We’ve talked about ‘Project Zomboid’ before here on the ZRC blog, but now a review of the tech demo was brought to our attention and it highlights precisely the sort of Anti-Zombie gameplay we feared:

The world as we know it has come to an end. Zombies roam the land as humans struggle to survive, not only against the flesh-eating hordes but also against one another. Gangs scour the streets, breaking into houses and stealing whatever they can get their hands on using any force necessary. It’s a grim yet imaginative concept — unlike the outright unification created in other games such as Left 4 Dead, Project Zomboid presents us with what I imagine to be a realistic simulation of a zombie outbreak, with the threat coming as much from other humans as the deceased. Oh, but don’t worry: There are zombies. Lots of them.

…

However — with a helpful yet surprisingly startling musical queue — you soon learn that this house is inhabited by your first zombie encounter, who quickly shuffles to you with one desire: brains. A quick smack with your trusty hammer, and the zombie lies dead, its own brains sprayed across the floor, walls, and door. Grab the food, then get the hell out of there. Back in the house, it’s time to cook the soup you scavenged from next door. While that’s on, your wife informs you that she got the radio working. Naturally, you go upstairs to listen to the grim news of the zombie outbreak.

Yes, it’s basically a Romero-style Survivor Barricade simulator, complete with such ‘fun’ activities as scrounging for food, treating injuries in primitive and unsanitary settings and listening to the radio.

Well, even worse, the radio news. About the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’.

Apparently you have to pay a lot of attention to the little details of daily life like cooking and tending the stove, or you can burn down the house with yourself inside, say, like the reviewer from OMGN. It’s something like ‘The Sims’, only full of Anti-Zombie prejudice.

Naturally, we disapprove here at the ZRC. Strenuously.

(Not about the soup watching part, but the Anti-Zombie part.)

Tags: Videogames

This entry was posted by John Sears on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Zombie Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.