Review | Zombie Derby: Pixel Survival

Originally published at: Review | Zombie Derby: Pixel Survival - XboxEra

Next up in our “Achievement Game” review series, we have Zombie Derby: Pixel Survival. This is the latest mobile game to get a port. It’s only 5 bucks but it is an easy 1000 Gamerscore? Let’s find out!

Every level of Zombie Derby finds you going from left to right, doing your best to avoid taking damage. Any object or zombie that you run into will lower your car’s HP and at 0 you blow the hell up. This is a mobile title so you are expected to lose constantly as you replay the same few levels over and over again. Earn enough upgrade currency and you make your current car more powerful, faster, and able to shoot more. Those shots are a limited number and are needed to take out all the explosive barrels we left on the roads during the apocalypse.

Every level or two you’ll get a new car that starts out weaker than your previous one but has higher potential. This cycle of constantly upgrading cars wears thin after the first time, and it never goes away. As a video game I can’t recommend ZD:PS as it is mind-numbingly dull in every way. Graphically it’s a simple, colorful look that runs well. I sure would hope so given the starting point of mobile phones being what dictated the looks on offer. The music is generic and forgettable, and there is barely any story or dialogue of any kind. It is 100% the typical mobile setup of going from mission to mission with the bare minimum for “why” as possible.

We’re here for the achievements though, and I’m happy to say that 1000g can be quickly earned in an hour or two. You’ll want to check the achievement list as some of them aren’t obvious. Doing front and backflips and killing birds might happen by accident, but knowing you need to do them makes it much faster to get in and out with your full achievement list.

There is one for upgrading a car fully, so make sure to go back to one of the early ones and hit it with every upgrade you can to try and get that one done asap.  The gameplay loop is good enough to whittle the time away while you’re on the bus, but it does not hold up when you’re in the comfort of your own home.  The game has little in the way of options sadly, and bugs thankfully.  There are leaderboards if you want a reason to grind out the perfect run. The gameplay really is entirely made up of accelerating forward, boosting occasionally, shooting rarely, and leveling your vehicle.  That’s about it, and hey at least the controls are responsive.  It’s only unfair because the game would be 15 minutes long if it wasn’t.

Wrapping Things Up

Zombie Derby: Pixel Survival is one of the better Time to Money to 1000g games I’ve played. It’s not offensively bad, nor will it take up much of your time or money. 

5 Likes

an easy 1k

1 Like

If I were really bored and if it was on Game Pass I’d probably check it out for a few.

Nice!