Happy Halloween everyone, I didn't think I would get the opportunity to doing a last minute blog for Halloween. There is a few games I personally consider of being a true Halloween game you must play prior to or on Halloween. Today I will be doing a different kind of comparison between two of my favorite games.
Also I won't be including MediEvil 2 & Ghoul Patrol in this. Even if I were to do that, it easily ruin the purpose of this blog. Let's be honest, most of us knows MediEvil 2 is way better than Ghoul Patrol. So I felt this comparison works best with their respective original games. If this blog is a success, I'll consider doing a follow up blog for next Halloween with two different games.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
MediEvil
This isn't about which is the better overall game. If that were the case then I would've easily picked MediEvil. No this comparison is more directly about which one ends up being more of a true Halloween experience. I don't see a lot of people doing that too. I am leaving my bias side out of this too.
Round 1: Characters
There isn't many characters to speak of in Zombies Ate My Neighbors. In fact, most of them are those you rescue. They don't bring anything to the table. But in their defense, all kind of monsters is after them. In a way that makes them come off like a horror movie. In the case, MediEvil there's more characters to speak of.
Most of them aren't exactly in the Halloween theme. So I will only be talking about the ones that do for this comparison. Sir Daniel Fortesque is an undead knight indirectly revived by his old enemy Zarok. He is a skeleton knight that takes on all kind of creatures. Sure having kids taking on monsters has been around in horror related media for years.
But there's just something about a skeleton knight that stands out more to me. Zarok is a powerful sorcerer that killed Fortesque in battle a long time ago. You also have a gargoyle that gives you information. There's also a merchant gargoyle that can come in handy at times. There's a level on a flying ghost ship where you take on a ghost pirate crew.
Dr. Tongue is the main antagonist of Zombies Ate My Neighbors. There is little to no story in that game. We can only go by he was the one responsible for most of these creatures. I felt just playable character wise I have to give it to MediEvil. But due to lack of story that sometimes a good thing in a horror movie or game.
I felt there's too many unanswered questions here. So I am going with MediEvil here. You also deal with possessed villagers in a level. The game will tell you to not kill them or their souls will become lost. This by itself adds more a horror factor into the mechanics. As much as I like Zeke & Julie, they didn't have enough on their own to take the round, also due to Ghoul Patrol.
Winner: MediEvil
Round 2: Enemies
There's a few enemies both of these games shares surprisingly. Zombies, giant ants, mummies, and mutant plants. To clarify, they do feature different takes on mutant plants. Both of them has so many monsters not featured in the other game that it's mind blowing. This is where I believe it possibly could come down to personal taste.
I should mention, there's more boss monsters in MediEvil. Each one stands out in their own way. I won't name every monsters you deal with. Trust me, a list for both games is a little long. Let's put it this way do you want a game with vampires, werewolves, evil toys, mermen & martians. Or do you want a game that has scarecrows, ghost pirates, shadow demons & Stained Glass Demon?
I felt the bosses in Zombies Ate My Neighbors are mostly there to act as parodying of several classic horror movies. Which does help giving the game the B-movie vibe. Like Snakenoids is a parody of Graboids from Tremors series. Real quick, there's a new Tremors movie coming out I can not wait. MediEvil has more enemies in the air in comparison.
I also liked even with strict to kill enemies, it can be done. But vampires in particular in ZAMN are very frustrating to force leaving the levels they're in. Even with the recommended weapon, it can still take awhile. Speaking of werewolves, some later levels you are forced to rush fast to rescue tourists. If you don't get to them in time, they will transform into werewolves.
Yeah it's kinda weird you can save some potentially dangerous people before they lose control. MediEvil does have some tough enemies of it's own. I felt just looking at majority of them. This very easily could be a tie for the right reason. Both of them uses different creatures the other one lacks in a way that works.
You could combine the two games into something truly unique here. Surprisingly that's how close this is. Here's where I'm at this, boss wise I'm going MediEvil but regular monster wise it has to be ZAMN. So I am officially going to do a first I ever done in any comparison I done. There's two different winners in their respective categories for this round.
Better monster roster (Zombies Ate My Neighbors)
Better boss monsters (MediEvil)
Round 3: Audio
Some might consider this an unfair category since I'm comparing an cartridge game's audio to a CD game audio's. But in this particular case, it is actually a close one here. Especially if using the SNES version of ZAMN's soundtrack. I felt both has plenty of songs that fits in perfectly for Halloween. Even some of the sound effects does that.
But I felt MediEvil has more impressive sound effects in comparison. Not many songs repeats in MediEvil, although you could end up replaying levels. There's fewer songs in ZAMN but all of them stands out. Honestly I am already considering pulling what I just done in the previous round here. Both of them have something better than the other in a few key areas within audio.
