Ever since a man named George Romero decided to make film with a social commentary on contemporary society back in 1968 the undead have been terrorizing our lives in all sorts of different mediums.
Even today, the moving of a bridge from Monroeville Mall, the site of his follow-up Dawn of the Dead, caught national news. Today we have countless movie adaptations, the popular Walking Dead television series, video games, novels and even non-fiction on how to survive the ‘Zombie Apocalypse.’ The amount of information, both real and fantasy, can be very overwhelming. Romero himself directed five ‘Dead’ movies and that’s not even including the original The Crazies which its inclusion could be argued.
In video games, Resident Evil has become the most popular in the genre. Its story, combined with strategy, made for one of the most popular video games in history, while taking one of the most annoying aspects of gaming, ‘loading,’ and turning it into a suspenseful and genuinely terrifying experience. Every time those doors slowly opened, gamers were honestly left wondering what could be in store for them next. Combine that with the difficult controls of the PlayStation, and everyone wondered if they’d make it out alive. Unfortunately, it’s 2002 film adaptation left fans of the game with much to be desired. Resident Evil set the bar in terms of its genre, survivor horror, and most, if not all games are judged by its precedence.
The genre would evolve and take advantage of the better controls of our newer systems. Take Land of the Dead, Road to Fiddler’s Green for example, it was released for the original X-Box and PC by Brainbox Games when Romero’s Land of the Dead hit theaters in 2005. This game moved the character out from the third person and into the first person point of view, while still maintaining aspect of the survival horror genre. Making this game and subsequent others, more about surviving the actual attack of zombies instead of solving a puzzle like in Resident Evil. Fiddler’s Green did not abandon the strategy aspect in their game completely, only strives to make it much more simple. Causing less time searching for the key based on medieval armor and more time taking an ax or a 9-iron to the skulls of zombies trying to crack your skull open like sunflower seed.
Which one, the game or the movie, performed worse in critics eyes is up to debate. I’d give a slight edge to Land of the Dead over Fiddler’s Green. The game lagged out often times, opening yourself up to easy zombie attacks. Also, it seemed like everything you were doing ended up being a waste of time. At one point you access a hospital and attempt to save a doctor and he ultimately ends up turning into a zombie as such with a character you save in a jail cell at a police station. But all that can be explained being in the harshness of the ‘Zombie Apocalypse.’ The ending, however, is one of the most anticlimactic and disappointing as I ever seen in a game. I understand them wanting to tie the game into the movie but to fight countless zombies only to see the protagonist just walk off into the sunset, or in this case a barren wasteland devoid of most living humans, is heartbreaking at best. I think, personally, that they went with an ending much like Romero’s ghoulish movies; an ending of hopelessness, almost to the point of despair. That is, if you know how he originally wanted to end Dawn of the Dead.
While Land of the Dead Road to Fiddler’s Green achieved a gaming status of cult favorite and Resident Evil continued to churn out titles at a rate that nearly killed the survivor horror genre, a new game emerged on the scene that expanded and even improved on what Fiddler’s Green attempted. That game was Left 4 Dead, a zombie game that ditched survival horror in favor of first person action. The original, released for X-Box 360, Windows and Mac in 2008, skipped all the build up to why the ‘zombie apocalypse’ happened and dove right into the action. Set with different mission locations, your character, along with three other people had to fight their way to possible rescue sites while fighting of ‘fast’ zombies with different characteristics. In a completely opposite way, Left 4 Dead pushes the adrenaline button by unleashing horde after horde of zombies at you in a fast paced, complete your objective and run. The only suspense coming in not knowing when the mass of undead will attack and when you have to creep by a ‘crying’ Witch Zombie.
Unfortunately, after the release of the Left 4 Dead 2, other than downloadable content, there hasn’t been much talk of a third installment. Pretty much leaving Resident Evil as the only viable option, as far a zombie games in this style. Others have tried, as have I with The Walking Dead‘s attempt in 2012 and while receiving critical success, it failed to catch on as hugely popular show has done. Others, such as Alien Isolation, have attempted to join the survival horror, obviously setting itself apart by removing the zombie and inserting a Ridley Scott Alien. And in all seriousness, that alien mirrors a zombie quite closely. I have not experienced that terror just yet but if Isolation can recreate the suspense put in the old Alien Trilogy game on the PS1, then sign me up.
For fans of the zombie genre or survivor horror, though, have nothing to fear. With new systems and plenty of old ideas to exploit games like Resident Evil, Doom, Silent Hill and some day Left 4 Dead, will all be remade and redone to furious fervor from fans both old and new. The question is will these games look for news ideas in old stories or come up with something completely new and original. Only time will tell how this genre plays out. And like those hordes of zombies striving to claim that sole survivors living body, game developers and studios will ultimately strive for every one of our dollars. All we can do is hold out hope for quality because as Rick Grimes famously said in Season 5 of the Walking Dead… “Can’t go back Bob”.
CN2: Central Nerd Network 