Review: Ultimate Zombie Defense 2

Developer – Terror Dog Studio

Publisher – Terror Dog Studio

Platforms – PC (reviewed)

Review Copy given by Publisher

When swarms of zombies converge on a location, the last thing you want to do is stay there. But with Ultimate Zombie Defense 2, you might not have a choice. As zombies come at you from all sides, you have no choice but to fend them off with firearms. But given the amount of zombies, it may be a better idea to construct a base. With protection around you and superior firepower, you aren’t going to let zombies hurt you.

That’s the goal in theory, working together with other players to last as long as possible against zombies. Unfortunately, in practice the defense is awkward and inconvenient. The game constricts your construction space and there often isn’t a good reason to expand your surroundings. It also gets messy and shooting doesn’t work as well as expected. The experience falls short and it’s not as fun as it could be.

The point of Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 is to hold out against waves of zombies and demons. They drop money that you can use to buy weapons or construct a base. Waves gradually get tougher and you must upgrade your base before you get overwhelmed. There are some demon portals you can take for a challenge, but they are optional. Your goal is surviving as long as you can with the help of others if possible.

At its core, the game delivers on its premise. It’s just like every survival game with a timer or infinite spawns. This is also the extent of the game; it’s just pure survival. You are trying to get the highest score but there’s no other goal. You may survive with friends or by yourself but survival is the only thing that matters. Building a base isn’t necessary at first but it becomes your best chance of survival.

Introducing base-building mechanics is fun at first. With the money you earn from waves, you can purchase barriers to delay zombies or even funnel them into corridors. You can purchase manned machine guns or automatic turrets to help you survive the waves. Having the freedom to customize your base to your liking is fun. You can even put some decorative objects like spotlights that have a practical purpose.

In practice, the base building isn’t great. You can’t freely use the space however you like and objects can’t be placed in certain locations. However, the best locations to put objects are in those inaccessible locations. The manned machine guns are powerful and can last a long time, but it also dulls the fun once you get a funnel. Automated turrets are expensive and almost never see play without significant investment. Base-building was a nice idea but it doesn’t work as expected.

There are also some language issues with the instructions and it’s not always clear what something is referring to. That makes it difficult when purchasing upgrades because you aren’t sure if the upgrade you select is the one you want. Making the wrong purchase or misunderstanding what’s being asked is fatal in survival situations. Not correcting these makes for a game that’s intentionally difficult.

The graphics also interfere, making it hard to properly aim. Even if you do a headshot, you have to significantly adjust your crosshairs. While that may be something you must do in real life, that’s tough to figure out in a game. The dead bodies can also glitch themselves into the environment, temporarily creating obstacles you can’t see through. That makes it frustrating even if it is supposed to carry some realism.

At the end of the day, Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 holds itself back. Without the base-building, it’s a flawed zombie survival shooter that doesn’t stand out. Even with the base-building, it doesn’t offer enough to stand out that makes you want to choose it over another survival game. While this can be fun with friends, it would be limited at best.