Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Zombie Games

Zombies: they're everywhere. They've become iconic monsters and have even found their way into mainstream pop culture. Dozens of movies feature them, they're the antagonists of countless video games, and people even have massive zombie walks made up of dozens of people dressed up as the undead. They used to be voodoo boogeymen and changed into reanimated (either through science or some other hokum) corpses and in the post RE4/28 Days Later era can be live humans driven into mindless, psychotic rages.They can be funny, scary, heroic or just plain cool depending on the depiction. More than anything that fascinates me about zombies is that compared to monsters like werewolves and vampires, zombies are really the working-class monster. They don't get any fancy powers (with a few exceptions) or have sex appeal like vamps do and they're not bright by a long shot, but they still manage to overwhelm all us intelligent, living flesh-bags due to their tenacity, overwhelming numbers and their sheer will to see us dead and eaten. Here are my picks for the top ten zombie games. Join the crowd.

Okay, let me try to explain this--there's a Nintendo game about a flying samurai head that has to destroy all the zombies unleashed on America because a meteorite crashed there. It plays like a horizontal shooter except you're a head and you're shooting eye-beams at zombies. Talk about out there, this game is merely on the list simply because of how out of the norm it is for a zombie game. Zombie games are about rag-tag survivors fighting off countless hordes of the undead or a military team shooting them down and stuff. Not a giant floating Japanese head shooting at zombies and what not like it was a regular fighter jet or something.

Yes, the Evil Dead games fell well short of our lofty expectations, but you can't blame Bruce Campbell. He lent his voice and likeness so at least we have that. It's time for demonic zombies to get their shout-out and I chose Regeneration because it's the best Evil Dead game, which isn't saying a whole lot. The premise is that Ash, our dim-witted and chainsaw-armed hero long ago unleashed an evil spirit that possesses the living and turns them into psychotic zombies. This game takes a "what-if" approach to the story and instead of going to medieval times, Ash finds himself in an asylum where all hell is breaking loose and there's Kandarian demon-possessed deadites everywhere. Ash also teams up with Sam, voiced by Ted Raimi who's a short deadite that respawns when killed so Ash can punt him like a soccer ball to his heart's content. The only reason you need to know why it's on here is 'cause Evil Dead is one of my favorite horror movies and until a better ED game comes along, this'll have to do.

Well, aren't we prepared for the zombie apocalypse? You've got more shotguns than the US Army and picked out a fortified bunker. And when you do need to go out for supplies, there's nothing to worry about since you're practically an Olympic runner compared those slow, brain-dead zombies and they can't possibly catch up to you. Nothing left to do but kick your feet up and--oh crap, they're armed and firing back! All your zombie apocalypse fantasies don't seem too appealing now that they can shoot back, do they? Beast Busters is a 1989 arcade shoot 'em up put out by SNK that takes place in a city overtaken by the undead with you cast in the role of one of three men trying to get out: Johnny Justice, Paul Patriot and Sammy Stately. Yeah, terrific writing I know. What separates these zombies is their ability to pick up handguns and point them in your general direction. Since this a shooter, there are a lot of undead to take care of as well as zombie dogs (zogs?). It's also filled with delightful '80s gaming gore as all the undead burst into red clouds of blood and guts. Imagine if there was an army made up of Bub The Zombie from Day of the Dead and you're Captain Rhodes and you'll get the picture.

If the whole point of a title is to capture your attention, then Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a big mission accomplished. How could you not stop in your tracks when you walked around the rental store and saw the box? The title alone is great, but it's got a campy '50s look to it, complete with a screaming blond damsel-in-distress with gray-faced zombies right behind her. The game's about, if you haven't picked on the motif yet, a zombie outbreak happening in the 'burbs and it's up to two teens to rescue their neighbors from becoming lunch. It's not gory or scary, it's meant to be a campy homage to all the cliches in '50s/80s horror movies. Developed by LucasArts, Zombies was never popular but it did become something of a cult favorite. It was followed up by Ghoul Patrol though it wasn't even as well-remembered as Zombies was. While zombies were low-level enemies in many Super Nintendo games, this was one of the instances when they were thrust into the spotlight. They get top billing, can't say that for the two teen heroes, can you?

