Yet Another Zombie Defense Review and Tips

Yet Another Zombie Defense created by Awesome Games Studios is a simple defense strategy game where you and up to three other players can take on endless waves of zombies. Originally developed for IOS Yet Another Zombie Defense was released on Steam in late 2013.

Starting off things seem easy enough as zombies are slow and easy to take down. Upon reaching later levels or nights you find that these zombies are on something as they run at you and become bullet and bomb proof.

Solo gameplay of Yet Another Zombie Defense with all large turrets and rifles. 

There are no real classes even though there are three characters and ability to enhance your character via power-ups. The only difference between the guy, girl, and swat character would be aesthetics.

You can accumulate or spend trait points upon completing even nights. These points can be spent on speed, reload speed, health (armor) health regeneration, and pickup range.

The game goes on forever but you can try to beat your progression, high scores, and rank amongst other players. Personally, I can make it through night 25 to 30 solo but usually average around night 24. I've tried different weapon and barrier configurations and found once you get past night 25 it doesn't really matter much. This could be because I'm not that skilled but I'd like to think that the developers are overpowering zombies for laughs.

Buy a copy of Yet Another Zombie Defense today!

The first night is easy enough with only 10 zombies which only take 4 hits from the pistol to kill. The zs are relatively slow and do not cause much damage. The level of difficulty is easy. If you can manage to kill all the zombies without using more than 8 clips you gain an achievement. There is also an achievement for not purchasing anything until after night 6 and for not taking any damage until after night 10. If you are not achievement hunting then your best bet is to save up for electric barriers and place them in a cross pattern near the light pole. (see pic) This will allow you to enter and exit the somewhat safe zone while attacking z's and picking up cash, ammo, and special drops.

The Board

You are free to explore and play from anywhere on this fairly small map. The light pole can be used as a barrier and I will explain this in detail later. You can only build x amount of tiles away from this fixture in any given direction which is another downfall of this game.

Special Drops

Speed burst indicated by red >>>> allows the player to run around at a much faster rate which all the powerups seem to last between 30 -45 secs, although I have not timed any.

Shield allows the player to not be harmed for the duration.

Star or invisibility allows the player to remain hidden from zs as they will not attack unless you fire a weapon. However, it is possible to toss grenades and remain hidden.

Blue fire rate allows for faster reload of any weapon you have.

I purchase any items other than chainsaw until after night 6 unless if something is on sale. Sale items are random which can be good or bad depending on timing and cash. Purchasing barriers first is a good idea for the novice. Next a small or large turret and then mount a gun on it to act as another fixed location player.

The small turret costs less but is slower to fire and target. It can take less damage and seems to only be useful with the following weapons. {pistol, either machine gun, sometimes freeze, and blaster} I'd suggest using the larger turret with a rifle, laser, and maybe Tesla. Guard these turrets as if your life depends upon it with barriers and your own skill.

Barriers

Wood is cheapest and weakest but something is better than nothing.

Propane is the next weakest but explodes on destruction killing in the early rounds and causing slight damage in later rounds.

Armor seems to be the best bang for the buck but opt for ...

Electric barriers which seem to be the strongest as they deal a decent amount of damage when a zombie is near.

You can and should double or possibly even layer your barriers to keep zs at bay. Diagonally open areas allow players to enter and exit but not zs.

Z's tend to attack the corners first but not always so keep this in mind when setting up your defense.

The box method around the light pole seems to work best early (pic) but some work on this configuration will be needed to make it to later rounds (pics)

Another method is to use a checkboard pattern interlacing barriers and turrets. This allows for an easier way of movement and collecting drops. This will begin to fail around night 20.

Try to conserve ammo, grenades, and mines until later rounds. Mines have to be placed before the start of each night. Grenades can be tossed and early on are very effective but after night 20 its like throwing candy.

Weapon Guide (all reload times are based upon no points allocated to this trait)

pistol – uses 8 rounds; fast reload time; unlimited range; low damage; unlimited ammo and uses; rating 6/10

SMG – burst fire; fast reload time; somewhat spreads unlimited range; low damage after night 15; mildly expensive ammo; rating 2/10

shotgun – two round spread fire; unlimited range; slow reload; need five loads after night 15; cheap ammo; rating 3/10

flamethrower – steady streams of hell fire; shortest range; slow reload; can be effective later but needs tons of ammo; $80 ammo unless on sale; rating 7/10

assault rifle – burst or full auto spread fire; unlimited range; moderate reload; loses charm after night 12; ammo is slightly expensive; rating 4/10

sniper rifle – one shot; unlimited range; slow but not slowest reload time; the second strongest weapon for tearing through multiple z; ammo is cheap but will eat like candy after night 20; rating 8/10

rocket launcher – expensive, too slow, can easily miss, and becomes ineffective after night 20; rating do not buy or 1/10

Freeze ray - longest range of its type but still limited; large spray and effect zone; slows enemy and weakens temporarily; decent reload time; fairly easy on ammo to effectiveness ration; running and gunning; works good up until night 30; rating 7/10 or 5/10, if you use too many on screen at once, will crash game check Steam chat/reviews to confirm its not just me

tesla – decent range; almost can't miss with this weapon and is a good choice for running and gunning; moderate reload time; decent damage until night 12; cheap ammo; problem when multiple enemies because it does not kill but keeps jumping to enemy or allocating damage but not enough when in large groups; rating 6/10

blaster – unlimited range, shoots burst fire, 8 rounds per load, decent damage, good for running and gunning keeps z at bay, ammo is kinda pricey but far better choice than rocket launcher; rating 7/10

laser – medium range, shots a small line that can be used a large sword; max damage of all ranged weapons; super slow reload and fire rate; ammo is cheap compared to damage and other weapons; rating 9/10

No weapon in this game is perfect so you will have to try them all and figure out which weapon or weapons work best for you. If the game did not crash due to having too many freeze guns I'd say go with it and another weapon or just freeze and pistol.

My tips for going the distance are as follows.

1. Save money and ammo for later
2. buy when on sale when at all possible but if needed buy off sale
3. alternate leveling up health regeneration and health first (max both of these)
4. increase speed and fire rate
5. only improve pickup if you plan to camp
6. try to kite z's around the board away from your base an allow the turrets to do their job
7. if you have to camp use a different weapon than the turrets to keep from running out of ammo
8. lob grenades like they are going outta style
9. watch corners and for holes close to turrets
10. find and pick up powerups quickly and do not get boxed in by z's

Also, try using a trick from a Steam friend of mine [Primal] where you can save money and put the odds in your favor. Start by purchasing a small turret preferably on sale. Mount this turret with the weapon of your choice and leave it exposed. Every time you do this and it gets destroyed it will add a weapon of the type [mounted] to the turret every night after the first night destroyed. An example would be if you place a flamethrower on a turret on night 5 by night 7 you will have 2 flamethrowers provided you did not purchase additional of said weapon. This can be done multiple times increasing your weapons cache while also saving in the long run.

Final Thoughts

First of all, I think if you don't take Yet Another Zombie Defense too seriously it can be a quite enjoyable game. Having said this I'd like to see some improvements and hopefully, the developers will bring forth changes either in this build or future releases.

Is this the best game ever? No, but it can be fun and I'll share some of my experiences with the game. The worst thing about this game by far has to be the game crashes and gives an error message of, "you need more than 500 MB of paged pool memory." This happens when you have too many freeze guns in use at any time. This has been a problem for others so its not just my computer.

I look forward to reading your comments and if you haven't already please subscribe to my blog so you can get notified of future posts. If you enjoyed this post please share it with your friends via social media and or email.