'Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies' Doesn’t Measure Up

Having taken gamers through apparently every major WWII battle and into the realm of more recent, albeit fictional conflicts, the minds of Activision began experimenting with zombies in Call of Duty: World At War Zombies. Now, they have brought us yet another entire game devoted to the flesh-eating monsters, available only on iOS: Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies. Players battle zombies not in some post-apocalyptic future, but in the ruins of Nazi Germany. The interface divides the screen into two halves: to move in 3D space, drag your finger across the left hand side of the screen; to rotate in place, drag your finger across the right hand side. Don’t worry about zombies sneaking up on you; a floating skull with an arrow pops up whenever a zombie comes near you off-screen. Gamers score points by killing zombies with a multitude of weapons, from knives to automatic weapons. For the less-accurate among us, the shotgun works best, but the amount of points you earn from a kill depends on the risk you take—stabbing a zombie will earn you far more points than killing him from a distance with a shotgun. The pin-point graphics are a glowing display of the ingenuity of the iPhone. However, between moving, aiming, firing your weapon, tossing grenades, and reloading, there are so many touch screen buttons on such a small screen that it’s easy to press the wrong one. The small screen and the fast pace of the game also make it tricky to maintain full control with touch-screen movement, so the movement can be shaky and delayed sometimes. Minor technical difficulties aside, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies is no different than the umpteenth installment in any series: it begs the question, but why? And just like any other series, die-hard fans will probably buy it anyway. For the rest of us, it’s not worth the money or the time. AppPicker Rating: 2 / 5 Stars Pick It Up in the App Store: Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies Other apps by Activision