TGWTG User Blogs

   How many survival-horror games have you played? And in how many of those do you play as a tough policeman/policewoman, some guy from the military, a combination of those two (cough, cough, Resident Evil 0), or some random civilion who convientaly knows how to use and reload every weapon he/she picks up, fighting zombies who say, "Boo!" each time you open a door? Yeah, I know. It's kind of sad when you count how many there are. Have you ever gotten tired of those games? Well, have you? Do you want to see how the other side lives? Do you want to know what it is like to say. "Boo!"? Well, that is exactaly what you do in Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse! In the game, you go around as a zombie (named Stubbs) with the sole purpose to eat people's brains. Before you ask, yes there is a plot, and quite a good one at that; however, the plot really doesn't pick up towards the end of the game.

Stubbs the Zombie takes place in 1959. The new city of Punchbowl has opened in Pennsylvania. Punchbowl is not like most other cities in 1959, however. No, I don't mean the zombie madness. Punchbowl has entered the 21st century early, and the city includes hovercars, robots, and slick chrome architecture.

Punchbowl, Pennsylvania, opening day: All is going well on the grand opening day of Punchbowl. The mayor, and the man who funded the building of the city, is happy with his creation. But the beautiful blue sky is soon to turn red with blood when a zombie crawls out of his unmarked grave in the public park to unleash his unholy revenge on those who wronged him in his life. But armed only with his arms, teeth, intestines, and an ugly tie, this zombie is going to need some help.

Well, now that you have the jist of the story, let's move on:

The gameplay in Stubbs is pretty straightforward and simple. The "X" button makes Stubbs slash at his victim with his razor-sharp claws of some steel-like substance proturding from the fingers that is strong enough to sever torsos at the waist. Or they may be fingernails. Regardless of what Stubbs' claws are made of it is an efficient attack. Once Stubbs' victim has been attacked enough, he/she will let down his/her guard. Then Stubbs can sink his teeth into the soft, juicy brain underneath the hard, crunchy skull. Simple and entertaining. BUT that's not all Stubbs can do. He has four special attacks which become avaliable at different points of the game. The first speacial ability lets Stubbs relieve himself of some of that stomach pain by passing gas. And what gas he can pass. Anyone who is cought within the large blast radius is stunned and can do nothing but stand there and cough, letting Stubbs frelly eat his/her brain without any resistance. The next specail attack lets Stubbs rip his left arm off and throw it on the floor. Woo... Threating... But wait! The arm is moving! Yes, the player can control the arm which, by itself, does nothing until paired with someone's head. The player then has complete control of the person the arm head-crabbed. So, if the possesed has a firearm the game turns into a shooter. This really is a neat feature and provides for a nice change of pace from the attack-eat method. Well, we have leared of two sort of non-leathel special attacks Stubbs has. Right now you might be wondering, "But what if I want to kill people really fast?" Well, the last two special attacks allow you to do just that: one allows Stubbs to use his pancreas as a grenade and the other lets Mr. Zombie (Stubbs, that is) rip off his own head and use it as a bowling ball. An exploding bowling ball. But don't worry, both the arm and head come back to Stubbs. The special attacks each have their own seperate meters which fill up as you eat brains.

Ahh... good times.

 Now, conquering a whole city with one zombie sounds tough, right? Well, it is. That's why Stubbs has a little help from his friends. Anybody who has some sort of zombie related death will turn into a zombie. Weather their brain was chewed on or they lost a limb from a pancreas grenade, they will rise a few seconds after their timely demise as nosferatu. So, eventually you will have a whole army of zombies under your command. Unfortunately those zombies aren't very smart. (But hey, they're zombies.) They are good for absorbing bullets but that's about it.

With all of those gameplay elements combined, the game starts out a hell of a lot of fun and remains a hell of a lot of fun until the end, which comes far, far too quickly. But that's a story for a few paragraphs later.

