Stubbs the Zombie (Xbox)
With a different approach, Stubbs the Zombie brings you the zombie apocalypse from the side of the zombies. Does it stand tall with it's original twist, or is it just another corpse in the sea of living dead?
While infecting and eating his way through the town, Stubbs eventually stumbles across Maggie and sets out to reunite with her.
There are some driving sections in the game (yes you read that right), where the movement of the vehicle is controlled completely with the left joystick and firing any weapons is done with the triggers.
Overall, again, a simple control scheme that is easy to get used to.
Everything with ** will be explained further in the next section. So let's see how the controls hold up in the game.
None of the levels overlap or stack together. You begin each one in a new area of town as the only zombie, and you must build up your army until you reach the end and unlock the next. In each area, you come across different types of people ranging from normal civilians all the way up to members of the army once they are called in. Every person can be infected, and once they are, they fall in to your army of zombies and help you on your way. There are a number of different ways to infect them to the point of turning, but the best approach is to eat their brains if able as it restores some health and builds up your special abilities.
You start off with Stubbs having a basic attack of swinging his arms and legs out at people in front of him. After weakening them to a point, you can either continue to attack them and knock them to the ground where they'll eventually turn, or press Y and eat their brains, regenerating yourself and abilities. Some enemies are protected by helmets making it impossible to eat their brains. Instead you get to rip off one of their arms as an option and use it to melee attack them or others. Using the arm usually kills people in one hit, but it gets destroyed after three successful hits.
The first special attack you learn is Stubbs' fart stun. You trigger this by pressing the B button, and he takes a (very comedic) stance and releases a cloud of gas that stuns anyone it hits, allowing you to forego having to weaken a person before eating their brains. Later on, you learn to throw your hand out which you can control independently. The hand can traverse along the ground/floor or climb up walls, and when close enough, you can possess a person with it, gaining any weaponry they have at their ready, meaning if you possess a cop with a gun, you can turn him against his friends and start shooting them. Unfortunately, the possessed people don't regenerate health so once they get killed, they just die instead of turning into a zombie.
The zombies you create will follow you through the level, and if they all get stuck wandering off in the wrong direction, all you have to do is stand still, look at them for a few seconds, and you can make Stubbs whistle and they will stop whatever they were doing and move in your direction.
You also get to throw bits of your intestines at people, acting like gut grenades. These will stick to wherever they land, even people, and will either explode on their own after a time, or at your command if you press the L button again. Anyone killed by the gut grenade turns into a zombie afterwards.
The last ability you learn is the head toss. Stubbs will twist his own head off and bowl it out in front of him, knocking over any enemies you hit with it, until it eventually explodes, or you explode it yourself. This does more damage than the gut grenade and has a wider radius, but just like possessing people, this neglects to net any additional zombies for your army.
The levels themselves are a little open. Most take place outdoors, and you get free roam as to how you'd like to stumble through the area. You aren't committed to going down one street to another to yet another, you get a few block section where you can go anyway you choose towards your goal. They start off open but tend to taper down into needing to go to a specific place.
There's a mini game in the earlier stages where you get to have a dance off with the chief of police. This is played out as a "Simon Says" style, the dance area is circular, with four areas around it lighting up with the color of a button, and in the position of there respective button to lend some assistance. Stubbs also has a few boss fights which take place in a confined area forcing you to find the best strategy for taking them down and avoiding getting killed while doing so.
A fun play and very infectious (couldn't avoid the pun), but is it a challenge?
The enemies vary in difficulty depending on what they are. Regular civilians are the weakest, not requiring any hits before you can eat their brains. Cops and scientists will take a few until you can consume them, and so on up until you get to the army enemies who are the toughest.
You begin each level on your own, but immediately you can begin amassing your army. Each person you turn joins you, moving through the level in a giant mob. Any time they catch sight of an enemy, some of them will move in for an attack. Or, if a civilian hits/shoots one of your zombies, the rest will move in in sort of a protective maneuver to eliminate the threat. However, they aren't immune to being destroyed and if you aren't assisting them you might find yourself back at square one again.
The enemy AI isn't too in depth. They'll either attack you or your friends, or they'll run and try to avoid being attacked by you. Eventually they'll either stop and stand their ground, or back themselves into a corner and make an easy kill for you.
