The Zombies!

The views expressed in this column don't necessarily reflect those of TeamXbox.com or IGN Entertainment, Inc.

By Carlo Carrasco


Since the Middle Ages, zombies have captured the attention of people through literature, folklore, and most recently in films and digital entertainment. Horror movies changed dramatically since George Romero directed the classic Night of the Living Dead, followed by several sequels that featured zombies. Oh yeah, there were so many imitations as well: Return of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, Dead Alive, etc.

Very recently Capcom released Dead Rising, a non-Resident Evil zombie-fested game exclusive to Xbox 360. As of this writing, the game won generally positive reviews and most critics cited the game’s “sandbox” style of play, detailed environments, deep interactivity with countless objects and intense action as the driving forces behind its fun factor. It’s not perfect though as the game’s awkward save system is proven a major hassle while the gameplay is repetitive. While it is not officially based on any particular movie, there is no denying that Dead Rising took a lot of influence from Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) and from there the developers stretched the concept with ideas of their own. Fortunately, this new game is fun for the most part and its humor gives it a touch of balance.

Zombies have an interesting history in video games. Before Dead Rising, Resident Evil was the ultimate adventure dealing with the undead and at that time seeing zombies in polygons was a horror sight to behold. Even before it, gamers already had a fun taste of zombie-mania with the 2D classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors (which itself was a comical tribute to the culture of horror).

True enough, zombies were scary, disgusting, yet their being obstacles motivate the tension and entertainment value of the story. When you see people getting chased by running zombies in the Dawn of the Dead remake of 2004, you can feel the adrenaline rush. When you play as Claire Redfield (armed with a shotgun) facing about ten zombies blocking her route, you feel the aggression (or desperation) of blasting them out of the way. And when you play little girl Sherry trying to outrun and outwit zombies along the way, you feel cautious as she’s not capable of fighting back.

While most people perceive zombie features as mindless, gruesome and unintelligent forms of entertainment, there are themes that do exist in them in one way or another. The original Dawn of the Dead won critical acclaim not only for its technical execution and story, but also because it tackled the elements of racism, materialism, capitalism, social inequality and consumerism. It also brought to life a convincing dramatization of how society reacts towards the rise of the undead. Last year’s Land of the Dead, directed by Romero, had events that paralleled the “shock and awe” of the unpopular 2003 invasion of Iraq, and at the same time it showed the gap of society’s rich and poor (don’t you think the gap is widening nowadays?). Oh yeah, it showed that even the undead themselves are searching for places to go, which negates the “mindless” brand given to them.