The graphics in Stubbs are really nice looking. Everything looks polished and all the animations are great. On top of that I never noticed a framerate drop. The only problem I spotted with the graphics was that some of the brain-eating animations didn't really connect vert well with the back of the head. It doesn't slap you from the game world back to your lonely, pathetic, anti-social, gaming life with a memo that says, "You goddamn nerd, you're just playing a video game. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Ha.", but it is a noticeable and it breaks the immersion level only slightely.

If you were to look at the graphics of the game you would never guess what engine it was built on. It's suprising, I know, but the answer is: the Halo engine! An updated Halo engine, but the Halo engine nonetheless. It never really obvious that the game was built on the Halo engine except during the driving sequences. (Yes, Stubbs can drive. He is a bad ass zombie.) The vehicles control a lot like the ones found in the Halo games and the way the humans soar through the air when they've been hit will remind you of the countless hours you've spent splattering Covenent bastards with your Warthog. And the fact the Stubbs was built on the engine it was built on is apparently a big selling point because it is advertised on both the front and the back of the box.

See that green splat in the top left corner? That's advertising that the game is built using the Halo engine.

A game about eating brains sounds like pretty serious and heavy stuff, right? Well, yes. But not so much here. Stubbs the Zombie is funny as hell. There are comic gems littered throughout that will make you laugh for hours, most notibly the gas pump scene and the Patton sequence. So don't go in expecting a hardcore horror game. The title should be a dead giveaway that the agme is funny and clever: Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse. If that isn't a signal of humor then... Well, go brush up on your film history and check your humor gauge to see if you have enough laughter. Yeah, I know. Bad joke. The humor and clever writing is complemented by great voice acting. In fact, all of the sounds are great. From zombie moaning to humans screaming, from gunshots to the eating of brains, everythings sounds great.  And let's not forget the soundtrack, which is one of the best in a video game. The soundtrack features covers of songs such as "Mr. Sandman", "Lollypop", and "Lonesome Town", all of which are great songs done justice by the excellent cover versions. My only problem with the soundtrack is that it is very underused. It plays while you are on the main menu and in a couple of places in-game, but that's it.

So, let's round things up: the gameplay is fun and engaging, the greaphics are crisp and clean, the sound is utterly fantastic; all those things combined should add up to be a killer game. And a killer game it is! From begining to end, you will be kept interested in Stubbs' adventures with entertaining gameplay and the engaging plot. But from the begining the end is on the horizon. Stubbs the Zombie is painfully short. The singleplayer portion of the game can be finished in about five hours, and the only multiplayer option just gives you the privilage of playing the game again with a friend locally. That's right. Wideload Games was too lazy to put in online co-op. The game's brevity and lack of online multiplayer really hurts the overall value of the package.

The man can't help it. It's a Valasic... hand. (I really need a new hobby.)

Roundup: As previously mentioned, the gameplay, sound, and graphics of Stubbs add up to make a killer game, but the brevity hurts the value of the package. The game can be finished in one sitting, and once you've finished it once, you won't really feel compelled to go through it again. Unless, of course, you want to hear the commentary you unlocked. So, overall, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse is a great game, but too damn short. It's truly a gem that has been severly overlooked. It's one of 2005's games that has been forgotten. Shame. The game is great and it deserves a sequel. But, it didn't sell too well so Widelaod games moved on to make another game: the newly-released Hail to the Chimp.

Gameplay: 9

Graphics: 9

Sound: 10

Value: 5

Overall: 8.3/10

P.S. The next three games I will be reviewing will be the Brothers in Arms series. But, please suggest some games for future reviews. And tell me if you like my reviews, either by a comment or a PM. (Critic is one of my carrer goals for my adult life along with novelest.) So, if I have the game you suggested or can buy it at a moments notice, I shall try to review it.

P.P.S. I also apologise for the lame jokes.

UPDATE: Since BiA 3 has been delayed until September, I'm gonna lay off the first two games until late August. So, in the meantime, some other games will be reviewed.