19th February 2013, 6:34 AM
So the sad fact is just about every "big name" title for the original XBox ended up being superior on the PC, from Knights of the Old Republic to Fable. On the face of it, the original XBox had no exclusives.
But dig deeper, you find that while the titles everyone talked about may have been found elsewhere, there were a few amazing titles no one really talked about. Stubbs the Zombie in: Rebel Without a Pulse is one of them. This is an incredibly fun game with an idea that makes you wonder why no one ever did it before. Well, congress being what it is, a game about cannibalism and brain eating kinda got the producers in imaginary "hot water" during one particular go around on the "evils of video games" carousel. The producers gave it all the weight and seriousness such an accusation deserved (ie, none) with a hilarious letter about congress's "long time anti-zombie bias". So, other than some constructed panic, what does this game have to offer?
Well, the gameplay is closest to... I'd say Pikmin, if Olimar himself was a bit more involved in the fights, and also he ate brains. In this game, you play Stubbs, the one zombie in the world with some level of intelligence. Brought to life by a freak fertilizer accident, you will soon create an army of undead servents to sick on a slowly strengthening enemy, going from peasants to police to the army to mad scientists to the deadly deadly Elite Barber Shop Squad who sing you your doom. You can whistle to call your zombies to you and "shove" them in the direction you want them to go. They'll automatically start attacking any living nearby. Stubbs himself has some neat abilities, from a "gas bomb" that stuns things in range (and has a remarkably good range on it) to a walking hand that can possess the living, allowing you to use someone's weapons (zombies can't use them normally).
One this this game touts is how it was built using Halo's engine. Well, you'll be able to tell that right away. The title and option screens are basically just a re skinned version of the Halo screens, and just about every little interface item is similar. The graphics engine looks like it too, and driving vehicles feels exactly the same. It is a third person game though, one major difference. Sometimes the in-game cinematics are a little clunky, the "flow" from one moment to the next has a lot of "seams" to it. However, the game is never dull. The whole thing is set in Punchbowl, the "world of tomorrow", a future city set in the 1950's. Everyone speaks in highly stereotyped 1950's dialog. Some of the comedy comes from the things people say when you eat them. "No, my braaaains!" (Said in the style of a 1950's movie announcer.) Upon completing the game, a second play through adds hippo heads hidden throughout the game that function as developer commentary tracks.
If you can find this game, I highly recommend it. It is an enjoyable experience that should have got more press. I'll warn you though, I'm not alone in this assessment. The game goes for a pretty penny used these days.
But dig deeper, you find that while the titles everyone talked about may have been found elsewhere, there were a few amazing titles no one really talked about. Stubbs the Zombie in: Rebel Without a Pulse is one of them. This is an incredibly fun game with an idea that makes you wonder why no one ever did it before. Well, congress being what it is, a game about cannibalism and brain eating kinda got the producers in imaginary "hot water" during one particular go around on the "evils of video games" carousel. The producers gave it all the weight and seriousness such an accusation deserved (ie, none) with a hilarious letter about congress's "long time anti-zombie bias". So, other than some constructed panic, what does this game have to offer?
Well, the gameplay is closest to... I'd say Pikmin, if Olimar himself was a bit more involved in the fights, and also he ate brains. In this game, you play Stubbs, the one zombie in the world with some level of intelligence. Brought to life by a freak fertilizer accident, you will soon create an army of undead servents to sick on a slowly strengthening enemy, going from peasants to police to the army to mad scientists to the deadly deadly Elite Barber Shop Squad who sing you your doom. You can whistle to call your zombies to you and "shove" them in the direction you want them to go. They'll automatically start attacking any living nearby. Stubbs himself has some neat abilities, from a "gas bomb" that stuns things in range (and has a remarkably good range on it) to a walking hand that can possess the living, allowing you to use someone's weapons (zombies can't use them normally).
One this this game touts is how it was built using Halo's engine. Well, you'll be able to tell that right away. The title and option screens are basically just a re skinned version of the Halo screens, and just about every little interface item is similar. The graphics engine looks like it too, and driving vehicles feels exactly the same. It is a third person game though, one major difference. Sometimes the in-game cinematics are a little clunky, the "flow" from one moment to the next has a lot of "seams" to it. However, the game is never dull. The whole thing is set in Punchbowl, the "world of tomorrow", a future city set in the 1950's. Everyone speaks in highly stereotyped 1950's dialog. Some of the comedy comes from the things people say when you eat them. "No, my braaaains!" (Said in the style of a 1950's movie announcer.) Upon completing the game, a second play through adds hippo heads hidden throughout the game that function as developer commentary tracks.
If you can find this game, I highly recommend it. It is an enjoyable experience that should have got more press. I'll warn you though, I'm not alone in this assessment. The game goes for a pretty penny used these days.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)