Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse

"Stubbs is ambitious, humorous, and quite fun, but it's over way too soon."

Zombies are a staple of the horror industry. They inspire terror through their emotionless, animalistic bloodlust; in fact, the very concept behind their existence – that of a being living in a gray area between life and death – is based in humanity's deepest fears. Videogames involving zombies are as old as some of the earliest game systems, and for better or for worse, there are usually several new zombie games released per year.

Stubbs the Zombie manages to stick out from the undead pack, thanks to its unique take on the genre. In Stubbs, you will not be fighting for survival against a zombie horde; instead, you will (as the game's promotional material reads) ‘Be the Zombie.' Does Stubbs' distinctive model translate into a worthy expenditure of your time? Read on:

Visuals:

Stubbs is set in a fictional 1950s utopian city, and the game's overall theme reflects the influences of the era well. The main menu is brought up on a tombstone, which is a nice touch, but all submenus look a bit more modern and utilitarian. There are few options to speak of, but everything there is to access is easy to get to.

Stubbs was created using the Halo game engine (actually, the game's case very boldly states on both sides Stubbs' connections to Halo), and so the graphics in many ways behave like those of Halo. The game uses Halo's profile system and menu setup to deal with user preferences and saved games, and the graphical performance in general mimics the look of Halo very closely.

In-game graphics look good in Stubbs. Everything in the game looks very much like the future might have been imagined back in the 1950s, and the feel this gives the game is impressive. None of the graphics are blow-you-away amazing, but they are notable for their technical proficiency and witty portrayal of their subject matter. The environments in particular are well suited to their time period, and there are several small effects, like bullets causing noticeable damage, that help the atmosphere in the game. All cutscenes are rendered in the game engine, and look similarly good.

The animation is particularly good during these scenes, as the motion capture actors have cleverly depicted the actions of the game's zombie horde, which is no small feat. Of course, the presence of the Halo engine means that the wacky Halo physics engine is here as well, and you will occasionally be treated to its amusing exploits. This is never an inconvenience, and has the potential to create some humorous situations during your playing experience.

Stubbs the Zombie is a very sound game from a graphical standpoint, with few noticeable flaws to speak of.

Score: 8/10

Sound:

The sound in Stubbs draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, and it all comes together to form a very appealing and well-made package.

Stubbs' sound effects are mostly generic, with gunfire, vehicles, and explosions sounding as you would expect them to. Zombie-related sound effects do stand out, though, as their constant groaning lays the framework for Stubbs' world.

With the large amount of one-liners that a game like Stubbs needs, the voice acting is quite important to the game's personality. Luckily, Stubbs features top-to-bottom high-quality performances in the voice acting department. The human voice actors do an excellent job with their lines, always reaching the right balance between exaggeration and seriousness in their silly dialogue. The zombies' voice work, though, is the real star, which speaks volumes to the game's scriptwriters – after all, these zombies only utter the word ‘brains' throughout the entire game.

The music in the game is a mix of generic in-game fight themes and covers of 1950s pop hits by modern bands. The pop covers are a treat to listen to, to the point where you may seriously consider buying the game's soundtrack. Unfortunately, they appear rarely during the actual gameplay, and the music that plays most often in between is grossly bland. It's disappointing that you can't hear these songs in their entirety as you play through the game.

While the acoustic score in Stubbs is of very high quality, the lack of some sort of feature to play the excellent soundtrack outside of scripted points in the game hurts the overall feel. This is, though, the only complaint about the otherwise solid sound lineup.

Score: 9/10

Gameplay:

As with the Halo franchise, Stubbs is a linear combat-based game that mostly involves progressing through levels and killing anyone who gets in your way. The gameplay is very simple and repetitive, but it is enjoyable enough to leave a positive impression; unfortunately, this is likely due to the game's extremely short duration.

Anyone who has played Halo, or any of the shooters whose controls derive from that game's, will feel comfortable with Stubbs' control setup right away. While on foot, you move with the left analog stick, and control the camera with the right. The A button has the player's character jump, the X button and right trigger use your basic attacks, the Y button serves as a situation- responsive interaction button, and the left trigger launches special intestinal grenades. The B button, white button, and black button are all used to activate Stubbs' special moves (flatulence, mind-control, and an explosive head, respectively). The controls in vehicles are exactly the same, and feel like they are straight out of Halo. The start button brings up the pause menu. The controls are very easy to become accustomed to, which is also aided by the helpful tutorials you receive every time you earn a new ability. The fact that these controls are based off of Halo's assures that they are well suited for the XBox controller.

