World War Z is a book of short interviews with survivors of the zombie war. The book is depicted as if it actually happened, and this is a nice change for zombie stories. The book is broken down into different major events of the war. The book starts with warnings and signs of a zombie infection. After this, you get to hear about how people of all walks of life survived the war under various conditions. This ranges from businessmen, teenagers, astronauts stranded in space, soldiers, generals, doctors, moms, families, and every other type of person you can think of. They are from all over the world, and each story is completely different from the last.
Of course, there are a few duds that are full of dry politics, or the characters ramble on about one subject and never switch topics. Some of my favorite parts were when the author argued with or offended someone during an interview because it made it seem more real. Some interviews are short, while others just drag on too long. These uninteresting stories don’t come up too often, and they usually don’t talk much about an event or tell a specific story. They just talk about the politics surrounding the event or philosophize about it.
The zombies themselves are depicted as an unstoppable force that we can’t stop. Max Brooks chose to make you fear these things because sheer numbers overlook what they can do to you, and it all started. Battles are fought over millions of zombies coming at you, and this can create a fairly scary image. Towards the end of the book, you start to see how conventional warfare just doesn’t work on these things. Knowing that our army and high-tech equipment are ineffective against the undead is just astounding. This was probably the scariest thing of all. We rely on our military to protect us so much that when a problem comes up, they can’t fix it. You know everyone is screwed.
While all this is really interesting, the book doesn’t exactly have a hard conclusion or overall story. The book feels very loose and almost random because the interviewer jumps around all over the world, and each person’s story takes place at different times and locations, so you feel disoriented when reading. Despite all this, this is a wonderful zombie book that even takes storytelling to a different level. Just be patient and stick with the book, and you will enjoy it.
Zombies are a huge part of American pop culture and science fiction. They have invaded every single form of media known to man, but Schlozman takes a different approach to the genre, one that has never been explored before. He creates a small fictional story, but inside is a journal written by a scientist who does autopsies on zombies on a remote island base. He explains everything in real-world scientific form, and it’s hard not to believe that isn’t real.
This is probably the first time I have been almost convinced that zombies could really exist. This book is written like a government briefing, and inside contains the journal of Dr. Blum, who sacrifices himself to go to an island with two other world-renown doctors to help find a cure for ANSD, or “Zombiism.” The book follows a two-week period of the doctor’s life and what he discovers, which is fascinating. Everything is explained in exorbitant amounts of detail, but in between are the happenings of what’s going on on the island. The book is gory, scary, and surreal all at the same time, which is almost revolutionary for the zombie genre.
The actual journal part is written on gray pages and in a handwritten font. This makes the book feel more real. The illustrations are crude, anatomically correct sketches of what the doctor is seeing. I only wish the journal part was longer than 150 pages. The last 50 are appendices that explain the meaning of the journal. The first few are pretty dry and written in formal official document form, but the final ones are emails, letters, and short journals of what’s going on in the post-nuclear world, where only one-third of humanity remains. The book is brief and leaves you craving more, only because of how well-written and believable this novel is.
I can’t wait for more from this author, but zombie fans are rejoicing in a breath of fresh air in the genre. This is a creatively written book and one that deserves some earned accolades. Pick this up if you are a fan of science, anatomy, or zombies, but beware of the graphic content within.
There seems to be no end in sight to zombie games, but the good ones are far and few between. With Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising being the staples, Dead Island puts itself on the map as the true zombie simulator. It holds true to that statement with realistic combat, atmosphere, and a terrifying story (albeit it doesn’t get really interesting until towards the end). You can pick one of four characters who each specialize in a certain weapon (sharp objects, blunt objects, throwing objects, and guns). You follow the four heroes through the story of the resort island Banoi, which has been struck with some sort of biological weapon or disease. No one really knows. You must help the survivors get off the island, but things don’t go according to plan.
I would like to say that Dead Island feels like Fallout meets Left 4 Dead, with a little bit of Dead Rising thrown in. The combat is superb, if a tad unwieldy, because it features an analog-type combat system. The game is in the first person, so the last melee game in the first person you probably played was Oblivion. You can move the weapon around via the right analog stick, pull back, and push forward, bringing out a full swing. It feels awesome because each weapon feels different, and the game has a great dismemberment engine, so when you aim for that part, it will most likely come off. Even the shooting in the game is solid, and that’s a one-two punch that most games can’t get right.
