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Maybe it's just the fact that I just played Doom 3 and Half-life 2 one after the other, but it seems to me that zombies always seem to be poorly done in video games.

The only shining example I can think of in gaming is Resident Evil 4. While the ganados are clearly superior to your run of the mill zombie(inteligence, lack of head vulnerbility), they are still thrown at you in impressive numbers, right from the start. There are some intense moments where the major threat is just zombies(your first time in pueblo, crossing the bridge from the clock tower, scaling the ritual tower, and the entire mercinary minigame) in large quantities.

In Doom 3 and Half-life 2 I never feared the zombies. Ravenholm was a fucking let down from all the hype I've heard of it. And even in the dark, and all the bullshit hidden compartments I don't think I ever got hit by a run of the mill zombie in Doom 3. I know your run of the mill zombie isn't suppose to be a thread in small numbers, thats entirely why they shouldn't be in small number all the time. I really wanted to encounter two or three dozen zombies on the streets of Ravenholm. I mean with the buzzsaws you could of mopped those up with little or no threat, but I might of accually used some grenades, or atleast something more than the pistol against zombies had they ever been threatening. I accually screwed myself later in the level cause I used up all my pistol ammo, and ended up shooting zome head crabs with the shotgun or revolver simply cause I didn't have anything else(and the submachine gun couldn't hit shit before something got me)

Other games that come to mind that suffer from this are all the Resident Evils before 4(except maybe the Gun Survivors/Dead Aim which I haven't played) which made the zombies threatening through poor controls and terrible camera angles.

Are there any games that really properly use zombies?

Stubbs the Zombie!

Stormin wrote:Stubbs the Zombie!

I agree, I loved Stubbs, mostly because I like zombies a little bit too much. I was really talking about Zombies as enemies though.

Well, if you count Flood as zombies, I suppose you could say they were pretty well handled in Halo and Halo 2. Admittedly, they did get rather annyoing in places (like The Library), but they always attack in large numbers, are reasonably intellegent, and (at least for me) the parts of the games where you have to face them are rather high-tension. Nothing like sneaking along a seemingly desert passageway, hearing something behind you, and finding an infected human trying to tear off your arm.

They Hunger for Half Life was a very good Zombie game.

Anarchist Bunny wrote: The only shining example I can think of in gaming is Resident Evil 4. While the ganados are clearly superior to your run of the mill zombie(inteligence, lack of head vulnerbility), they are still thrown at you in impressive numbers, right from the start. There are some intense moments where the major threat is just zombies(your first time in pueblo, crossing the bridge from the clock tower, scaling the ritual tower, and the entire mercinary minigame) in large quantities.

I'll say; I've never played something quite so intense as the entry to Pueblo on normal, when the Ganado's are coming in through two windows and the the crazy Doctor Baghead with the Chainsaw is just on the other side of the room and I have just a little bit of health and I gotta get out the window - !

Christ almighty. The Ganados are one hell of an enemy; tough, relentless and downright creepy - especially the Zealot Ganados, who just scare the fuck out of me. They're not exactly zombies, but still. I wonder what they'll pull out in RE5?

Ford Prefect wrote:

Anarchist Bunny wrote: The only shining example I can think of in gaming is Resident Evil 4. While the ganados are clearly superior to your run of the mill zombie(inteligence, lack of head vulnerbility), they are still thrown at you in impressive numbers, right from the start. There are some intense moments where the major threat is just zombies(your first time in pueblo, crossing the bridge from the clock tower, scaling the ritual tower, and the entire mercinary minigame) in large quantities.

I'll say; I've never played something quite so intense as the entry to Pueblo on normal, when the Ganado's are coming in through two windows and the the crazy Doctor Baghead with the Chainsaw is just on the other side of the room and I have just a little bit of health and I gotta get out the window - !

Christ almighty. The Ganados are one hell of an enemy; tough, relentless and downright creepy - especially the Zealot Ganados, who just scare the fuck out of me. They're not exactly zombies, but still. I wonder what they'll pull out in RE5?

Thats why I love the mercinary game so much, its just like that first time in Pueblo every time. Plus Hunk kicks ass. Whats amazing is the steep learning curve in the game. When you go back to play Pueblo again(fresh start, not a second play through with previously upgraded weapons) its amazing how easy it is compared to that first time. Hell in the mercinary game I accually found my self dodging the Chainsaw Ladies swing to run past her.

