Doomsday Preppers (iOs) Review

Are you ready for the apocalypse?

National Geographic has just the thing to get you thinking about how to prepare for the end of days: Doomsday Preppers. Named after the National Geographic Channel show by the same name, this game has you preparing the doomsday shelter of your dreams. But is it fun, or is it just a load of bunk? (Get it? Bunk….bunker…..you know, doomsday bunkers? Wow, tough crowd.)

You play as a character who would like to build a multilevel bunker beneath the home in case that whole end of the world thing works out not so much on our favor. You can choose between a male or female character, three different home areas, and a variety of flags to fly above your domicile (including the Jolly Roger, which I thought was a nice touch).

The game walks you through how to build your first level, and after that you’re on your own. You have a steady stream of willing workers making their way to your elevator, and you’ll need to work as the doorman, pushing the buttons to bring the elevator to the surface to retrieve them and back down again. Each of your workers will need to be assigned to both a floor and a task. While they each have an affinity for a specific floor, since you haven’t built all that many yet, at first you have to just assign them wherever they are needed. On each of the floors, which range from entertainment to food to spa services, your workers will be hard at work preparing supplies for storage and earning the precious diamonds that are your currency in the game.

Moving workers up and down in the elevator, assigning people to floors and giving out tasks, all while trying to build more and more floors keeps your fingers pretty busy. Doomsday Preppers is more of a time management thing than anything else, as you’ll really need to be hopping to keep your affairs in order. But you will get to customize a little bit in terms of what floors you build, which supplies to make first, and where to assign your workers.

Doomsday Preppers is a free to play game, and to be honest, that always leaves me a bit leery. I would generally much rather pay a buck or two for a solid game than to sink some time into it only to find I can’t advance without dropping a lot more cash than I am willing to for a mobile game, you know? So while I tried to go into the game with an open mind, the idea that I was going to be asked to buy in game items was very much on my radar.

Unfortunately, those misgivings were definitely well founded when it comes to this game, as it was really no more than a half hour in before I was hit with a spot where I could no longer advance without dropping cash for diamonds. Sure, you earn diamonds in game, but not at the pace you need them to actually play the game. It was quite disappointing, and really a deal breaker for me. Charge me a dollar or even five for a game, and I’ll happily play it. Expect me to keep shoving cash at more diamonds with no guarantee how much gameplay that even gets me and I’ll simply find another game.

Doomsday Preppers is a fun little game that is unfortunately hobbled by its free to play nature. In the apps world, free to play is rarely free, and Doomsday Preppers is no exception. While you may get a few minutes fun out of it, there is really not a lot of gameplay to be had without ponying up a respectable amount of cash.