Night of the Living Debt 4+

The Night of the Living Debt Review

From the development team that brought you unique and interactive math games such as Game over Gopher, Gate, Pearl Diver, and Monster School Bus, the Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University brings you The Night of the Living Debt. In this new adventure, the land is riddled with terrifying debt collecting zombies who will stop at nothing to make your financial life miserable. In order to defeat these money thirsting ghouls and survive this dreadful zombie outbreak, you will need to do your best to avoid becoming another casualty of financial ruin. In this game, mastering the art of financial stability combined with maintaining an outstanding credit score are the keys to success. Can you pay off these bill collecting zombies in time, or will you be devoured by overwhelming debt yet becoming another victim of the night of the living debt?!
The Night of the Living Debt is an innovative way of teaching high school students the importance of managing their finances. The game is easy to pick up and play, yet hard to master. The situational challenges within the game emphasizethe importance of financial stability while giving the player the opportunity to develop strategies for paying off their accumulated debt as they create their own path to financial freedom. If you are one of those players who think that this game is just another boring, educational, financial exercisedesigned to instruct you on how to manage your debt, you could not be more wrong. The Night of the Living Debt puts a unique spin on the traditional methods of budget management. One of this game’s biggest strength is evident in the characters, as each zombie plays a role in bringing the game’s zombie-debt apocalyptic theme to life.
While I was expecting the game to have something to do with zombies, I was not expecting the game to have so many unique characters. I love how each zombie character played a role in promoting the overall zombie apocalypse theme, and I enjoyed how much effort went to building a world that looked and felt as if there had been a zombie outbreak. Additionally, I also appreciated how each zombie had their own unique look and characteristic. As soon as I began playing the game, I was able to grasp a sense that the world had been taken over by debt collecting zombies, as I was given my very own zombie credit card. Shortly after being given some basic instructions on how to play the game, I was soon introduced to my first enemy, the landlord zombie. I could not stop myself from wondering about my former landlord and if he was a zombie would he look like this character? From the very beginning of the game, the landlord, who is an arthritic-riddled walking corpse, shows no mercy, demanding that you pay your rent on the spot.
Shortly after being introduced to the landlord, I was assigned the job of scavenging supplies. I loved playing the game from a top-down perspective, because it reminded me of a game I used to play when I was in elementary school. The Night of the Living Debt was very imaginative and went perfectly with the zombie apocalyptic theme. Some buildings looked tattered and old, while others look creepy and gothic. My favorite aspect of the city however, was the university which was appropriately named, “Land of the Debt University.” I also enjoyed the added challenge of avoiding hazards and traps as I went through each building on the quest to gain the supplies. Sometimes, I would choose to run past the pack of angry Chihuahuas that were in my way, hoping to get that 100 supply bonus for succeeding. At times however, I found some hazards too dangerous, and I decided to attempt to escape – with no success. Between the successful bonus captures and the devastating $500 injury expenses, the aspect of gathering supplies was very rewarding and gave the game some replay value. Turning in my supplies for profit to the supply zombie was also an enjoyable experience, as I was allowed to manage my finances as I saw fit. Sometimes I wanted to simply keep the cash in my pocket and move on to the next round, at other times I wanted to use my earnings to pay down credit card debt, or place some of my funds into my savings account.
While I felt that the game was very enjoyable, as found myself playing over and over again, there were some aspects of the game that I felt needed to be brought to the forefront to improve the overall gameplay experience. For example, I thought it was a great idea to allow the main character to accumulate student loan debt by attending the University. However, I was not really able to grasp a feeling of accomplishment when I achieved the adequate credit score needed to attend the university. Perhaps, if the rounds were to be increased from 10 to 20 levels, attending the university might have been more fulfilling. I also didn’t see the value in purchasing a new apartment or home, because by the time I had accumulated enough credit to make this major purchase, the game was half finished and I had yet to develop a strategy of making payments toward the debt. With the understanding that this video game was developed to teach high school students about the importance of managing their budgets, I felt that it would have been an even better experience if the Learning Games Lab had put in a few more levels to encourage the player to buy additional smaller items throughout the game, as well as allow them to explore more of the zombie apocalyptic town.With that being said however, The Night of the Living Debt was a blast to play and is definitely worth checking out on the Apple App Store.

Tag suggestions: Learning Games Lab, The Night of the Living Debt, mathematics, debt, education, educational, educational games