Anarchist Bunny wrote:Whats amazing is the steep learning curve in the game. When you go back to play Pueblo again(fresh start, not a second play through with previously upgraded weapons) its amazing how easy it is compared to that first time.

I noticed that. You find that having played through more difficult parts of the game, the siege with Luis, or indeed the encounter with the Bella Sisters after that (assuming you take that path and don't go to take on El Gigante), the less developed Ganados from the early parts of the game really can be seen as cattle.

Ganados aren't zombies. They're just people that have been taken over by the Las Plagas parasite via spores and can be controlled by ultrasonics from a queen parasite (Lord Saddler). They retain human intelligence and motor functions while exhibiting greater vitality and strength, and so are more of a threat than the true zombies made by Umbrella's T-Virus, which caused necrosis and loss of higher brain functions.

This can depend on your definition of zombie, but the Ganados don't fit the general theme given they're just brainwashed rural folk of some religious cult.

Ford Prefect wrote:
I'll say; I've never played something quite so intense as the entry to Pueblo on normal, when the Ganado's are coming in through two windows and the the crazy Doctor Baghead with the Chainsaw is just on the other side of the room and I have just a little bit of health and I gotta get out the window - !

Christ almighty. The Ganados are one hell of an enemy; tough, relentless and downright creepy - especially the Zealot Ganados, who just scare the fuck out of me. They're not exactly zombies, but still. I wonder what they'll pull out in RE5?

Little is known of RE5, but it will likely be based around Chris Redfield and take place in the Middle-East or North Africa. The enemies will be fast like nthe Ganados and the game system will remain as in R4. It will probably deal with Wesker's plans to resurrect Umbrella, Inc. and using the Las Plagas parasite along with the viruses in the Raccoon City Incident. So expect some fucking nasty surprises (Dawn of the Dead anyone?).

Incidentally, the chainsaw Ganados are named Dr. Salvador, so I recall.

I was just going to read this thread and pass by, when I realized that I actually have something to contribute. Yay!

A game that I've found that is excellent at having zombies as a real threat is Thief: The Dark Project. You don't run into any more than one or two zombies at a time in most levels where they're encountered, but that's more than enough, considering, you can't kill them. Well, not with your normal weapons. To kill the zombies in Thief, you have to get holy water and use it on your arrows. Not too hard, except that the holy water is rare and expensive. It makes for some really harrowing moments, especially in levels like the third one, where you're trying to get through this haunted tomb, and there are zombies everywhere, which you can't knock out or kill, and they see right through the shadows that you can hide from everything else in. There's one memorable room in that level where you trigger a giant wave of zombies if you go in. There's nothing quite like standing across from this doorway, as zombie after zombie comes through the door, all the while you're praying that you don't run out of water arrows, or that the timer for holification of them doesn't expire before the zombies do.


Also, those chainsaw weilders in RE4 freaked the crap out of me the first time I ran into one, and it ran up and chopped my head off in one hit.

Silent Hill managed to pull off zombies rather nicely, and they were more threatening due to the environment rather than shitty controls. Plus, they were actually creepy.

General Zod wrote:Silent Hill managed to pull off zombies rather nicely, and they were more threatening due to the environment rather than shitty controls. Plus, they were actually creepy.

Depends which ones. In the first game, the closest to the archetypal zombies are the children (or clawfingers) and the nurses). The zombie children/clawfingers are a threat because they tend to come in packs, and in school classrooms, where they have lots of obstacles. The nurses not so much, the Hammer makes short work of them.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:*snippy*

True enough. I couldn't argue the point, as I agree.

Little is known of RE5, but it will likely be based around Chris Redfield and take place in the Middle-East or North Africa. The enemies will be fast like nthe Ganados and the game system will remain as in R4. It will probably deal with Wesker's plans to resurrect Umbrella, Inc. and using the Las Plagas parasite along with the viruses in the Raccoon City Incident. So expect some fucking nasty surprises (Dawn of the Dead anyone?).

I would think as much; I'm hoping that Redfield turns out to be as much as a badass as Kennedy. He looks it, from the pics I've seen, but will leap out windows purely because its faster?