It's about time zombies were the protagonists in games instead of just being enemies. Stubbs is a depression-era salesmen who comes back as a zombie to wreak havoc on Punchbowl, PA and its 1950's denizens. Now one zombie against so many people sounds a bit unfair, so Stubbs has some neat powers. First off like any zombie worth his salt, he can eat brains and turn his victims into zombies. A proper zombie apocalypse scenario needs to have overwhelming numbers of zombies by the end. His hand can detach and crawl Evil Dead II-style and attach itself to unsuspecting victims or Stubbs can throw his head like a bowling ball. One of the best abilities is you can reach into your chest and throw an explosive organ at your enemies. Talk about indigestion. Stubbs may not have become a smash hit, but it did something very different and showed that even if you're dead you can still make a great game protagonist.

Try to get the images of Uwe Boll's terrible film adaptation out of your mind, I'm talking about the original arcade zombie-shooting classic The House of the Dead. The plot is sheer B-movie greatness. There's a house (of the dead) where a crazy doctor has been experimenting (on the dead) and creating zombies (who are dead) that massacre all the staff (making them dead) and it's up to a couple of cops to shoot everything in sight like in every other arcade shooter in existence. We've got fat zombies, skinny zombies, fast zombies, slow zombies, muscular zombies, monkey zombies, dog zombies, zombies with chainsaws, zombies with axes, zombie slugs, giant armored zombies, gooey zombies, dry and weathered zombies and even zombie torsos running at you. Talk about variety! There's nothing better than shooting a chainsaw-wielding zombie a bunch of times and still having its legs coming after you. You can choose which path to take at certain points and there are dopey civilians to save, but House isn't trying to rewrite the arcade shooter, it's just trying to put more zombies, gore, and cheesy dialogue into it.

A group of survivors trapped in a mall surrounded by zombies...where have I heard that one before? After developing dozens of Resident Evil games, Capcom knows a thing or two about zombies. Dead Rising is one of those games that's instantly appealing based on the concept alone. You play as burly photographer Frank West who's stuck in the Willamette Mall in Colorado during a mysterious zombie outbreak along with many survivors, some of whom are frightened innocents who need your help to get them to safety or murderous psychopaths like a clown armed with two chainsaws or a grossly overweight butcher. It's up to you to save the innocents or let 'em die or even whether or not you're going to solve the mystery of why all this is happening. You have 72 game hours to decide what to do. But no matter what you do, you'll have to fight off hundreds of zombies, this is one of the early games that showed us the true graphical power of an Xbox 360. There are so many of them that you can literally walk on top of them like they were some kind of fleshy, undead suspension bridge. Frank can level up and learn new moves like tackling zombies, ripping their heads off with his bare hands, tearing their guts out, or even pretending to be a zombie himself. My personal favorite is the ability to spit on zombies and people as well, it's hilarious. And the weapons, oh boy are there a lot of them. This isn't just any mall, this is a Mall of America type of mall where there's every type of store imaginable. You can use chainsaws, lawn mowers, cars, soda cans, buckets, soccer balls, grocery carts, machetes, axes, dumb bells, benches, TVs, golf clubs...I could go on forever. If you don't find anything appealing about suplexing zombies or disemboweling them while you're wearing a Mega Man helmet, a pink dress and heels then maybe you should reassess what you consider to be game of the year material.

Left 4 Dead takes the cinematic zombie experience and distills it into video game form. All the conventions are there: the urban settings, the character types and the thrilling escapes. This is co-op like you've never seen it before. Whereas most multiplayer shooters that are cooperative make it pretty much optional, you have no choice but to help out your teammates if you want to survive the level. You each depend on each other to heal and save one another from danger. It takes a minimalist approach and that works best--it's half past the zombie apocalypse and the four of you are trying to get to safety. The zombies are rabid humans who also number in the hundreds and can sprint like mad. In addition there are five special zombies that each have unique abilities. The Witch is like a zombified land mine that goes off and kills whenever someone doesn't sneak past it, The Boomer is a fat zombie that pukes on players which attracts a horde, The Hunter who pounces on players and won't stop clawing until they're dead, The Smoker has a long tongue that ensnares players and The Tank is just musclebound behemoth that takes the entire team to bring down. L4D is notable in that the gameplay experience changes. One play through the game might throw everything and the kitchen sink at you and another it may be a cakewalk. You never know what kind of experience you're going to get, but rest assured it's frantic zombie shooting and solid teamwork.

