We all know the story of DAYZ: born as a mod of ArmA II: Combined Operations, it has multiplied the sales of the expansion and in a short time totaled over five hundred thousand players. When Bohemia Interactive finally made it a stand alone product, the title quickly placed three million copies as it continued to evolve in structure and mechanics. In order to make the most of DAYZ's popularity, the developers have seen fit to create a small but interesting free browser game, Mini DAYZ, which used the same survival elements while focusing on a basic technical realization, in pixel art style.
Well, Mini DAYZ also made its debut on iOS and Android devices, once again sparking enthusiasm for an experience that seems to have remained faithful to the original spirit: The download is free and there are no in-app purchases. Beyond that, what does the game look like? Having selected the control system we prefer among direct commands with virtual stick or a solution close to the RTS, "touch and go", this little survival takes us by the hand through some of its typical situations, in a short but valid tutorial. After that, as they say, it will be up to us to try to survive ...
Day to day
Structurally Mini DAYZ is very simple: the game randomly generates a map that can be consulted at any time and which alternates areas with dense vegetation and abandoned urban settlements, often full of wandering zombies who will run towards us as soon as they notice ours presence. The goal is of course to survive as long as possible, therefore not only will we have to make sure to avoid or manage intelligently the clash with the undead, able to inflict significant damage as soon as we give them the opportunity, but we will also have the obligation to find food, water, clothes , weapons and materials useful to move forward.
The starting backpack will not allow us to carry many things, so it will be appropriate to look for a larger one, but everything will happen based on luck: we could find houses full of food and equipment, but also completely empty and desolate areas, perhaps with a lots of zombies waiting for us. The management of objects in Mini DAYZ is quite simple and intuitive, for example it is possible to tear the shirt and get bandages out of it if you have been attacked and you lose blood. However, it is precisely the fights that make us turn up our noses: Pixel art graphics, with tiny characters, make it difficult to understand what kind of enemy you are dealing with, which can have disastrous consequences on our chances of survival. The use of both shot and firearms is also chaotic, an alternation of automatic and manual mechanisms that often puts us in difficulty, causing us to suffer damage that we thought we could avoid. Beyond these edges, which may be filed with the next updates, there is no doubt that Mini DAYZ offers a pleasant and engaging experience, all at no cost.
Comment
Tested version iPhone (1.0.5) Digital Delivery App Store, Google Play Price Free Resources4Gaming.com7.0
Readers (12)
6.0
Your vote
Mini DAYZ is an immediate and pleasant survival, but at the same time with an unexpected thickness. The random generation of the scenario and its pitfalls makes each game unique, while the achievement system and the unlocking of new skills and characters give a real sense of progression that does not stop at the inevitable game over. The pixel art graphics unfortunately creates some headaches, sometimes the enemies are too small and it is difficult to understand their nature to act accordingly, but we must appreciate the willingness of the developers to bring this nice application on iOS and Android devices completely free, without in-app purchases or gimmicks aimed at modifying the difficulty balance to monetize.
PRO
- Immediate and engaging
- Equipped with an unexpected thickness
- Completely free
- Rough combat system
- Pixel art graphics create some problems
