Rule #1: Cardio

It's not very often I talk about mobile games, mostly because I only play a baby handful and not very often, they have a tendency to drain a battery very quickly. I don't like having to recharge my phone, like ever. However, once in a while I go looking for something new and get pleasantly surprised.

Yes, it's another zombie game. Personally, I like zombies, but with the genre drowning the market for the last few years, if zombies were candy then I'd be an overweight diabetic about to lose both legs. Now that's not a pretty sight, but moving on.

It's good to something original, especially within the constraints of a mobile device. I use a Samsung galaxy S3 so controls range from a touchpad to none, but Into the Dead does very well. It's a running game where you simply move your character left and right to avoid the zombies or be eaten. As you run, the terrain changes between open fields to dense forests and those dreaded cornfields. Hit a tree or other obstacle, and you're going to glance off it or jump over it which can toss you around and throw you off track, or straight into a zombie. You can glance off zombies too if you can just scrape by them, but if you get tossed around too much, trying to keep your momentum can be difficult.

The game includes weapons, which you can pick up from flare-lit crates as you run. The load-out is random, but you only get a pistol until you unlock weapons later in the game. Firing is a simple tap on the screen and the auto-aim is very well done. Range effectiveness depends on the weapon, but the weapons feel very satisfying. Ammo is limited though, so don't go all shoot-em-up.

The game looks great with misty fields and a low sun backdrop, the zombies appear as nothing more than dark silhouettes in the background and blood soaked monsters as they get into your face. The sound is one of the best parts of the game with only the eerie sounds of nature, the moans of the undead, your panting breath and the grass crunching under your feet.

There are alternative modes to unlock by reaching certain challenges, I've yet to get all the way there and try them out, but one mode's goal is to kill as many zombies as possible while the third is a mysterious 'Hardcore' mode.

You progress by completing challenges, such as kill a zombie or run 2500m. As you complete challenges, you'll unlock more weapons. Micro-transactions are present, but like all my favourite games, not essential to the game. You earn coins depending how good your run is, and you can use them to buy everything from perks, unlock weapons early, skip challenges you're having difficulty with. The game also doesn't bombard you with ads to the point of insanity, though keep in mind that may change, it is a FREE game after all. If I get an awesome game for free, I don't mind the odd ad or two.

You can download it for iOS and Android. Did I mention it's free?