There are RPG elements thrown in, so when you complete missions or kill zombies, you’re earning experience. You get one point per level to use in one of three categories: fury, combat, or health. Fury is a model that you can activate to do ultra-damage to enemies and earn 10x the amount of experience when doing so. There are a lot of ways to upgrade, and you won’t get them all in one play-through. Thankfully, the game levels up with you, so you won’t run into areas that require level grinding to get past. A lot of the quests are mixed with escort missions, fetch quests, and zombie-killing quests. There are undead people to kill as well, but most of them have guns, so watch out.
The atmosphere of the game is amazing and just really creepy. There are zombies everywhere, in all shapes and sizes. The two most common are Walkers and Infected. Infected people cannot be avoided since they run at you faster than you can even run. There are floaters, thugs (these guys are almost impossible to take down when you first start), suiciders (they explode), and the rare butchers. Each zombie is freaking creepy, and there is a huge variety of them since they change with each area you change into. The game is nonlinear, with huge open areas to explore at your leisure. Like in Fallout, you can collect stuff from pretty much anything and use it to make mods, of which there are dozens. Some of these are awesome, like attaching a saw blade to a bat, turning swords into shock weapons, making guns shoot fiery bullets, etc. These are mostly found by completing missions, so try to get all the side missions you can.
You can drive in the game, which feels just fine and is a blast to run over zombies; this is required in some missions, and it is best to travel long distances across the island. Also, the areas vary from the beach to the jungle, the city of Moresby, and the prison. There is a huge variety of everything, from weapons to zombies to environments, so you never really get bored with the game. While that’s the core of the game, you just always want to wander off and find people in distress (hey, you are immune to zombie bites!) and just try every weapon out there as well as upgrade them at the workbenches. Of course, weapons break and need to be repaired, which costs money, and you can sell stuff, trade, and even pick the money up out in the zombie wilderness.
The game is also very hard most of the time since it was designed for a four-player co-op. There is a drop-in-out co-op online, which is a blast, and there are plenty of people playing. A lot of the time, missions are just so hard because you get too many zombies thrown at you for just one person. If you die, you just wait 7 seconds and respawn, but you lose a lot of money as a penalty. The more money you have, the more you will lose. This is a great idea, but healing is a problem since medkits are rare and food only heals you so much and you can’t store it.
The only problems with the game are that people with high-end PCs are jipped unless they go edit the config file themselves to push the graphics further. There are a lot of glitches, and the combat is awesome, but controlling it is a bit off and finicky. I mentioned that the difficulty is all over the place, so expect some frustrating sections where you will die over a dozen times. While the story is good, the characters are boring, not likeable, and just feel pretty generic overall, so this took a big hit for me more than anything. Overall, Dead Island is my favorite zombie game so far, and fans shouldn’t miss it.
DLC has only become important in this new generation and can really extend the longevity of game months beyond its release date. Good DLC consists of keeping true to the original game, adding solid content, and making the player feel satisfied with the money they spent.
Undead Nightmare (Red Dead Redemption)
Yeah, yeah it’s zombies, but in Red Dead? It’s perfect! The DLC even packs in a great story and is tons of fun to run around on horseback shooting zombies. The co-op multiplasdfasdfayer is also a hoot, but it’s the fluidity of the DLC and the perfect match that pits it over the others that just feels like chapters or extra missions.
I was waiting for this game ever since I stepped foot into RE4 two years ago (on the better PS2 version). For some reason, RE5 feels like RE4.5 since it feels so similar, and this was a big disappointment for me. Don’t get me wrong, RE5 is phenomenal, but all the similarities can make avid RE4 players quickly bored and/or not so impressed. Rewind four years ago to that pre-rendered still of Chris Redfield during the RE5 announcement and look (or remember) how amazing it looked.
Well, since it took so long to come out, RE5 now looks on par with most next-gen games. It is one of the best-looking games out right now, but what RE5 does that RE4 didn’t do is have amazing cinematic cutscenes. RE4 had a lot of interactive cut scenes, but RE5’s are very cinematic (buy the collector’s edition and you’ll see the new camera technology they used to make these amazing cutscenes). There are fewer interactive cutscenes (press the so-and-so button within 2-3 seconds), but everything else makes up for it. RE5’s controls and basic gameplay are exactly the same as RE4’s. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? There’s still the over-the-shoulder camera, along with the whole laser sight and the whole wonky control scheme. While it still works, it does feel dated, and I wish there were a more Gears of War-type control setup or even something more modern.
