Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (2021)
Originally an 2005 Xbox game that quickly gotten ported to PC not long afterwards. By now a lot of people played many zombie games. Inevitably it gets old after awhile. Yet here's a zombie game that's rather refreshing to play. A huge twist you play as a zombie that's going against humans. Technically speaking due to some of his actions, Stubbs more of an anti-hero character.
This zombie in all honestly freaking awesome!!! Some parts of his body has abilities that helps through out the game. You even can fart to stun enemies which is very helpful to get enemies driving around in vehicles to leave em. Surprisingly the game engine is classic Halo engine. This is more of a third person game with a little variety.
This actually predates Dead Rising series a little over an year. This is a vastly different experience that's also notably comical. I couldn't believe how funny this game was. You will be laughing hard at times. I really had a difficult time believing the famous Dam part. Stubbs had to take a leak, he does his business at the water supply of the Dam.
Yes you literately had to piss like no tomorrow in the water to continue the game. For me it's not uncommon to see piss use in some form within video games. I will say it's among the most ridiculous usage of piss I ever seen in one. The game is a little funny with auto saving. It basically chooses when it saves your game at times.
Which is a bit annoying but sometimes it saves your game often while other times it's a bit more distanced. You can ride around in vehicles including tanks. This brought me back to funny enough GoldenEye on N64. Which also on both Switch and Xbox consoles. In a few levels you have the option to ride an tank.
You may not be able to ride em over like that game. Everything else about causing hell in a tank is so satisfying. Sometimes it's not quite clear what you're suppose to do. In fact expect to die a lot in this game. Enemy accuracy differs from Stormtroopers to a bit too accurate at times. Stuff like this is simply not balanced well.
There's a few notable boss fights that's all different. One of my favorite aspects of the game is you kill people. Either melee em to death or bite em in the head. As long their bodies doesn't get destroyed in a short period of time. The deceased becomes ally zombies which can be very helpful. I love it when suddenly I have the numbers on my side at times.
Don't expect great AI from them though. Sometimes enemy AI is a bit questionable to a degree. It's not terrible by any means, it just randomly does stuff including a complete stop. I can tell you the campaign is surprisingly fun as well as creative. There's plenty of twists within the story. My favorite ability is Stubbs rips his right hand off.
Suddenly you are controlling that hand which has it's own health bar. You can sneak around on walls as well as ceilings to jump towards enemies to possess em. This ability saved me so much in my run. If you can take control of an enemy with a great weapon. You really can do some damage to them. Sometimes using the hand you'll notice things from angles you couldn't see prior.
I also love another cool ability is he rips his own head off. Then he throws it like a bowling ball. You got some control over the head's movements before it explodes. Don't worry it doesn't kill you. He even throws explosive guts at enemies is something I never expected to see in an game. This is a very different zombie game from the rest of them.
There's some light hearted moments with plenty more mess up stuff happening. You get forced to do an dance off with the police chef I'm not kidding. Thankfully the game will eventually give you the option to skip it. This section of the game gets very strict how you input the buttons. You get a good variety of locations to explore.
This was among my more expensive Christmas games. I felt for the price I paid for it's fully worth that price. Stubbs is incredibly fun to play as. I also love in some vehicles. Some of the zombies jumps in like people to join you riding around. You can tell the developers of the original version had a lot of fun making this.
The newer team that's currently bringing a lot of classic games back. Such as Legacy of Kain, Tomb Raider and Star Wars respectively. Even they clearly had a lot of fun making their newer version of it. The ending is not at all what anyone expecting. I also like I can use level select to replay levels I want to revisit.
Just in case you were wondering which game company remastered this, It was Aspyr. After playing this I'll add their names among retro releases in the near future. They just won't be as high as Nightdive Studios or Digital Eclipse. I felt us retro gamers are eating beyond full at this point. I would love The Suffering get an remaster soon.
Sure it may lack some modern features to make it a little more enjoyable for some. I don't think in this case it hurts the game much. Considering this game was rather unexpected among it's original release. It's amazing the game came back at all after so many years. This is exactly why I'm more retro than modern gaming.
Stubbs allows you to be creative to get through the levels to a degree is a very nice touch. The controls take a little time getting use. Very quickly you'll get use to em as you play the game. I do love the reversal of roles now being the zombies taking on the humans. I do respect games that do that. I actually can't find anything more major to criticize either.
End of the day you're getting a fun zombie game. Vastly different from the rest of them in many ways. In all honestly one of the funniest games I ever played!!! Also among the most creative zombie games I ever played as well. Stubbs is among my favorite video game zombies ever!!! This game is one hell of a party you never wanna leave.
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