Puzzle games are hands down some of the most popular games found on mobile devices and so it’s no wonder the Google Play and Apple app store are inundated with them. While developing a simple mobile puzzler might be one of the easier type of games to design, finding a way to make one that stands out from the crowd can be a challenge. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I happened on Dead 2048.
The original number-sliding puzzler 2048, released over three years ago but it's still a go-to favorite while waiting in checkout lines. Over the years I’ve seen a couple different takes on the game, but none of them hit me as particularly original. I wanted to give Dead 2048 some attention, however, because the game manages to take the basic gameplay behind 2048 and turn it into a zombified tower defense game that’s quite enjoyable.
In Dead 2048, numbers are replaced with buildings, which you upgrade by pushing the same types together -- just as you would with numbers in the original 2048. These buildings make up your small “walker” community. At various intervals, zombie hordes arrive, which your settlement must defend against. The higher the level of your buildings the greater the damage they do to zombies. Zombies arrive in packs and walk around the perimeter of your settlement on the way to a fenced area. As they move around your gameboard, your buildings will make their attacks. If a zombie manages to make it around your settlement alive, it will toss an infected building onto your game board, which can only be removed by sliding a healthy building of the same level into it, causing them both to disappear. While 2048 is a fairly relaxed puzzler, Dead 2048 gives players’ moves a greater sense of urgency. The longer you play, the faster zombies come at you and so you’re apt to make a bad decision when you slide. If you get to the point where your game board is filled it is only a few moments before the zombies take over and your game ends.
To keep you swiping longer, Dead 2048 incorporates some special items that can be used to get you out of a tight spot. For example, a hammer will allow you to destroy one building on a square of your choice or using a vaccine will remove all zombie infected squares from your game board. These special items are either dropped by zombie bosses that you kill or won by reaching various in-game goals and achievements. You also earn coins in the game that can be used to activate special skills like damage or critical hit upgrades if you find the zombies are too powerful for your current defenses.
As I mentioned, it a difficult thing to take a hit game like 2048 and turn it into something new that doesn’t come off as a blatant copycat, but I think the devs behind Dead 2048 managed it quite well. My favorite part of the remake is the collectible aspect as it incorporates a gamebook with all of the zombies and buildings you have unlocked in the game. I easily spent over an hour playing Dead 2048 in my first sitting and I know I will return to it many more times in the days to come.
Dead 2048 is offered as a free game on both the Apple App and Google Play stores but I would recommend paying the $1.99 to remove the ads. Occasionally a banner will get in the way of part of the screen where your special skills are.
