Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel without a Pulse
Posted November 4, 2005
Being the first non-Halo game to be created using the Halo engine really puts pressure not only on the developers of the new game, but it's also a testament to the engine that's being used to create the game; Especially when the game on the outside has nothing to do with the game engine it is using. Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse is this first game created with the Halo engine, and it proves that the Halo engine is capable of more than alien blasting, namely Zombie creation.
Stubbs pits you in the role of Edward "Stubbs" Stubblefield, traveling salesman from the Great Depression who's untimely death earned him the right to come back into the city that made it to the 21st century forty years early, Punchbowl Pennsylvania. The game starts out with Stubbs meeting a "GuideBot", your tour guide through the town, and means to learn the ropes of the game, ranging from simple combat to directions on how to get a zombie army to follow your lead. Aside from Stubbs coming back to life, do we really need a story to drive the game forward? Well the developers over at Wideload thought so; so almost as a throwaway cut scene we notice Stubbs gets the hots for the mother of the town playboy millionaire Andrew Monday, and your ultimate goal is to win her heart.
Gameplay:
The core gameplay mechanics of Stubbs will be amazingly simple for any veteran of the Halo series to pick up, as it controls almost exactly like Halo and feels exactly like Halo on more than one occasion, but unfortunately not always in the good way.
Starting out the game, you only have the ability to strike people down with your decomposing hands, and of course the ability to eat their brains. When you take out a civilian or any living character for that matter, they rise from the dead shortly after death and become a mindless zombie with only one other thing on their mind, brains. They will somewhat intelligently hunt down other living beings and attack them, ultimately ending in their own demise or successfully converting the living to the living dead adding to your hoard of roaming bodies. As the game progresses you gain access to, well, other parts of your body to use as weapons. The first is a backed up gastro-intestinal tract as a result of the brain matter you tend to devour, when you release the pressure built up a foul cloud permeates the area surrounding you and puts any soul unfortunate to be near you in a state of shock enabling you to munch their melons with little distraction.
Other combat methods you gain are the ability to use your internal organs as exploding grenades where you control the explosion, you can detach your head and roll it down the street and detonate it in a swarm of undead sputum, turning even more unfortunates into zombies. The final method is the ability to detach your arm and possess any human around who is not wearing a helmet. When you possess another being, you lose control of Stubbs leaving him vulnerable to attack so you will need to be mindful of your location, but you also gain complete control of the person you possess. You can use this to your advantage quite often as you tend to be under armed compared to the rocket launcher wielding barbershop quartet or machine gun toting army grunt. When you take control of another character, you need to be wary of how you act, because other characters may notice the disembodied arm latched onto your head, but if you play it right, you can maneuver to safe locations and unleash fury on them before they realize you're working for the dead guy.
Something that caught me off guard early on in Stubbs was the ability to get drive vehicles. The controls for vehicular combat are exactly like those in the Halo series, right down to the ability to flip over an overturned Wartho..I mean Jeep. Thankfully, out of the dozen levels in the game only a couple have the requirement to pilot vehicles, and even then it's not entirely necessary.
It would be impossible to write a review for this game and not comment on the level of humor found within the game. Even things as mundane as chewing on the grey matter of hundreds of humans are humorous thanks to the gushing blood and cries of help from the poor victim. Cut scenes offer a wealth of humor in the game, most people speak very highly of the gas station scene, and while that was pretty funny, I found myself getting more of a kick out of the nod to Patton during the farmhouse level, and seeing "Press 'R' to pee" plastered on the screen in another level.
Graphics:
I firmly stand by the fact that excellent graphics don't make a game great, but they can make a great game even better. However, I found that the graphics in Stubbs didn't do to much to enhance my enjoyment any more than the gameplay already did. The character models tended to be a little on the blocky side, with somewhat stiff animation (pun intended). Not saying that the graphics are bad, because they definitely are not, Wideload did a great job with character and landscape design to really fit the theme of the game. You'll see teenagers wearing their varsity Letter jackets, man wearing fedoras and crisp suits, and Stubbs himself even wears a great suit, albeit missing some segments which allow you to see through the body of the titular character.
