iOS (iPhone/iPad) Critic Reviews

While The Drowning could've used more variety - and maybe even a multiplayer mode to keep things interesting - it sets a benchmark for mobile first-person shooters.

While other mobile FPS games might still be drowning in a sea of shoddy touchscreen controls, The Drowning offers just enough moments of ingenuity and potential insights to these traditional issues that gamers will always be able to keep coming up for refreshing breaths of air.

One of the greatest promises for iOS becomes a repetitive game, where only its control and visual are worth highlighting.

There is tons of polish on it and its controls are topnotch, but the rest of my experiences with The Drowned were extremely conflicting. If the gameplay mechanics were more in tune with a survival horror experience, Drowned could have been the definitive horror experience for the iOS format. Instead, it is simply an average shooter that gives a great update beyond the overused two thumbstick-style of FPS control; it simply happens to have great looking monsters and backgrounds instead of your run-of-the-mill FPS baddies.

The Drowning tries to revolutionize the mobile FPS control system, but only gets it half-right.

Good ideas on controls and atmosphere don't succeed in keeping The Drowning above the surface of an average level.

A game that relies on bothersome microtransactions and generally boring action. [Oct 2013, p.78]

A great looking, but shallow shooter. [Nov 2013, p.79]

In the hands of another developer (Infinity Blade's Chair Entertainment or Epic Games, perhaps?), The Drowning would have been something special. Without the energy mechanic and constant drip-fed weapon and item parts, I could easily see myself destroying an entire afternoon blasting apart zombies. But that's not what happened.

The scavenging for weapons and upgrades will deliver the fun, but that enjoyment can easily be hampered by the gameplay-limiting timer system.