Heheh... That's actually hilarious.
It's that time again... Between sort of, 10 o'clock and midnight when I crouch at a laptop on the floor in a dark room and type.
Forget the apocalypse outside, ignore the horde scartching at the downstairs windows, and just put my fingers on letter keys.
It's kinda theraputic, now that I think about it...
Let's talk today about zombies in media. Yeah, fuck it. I can't think of anything else to write about today. I'm too excited for September!
Might as well start with Valve's Left 4 Dead. It's an FPS starring 4 characters, who have, funnily enough, been left for dead.
I've played it. On Xbox 360. It's pretty fun! Although, you could replace fun with the word terrifying or the word difficult.
Now, since it's inherently a four-player game, I couldn't see it at its best. Single player, it's super hard! And even with AI you feel alone!
Still, ignoring the difficulty, this game is brilliant! Each story campain (there are 4, plus DLC) plays out like an old zombie film!
Each character is a commonly recognised survivor stereotype: Survival veteran, badass, thin black dude, fat black dude... Woman...
Plus, they've made the undead fucking running undead! Now, if normal zombies don't make you shit your pants/knickers, these will.
To summarise, this game rocks... And the sequel, 2! (See what I did there?)
Example number two is another 360 game called Dead Rising. In this one, you play a photojournalist covering the outbreak.
More of a comedy horror survival third-person zombie action game, it absolutely nails the real-life undead... And it's set in a mall.
Bloodthirsty but braindead, the in-game zombies stagger around, moaning, and lunge at you when you go near. They can't run!
Even despite their lead shoes, there's still a sense of helplessness due to the sheer number of the bastards! There are hundreds!
Realistically, this is spot on... One zombie is slow and easy to deal with, but get enough of them in one place and you're buggered.
Challenging to begin with, but great fun later on, this game simulates the outside world with no risk, and with a good sense of humor.
Although... It does suffer from Japanese developer syndrome... Not always a bad thing... By having crazy boss battles.
Now, I don't dislike these weird fights, but it really does feel like they made a brilliant zombie sandbox, then felt guilty about it.
Those two undead-based franchises are amazing, but I should probably plug one more, non-video game example...
Walking Dead.
Almost deserves its own blog really... This US-made zombie TV series (based on a graphic novel) really blew me away.
It's just fantastic. True to real-life (almost) and with lovely prosthetics, superb production and well-rounded characters... Wow.
The Walking Dead. Look it up. Watch it. That's your homework. It's due in tomorrow. What are you waiting for?!
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