Available on iOS
It’s easy to make anything on the planet enjoyable when you throw in cats. Just look at most Internet memes, funny home videos, and mobile video games! Apocalypse Meow: Save the Last Humans (free) takes the timeless tale of Cats vs. Dogs to an entirely new level in an arcade shooter.
In the game’s very brief story, you find out that an army of cats have finally taken over the planet (it’s bound to happen eventually). Then you (a dog) and your squadron of canines must take back the planet. What follows is a pretty simple arcade shooter with some slight variations that take it from being your standard free-to-play game and make it something worth downloading.
The main action of the game is surprisingly fun—and incredibly simple. Using your finger, you guide your ship through space, destroying enemy ships that drop in on you a la Galaga, and rescuing humans as you go. For a mobile game, there is a surprisingly deep role-playing feel to it.
As you progress through the game, you’ll be able to collect currency that can be used to upgrade your ship. Upgrades will transform your ship from a piece of junk into a well-built, human-saving machine. You’ll also be able to change the characters that you play as. The characters all have different stats, making the game a bit more challenging than a normal top-down shooter would be.
While you can spend money in Apocalypse Meow, nothing is needed in order to advance. Currency can be bought, but the game isn’t incredibly difficult to the point that you feel like you have to buy it. You can spend $1 to get rid of ads as well. But during my play time with the game I didn’t encounter any ads that truly made me feel like spending any money.
At the end of the day, Apocalypse Meow: Save the Last Human is a fun, sometimes challenging arcade shooter that is never not fun to play. It’s just the right kind of tough for a mobile game, and there’s always something to do when you’re playing. For me, that’s enough to give up some much-coveted memory space.
