Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse

I fucking love this game, but I have to deduct half a star because of that shitty, buggy and poorly implemented rhythm game. If I wanted to be playing a rhythm game, I wouldn't be playing Stubbs the Zombie for fuck sake.

Stubbs is a title I remember really wishing I had access to an Xbox for when it was originally released and was really excited after hearing there was going to be a re-release this year. Gotta say I'm kind of disappointed by it finally getting a chance to play after 16 years, but I think if I was still 12 years old I would've really been into it.

I think the biggest problem is that it very much feels like a game that's a product of its time, with its sprawling sandbox-y levels that feel pointlessly big and really empty and has a lack of focus on having a gameplay style that's tight and continuously evolves instead of kind of mid action segments broken up by stuff such as vehicular combat or a Simon dance off to very middle-2000s covers of 1950s and early 60s pop songs.

I'm not sure if it just needed a little more time in the oven so to speak, but even with a very short campaign of about 5-6 hours it starts getting old pretty quick which is a shame because it has legitimately funny if kinda crass humor that helps carry the very loose sense of any sort of story or continuity with its levels that are pretty much separate vignettes of a zombie salesman rampaging through a 1950s vision of a futuristic utopia city.

That said I think it's worth a playthrough without much of a time commitment, but unfortunately as far as replayability and staying power goes it's pretty much a play and move on sort of affair.

Stubbs is one of those weird games when zombie games were starting to really get off the ground and become more mainstream. I remember my friend bringing his Xbox over with this game, he was obsessed with every video game that had to do with zombies, he introduced me to the Resident Evil franchise which he was absolutely obsessed with. Anyway it was probably after Winter break of my Freshman year in high school and I remember playing this with him one afternoon. Its not like most zombie games instead of playing as the human you play as the zombie and go through a futuristic looking 1950s town fighting off police and military people with an entire government conspiracy going on behind the scenes. It kind of reminds me of Destroy All Humans except with zombies. The game is pretty unique and has its own style, hell they even remake classic 1950s pop songs for the soundtrack of this game. It has some really weird and memorable moments, theres one boss fight where you have a dance off with a cop to 50s music. Its kind of cool too that the people you kill in this also turn into zombies and help you out. There are different abilities you can get although the game itself is pretty basic, and its short too. I think we beat the game in a little over 5 hours of playing. Its overall a decent game that has a unique idea and odd sense of humor, but at the same time it hasn't aged the best either. Its soft of stuck in the mid 2000s era where the werid government conspiracy 1950s sci fi games like Destroy All Humans were popular. Its at least worth playing once for the novelty but it really has no value outside that one playthrough.

In Stubbs the Zombie you play as the original zombie who spawns the zombie apocalypse in the land of Punchbowl, essentially creating your own undead ground zero. Punchbowl is a retro-futurist vision resembling the life our grandparents thought we would be living. Flying cars, robot tour guides, and escalators galore! Confusingly, the story takes place in the '50s. All you need to know though is that Stubbs is a zombie, and zombies love brains. Stubbs doesn’t crave just any brains, however. He longs to munch down on the brains of Punchbowl’s local celebrity, Maggie Monday. The plot is more fueled by Stubb’s surroundings, which is all for the best since Stubb’s vocabulary apparently doesn’t extend beyond “brains”. 1 out of 1 Joe Lieberman's disapprove.

As you might imagine, playing as a zombie instead of against zombies adds many opportunities to explore unfamiliar ground in similar action games. For the better part of the game, you’ll be relying on Stubbs special abilities. You have organs you throw which serve as grenades, a disposable head you roll at your enemies, and a lethal gas that emits from your sphincter. Finally, a hero gamers can relate to! The ability you’ll be relying on for most of the game is that of possession. This works exactly as you would expect; you take on the role of the soldier with the gun then you have the ability to mow down everyone else. Thankfully, death in possession doesn’t affect Stubbs (at least not on the easier difficulties). The most important feature in the game is the ability to recruit helpless humans to join your zombie republic. Thanks to smart A.I. that faithfully captures the essence of a brainless zombie, you’ll rely on your fellow zombies to take down other victims and stand in your way, like the obnoxious zombies they are.

I must add that it is essential that you play Stubbs the Zombie on “easy”. I wouldn’t say this of too many other games, but Stubbs pretty much breaks when put it on harder difficulty levels. Since you are a helpless zombie with a slow walk, you have no means of strategy against a soldier that stands before you. You just take damage and hope you get to him before he kills you. As you can imagine, this is never the case when the game is put on a harder difficulty and it can be frustrating as hell. The feeling of being a zombie master just can’t be faithfully captured when you venture into harder difficulty modes. You might want to adjust the difficulty to “normal”, however, if you are going to play the game co-op. I haven’t played the game co-op (being that I played the PC release which doesn’t have the option), but I imagine this would be among the most memorable co-op games out there. Comedies are best seen with a friend, and the same applies to Stubbs.

Enough can’t be said of Stubb’s hilarious script, that rivals the best episodes of The Simpsons and Family Guy, but it’s the great cast of voice actors and adroit animators that bring the story to life. You’ll never forget the first time you heard a soldier cry out for his “whacking arm”. The game is also complimented with what is to my knowledge the only soundtrack of high profile bands doing original material for a video game. While the recordings are original, the songs are all actually covers of '50s and '60s FM staples. It’s wonderfully surreal to hear The Flaming Lips and Death Cab for Cutie in such a context. Needless to say, this is a soundtrack worth seeking out on its own merit. Oddly enough, the game doesn’t apply this soundtrack outside a handful of scenes, relying on a more traditional instrumental score for the better part of the game.

In case you missed the giant sticker on the box, Stubbs was built on the Halo: Combat Evolvedengine and it shows. Like the original Halo, the game plays best when you are in sprawling outdoor environments. Some of the interiors you go through can look downright ugly, thanks to seeing the same, lifeless texture spread against every wall, but most of the time you’ll be in interesting locations that are occupied by many well-realized characters.

There are very few games out there with a sense of humor, and the ones that do branch into comedy are rarely a success. Just look at 2009’s most panned title, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust. While sales figures hint that Stubbs the Zombie is another comedic failure, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Furthermore, Stubbs stands among titles like Psychonautsand MDK II, which display a unique brand of humor that compliments a unique brand of gameplay.