Paperboy Posts: 44 Joined: 23 Aug 2008 | If you've played zombie games before, you can usually assume 3 things about another zombie game:
1. The protagonist is alive.
2. The zombie-ness has an antidote.
3. The main objective isn't to eat brains.
This is all metaphorically thrown out the proverbial window in Stubbs the Zombie.
So, what is it about? Well, you're Stubbs, a man who was a salesman during the Great Depression, then killed by a customer and buried. A futuristic city (called Punchbowl) was built over the previous 'version' and there are now things like hover-cars and robots. Unfortunately for the citizens, Stubbs just HAPPENS to rise from the dead for reasons not explained. Ever. Seriously. Ever. Don't even try.
The story consists of you, a city, people and the kinda clichéd, yet rather interestingly portratyed love interest (Maggie Monday). And brains. Lots and lots of brains. Anyway, as you proceed through the city, eating brains and doing other zombie-ish things, you unravel the plot of WHY you were killed and by whom. Note (actual plot below).
So, before the game, Stubbs was a salesman who sold life insurance. One of his rather unwilling customers was a man called Otis Monday who had a daughter, Maggie. She and Stubbs did that unholy thing which, when mentioned in a game causes it to have an 18+ rating. Yes, yes, never mind the violence, it has a necessary part of life! BURN IT! Sorry. Anyway, back to the story. Maggie gets pregnant and Otis kills Stubbs and buries him in a field. Maggie then gives birth to Andrew Monday who designs the city of Punchbowl. Then Stubbs comes back as a zombie in 1959 and does what zombies do best, all the while chasing Maggie. In the end, Andrew dies, Stubbs eats Maggie's brains and they (un)live happily ever after. In the middle you also have things like boss-fights and a dance-off between Stubbs and T.S. Masters, the Chief of Police.
The game has an abundancy of humour, albeit some of it rather childish. For example, one of the levels takes place at a farm called 'Knob Cheese Farm' (note: the password is 'cornhole'). In another sequence, Stubbs makes a rallying speech consisting of the word 'Brains' repeated over and over, which ends with the morale-filled response of 'BRAINS!' from the crowd.
Gameplay is rather fun. You have a claw attack which stuns people in about 3 hits or you can just kill them with it. There's also the brain-eating attack which can only be done when someone is stunned, or you can jump above them and press said button to eat their brains, ninja/wrestling style. There're also the zombie powers which consist of: a gut grenade which zombifies people, a hand which can be used for exploration and possessing people, a fart attack which stuns people in a rather large radius and the 'head-bowl' where you rip off your head and throw it, while it spits zombie sputum at them, zombifieing them in the process. All of these powers need brains to be re-used. Along with that, eating brains replenishes some health. On the topic of zombification: when you zombify someone, they follow you, eating brains and clawing at people. A horde can be used as meat shields. Unfortunately, they can die. But they are rather expendable...unless you're playing on Insane. Stubbs can also drive vehicles, even though there isn't a very wide selection.
The game's atmosphere changes throughout the levels. In the first level, everything is all bright and colourful, while by the last level, it's rather dark, grey and gloomy. I'm not sure what exactly the effect is called, but the game has this effect, giving it the appearance of an old-fashioned movie. (For those who don't have a clue of what I'm talking about, (can't blame you) it has lines running down the side and flickers occasionally.
The music choice is similar to Bioshock. It suits the era and contrasts the whole atmosphere of the game, so you can sing along to 'Sandman' with a mouthful of brains. There are also screams before death by enemies, general zombie-like groaning and some threats hurled at you by the cops.
So, in general, it's a fun journey through a futuristic city with a tale of friendship, love and brains. |
Press Junketeer Posts: 500 Joined: 12 Jun 2008 | Okay, this sounds like fun. What platforms was it released for, and how did I miss its launch? |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 898 Joined: 27 May 2008 | Quite old, I believe it was an Xbox & PS2 Release a few years back.
2005 I think. |
Press Junketeer Posts: 500 Joined: 12 Jun 2008 | Portkins:
Quite old, I believe it was an Xbox & PS2 Release a few years back.
2005 I think.
Think it's backwards compatible with the 360? |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 898 Joined: 27 May 2008 | Probably not. I haven't given it any though/tries.
It was made with the Halo 2 engine, so... If that's compatible, this probably is. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 3702 Joined: 8 May 2008 | Also released on PC. However if you have a dual core you have to make sure to set the affinity to only one core. Else you end up playing the game at 10x speed. O.o |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1361 Joined: 21 May 2008 | 51gunner:
Portkins:
Quite old, I believe it was an Xbox & PS2 Release a few years back.
2005 I think.
Think it's backwards compatible with the 360?
I think it may be in the xbox originals on marketplace. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 3617 Joined: 7 Aug 2008 | Hmm, sounds interesting. I just hope its PS3 compatible. |
Beat Writer Posts: 212 Joined: 16 Oct 2008 | It was an awesome game, completed it :)
Had some good fun with eating brains, using the hand of mind control on policemen and playing bowling with my head.
