Early last week we posted the first video of Team Phobic’s newest iOS game Undead Island [$1.99], and as of today it is now available for download in the App Store. Team Phobic has honed their platforming craft with Bounce On [$1.99/Lite] and its sequel Bounce On 2: Drallo’s Demise [$3.99/Lite], and now they’ve taken this expertise to create an action/platforming hybrid with Undead Island. The game features 16 levels to play through, all of which are quite lengthy and are loaded with secret areas and alternate paths. The main protagonist, a female ninja, comes equipped with a katana melee attack, a powerful sword blast charge attack, shurikens to toss at foes, and the ability to double jump.
In essence, Undead Island feels very much like the classic action-platformers from the arcade and 16-bit eras. The level designs are very good, with a ton of areas to explore and secret bonuses to find. There are also plenty of environmental hazards to avoid, like breakaway bridges and swinging axes, as well as hordes of undead enemies to hack away at. The controls are really simple and work well, with either a touch slider or tilting for movement and a button each for jumping and attacking. The levels are timed, so you can try to rush through before the timer ends for an added bonus or take your time exploring every nook and cranny.
Undead Island‘s colorful hand drawn artwork is sharp and Retina Display ready, and there are some lighting touches based on what time of the day it is depending on the level you’re playing. Also, each enemy is comprised of multiple parts and feature ragdoll physics, so you can hack away and lop off arms or heads and watch bodies flop around the environment. There’s something just fun about jumping up and down on a suspension bridge to bounce a pile of zombie parts all over. It’s disgusting, and awesome.
Based on all of their previous work, it seems like it’s a challenge for Team Phobic to create a game that’s not a lot of fun. I’ve always really liked the Bounce On series for getting my platform fix, and Undead Island is another strong entry in the genre with a more action-oriented focus. The included levels can be beaten relatively quickly, but the game can be very challenging and there is plenty of incentive to replay levels to discover secrets and compete for higher scores on the Game Center leaderboards. There is the possibility of updating the game with additional level-filled islands in the future, if the demand is there, and there will also be a free prequel coming out in the next couple of months that will serve as a sort of demo to the full Undead Island game.
Early impressions are rolling into our forums and have been really positive, and if you’ve enjoyed any of Team Phobic’s previous games or if you enjoy action-platformers in general, then Undead Island is definitely worth a look.