Lastly, the bosses are the most difficult thing in relation to the game as a whole, but there's nothing frustrating about them. One of them is the dance off you have which is just sequence after sequence of timed button presses. The later bosses are just a process of learning their attacks, and how to avoid them and get in attacks of your own in between.
In the end, Stubbs the Zombie isn't much of a challenge unless you make it so, and that's one of the things I like about this game. If you want to just stroll through and make a massive army of zombies you can set it easier. Or if you want to see just how good of a zombie you are, you can up the difficulty and put it to the test. So, let's look at the good and bad aspects of this game.
- The game has a handful of cultural references that are pretty fun. The soundtrack itself is comprised of older songs such as Mr. Sandman, Lollipop, and Earth Angel, with plenty more, but they are all re-recorded by more current bands. My favorite reference, though, was in the cutscene prior to the dance off, a quick clip from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" plays and Stubbs does the famous crotch grab and yell.
- While the game is gruesome, what with eating people's heads off and ripping their arms off, there is a great deal of humor spliced into it too. Some of the civilians will scream things out along the lines of "Stop eating my brain". When you're controlling Stubbs's hand (hehe, Stubbs's stub), sometimes when you make it jump, it will soar through the air with it's middle finger extended.
- A bigger story would have been nice, instead of having it chopped up into separate levels. With this and not really having any driving objectives through each level, it gives the game more of an old retro arcade style feel.
The Story
Stubbs begins its story in the 1930's following the titular character who is a traveling salesman during the Great Depression. He finds happiness with a woman, Maggie Monday, but it is short-lived as her father comes home and chases Stubbs away, shooting him with a shotgun in the stomach. Years later, in the futuristic town of of Punchbowl, Stubbs emerges from the ground between a happy young couple sharing a hot dog on the green, taking a bite out of them and beginning the spread of zombies.While infecting and eating his way through the town, Stubbs eventually stumbles across Maggie and sets out to reunite with her.
The Controls
The controls for Stubbs are straightforward and simple. The joysticks control the movement (left) and looking around (right) as per usual in most games. The right trigger and X buttons are your attack buttons, allowing you to choose which is more comfortable for the player. The left trigger throws and explodes gut grenades, the black button makes Stubbs throw his hand, while the white button throws his head like a bowling ball along the ground.** The A button makes him jump and B releases his stunning gas fart. Y button is the busiest button in the whole control scheme, making Stubbs eat his foe's brains, rip off a person's arm, whistle at your zombies, and interact with buttons and objects in the world.There are some driving sections in the game (yes you read that right), where the movement of the vehicle is controlled completely with the left joystick and firing any weapons is done with the triggers.
Overall, again, a simple control scheme that is easy to get used to.
Everything with ** will be explained further in the next section. So let's see how the controls hold up in the game.
The Gameplay
Stubbs the Zombie plays out as an action game. While there is a bit of a story through it all, trying to reunite with your old love, it doesn't really carry through from start to finish. Your main task in the game is spreading your infection and creating zombies to overtake the entire city. The game itself is broken down into levels, each one focusing on a different area of the city where your goal is to go through and wreak havoc.None of the levels overlap or stack together. You begin each one in a new area of town as the only zombie, and you must build up your army until you reach the end and unlock the next. In each area, you come across different types of people ranging from normal civilians all the way up to members of the army once they are called in. Every person can be infected, and once they are, they fall in to your army of zombies and help you on your way. There are a number of different ways to infect them to the point of turning, but the best approach is to eat their brains if able as it restores some health and builds up your special abilities.
You start off with Stubbs having a basic attack of swinging his arms and legs out at people in front of him. After weakening them to a point, you can either continue to attack them and knock them to the ground where they'll eventually turn, or press Y and eat their brains, regenerating yourself and abilities. Some enemies are protected by helmets making it impossible to eat their brains. Instead you get to rip off one of their arms as an option and use it to melee attack them or others. Using the arm usually kills people in one hit, but it gets destroyed after three successful hits.
The first special attack you learn is Stubbs' fart stun. You trigger this by pressing the B button, and he takes a (very comedic) stance and releases a cloud of gas that stuns anyone it hits, allowing you to forego having to weaken a person before eating their brains. Later on, you learn to throw your hand out which you can control independently. The hand can traverse along the ground/floor or climb up walls, and when close enough, you can possess a person with it, gaining any weaponry they have at their ready, meaning if you possess a cop with a gun, you can turn him against his friends and start shooting them. Unfortunately, the possessed people don't regenerate health so once they get killed, they just die instead of turning into a zombie.