Also, on the mall level, i would get the enemies to suicide with the mind control hand after depleting their ammo on their friends. |
Anonymous Source Posts: 1 Joined: 23 Nov 2008 | This game is indeed backwards compatible. I picked it up from EB Games for about $10 used and finished the story on the Xbox 360. Really fun game and the comedy is great, I fully recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy. They even released a soundtrack back when it came out. :) |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1566 Joined: 8 Oct 2008 | You forgot the dialogue with the sheep or the hippo head director's commentary easter eggs you can find after you beat the game. |
Infamous Scribbler Posts: 513 Joined: 20 Aug 2008 | That game was made of pure awesome for some stupid reason i sold it & can't find another copy anywhere. *sad face* |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1685 Joined: 7 Feb 2008 | I still have my CDs for the PC version. |
BANNED Posts: 12958 Joined: 30 Jan 2008 | It was released on the PC, the Xbox and the Mac. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2768 Joined: 18 Sep 2007 | Stubbs the Zombie is backwards compatable on the 360, probably because it uses the Halo engine. It's available for direct download as an Xbox Original for the 360; I also believe it's on Steam for the PC.
It's got a kickin' soundtrack, with '50s tunes done by modern-day bands and today's studio technology. The soundtrack was released on CD, but I haven't the faintest idea where to find that other than iTunes.
-- Steve |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1914 Joined: 20 Jul 2008 | I got the CD for the soundtrack right here. Awesome stuff. If there is one thing that you should take away from the game, its the amazing soundtrack. The game was a hell of a lot of fun, great for some co-op fun as well. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1361 Joined: 21 May 2008 | Anton P. Nym:
Stubbs the Zombie is backwards compatable on the 360, probably because it uses the Halo engine. It's available for direct download as an Xbox Original for the 360; I also believe it's on Steam for the PC.
It's got a kickin' soundtrack, with '50s tunes done by modern-day bands and today's studio technology. The soundtrack was released on CD, but I haven't the faintest idea where to find that other than iTunes.
-- Steve
You can find the soundtrack on youtube. |
If you've played zombie games before, you can usually assume 3 things about another zombie game:
1. The protagonist is alive.
2. The zombie-ness has an antidote.
3. The main objective isn't to eat brains.
This is all metaphorically thrown out the proverbial window in Stubbs the Zombie.
So, what is it about? Well, you're Stubbs, a man who was a salesman during the Great Depression, then killed by a customer and buried. A futuristic city (called Punchbowl) was built over the previous 'version' and there are now things like hover-cars and robots. Unfortunately for the citizens, Stubbs just HAPPENS to rise from the dead for reasons not explained. Ever. Seriously. Ever. Don't even try.
The story consists of you, a city, people and the kinda clichéd, yet rather interestingly portratyed love interest (Maggie Monday). And brains. Lots and lots of brains. Anyway, as you proceed through the city, eating brains and doing other zombie-ish things, you unravel the plot of WHY you were killed and by whom. Note (actual plot below).
So, before the game, Stubbs was a salesman who sold life insurance. One of his rather unwilling customers was a man called Otis Monday who had a daughter, Maggie. She and Stubbs did that unholy thing which, when mentioned in a game causes it to have an 18+ rating. Yes, yes, never mind the violence, it has a necessary part of life! BURN IT! Sorry. Anyway, back to the story. Maggie gets pregnant and Otis kills Stubbs and buries him in a field. Maggie then gives birth to Andrew Monday who designs the city of Punchbowl. Then Stubbs comes back as a zombie in 1959 and does what zombies do best, all the while chasing Maggie. In the end, Andrew dies, Stubbs eats Maggie's brains and they (un)live happily ever after. In the middle you also have things like boss-fights and a dance-off between Stubbs and T.S. Masters, the Chief of Police.
The game has an abundancy of humour, albeit some of it rather childish. For example, one of the levels takes place at a farm called 'Knob Cheese Farm' (note: the password is 'cornhole'). In another sequence, Stubbs makes a rallying speech consisting of the word 'Brains' repeated over and over, which ends with the morale-filled response of 'BRAINS!' from the crowd.
Gameplay is rather fun. You have a claw attack which stuns people in about 3 hits or you can just kill them with it. There's also the brain-eating attack which can only be done when someone is stunned, or you can jump above them and press said button to eat their brains, ninja/wrestling style. There're also the zombie powers which consist of: a gut grenade which zombifies people, a hand which can be used for exploration and possessing people, a fart attack which stuns people in a rather large radius and the 'head-bowl' where you rip off your head and throw it, while it spits zombie sputum at them, zombifieing them in the process. All of these powers need brains to be re-used. Along with that, eating brains replenishes some health. On the topic of zombification: when you zombify someone, they follow you, eating brains and clawing at people. A horde can be used as meat shields. Unfortunately, they can die. But they are rather expendable...unless you're playing on Insane. Stubbs can also drive vehicles, even though there isn't a very wide selection.
The game's atmosphere changes throughout the levels. In the first level, everything is all bright and colourful, while by the last level, it's rather dark, grey and gloomy. I'm not sure what exactly the effect is called, but the game has this effect, giving it the appearance of an old-fashioned movie. (For those who don't have a clue of what I'm talking about, (can't blame you) it has lines running down the side and flickers occasionally.
The music choice is similar to Bioshock. It suits the era and contrasts the whole atmosphere of the game, so you can sing along to 'Sandman' with a mouthful of brains. There are also screams before death by enemies, general zombie-like groaning and some threats hurled at you by the cops.
So, in general, it's a fun journey through a futuristic city with a tale of friendship, love and brains.