INTO THE DEAD 2 / DEVELOPER: PIKPOK / PUBLISHER: VERSUS EVIL / PLATFORM: SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

This console port of a free-to-play mobile game does away with the original’s microtransactions and adds a few quality of life touches that make it more suited to the big screen, but slow progression and repetitive gameplay might prove a little too frustrating.

Throughout the game’s 60 campaign levels (none lasting longer than two or three minutes, all woven together by a thin but serviceable story about your character trying to find his family), your character automatically runs forwards towards oncoming hordes of zombies – all you need to do is move left and right to aim your gun before pulling the trigger (and occasionally swapping weapons, reloading, or throwing a grenade). It’s often even simpler than that, as ammo is incredibly sparse – collecting crates will add a handful of bullets to your supply, but you’re likely to spend more than half of your time running on empty, with no option but to dodge around the zombies or let one of your animal companions (each with their own stats and abilities) take care of business for you…

At the end of each level, you get to choose one of three random rewards that include gold (the game’s currency) or some single-use booster items like special ammo or larger crates. Your weapons and companions earn experience points through use, unlocking upgrades as they level up, which then need to be activated using the gold you’ve earned. It sounds like it should be a really satisfying loop – complete levels, earn gold, upgrade your stuff, go back to complete challenges (there are five in each level, eventually rewarding the player with gold and new weapons) and earn more stuff.

Unfortunately, it takes far too long to build up a decent pot of gold, and new weapons and upgrades become available for purchase much quicker than you’re able to afford them. Teasing the player with weapons that take hours to actually purchase is an undesirable hangover of ITD2‘s mobile origins, where you could pay real money to buy in-game currencies (effectively paying cash to unlock new gear much more quickly). In an outrageously expensive console game though (£30+ for the base game, or more if you want the bundle which includes additional DLC), rewards being locked behind too much grinding to be enjoyable for the amount of time it takes to get them removes the player’s sense of progression and makes the game feel like an insurmountable uphill struggle.

Despite that grumble, there’s an awful lot of content to play through. Many of the challenges within each level require the use of specific late-game weapons, and completing them all unlocks a further set of “elite” challenges, giving you a reason to replay various levels, and a handful of side stories (utilising the same gameplay but set in different locations) can be tackled to earn new companions and further cash rewards. There’s also an extensive arcade mode where you keep going for as long as possible using specific gear, with varying amounts of gold being awarded depending on how well you do.

If you want even more content, a couple of DLC packs are available (included as standard on the physical release) which will be of particular interest to genre fans. These two additional side stories still follow the exact same gameplay, but are based on some fan-favourite franchises. Night of the Living Dead follows Ben prior to the events of the 1968 film, and Ghostbusters casts players as a rookie ‘buster alongside the original team in an all-new (but also unfortunately rather unimaginative) adventure to save the city, complete with Proton Packs, all manner of fancy weaponry, and an extremely tricky to unlock Slimer companion.

Some re-balancing is desperately needed on the progression side of things and the gameplay is extremely repetitive, but ITD2 is really quite addictive in that “just one more level” kind of way. The asking price is definitely on the high side for something you can get on your phone for free, but at least this console release won’t bombard you with loathsome microtransactions every few minutes…