In GREE's Zombie Jombie, corpses in cards do battle on iPhone [Video]

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Zombie Jombie iPhone
Zombie Jombie iPhone

Yes, it definitely looks as crazy as it sounds. GREE, the Japanese mobile social game network that's poised to go global any day now, has announced the first game to come from its brand new U.S. studio, Zombie Jombie. Available now for free on iPad and iPhone, Zombie Jombie marks the publisher slash developer's Western debut.

In Zombie Jombie, players assemble decks of powerful zombie-themed cards to take the fight to evil humans bent on global destruction. The card battler sounds like a fresh take on the tired stable of zombie games that usually amount to blowing hordes of the hapless cadavers to itty bits. That said, it's definitely a gamble for GREE--card battle-style mobile game are huge in Japan, but they've yet to prove themselves in the West.

"We do think some of the [Japanese] game styles will work, and they're very good for mobile--the card battle system--simply because of how the [user interface] and [user experience] works," GREE SVP of marketing and developer relations Eros Resmini tells us. "But that said, we recognize that there's very unique cultural differences, behavior patterns and spending patterns. And those differences are very prominent between the Japan and U.S. market."

Zombie Jombie allows players to fuse multiple cards together to craft more powerful undead monsters to turn the tide of its multiplayer, turn-based battles. Of course, players can trade cards with one another and find new ones in special in-game treasure chests. Thanks to the several ways that players can find and create new cards, GREE promises that no player will have the same deck, and that its San Francisco-based studio will continue to update Zombie Jombie after launch.


As for whether U.S. and other Western gamers will latch onto card battle mobile social games, Resmini likens it to a play hook that all social gamers are familiar with today. "I think it will take time before anyone masters that genre here. Similarly, if you look back at the social game space on Facebook, it took a while before people mastered the farming mechanic, which in Asia had been there for a while."

Click here to download Zombie Jombie for Free on iPhone or iPad Now >

Are you interested in trying one of the card battle games to hit the U.S? How do you think this type of game will do in the West? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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