I've seen some complaints on various message boards on the filter effects that are present in the game when you're controlling Stubbs, or even his detached hand. While controlling Stubbs, the graphics take on a grainy greenish tint compared to the brighter and colorful dust scratched film look that the cut scenes take on. Actually, I found some of the sharpest graphics to be when you are actually controlling the arm of Stubbs, the veins and tendons are all quite sharp and visible, and if you watch closely you'll notice the hand flipping you the bird once in a while, all while shown through a bleached out filter. I personally don't mind the effects that other people tend to complain about, as it helped immerse me into the role of Mr. Stubblefield that much more.
Audio:
Yet another thing that Stubbs has going for it, is a wonderfully produced soundtrack both in game and as a standalone CD. Featuring classic doo-wop tunes from the era of the game remade by some of today's bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Cake and The Flaming Lips, the old-is-new again twist that the artists apply really fits in well with the post-modern landscape created by the artists.
Voice acting is also extremely well done, sure Stubbs himself is limited to grunts and calls for "brains", but the giant supporting cast of innocent civilians and other "enemies" you encounter in the game all have great lines that not only are delivered well, but will make you laugh more often than not. Similar to how when you played Halo you made a point to sneak up on the Grunts to hear the things they'd say, you're going to want to do the same thing here.
Conclusion:
I'll admit to having been very interested in playing this game since I first saw the announcement of it, I mean who wouldn't get a kick out of finally being able to play as a zombie rather than blasting one? Wideload does not disappoint with their effort in creating a wholly original game that is sure to please hardcore and casual gamers alike. Thanks to four(!!) difficulty levels ranging from Easy to Insane, each adding a new level of depth and requiring that much more skill and tactics in attacking a given situation, a player will have the option of running through the game very quickly, or taking their time a and playing on the toughest setting. For those who do venture into the Insane mode, you'll also be treated to designer commentary for segments of the game when you find hidden pink Hippo heads scattered throughout the game, this is a nice touch that is rarely seen in games these days, rewarding people for playing the game on a tough setting.
While the gameplay can get somewhat tired and repetitive, though not nearly as bad as Halo, it's got a level of freshness to the entire game that keeps a player wanting to continue just to see what's next, and to see how big they can make the army of zombies marching in unison across a cornfield. Originality scores high marks with me as does making me actually have fun playing a game, but giving me the option to do it with a friend in the co-op mode? Genius! Highly Recommended.
Stubbs pits you in the role of Edward "Stubbs" Stubblefield, traveling salesman from the Great Depression who's untimely death earned him the right to come back into the city that made it to the 21st century forty years early, Punchbowl Pennsylvania. The game starts out with Stubbs meeting a "GuideBot", your tour guide through the town, and means to learn the ropes of the game, ranging from simple combat to directions on how to get a zombie army to follow your lead. Aside from Stubbs coming back to life, do we really need a story to drive the game forward? Well the developers over at Wideload thought so; so almost as a throwaway cut scene we notice Stubbs gets the hots for the mother of the town playboy millionaire Andrew Monday, and your ultimate goal is to win her heart.
Gameplay:
The core gameplay mechanics of Stubbs will be amazingly simple for any veteran of the Halo series to pick up, as it controls almost exactly like Halo and feels exactly like Halo on more than one occasion, but unfortunately not always in the good way.
Starting out the game, you only have the ability to strike people down with your decomposing hands, and of course the ability to eat their brains. When you take out a civilian or any living character for that matter, they rise from the dead shortly after death and become a mindless zombie with only one other thing on their mind, brains. They will somewhat intelligently hunt down other living beings and attack them, ultimately ending in their own demise or successfully converting the living to the living dead adding to your hoard of roaming bodies. As the game progresses you gain access to, well, other parts of your body to use as weapons. The first is a backed up gastro-intestinal tract as a result of the brain matter you tend to devour, when you release the pressure built up a foul cloud permeates the area surrounding you and puts any soul unfortunate to be near you in a state of shock enabling you to munch their melons with little distraction.
