This is one of those games I have been playing for quite a while (back in it’s beta days) and keep meaning to write up but find myself playing it instead. Please Stay Calm is a zombie apocalypse game that utilizes your phone’s GPS and FourSquare to create locations for it’s MMO. This isn’t the only game out there that does it, it is just probably one of the most successful. Did I mention it is free?
Please Stay Calm is set in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse when all the government agencies have pulled out leaving survivors to their own devices and decisions on how they are going to live their lives. Scavenging becomes a daily way of life and survivors rely on each other for defense or medical attention and build safe houses and outposts to store supplies and be able to hopefully sleep safe at night. There is a global communications system designed to find fellow survivors and help them in any way you can. You can help others, you can hunt others, you can join clans or you can lone wolf your way through a huge variety of zombies, some holiday related, some the bane of your pre-zombie life. The key is survival and how you do that is really up to you.
The graphics are styled and enjoyable, there is a minimum amount of sound to it which works well if you are checking your outposts in the middle of the night while you are checking the time. You build up stamina for healing of dueling, action points for scavenging and hunting and health is pretty much what you would think. Things are bought with one of three things: cash, supplies or credits. Cash and supplies are gotten through scavenging and hunting and credits can be bought with cash or by watching commercials and downloading programs, most of which are other free games. This game can be played completely free just using the currency you get in game, but if you get impatient you can buy credits at a very reasonable price for a free to play currency.
Hunting is a fun game of watching a bunch of you weapons pop up at the bottom of the screen and try to pick the best one before they go away and it is the zombie’s turn to take a shot. You have to watch your health though because sometimes the zombies are strong enough to take you down with a single hit. Dueling is picking someone who is rated around your level and then you have the choice to add a bonus item such as explosive ammo to give you an edge, in case they put a defense bonus on them such as a land mine. Defenses usually last 6 hours so that you can go to bed and get at least a little sleep with some hope you might survive. Unlike most games Duels aren’t live for both parties, someone attacks and wins or loses and the attacked gets a notice so they can get revenge if they want and attack back. Using the same stamina as dueling is healing which just means picking someone on your friend’s list, checking their health and healing them. The final thing, scavenging, involves moving a flashlight around your screen avoiding moving green dots, if they get in your beam of light you are caught and get nothing.
One of the real keys to the fun of this game is that you find yourself doing all this at real life locations. Between GPS and FourSquare you may find yourself scavenging the local supermarket or fighting zombies in your neighbor’s shower. Any place with a check-in is territory you can hunt, scavenge, outpost and safe house. Right now I have an outpost on the Death Star. Who knew that would have landed in Reno?
Last Call:
This is a great pick up and play a bit game that you can play a couple times a day and if you are like me those days wind up turning into weeks and months. I love this simple free game and I know if I get too frustrated with the pace of building up my weapons or defenses I can pick up some credits for a real affordable price. New players arrive everyday and meams new friends to play and chat with and people get really into the game with back and forth duels and clans being at each others throats. At the end of the day though, it is about surviving the zombie apocalypse and the more practice we all have the better off we are! Did I mention it is free? Well, it still is.
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