Earn to Die: All the zombie mauling fun you could ask for

Who doesn't love killing a few dozen zombies while driving to survive the apocalypse? No one, that's who. Earn to Die helps get you your daily zombie-killing fix, and it does so with quality gameplay and graphics. Initially an extremely popular iOS title with millions of installs and plenty of time in the top charts, Earn to Die has come to the Play Store in all its glory. Nothing was lost on the way over either, and the game plays just as great on Android.

The developer has also made the game free for the first lengthy level, and the full-priced version is extremely cheap to boot. Hang with us after the break to learn a little more about Earn to Die, a fun side-scrolling zombie apocalypse game.

You're surrounded by zombies and need to make your way to the military base across the country. That trip obviously can't be made on foot, so you pick up any car that you can find. And this is where the basic gameplay idea of Earn to Die comes in -- driving through oncoming zombies and obstacles to make it as far as you can each day. The "earn" part comes in to play as you receive money for killing zombies and going further. That money then goes into upgrading and buying new cars, which will let you get farther than the previous ones.

In typical side-scroller arcade fashion, the controls are extremely simple -- just an "accelerate" button on the right and rotation buttons on the left along with your car's instrument cluster in the middle. The limiting factor of making it far in the game will be your fuel tanks -- and for the first few "days" (one run constitutes one day) you won't get much farther than a few zombies. Things quickly progress, however as you build up your car with bigger wheels and improved suspension along with mauls on your front bumper and guns mounted on top. Soon you'll be jumping and plowing through the horde at a quick pace.

It may take you a couple dozen runs through to make it to the end of the first level, but that's all part of the fun. Each time through you'll notice different ways to make a quicker run or make the most of your limited fuel and ammunition. By the end of the first level you'll likely have maxed out the upgrades on your first car and even purchased a second one. Unfortunately the fun ends (at least for a moment) when you complete the first level if you've got the free version, which then pushes you to buy the game in full.

But fear not, the entire unlocked game with no ads is just $1.19 in the Play Store, a relative bargain considering the amount of gameplay you're likely to get out of Earn to Die. Along with access to the entire storyline from start to finish, the full version has "Halloween" and "Championship" game versions with extra content to play once you've completed the original game. Even if you just give the free version a try, Earn to Die is entirely worth a look.

Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.