Other combat methods you gain are the ability to use your internal organs as exploding grenades where you control the explosion, you can detach your head and roll it down the street and detonate it in a swarm of undead sputum, turning even more unfortunates into zombies. The final method is the ability to detach your arm and possess any human around who is not wearing a helmet. When you possess another being, you lose control of Stubbs leaving him vulnerable to attack so you will need to be mindful of your location, but you also gain complete control of the person you possess. You can use this to your advantage quite often as you tend to be under armed compared to the rocket launcher wielding barbershop quartet or machine gun toting army grunt. When you take control of another character, you need to be wary of how you act, because other characters may notice the disembodied arm latched onto your head, but if you play it right, you can maneuver to safe locations and unleash fury on them before they realize you're working for the dead guy.
Something that caught me off guard early on in Stubbs was the ability to get drive vehicles. The controls for vehicular combat are exactly like those in the Halo series, right down to the ability to flip over an overturned Wartho..I mean Jeep. Thankfully, out of the dozen levels in the game only a couple have the requirement to pilot vehicles, and even then it's not entirely necessary.
It would be impossible to write a review for this game and not comment on the level of humor found within the game. Even things as mundane as chewing on the grey matter of hundreds of humans are humorous thanks to the gushing blood and cries of help from the poor victim. Cut scenes offer a wealth of humor in the game, most people speak very highly of the gas station scene, and while that was pretty funny, I found myself getting more of a kick out of the nod to Patton during the farmhouse level, and seeing "Press 'R' to pee" plastered on the screen in another level.
Graphics:
I firmly stand by the fact that excellent graphics don't make a game great, but they can make a great game even better. However, I found that the graphics in Stubbs didn't do to much to enhance my enjoyment any more than the gameplay already did. The character models tended to be a little on the blocky side, with somewhat stiff animation (pun intended). Not saying that the graphics are bad, because they definitely are not, Wideload did a great job with character and landscape design to really fit the theme of the game. You'll see teenagers wearing their varsity Letter jackets, man wearing fedoras and crisp suits, and Stubbs himself even wears a great suit, albeit missing some segments which allow you to see through the body of the titular character.
I've seen some complaints on various message boards on the filter effects that are present in the game when you're controlling Stubbs, or even his detached hand. While controlling Stubbs, the graphics take on a grainy greenish tint compared to the brighter and colorful dust scratched film look that the cut scenes take on. Actually, I found some of the sharpest graphics to be when you are actually controlling the arm of Stubbs, the veins and tendons are all quite sharp and visible, and if you watch closely you'll notice the hand flipping you the bird once in a while, all while shown through a bleached out filter. I personally don't mind the effects that other people tend to complain about, as it helped immerse me into the role of Mr. Stubblefield that much more.
Audio:
Yet another thing that Stubbs has going for it, is a wonderfully produced soundtrack both in game and as a standalone CD. Featuring classic doo-wop tunes from the era of the game remade by some of today's bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Cake and The Flaming Lips, the old-is-new again twist that the artists apply really fits in well with the post-modern landscape created by the artists.
Voice acting is also extremely well done, sure Stubbs himself is limited to grunts and calls for "brains", but the giant supporting cast of innocent civilians and other "enemies" you encounter in the game all have great lines that not only are delivered well, but will make you laugh more often than not. Similar to how when you played Halo you made a point to sneak up on the Grunts to hear the things they'd say, you're going to want to do the same thing here.
Conclusion:
I'll admit to having been very interested in playing this game since I first saw the announcement of it, I mean who wouldn't get a kick out of finally being able to play as a zombie rather than blasting one? Wideload does not disappoint with their effort in creating a wholly original game that is sure to please hardcore and casual gamers alike. Thanks to four(!!) difficulty levels ranging from Easy to Insane, each adding a new level of depth and requiring that much more skill and tactics in attacking a given situation, a player will have the option of running through the game very quickly, or taking their time a and playing on the toughest setting. For those who do venture into the Insane mode, you'll also be treated to designer commentary for segments of the game when you find hidden pink Hippo heads scattered throughout the game, this is a nice touch that is rarely seen in games these days, rewarding people for playing the game on a tough setting.
While the gameplay can get somewhat tired and repetitive, though not nearly as bad as Halo, it's got a level of freshness to the entire game that keeps a player wanting to continue just to see what's next, and to see how big they can make the army of zombies marching in unison across a cornfield. Originality scores high marks with me as does making me actually have fun playing a game, but giving me the option to do it with a friend in the co-op mode? Genius! Highly Recommended.