I love a good cowboy. Maybe it’s the southern girl in me or the love of a practical badass in tight jeans that can ride a horse. I don’t know, but something about them is right up my alley. So you start me off with a likable, cowboy anti-hero and you’ve already scored my attention. Add an extremely well-engineered game physics engine and stellar sandbox style game-play and you have the makings of my kind of video game. Then you add zombies and… Wait, what?
Produced by Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, released in October, is one of the latest video games to jump on the undead bandwagon. Part of me is, “Really, another one?” And in this case, that part of me can just shut the hell up. With a gigantic nod to B horror films, Undead Nightmare comes out with both guns blazing.
I want to preface this with I’m generally not a greater picture, sandbox game kind of person. While beautifully executed, the majority of Rockstar Games don’t really do it for me. Either I’m not interested in the story or the character or most common, I can’t drive for a shit in the Grand Theft Auto series, Rockstar’s main title. I always found the controls to be too ungainly and more trouble than it was worth. Then Rockstar homed in on my weak spot. Horses and cowboys.
Defending Armadillo
The original game, Red Dead Redemption, was released in May 2010 as a sequel to Red Dead Revolver of 2004. Both are open-world action-adventure westerns where you guide your character through a sprawling storyline supplemented by side jobs and experiences. Redemption is an amazingly beautiful game with a main character that is both morally flawed yet as honorable as he can be. With an expansive map covering the in-game versions of Mexico, through New Austin (Texas) into West Elizabeth (Canada), you travel through varied ecosystems, weather patterns, flora and fauna. A fantastically well-designed world. The reason I’m telling you about all this is because you have to have Red Dead Redemption to download and play $9.99 Undead Nightmare. Don’t worry Redemption is worth it all on its own, and frankly, Undead Nightmare wouldn’t make as much sense without it.
Lady of the Night
Now back to the horror. Undead Nightmare is just stressful enough to give you the heebie jeebies, but not so much that you’ll need to quit after thirty minutes of play or risk cardiac arrest. You pick up as our hero, John Marston, on a cold, wet evening on his farm in West Elizabeth. The family’s farm hand, Uncle, is missing only to turn up with a horrible case of the undead. Marston’s wife and son are bitten and changed, forcing John to secure his family and search for a cure. As John travels the countryside helping survivors, he encounters people skirting the edge of sanity and quite a few familiar characters, only some are a bit more decomposed.
Undead Nightmare is enthralling. Plain and simple. The use of sound and well-scored music creates a deeply disturbing atmosphere. Some of the zombies, particularly the prostitutes, emit such a wail it will make your heart skip a beat. The environments and lighting are just as eerie. Where once was a bustling town, buildings are now aflame and hazy mists cover the land. The zombies also vary in movement from slow and plodding to these freaky weird FAST spider movements. The attention to detail on zombie appearance is fantastic. While there are only a few “types” of zombies, each one is very unique in appearance. Some are skeletal and others bloated. You also get the same kind of variety in your undead horses. OH YES! Undead horses!
Four Horses of the Apocalypse
The crowning glory for me is the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, each one with a special power and absolutely amazing to look upon. The controls are reasonably simple and fast paced. The main storyline is single player, but there are online multiplayer zombie scenarios. The story is nothing overly inspired itself, but good enough to keep you interested in what happens next. What makes Undead Nightmare so enjoyable is that it’s visually stunning, beautifully executed, and the great heaps of fun to play.
The Official Launch Trailer with Gameplay Details
This looks….I’m trying to find a word that’s better than awesome…..
I’m sure we’ll get this game at some point. Love the Rock Star games. XD