Zombies have been a big part of video games for a long time. Usually we kill them in droves. But in 2005 Stubbs The Zombie shook things up and let you take on the role of a zombie devouring humans in a futuristic city. That game is back on modern consoles via a remaster that may be too bare for some.
Stubbs The Zombie was developed by Wideload Games, a company made up of former Bungie developers who run the Halo studio a few years after Microsoft bought it in 2000. That connection with Bungie is how the studio was able to get a license for it Halo motor for the game, making it one of the few non-Halo games to use that engine. Using that technology, the small team of Wideload created Stubbs The Zombie In Rebel Without A Pulse, a bizarre action game about a zombie, Stubbs, who eats brains, makes more zombies, pisses on things and takes part in dance fights.
Stubbs wakes up as a zombie in the middle of Punchbowl, a newly built 1950s town with big clunky robots, laser guns and glider cars. As a newly animated zombie in this metropolis, you spend most of your time doing zombie things like eating brain and attacking people. But Stubbs is no ordinary zombie; he has special abilities that he can use after eating enough brains. He tosses his head like a bowling ball and blows up enemies, turning them into zombies. He can pull his arm off and players can control the arm like a remote control car. Jump on a human like a hand and you will take command of them, let use all the weapons they have or let human beings sneak through areas. It’s rarely helpful, but it’s funny.
Most of the game is devoted to the same basic work. Stubbs enters a new area, kills some people, builds an undead army, helps them disperse, kills more people, and eventually fights a boss or accomplishes a bigger goal like destroying a dam. Although various things are sprinkled throughout the game such as some sections with vehicles and some where you pee into the city’s water supply, most of your time is spent using the same attacks to kill people in different empty areas or rooms. What makes this fun is the setting and the zombies you create along the way. Leading an army of zombies into battle against scientists with plasma guns, while barber quartet singers attack from above in jet packs, is a unique experience that only Stubbs The Zombie can offer.
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For the remaster, publisher Aspyr Media decided not to change too much. This is not a big, beautiful remake; the main improvements and changes include a nice frame rate of 60 fps, performance and modern control options such as switching inverted sticks. This is basically the original game, just playable on new consoles and a bit better. Although I appreciate that in 2021 players can easily play now Stubbs The ZombieI also found the lack of improvements disappointing. For example, while I understand that not every texture is being replaced, it is strange and distracting to see some in-game HUD elements using the original art from the 2005 release, which looks blurry and grainy when displayed on a large screen. blown up.
Players may have a hard time returning to StubbsVideo game design has come a long way since 2005, and many will become frustrated with this Stubbs irregular checkpoints, empty rooms, spongy bosses, lack of clear goals and repetitive gameplay. Since Stubbs took me about six hours to complete, these cons didn’t mean the game was welcome worn out, which is nice. Shorter games are a feature that I have been missing from the mid 2000s. Remember when games were short? What a time.
Part of me wishes Stubbs The Zombie got a full remake, a more polished and modern adventure à la the recent Resident Evil remakes. One of the in-game achievements hints at a sequel, asking fans to demand one, so perhaps Asypr’s ultimate plan is to build up some excitement for more StubbsFor now, if you don’t mind having a mid-2000s whine, there’s a lot of fun to be found in the short but charming Stubbs The Zombie.
Stubbs The Zombie will be released March 16 on Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC. The game can be played on next generation consoles via backward compatibility.