The zombies you create will follow you through the level, and if they all get stuck wandering off in the wrong direction, all you have to do is stand still, look at them for a few seconds, and you can make Stubbs whistle and they will stop whatever they were doing and move in your direction.
You also get to throw bits of your intestines at people, acting like gut grenades. These will stick to wherever they land, even people, and will either explode on their own after a time, or at your command if you press the L button again. Anyone killed by the gut grenade turns into a zombie afterwards.
The last ability you learn is the head toss. Stubbs will twist his own head off and bowl it out in front of him, knocking over any enemies you hit with it, until it eventually explodes, or you explode it yourself. This does more damage than the gut grenade and has a wider radius, but just like possessing people, this neglects to net any additional zombies for your army.
The levels themselves are a little open. Most take place outdoors, and you get free roam as to how you'd like to stumble through the area. You aren't committed to going down one street to another to yet another, you get a few block section where you can go anyway you choose towards your goal. They start off open but tend to taper down into needing to go to a specific place.
There's a mini game in the earlier stages where you get to have a dance off with the chief of police. This is played out as a "Simon Says" style, the dance area is circular, with four areas around it lighting up with the color of a button, and in the position of there respective button to lend some assistance. Stubbs also has a few boss fights which take place in a confined area forcing you to find the best strategy for taking them down and avoiding getting killed while doing so.
A fun play and very infectious (couldn't avoid the pun), but is it a challenge?
The Difficulty (or lack thereof?)
Stubbs allows you to set your own difficulty each time you begin a level. If you play them continuously, it will remain at the same level unless you back out and change it.The enemies vary in difficulty depending on what they are. Regular civilians are the weakest, not requiring any hits before you can eat their brains. Cops and scientists will take a few until you can consume them, and so on up until you get to the army enemies who are the toughest.
You begin each level on your own, but immediately you can begin amassing your army. Each person you turn joins you, moving through the level in a giant mob. Any time they catch sight of an enemy, some of them will move in for an attack. Or, if a civilian hits/shoots one of your zombies, the rest will move in in sort of a protective maneuver to eliminate the threat. However, they aren't immune to being destroyed and if you aren't assisting them you might find yourself back at square one again.
The enemy AI isn't too in depth. They'll either attack you or your friends, or they'll run and try to avoid being attacked by you. Eventually they'll either stop and stand their ground, or back themselves into a corner and make an easy kill for you.
Lastly, the bosses are the most difficult thing in relation to the game as a whole, but there's nothing frustrating about them. One of them is the dance off you have which is just sequence after sequence of timed button presses. The later bosses are just a process of learning their attacks, and how to avoid them and get in attacks of your own in between.
In the end, Stubbs the Zombie isn't much of a challenge unless you make it so, and that's one of the things I like about this game. If you want to just stroll through and make a massive army of zombies you can set it easier. Or if you want to see just how good of a zombie you are, you can up the difficulty and put it to the test. So, let's look at the good and bad aspects of this game.
PROS
- Playing as a zombie. Pretty much every other zombie game out their puts you on the side of humanity trying to save it. Being on the other side of the coin is a unique and enjoyable twist. There were many moments where I'd infect a ton of people as I was running through the level, and then turned around just to watch them stumbling over anyone in their path.- The game has a handful of cultural references that are pretty fun. The soundtrack itself is comprised of older songs such as Mr. Sandman, Lollipop, and Earth Angel, with plenty more, but they are all re-recorded by more current bands. My favorite reference, though, was in the cutscene prior to the dance off, a quick clip from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" plays and Stubbs does the famous crotch grab and yell.
- While the game is gruesome, what with eating people's heads off and ripping their arms off, there is a great deal of humor spliced into it too. Some of the civilians will scream things out along the lines of "Stop eating my brain". When you're controlling Stubbs's hand (hehe, Stubbs's stub), sometimes when you make it jump, it will soar through the air with it's middle finger extended.
CONS
- The lighting takes on a grainy texture that becomes very disorienting if you're moving the camera around a lot. When you're controlling just the hand, the view goes into a sort of tunnel vision that darkens at the edges, and the distortion from the grainy texture gets even worse. So after a big move, you kind of need to stop for a moment and reestablish yourself before moving again.- A bigger story would have been nice, instead of having it chopped up into separate levels. With this and not really having any driving objectives through each level, it gives the game more of an old retro arcade style feel.