You could mix them up to making an excellent Halloween soundtrack with amazing sound effects added. Honestly that would be truly sick if someone could pull that off. Oh hell I guess I sorta got no choice here. ZAMN does have a few songs better than the best MediEvil has to offer. But in vice versa, the sound effects does help sell MediEvil to keep on playing it.
Even if it came down to the monsters themselves. It still a very close round to call. So I don't think there was going to be one simply taking this round. Also I felt in their particular areas they nail incredibly well, they earned it. This is me being as direct as well as being fair as I can possibly be here.
Better soundtrack (Zombies Ate My Neighbors)
Better sound effects (MediEvil)
Round 4: Weapons
Let's be honest, ZAMN has mostly stuff thrown in to making it more of a horror parody game. These were never meant to be taken seriously. But you still get surprisingly more weapons than you do in MediEvil. Yet this category was never about how many weapons either game has. This is more about which arsenal ends up being more Halloweenish in comparison.
Keep in mind, these games don't even share one weapon between them at all. Honestly ZAMN does have stuff like a bazooka, chemicals turns you in a few ways & the cross. It even has Pandora's box that destroys most enemies on screen. This weapon alone does come close to many weapons Sir Daniel wields.
Sure a good number of his arsenals are alternation versions of other weapons. But they do help making it feel more like an Halloween game. You do get weapons you would expect from a knight. You also get some magical ones, using your own arm & Dragon Armour. Sir Daniel also can use a few types of Lightning.
There's a particular enemy in ZAMN that uses electricity against you. Dr. Tongue's Frankstein creatures. You also can get the club caught on fire. Many things in horror doesn't like being near fire. A closer look at their arsenal after removing what isn't Halloween theme. I can safely say MediEvil won this round since it plays more on things than ZAMN does.
Winner: MediEvil
Final Round: Fear Factor
Keep in mind, ZAMN is heavily inspired by so many horror movies. MediEvil was inspired by Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, a personal favorite of mine. So ZAMN already go into this round with a huge advantage. Obviously most categories was taken by MediEvil. I know some of you are wondering why do this round if the winner being somewhat obvious.
The truth is for me the winner of this wasn't even obvious to me at all. There's a lot to consider from both of these games. ZAMN does do some things better than MediEvil. I also liked there's a credit level after the final level in ZAMN where you get to explore LucasArts' builiding itself. Sure it was done to play more of this being a parody game.
Let's be honest, playing both of these on Halloween is enough to get any gamer excited. In their own right, they do deserve that reputation for the holiday. They are excellent horror games that isn't meant to be scary. Although, somethings within them even from the game play could get people off guard. I felt this was something I always wanted to do for a long time.
Even to this day, I am thankful I got to play both of these classics growing up. Sure I didn't get far in them but my respect still remains very high for them. ZAMN plays more on nostalgia of horror movies while MediEvil comes off more of an original horror inspired action adventure. In both games, you do get to explore the levels.
I should mention, depending on versions of ZAMN that does also include regions. You could be get an game over with blood running down your screen or different color slime in other versions. In Europe, the game is simply called Zombies. I guess the title was too unpleasant enough to just leaving Zombies there lol.
MediEvil didn't get as much differences between regions. The biggest differences was not the US version doesn't have the big code. More recently, in MediEvil Remastered you can unlock the original game. Yes you can actually use the big code being the first time on console in the United States. Of course, those are just minor details to what really matters here.
MediEvil has a charm to it that will keep bringing more people in. In a sense so will Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Sure both of them can be difficult games in their own right. I felt MediEvil actually have cut scenes with a few that could scare people. It ends up being the edge for this category. ZAMN doesn't really have much for the ending either.
Also another great reason I would give this to MediEvil has to be that beautiful map selection screen. The more you play of it, the more of the overall map you'll get to see. I felt even in the original game itself, it's a true piece of art. I do like the Remastered look to the map selection screen as well. I will say level names wise ZAMN got this in the bag.
ZAMN's level names actually sounds like horror movies. Some of them even go like a more terrifying sequel to another level before the actual title comes up. I am not saying I didn't care for the level names in MediEvil because I do a lot. Even if settings had a role in this, I am likely to give it to MediEvil.
You get to explore the same graveyard twice, an swamp, an asylum, inside an ant hill, an place where many fell into the sea and an ghost ship. Even doing places like malls in ZAMN isn't enough here. Obviously locations is going to MediEvil here. This was never going to be an easy comparison for me.
Winner: MediEvil
Now nothing has personally changed for me here. I absolutely love both of these horror classics with an passion. I couldn't name another other horror game that could come close to one or the other. Which is exactly why I ended up with these two going against each other for Halloween. With everything considered, to me MediEvil is more of a true Halloween game.
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