Zombies Come Back To (1950s) Life

Join The Legions Of The Shambling Undead In 'Stubbs The Zombie'

(CBS)  It’s difficult to go over the many ways you’re able to disassemble humans and turn them into the undead in Rebel Without A Pulse. That's because your weapons and their attacks are so ridiculous and fun. Grab any poor dope and watch the gore fly as you chew through his skull — it never gets old. My favorite method by far is the detachable hand attack. You can rip your own forearm off and send it on a mission to possess the living.

Each time you jump with the mobile limb, it flips the camera off (a la Ash’s hand in "Evil Dead 2"). Grab onto an opponent’s head and you control the enemy. I suggest going to one of the sniping Marines so you can get a hold of that sweet, sweet rifle and split some craniums. Your zombie brethren will thank you, albeit in the form of moaning cacophony.

The game's recipe for success is an undead homage. Take one part Romero (for the shambling dead and the spot-on social commentary that people don’t want to listen to), two parts O’Bannon (creator of the funniest zombie movie known to man "Return Of The Living Dead," because the zombies in this game eat brains, not flesh, like Romero zombies), and just a smidgen of "Evil Dead," and you’ve got a general idea of what cinematic treats influenced the game. One should probably throw Stuart Gordon’s "Re-Animator" in there too, if only for good measure.

Stubbs is the embodiment of '50s kitsch and it plays out like one of the afternoon creature features Baby Boomers used to pay pocket change to see. It’s even got an amazing soundtrack with the likes of Ben Kweller covering "Lollipop," The Raveonettes' take on "My Boyfriend’s Back" and Rose Hill Drive's absolutely fantastic cover of "Shakin' All Over."

By using a tongue-in-cheek view of our past "innocence" and a thorough knowledge of everything zombie, Stubbs is both entertaining as hell and a bizarre commentary on where we are now. Video games might be the new rock 'n' roll. The fact that they’re besieged on a regular basis by know-nothing, vote-crazy politicos might be enough to raise them to rock’s previous subversive standing.

What are games like this trying to convey? Are they saying that America is retrogressing? That we're turning back to a jingoistic, numb, dumb and naive period? Or is it just a laughing look at the supposed "better days" in our history?

The kinds of video games we play, like the movies we watch, can give more insight into our culture and climate than we might want to admit. Consider Stubbs our zombie zeitgeist. It should never be forgotten that games have the potential to actually say things to people, to tell us stories and to make us think.

If I were a betting man, my guess would be that games are trying to say the things that Stubbs's inspirations have been saying for a long time: The kids are alright but the rest of you are not.

Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without A Pulse rises from the grave Oct. 17, 2005, for the Xbox, PC and Mac.

For more info:
Stubbs The Zombie
Stubbs Soundtrack
Aspyr