Android owners: Take on the zombie apocalypse anywhere with these bloody apps

Here a zombie, there a zombie, everywhere a zombie. Everywhere you look these days, people are whiling away the hours on their game consoles slaughtering the undead horde. Even your cell phone has been infected with these decaying hooligans, who exist solely to eat your Kobe-beef flavored brains. (Don’t ask how I know that. Seriously.)

This week, we bring you the very best in Droid-powered zombie fun. Best of all, one will dramatically increase your texting abilities (or else!), another will help you lose weight as you flee from the undead masses, and the others will keep you glued to your handset for hours at a time.

That is, until Plants vs. Zombies comes to the Android Marketplace in Spring 2011...

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

APPS REVIEWED

Typing Zombie
Increase your texting skills by pounding out the words these zombies are carrying. Too slow? “BRAINS MINE!”

Zombie, Run!
Give that New Year’s resolution another shot. After all, what could get you running faster than AWAY from this zombie horde? “FASTER!”

Welcome to Hell
Zombie killing at its best – via a high-quality first person shooter. “SPLAT!”

Zombies Live
It’s time to turn the tables and recruit fresh zombies to the undead cause. It’s multiplayer mayhem right on your phone! “RECRUIT!”



ANDROID MOBILE REVIEWS

Typing Zombie (FREE)

Quick, here comes the zombies! Instead of shuffling toward you bearing pitchforks and torches, they’re carrying… words? And your weapon load out includes, well, your fingers. This surprisingly addictive, well-crafted free game from Sega satisfies your zombie-killing needs, while dramatically increasing your texting skills. Pound out those words quickly to avoid being turned into brain salad! Be warned the difficulty goes from merely scary to bloody difficult in no time at all. You may even consider jumping from your on-screen keyboard to your physical QWERTY. I know I did on my Droid 1.

Zombie, Run! (FREE)

I may workout regularly, but I’ve never found a way to enjoy running. Until now. After all, what could get me (and you!) running faster than AWAY from a seriously doped up zombie horde? Those guys are quick! Zombie, Run! takes hold of your GPS coordinates and overlays a smattering of baddies, all bent on catching up to you before you can get away. It’s up to you and your running buddies to tell the app how many zombies to send after you, and how fast they can run. You set the end point to this race to the death, and off you go. Faster, faster!

Welcome to Hell ($2.99)

Welcome to Hell combines all the best elements of zombie killing wrapped into a top-quality first person shooter. The shuffling monsters are slow and noisy at first, perfect bullet-fodder for your assault rifle. You’ll need to shoot them to a bloody pulp. (Literally.) The blood splatter is realistic enough, the zombie sound clips are spot-on, and the tight play fields make this a pretty scary “run and turn” kill-fest. The on-screen joystick works well enough, and tapping the screen repeatedly lets loose a hail of bullets. How many headshots can you score in a row?

Zombies Live (FREE)

It’s time to turn the tables and recruit fresh zombies to the undead cause. It’s massively multiplayer mayhem right on your phone! You start in a dark, cold morgue. Not quite alive, and not at all dead. Your first snack? The morge staff. Then it’s off to a massive online world to lay traps, complete missions, and upgrade your growing legion of followers. The more friends you bring into your brood, the better. This is a truly unique MMORPG that you can take with you anywhere, fighting other players online in real-time. The graphics are top-quality, the sound effects are stellar, and the strategy elements are a welcome addition. Do you have what it takes to be the next Crypt Lord?