A lot has been made of the so-called "fast zombies" with camps divided into those who don't care, love them, and those that believe that zombies should only be slow, undead flesh-eaters. 28 Days Later changed all that, not only could zombies be fast, but they didn't necessarily have to be dead. Just because they don't want to turn you into a steak doesn't mean they aren't going to kill you horrifically. Just ask Leon Kennedy, now a special agent and tracking down the president's kidnapped daughter to a remote European village (hint: it's Spain) and found himself having to fight through legions of bloodthirsty Ganados and other horrific monstrosities that made Umbrella's abominations look like cute puppies by comparison. The Ganados were ordinary villagers who had been corrupted and taken over by a cult using parasites. Unlike the slow-moving zombies of the past, these guys ran at Leon like crazy and there were dozens of them. They threw farming equipment at him and chased him with pitchforks and torches. Lest we forget Dr. Salvador who's weapon of choice was a chainsaw, its roars sending gamers everywhere into a panic. These guys were smarter than the average zombie and quicker to boot, near the end they even had miniguns and body armor. Luckily Leon has the tools and the know-how for the job. Resident Evil 4 did for games what 28 Days Later did for movies which was completely overhaul how we looked at zombies. RE4 revolutionized the series and took it into the modern era. Resident Evil 4 is not only one of the greatest zombie games of all time, it's an undisputed classic.

Honestly I could've put a bunch of RE games in here, but I feel Resident Evil 2 is worth mentioning because it encapsulates everything the classic pre-RE4 gameplay stands for. Some will disagree that the original Resident Evil (or RE4) should be number one, but I think this entry had the most impact. This was the game that I literally bought the original Playstation for, it was the game I salivated over and played dozens of times. This was the game that engraved the Resident Evil name into the minds of gamers worldwide and it sold the most copies only until Resident Evil 5 came along eleven years later. Where to start? After Jill and Chris narrowly escape the zombie slaughter at the mansion, Raccoon City is going to hell with all sorts of undead and monstrosities showing up. RE2 keeps the same dual-story perspective as you'll play through a total of four scenarios as either Leon Kennedy, a rookie cop or Claire Redfield, Chris' little sis. It does everything a sequel should do and it improves the RE formula in every area: better graphics, more weapons, huge bosses and monsters, and FMVs played throughout the campaigns. The dialogue was still as hammy as usual but that was all a part of RE2's charm. It's been ported to the PC, Dreamcast, Gamecube and even crammed into an N64 cartridge. As I reflect on RE2, all I can think is how much of a contrast it is to zombie games now. Today zombies are less of a scary threat and are more like target practice. Not so in RE2. You were much better off running away and conserving your handful of bullets. You were surrounded and considered screwed if three to five zombies were closing in on you. Now you mow through hundreds of zombies like they were sheets of wet paper. How times have changed.

Like with most top ten lists, being a really good game is always a great start to be mentioned, but for this list it was more based on how these games either played with, changed, or evolved the definition of zombies and how we look at them or put an innovative spin on the zombie mythos. I didn't discriminate--all zombies are equal in my book. Fast zombies, live zombies, zombies with weird new powers (L4D), zombies with personality, scary zombies, funny zombies, brain-eating zombies, flesh-eating zombies...the works. It may seem like a cop-out to have two Resident Evil games, but I feel they're worlds apart and both greatly defined how zombies are represented in gaming. We still have Dead Rising 2, Left 4 Dead 2 coming out shortly, and of course more REs such as Darkside Chronicles on the horizon. Zombies aren't going anywhere any time soon.

List by Geistosan (11/13/2009)