'Zombies, Run!': A Review

Before I begin, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions.

Do you feel yourself to be a physically unfit individual?

Have you found yourself wanting to begin an exercise program, but simply don't have the motivation to start? Or perhaps you do start, but give up after maybe a week?

Do you ever stop to wonder how you would fare in a zombie apocalypse?

If the answer to any or all of those questions is "yes," then this game is for you.

Zombies, Run! is an app, available on both iOS and Android, created by developers Six To Start and writer Naomi Alderman. It's technically a fitness app, but with huge elements of podcast and gameplay thrown in.

The story is as follows: you (yes, you) are a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. You work for the military (it still exists in this verse), and you're en route to a small settlement known as Abel Township, on loan from the base you normally stay at. On your way there, your helicopter is shot out of the air by a rocket launcher, and as the sole survivor of the wreck, you're forced to make an emergency landing, and run for your life to Abel. Once there, you're christened Runner Five, replacing a previous runner who zombified shortly before your arrival. Your new job is to gather supplies from places outside of the township, scout the surrounding areas, and occasionally draw zombies away from the town.

However, you also have another mission. A mission Abel doesn't know about. A mission so secret, you don't even know all the details...

The gameplay itself is: run. That's pretty much it. You can walk, jog, or run, and as you do so, audio clips will play through your headphones, revealing the story and background of the characters and the world. You will also collect supplies, and, once a mission is complete, materials; all of these are used in the Base Builder, a customizable recreation of Abel Township, with buildings that can be placed and upgraded, as well as the option to expand the borders of the town. There are also Zombie Chases, which can be toggled on or off: if they are on, the game will occasionally greet you with zombie hordes. If this happens, you'll have to speed up by 20 percent in order to evade them. If you fail to escape, you'll lose some of your supplies in an effort to distract them.

So, what's so great about this game? Well, the first thing is: the story. You would probably expect it to be little more than an excuse plot, just there to act as a vehicle for the running.

If you did think that, allow me to take some of this egg off of my face and wipe it on yours.

When it comes to the storyline, the writers did not skimp. Pretty much every character you meet is complex, with their own backstories and complete personalities. There is nary a one-dimensional character to be found here, and it won't be long before you have a favorite. (I'm personally split between Sam Yao, the radio operator; Maxine Myers, the doctor; and Jody Marsh, a fellow Runner.) The audio clips are immersive (meaning: the characters actually talk directly to you frequently, and you're not just there existing in some floating void), making you really feel like part of the action, and the voice acting is absolutely phenomenal. No need to worry about the story being ruined by subpar acting; the actors know what they're doing, and they're very good at it. Fair warning: like any zombie apocalypse story, this game likes to get you attached to characters, only to snatch them away in the arms of the reaper. There's also plenty of drama to go around, enough to really make you feel for whoever is currently going through a tough spot (I myself have three episodes left in season one of the story, and I've already had my heart broken at least twice already. That is all I will say).

The plot itself is a huge tangled web of mystery and intrigue, driven by multiple questions. Among them being: who shot your helicopter down, and why? What is this "Project Greenshoot" that you're supposed to be there for? Why were you only carrying half of the supplies you were meant to? And of course, the big kahuna: how did the zombie apocalypse even start? The answers are revealed slowly, sometimes through dialogue, sometimes through the collection of Artifacts at key points in the story, some of which act as puzzle pieces to guide you to the answers you seek. The game also has alternate modes to play, namely Supply Mode, and the ability to enroll in a training plan to structure your runs. Supply Mode features a toned-down storyline centering around whatever the theme of the run is (Decoy Duty, for instance, features you and another runner drawing zombies away from Abel). There is also a 5K training app, set between Missions one and two of the main story, and designed to, well, train those who are new to running.

As far as the gameplay, since it mostly consists of "get out of bed and go somewhere," there isn't really any way to get this wrong. Unless you're someone for whom the idea of exercise is so dreadful that even running from zombies doesn't whet your appetite, then the gameplay is just fine. Unless we're talking about the Base Builder, which is actually a fun and casual break after you're done with your normal running. Since it's customizable, you can build pretty much whatever you want wherever you want; so if you want to surround the Armory with playgrounds or build forty kitchens and thirty comms shacks, it's all up to you.

Back to the running part, I love how non-judgmental the game is as far as fitness goes. It doesn't punish you for not meeting an arbitrary fitness goal or judge you for where you are or are not, just pushes you to do the best you can. I especially highly recommend the 5K trainer, for adding encouragement into the mix. (Personal note: I have Major Depressive Disorder, and it's especially hard for me to get out and exercise regularly. When I started this game, the encouragement I got from the characters was a huge help in getting me to start making running a habit).

My only real problem with the game is something I ran into while playing the 5K trainer; sometimes, if you navigate away from the game, it will freeze in the background, forcing you to have to start the mission all over again from the beginning. This only happened to me once in the main game, which allowed me to pick up from where I left off, and a recent update to the 5K trainer may have fixed that problem, so this complaint may no longer be relevant.

Overall, I would definitely tell anyone who needs a bit of a push to get active to try this game out. Nothing is more motivating than being the hero of an adventure story and having people to protect in that story.

If you want to find out more about the game (and maybe download it and try it out for yourself), the official website is zombiesrungame.com.