior in every single way! Like which weapons are good for the cash and which should be avoided totally – like the AR-19. This game is fun and has potential but the pay model is just a fricken joke, if you want a few good weapons it will cost you like $60+ even over $100. What BS is that? It’s a damn mobile app with adds…

  20. This game is REALLY bad, I warn you, do not play this crap. Its so god damn annoying when you advance to the point, where its literally IMPOSSIBLE to get missions done unless you spend real money. And the game sticks its donate guns in your face every single minute, that was just incredibly annoying. There like 6-8 guns and 15-30 donate guns, so you dont have any choice, either spend $ or do not install this game

  24. Getting up thru level 19 without paying out is not that hard. Come back and brag when you finish level 20, fool.

  26. You can play this game for free. Just download enough apps from tapjoy to get enough free gold to buy a good automatic weapon (the Dominator works fine for me) and the Tri medgun. After that the game seems (almost too) easy.

  27. Plus: after you have downloaded those free apps that bring you free gold, you can delete them and download them again. I bought the Dominator for 225 Gld, the Trimed for 45 gld and later the Judgment for 90 gld. It’s really fun.

    But if you stick with the weapons bought with “dollars” instead of “gold”, it will be very hard (even impossible) to go very far in the game

  28. I’ve had the game now for about 20+ days and I think its pretty chill and immensely fun. One thing for everyone to know is that the AR-15 rifle sucks really bad. I saved up for it and opted to past the .45 slammer, worst decision. The AR-15 is slow as hell and really really shitty +weaker than my grandmas hand shake, so first off DO NOT GET THE AR-15. The best guns to start off the game with (that is if you take glu up on their offer to down load other apps and games for 20 FREE GLU CREDITS A PIECE, WHICH ROUGHTLY COMES OUT TO ABOUT 200 free glu creds) is the DESSERT EAGLE hand gun and the police shout gun. If u get them in level 2 you can blow by the next 10 levels in a day. The DESSERT EAGLE IS PERFECT FOR SHORT RANGE AND EVEN AWSOME AT LONG TOO (IF YOU HAVE GOOD AIMING SKILLS). THE BEST WAY TO SHOOT THE DESERT EAGLE IS BY NOT USING THE AIMING BUTTON, BECAUSE THE GUN ITSELF IS ENORMUS AND WHEN U TRY TO USE THE AIM FEATURE U CAN ALMOST NEVER SEE THE FRONT SIGHT WHICH WILL MAKE YOU ALWAYS HIT BEHING THE ZOMBIE IN LONG DISTANCE. IN LONG DISTANCE SHOOTING POINT THE CURSOR (THE LIL DOT IN THE CENTER SCREEN WITH 4 LINES THAT COME TOGETHER WHEN YOU STOP MOVING) DIRECTLY SLIGHTLY ABOVE CENTER MASS OF A ZOMBIE AND LET THE BULLETS FLY. A GOOD TRICK WITH AIMING IS WHEN YOU MOVE TO FIND A TARGET , WAIT A SECOND AND A HALF FOR THE CURSORS TO FULLY COME TOGETHER to form a “+” sign. When you do this your accuracy will b at 100% and heads will fly off. A good hint is take a second between shots for the DESSERT EAGLE SO THE CURSORS RE-SET. THE POLICE SHOUT GUN IS DEF THE BEST SHOUT GUN FOR ITS CHEAP GLU PRICE. NORMALLY 1 SHOT ABOVE CENTER MASS ON A ZOMBIE WILL TAKE IT DOWN COMPLETELY. ITS A GREATGUN AT SHORT TO MEDIUM RANGE AND AT SHORT RANGE, THE AIMING FEATURE WILL TAKE MULTIPLE HEADS OFF INSTANTLY.

  29. I wonder if some people have seen things that I haven’t seen in level 20. For me it was no different from level 19 or any of the previous levels. With the Dominator automatic and the Tri Medgun, everything becomes easy. I don’t see any real difference between levels. The only real challenge once you get these weapons is the “Survival” with its waves of zombies. I find it really hard to get further than wave 32. They just keep coming too fast and on top of that the big monster which blocks you from time to time gets harder to kill. But apart from the Survival challenge, the rest is getting boring; I’m actually reverting to the Judgment or the Demo X guns to make it a little harder. Not enough variations.

  31. please can somebody help me, once i go to the store to refill my bullets there is no sign where i can return to start playing again could somebody help me. thanx

  32. Ola! Brad,
    Along the same lines,, The league has a financial interest in the outcome of games, particularly the Playoffs and Finals. There is a lot of money to be made by televising seven games versus four. My proposal is that the games are officiated by a third party under contract with a set price no matter how long the series (only paying the increased expenses, i.e. hotel and travel) and games are reviewed with penalties for missed or incorrect calls and bonuses for correctly called games. And of course those review findings would need to be made public. Lets not let the NBA become the next WWF.
    Good Job!
    To win 200% bet game

  33. i used to play contract killer zombies and bought lot of stuff but it got deleted and when i reinstalled it all my guns are gone wht should i do to get them back

Comments are closed.