Want to give your game a new lease of life? Just add zombies. It is, seemingly, a bizarre formula for success – over to the psychologists for the full explanation – but the undead have been a popular choice as "bad guy" for several years in any number of successful games and franchises. Now they're popping up so regularly in unexpected titles, it can only be a matter of months before we get Lego Night of the Living Dead.
After the assorted Call of Duty bonus levels, the latest to get the flesh-eating spin is Red Dead Redemption. On the face of it, it's a deeply cynical move and clearly profit is a major part of the decision, but this is more than a half-hearted exercise in money-grabbing. Undead Nightmare is a very fine game indeed.
The cowboy vs zombies scenario here has already been available as a download. Now though, Rockstar – as it did with the GTA extra missions – has released the game, plus assorted excellent multiplayer content, as a standalone, sensibly-priced expansion pack.
While the game's pallet has changed (it's now in standard horror title washed-out shades) and the music has been given a spooky-as-hell makeover, the basic mechanics of Red Dead Redemption – or Grand Theft Horses, as it's become affectionately known – remain intact. Once again you play John Marston, but this time there's no choice to be made between honour or otherwise.
There's no doubt who the enemy is from the second your wife and child get infected and turn into flesh-eating zombies. Your task – after hog-tying your family to keep them out of trouble – is to find a cure. The catch is they're not alone: the entire wild west is being overrun by the living dead.
That's just the start of it though and it's clear within minutes that the team at Rockstar have had a lot of fun imagining this one into existence, from the undead horses and mythical beasts you can ride (including unicorns and the four horses of the apocalypse) to the new weaponry such as the gleefully messy blunderbuss, which you load with zombie limbs, and holy water. The dead eye shooting function returns – and boy, will you need it.
The game may look like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, but its philosophy is unforgiving, with painfully limited ammo and a foe that can only be taken down with a headshot. It can be frustrating – you'll do a lot of running away – but with side missions aplenty, stunning voice work, a genuinely funny script, plus those excellent multiplayer games, this is the best console-related £25 spend this year.
• Game reviewed on Xbox 360
View all comments >