Incidentally, the chainsaw Ganados are named Dr. Salvador, so I recall.

Indeed; I believe one is an actual Doctor called Salvador, and that the lookalikes share the name. Except of course the Bella Sisters; the women with head bandages (Rei with a chainsaw! That's so bad).

They Hunger was a great zombie mod for the original Half Life, and if you have been checking the author's website, you'd see that he's actually in the process of making a full stand-alone game version.

Games don't use zombies properly. They use them as cheap fodder. They can't do zombies well. A game where you have five shotgun rounds, a full mag for a pistol and a baseball bat for the entire game just doesn't work. Zombies are most terrifying when they've been sieging some place for months and worn the supplies out because then you have to go out and get supplies. Amongst them. And if you're with a group of people, they're not going to let you take the arsenal with you. Hell, I'd be surprised if they let you leave with a pistol and two full mags. In games where you get 'ZOMG!WTFPWN!' melee weapons and scads of ammo, zombies are just dumb.

Tasoth wrote:Games don't use zombies properly. They use them as cheap fodder. They can't do zombies well. A game where you have five shotgun rounds, a full mag for a pistol and a baseball bat for the entire game just doesn't work. Zombies are most terrifying when they've been sieging some place for months and worn the supplies out because then you have to go out and get supplies. Amongst them. And if you're with a group of people, they're not going to let you take the arsenal with you. Hell, I'd be surprised if they let you leave with a pistol and two full mags. In games where you get 'ZOMG!WTFPWN!' melee weapons and scads of ammo, zombies are just dumb.

Not only that, but zombies can be threatening in smaller numbers in a tight space. There were a coulpe of times in Ravenholm I thought would of been perfect for a zombie rush, where you have about 3 or 4 entrances into a room that zombies could of come out of and given you no real place to run to.

Vendetta wrote:

General Zod wrote:Silent Hill managed to pull off zombies rather nicely, and they were more threatening due to the environment rather than shitty controls. Plus, they were actually creepy.

Depends which ones. In the first game, the closest to the archetypal zombies are the children (or clawfingers) and the nurses). The zombie children/clawfingers are a threat because they tend to come in packs, and in school classrooms, where they have lots of obstacles. The nurses not so much, the Hammer makes short work of them.

Tch, I played a demo of the first game where those were walking fetuses with steak knives. Now THAT was creepy.

To be honest, I prefer it when zombies are horde enemies and you get plenty of ammunition to kill them to bits with - it pisses me the hell off when I spend more playing time searching for fucking ammo than actually killing things.

NoXion wrote:To be honest, I prefer it when zombies are horde enemies and you get plenty of ammunition to kill them to bits with - it pisses me the hell off when I spend more playing time searching for fucking ammo than actually killing things.

HALO is the best example of ammo-friendly zombie-bashing I can think of offhand.

When the alien zombies bring more ammo right to you, now THAT's good customer service.

Personally I like limited ammo, it gives a feeling of desperation when your back's against the wall with an army of zombies lurching towards you and you're on your last clip..

The zombie-bashing parts of Halo are universally considered the worst parts of the game.

I'll second the undead in Thief: you can beat them up, and they go down, but they'll just get up later. Since, y'know, it's magic. *PROPER* zombies, not some silly virus.

Stark wrote:The zombie-bashing parts of Halo are universally considered the worst parts of the game.

I'll second the undead in Thief: you can beat them up, and they go down, but they'll just get up later. Since, y'know, it's magic. *PROPER* zombies, not some silly virus.

You can kill them with Holy Water.

Stark wrote:The zombie-bashing parts of Halo are universally considered the worst parts of the game.

I'll second the undead in Thief: you can beat them up, and they go down, but they'll just get up later. Since, y'know, it's magic. *PROPER* zombies, not some silly virus.

"Universally", maybe, but not by me. I LIKE zombie-smashing.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:You can kill them with Holy Water.

No shit.

Molyneux wrote:"Universally", maybe, but not by me. I LIKE zombie-smashing.

So? Everyone - except you - found hour-long sequences of repeated level geometry and hordes of bland enemies a game-killer. It's an example of poor use of zombies in video games, which is what this thread is about.

To each their own.
I myself find the entirety of Halo to be extremely boring.

*raises asbestos shield*