Grandpa and the Zombies – Review

Name: Grandpa and the Zombies
Developer: TWP/Tivola
Publisher: Tivola
Released: 12.09.2018
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch
Acquired: A copy of this game was provided from publisher for review purpose

Grandpa and the Zombies is a mobile game, now ported to the Nintendo Switch. The game follows the standard “get three candies for a perfect level” mechanic that you all know from other games in the same genre. Is the port a good one? Or is this a walking dead release?

Graphics

The game is, unfortunately, far from good looking. By all means, the drawings are nice enough, but it feels completely without a soul. It doesn’t help that the game didn’t run very smoothly either. In my opinion, the zombies looked too similar as well, which made it difficult knowing what would happen before you got within their action radius. All in all, I am quite disappointed with the looks of Grandpa and the Zombies.
4/10

Gameplay

Okay, so the graphics didn’t strike me, but how about the gameplay? After all, as long as the gameplay’s good the game is good, at least in my mind. Regrettably, Grandpa and the Zombies’’ gameplay is horrible. It’s boring, repetitive and most of all unoriginal. I’ve played countless games like this before, and all the enjoyable ones have had something special about them. Grandpa and the Zombies have nothing, absolutely nothing to offer. It was more fun to witness the game install than playing it if I am allowed to be brutally honest.
2/10

Controls

Now, I have no idea how to review the controls of Grandpa and the Zombies. Technically they work, just as the developers have intended, so that’s a 10. But the controls offers nothing, it’s merely left, down, up, right – and Grandpa will roll his wheelchair in that direction until he hits an object. On a mobile device, sure, swiping left/right/up/down makes perfect sense. But on a console, it falls short. I have no other choice than to give the controls an 8/10, but don’t be fooled, it’s bad, pure and simply bad.
8/10

Replay Value

Okay, until now I’ve yet to enjoy anything about this game… Yeah, you’re right, I don’t think it has any real replay value either. By all means, the game allows you to play each level again, to possibly get more candies to unlock new content, but not once I found it necessary as all the levels I played was remarkably easy to get three candies on. And it’s not even skill based, it’s just a matter of wheeling Grandpa to the candy to pick it up. There’s absolutely no reason to try a level once more.
2/10

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