One of my main gripes is that your attached case is a whole lot smaller, and you can’t upgrade it like in RE4. Sure, you have a quick-select button, but I’d prefer more room for stuff, thanks. You get nine NINE slots, and they are quickly used up. Let’s say you have a vest, four different weapons, and four ammo types. There’s no room for health (yes, it’s still the stupid herb ordeal), grenades, or anything else. This requires a lot more sacrificing, but thankfully your sexy buddy, Sheva Alamar, has nine slots as well, so you can trade and exchange items with each other. Yes, there is a “buddy system,” and I think in a zombie-ridden Africa, the buddy system is great (don’t worry, it’s not a “bodyguard” system like RE4 Sheva actually fights). Sheva’s AI is pretty good. Sometimes she tends to try and shoot through you half the time and doesn’t like to keep up with you when you’re bombarded with enemies.
Rarely will you die from this, but if you do, you get mad. This is why RE5 is a better-played co-op, online or offline. This is great and even has a Left 4 Dead feel since you’re surviving zombie hordes while trying to stop…err…a really bad man from unleashing the new Uroboros virus around the world. Since this is a next-gen system, the boss fights are bigger, badder, and tougher, and boy, do I mean BIGGER!!! You thought the El Gigante was huge on the GC, PS2, and Wii tries shooting up a 30-foot flying B.O.W. or something that’s the size of a naval freight ship. A few new elements are added to certain boss fights, such as “key weapons,” and these are only good for that fight. You may have a rechargeable flamethrower, an RPG, or even a satellite gun, kind of like the Hammer of Dawn in Gears of War. While all boss fights are a major challenge, you can always do it in one try. There are a lot more weapons in RE5, but most of them are useless since they are slight variations of other weapons. It takes longer to completely upgrade weapons, and you can only do this when you start the game, die, and are in between levels. No, there’s no creepy British dude with stuff under his coat selling you things. I found this change a bad one since it may hinder some people when they need a weapon before a certain point. Upgrades cost a lot more and thus make unlockables harder to get.
Another great thing about being next-gen is that the levels are now huge and the puzzles are challenging but not confusing and scatterbrained. There are a lot of little goodies to collect and unlock. You can use points for achieving certain things (such as finding all BSAA emblems, beating certain levels, etc.) to unlock figurines, filters, costumes, etc. These add great replay value and can make the game more fun a second time. When you beat the game, you get a mercenary mode (like in RE4) that pits you against tons of zombies you have to fend off. RE5 is an amazing game, but it feels too similar for RE4 veterans and may hinder and bring down your expectations.
claps Yessss, thank you, Sega, for making one of the few mature-rated games for us adults out there. Thank you. House of the Dead: Overkill plays more on the great HotD series that started back in the early 90s in the arcades. You play Agent G with his foul-mouthed partner Isaac Washington (yes, he’s black!) as you figure out why zombies are plaguing the US. While the story is hilarious, vulgar, rude, and completely dirty, there are tons of funny voice acting and dialog to enjoy. The characters are played out very well, and you get pretty attached early on (there are only about 8 levels or so), along with the major hottie, Varla Gunns.
The game plays like a typical on-rails FPS where the game controls where you move and you just worry about the shooting. The game has many locales, from jails to hospitals to swamps to theme parks, so you won’t get bored one little bit. There are many guns to buy and upgrade, along with some great unlockables for beating the game. While you wander through levels, there are a few temperature upgrades you can shoot (I wish there were more), such as health, grenades, green blobs that slow downtime for a little while, and gold braids. Yes, collect all these brains, and you unlock artwork, videos, etc. Now upgrading your weapons is mandatory, such as less recoil, clip size, damage, and the whole nine yards. You can have up to two weapons equipped, and switching back and forth between these two is a great strategy when you have too many zombies to deal with. You start off the game with a pistol, and if you save up your money (more on how later), you can buy more weapons. Buying a shotgun first is great since you use all your rounds to clear most of the zombies out and then switch to your pistol to finish off stubborn stragglers.
