TUAW's Daily App: Aftermath

I'll be honest -- I heard that Aftermath was a zombie game and almost gave up on it. I wouldn't be offended if you did the same, since lots of developers (especially iPhone developers) are depending a little too much on zombies for their gameplay. Yes, it's fun to fight the walking undead, but they're used over and over again because a) they're easy to program, and b) they let you make a "shooting humans" game without getting involved in the whole morality thing.

But Aftermath is still worth a look. While a lot of zombie games on the store go abstract or silly, this one sticks pretty close to realistic, and it has some serious quality and interesting gameplay behind it. You're fighting zombies and moving through levels, but instead of aiming and shooting a gun, you're actually aiming a flashlight, and your gun automatically fires for you. The projected light makes the whole affair very atmospheric; the game's just dark enough that it actually feels a little spooky trying to navigate the shuffling brain-eaters to your next objective.

Particularly if you're a fan of Left 4 Dead or that ilk, Aftermath is probably worth a look -- it's US$1.99 on the App Store right now. And please, developers, unless they're as inventive and well-done as this one, let's keep the zombie games to a minimum. Maybe we could fight werewolves instead? Or angry robots?
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