Of course, with gameplay as simple as this, it's difficult to imagine anyone ever being confused by the controls. The storyline missions all essentially break down into the same thing: you need to get from where you are to another point in the level, and it's usually necessary (or at least extremely helpful) to kill all of the people who oppose your progress. Every human that you kill returns to life as a zombie minion of yours, and you can control their behavior through the rudimentary methods of whistling at them to follow you or just shoving them in the direction you wish them to move. The levels are all fairly short, and thanks to multiple mid-mission checkpoints (again, another Halo engine feature), progressing through them is not terribly difficult on the default setting once you know what you're doing. There are a couple of boss fights mixed in, and an entire level devoted to a DDR-style dancing game, but overall you'll be doing a lot of shambling and brain eating.

The enemies in the game are, for the most part, fairly intelligent in their tactics – or at least, realistic, given that no one in the 50's likely had to face a zombie army. Once you get a good-sized legion going, you can move through the crowd and pick off humans individually, using your undead ‘buddies' as cannon fodder. Some of your special abilities, such as your intestinal grenades, are excellent for dealing with crowds, and mind control is fun to use, simply to see enemy reactions to your subjugated foe. Of course, you'll need to eat brains along the way as well, since this both heals you (you have a recharging health meter, such as that of Halo's Master Chief, and eating brains jump-starts it), and refills your special meters.

The repetitive nature of Stubbs' basic gameplay may be a turnoff for some, but if you're a fan of action games, it can be very enjoyable at times. Playing as the zombie is an intrinsically amusing experience, and the inherent enjoyment of munching brains to build your own personal zombie horde sustains the gameplay for the duration of play.

As a matter of fact, the gameplay never gets a chance to get boring, since it only lasts a few hours total. The storyline of the game can be fully beaten in a single evening, and experienced players may be able to finish it in less than four hours. This lack of length serves as a real disappointment, since the game is so endearing. Playing on higher difficulty levels should prolong the experience a bit, but there's nothing to see there that you won't see on the default difficulty.

The gameplay experience in Stubbs the Zombie is over much too soon, but it is very fun while it lasts.

Score: 7/10

Story:

The story of Stubbs centers on the titular zombie, Edward ‘Stubbs' Stubblefield, who has been subjected to some very bad luck in his (prematurely ended) life. Of course, the storyline is fairly threadbare, but this isn't a problem, since the scriptwriting and humor in the game is top-notch.

Stubbs was a traveling salesman in the 1930s that suffered the untimely fate of being summarily executed and buried in the Pennsylvania countryside during a sales call. Almost 30 years later, that same countryside has given rise to a futuristic utopian city, filled with the sort of generic, picture-perfect people that dominated 1950s culture. Stubbs, for reasons unknown, rises from his grave, and begins to set things amok throughout the town, eventually seeing (and destroying) all of its notable areas.

The story isn't the most entertaining to ever to grace a videogame, but it sets up the action as well as it needs to. The true stars of the game are the witless humans, whose lines are extremely funny, and the zombies, who really use the word ‘brains' to great comic effect throughout the course of the campaign. The script does as excellent job of mixing campy humor with small inside jokes, and overall Stubbs comes out as a laugh-out-loud funny game.

While you certainly won't fall head-over-heels in love with the storyline in Stubbs the Zombie, you should be greatly amused by the top-notch humor. Besides, who needs a story in a game where you play as the zombie?

Score: 10/10

Features/Modes:

As it is based on the Halo engine, Stubbs features a similar two-player cooperative multiplayer option for its storyline campaign. This makes the game's length somewhat easier to tolerate, as you and a buddy could easily play from start to finish in an evening. Other than this co-op play, the only other extra to speak of in Stubbs is multiple difficulty levels, and unless you really loved the game, there is little reason to play these.

Stubbs the Zombie lacks not only in play length, but also in value.

Score: 3/10

Total Score:

Let's face it: most zombie games in this console generation are extremely derivative and uninteresting. The genre has been done to death, and is in desperate need of an infusion of originality. Stubbs the Zombie tries to remedy this situation, and for a little while, it succeeds. Unfortunately, a short play time and a lack of replay value ultimately kill its ambition before it can come to full fruition.

Fans of zombie games, or anyone who is interested in playing a quick and violent game with an excellent sense of humor, would do well to rent Stubbs. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your gaming satisfaction.

Score: 6/10 (not an average)

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Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/06