One great thing about OK is that it never gets too frustrating. When you die, you start off right where you were with no continues. Of course, you take a score hit, but people who don’t care about this won’t break their Wiimotes in anger. The levels are just the right length, taking about 10–15 minutes to complete with super-fun boss fights. Each boss will have their weak point circled in red, and all you have to do is shoot whatever projectile they fire at you and keep on them. The bosses are disgusting, grotesque, and very funny-looking. You’re probably all great, but there’s more!
MULTIPLAYER MAN!! That’s the best ever. While it’s the same as a single player, having someone help you can always be fun. Now, if you beat the game, you get the director’s cut (I won’t say what it is!!). Along with being able to dual-wield weapons, yes, it’s sweet, super fun, and adds lots of replay value. Wouldn’t that make the game too easy, you say? Well, use the “Extra Mutants” tweak before each level, and you have an extra challenge. Sadly, there is no online play, but hopefully, a future HotD will have it. I HIGHLY recommend this super fun game to any adult who has dust collecting on their Wii.
Once again, Valve brings us another great game using their source engine that brings all the elements of Left 4 Dead to life (or death???) The first thing you’ll notice (mainly Valve fans) is that the Source engine has had a next-gen upgrade (even more so than Portal), and everything looks amazing. While HL2 fans will notice some sounds and elements of the engine from those games, it doesn’t really bother you. The game looks stunning with excellent lighting effects, awesome AI (enemy and friendly), great character models, high-res textures, and just everything you’d expect out of the source engine. L4D, however, isn’t really a single-player-only experience; in fact, you won’t even see the full potential of this four-player game unless you play online.
The game is comprised of four campaigns, and each campaign has five levels. Each level gets longer and more and more difficult, with a final level where you have to face off hundreds of zombies until your rescue transport arrives. At the start of each campaign, you get to choose the four characters (each character just starts out with a different weapon). Speaking of weapons, I was disappointed in the small selection that there was (just pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and a sniper rifle, along with bombs and Molotov). The basic idea is that these four characters have to cover each other’s butts through these levels while you face off massive hordes of zombies. The whole idea is a bit more in-depth, with some gameplay elements thrown in there. For example, zombies are attracted to noise and light, so if you keep your flashlight on near zombies, they’ll charge you. Shoot a car that has its headlights on, and you’ll have to face off with dozens of zombies charging at you because you set off the car alarm. Killing these zombies is fairly easy since a few shots will bring them down, but it’s sheer numbers that make up for this.
There are over 150 different zombie types, but there are a few “special” zombies that are harder to take down. These are the Tanks (massive zombies that will take all four people to bring down), Smokers (these guys have super long tongues that snatch you up), Boomers (no, not like in Gears of War, if these guys vomit on you, they attract more zombies, and the same if you blow them up if they’re too close to you), Witches (you hear them cry through levels, and if you disturb them, they’ll take you down and you are down until someone revives you), and Hunters (which are super fast-moving zombies that pounce on you and eat you until someone saves you). This changes the gameplay up, along with certain sections requiring you to do something, such as hit this switch to move this, and while this is happening, you have to fend off hordes of zombies. The game is probably the only “zombie simulator” out there because they just act and look so real, and you really do feel helpless in the middle of nowhere with hundreds of zombies around you.
Of course, you’ll blow through the four campaigns in about 3–4 hours, but it’s the great online play that extends the replay value. The way levels are played out is very original as well since you have to get everyone into a “safe room” at the end of the level (look for the red door) and close it, thus the next level loads and you get to restock on health and ammo. Throughout the levels, you may find rare ammo stocks, pipe bombs, etc. It’s the final levels that really are hard since you have to fend off so many zombies, and this can be hard for a single player since the AI won’t go anywhere unless you do. When your transport arrives, you must start heading towards it before it gets to you, because if you’re surrounded by dozens of zombies, you’re dead. If your teammates die, they tend to respawn in closets or behind closed doors. Once you run out of health, you can be healed by other teammates or take pills to temporarily fill your void. L4D is a wonderful game, but it’s tight on content and lacks more maps that we need (Valve sucks when it comes to DLC). I highly recommend this game as a great online multiplayer game.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Yep! The fact that I forgot about this game until you made a comment proves that.