THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

It's 1959 and the city of Punchbowl, Pennsylvania has become the shinning beacon of hope for the future, the ideal living scenario with bountiful cops, no crime, hover cars and robot servants at affordable prices. You, leading an undead army and being a Zombie yourself, will show this pathetic civilization that the living are no match for the dead; spread chaos and panic, distribute the re-animating Zombie infection, devour the brains of the innocent and teach those hopeful humans a lesson they will never forget.

MY VERDICT:

Being the remastering of a game from 2005, you should not expect much from poor, old Stubbs the Zombie and, while it's definitely showing its age, there is an average game at its rotten core, with some unique ideas only held back by the technology of the time. Looking at the negatives first; there is hardly any story or dramatic action, perhaps highlighted by the 'just kill everything' description. When the game opens in the very made-up city of Punchbowl, you simply rise out of the ground for no reason what-so-ever, like it was something that happens everyday - 'uh oh, another Zombie'. From there, you shamble around, claw at your enemies and eat brains - pretty accurate for a game which sees you playing as a Zombie yet not all that exciting. You do unlock the power of farting to stun nearby humans and the ability to throw 'gut grenades' at foes at a later point, which adds at bit of variation at least. There are also a few bugs here and there; characters getting stuck on geometry, the 'fuse' on grenades taking far too long, and so forth. Luckily these are surprisingly infrequent for such a dated game; inconveniences rather than game-breakers. The saving system is the biggest such 'bug' as, being time-based, you can easily find your game saved in a spot which is very difficult to get out of or one miles behind the point where you died. As for plus points, there are not that many I'm afraid; put simply, if the prospect of playing a game as a Zombie does not excite you (this being one of only a handful of games that allow such a thing), then this is not a game for you. Perhaps the best part of the game is seeing every human you scratch or eat the brain of resurrect as a Zombie and attack humans at their own accord, which in turn rise when killed, spreading chaos beyond your direct control. It's just such a shame that this idea is held back by small playable areas and few NPCs (Non-Player Characters). The mind-boggles at what a full remake could achieve - the thousands of characters on-screen of today's tech would make this game a true spectacle. Sadly, with the merely 'average' play experience of the remaster, I doubt a full remake will ever be on the cards.