Parents' Guide to The Walking Dead: Our World

If the idea here is to capture an adult audience with a bloodier version of Pokémon Go, then this action adventure really missed the mark. The Walking Dead: Our World tries to capitalize on the augmented reality (AR) craze by bringing zombies into real-world exploration, but it's full of issues. The most obvious problem is its shoddy GPS tracking. Instead of moving smoothly across the map, your character stutters and turns in place, forcing you to guess how much ground you're really covering. The AR is equally patchy. In order to use it (and only during combat), you point your phone at the ground and hope the AR calibrates. If not, you're looking at a whole lot of nothing.

Those aren't the only technical issues facing The Walking Dead: Our World. Since the most recent patch, server access is spotty, which means frequent interruptions. Not that you'll be playing long anyway: Your energy supply's gone after a few minutes, and if you want to play longer, you're stuck buying more. The consolation for the limited energy is that there's not a ton to do in this repetitive slog of a title. Gameplay consists entirely of boring combat followed by uninspiring reward animations. There's no human drama, no real building, no risky supply runs, none of the stuff that makes The Walking Dead interesting -- just a lot of shooting and gore you and your kids don't need to see. Ultimately, this app amounts to nothing more than a poorly executed promotional tool for a show that's well past its prime.