Zombob's Zombie News and Reviews

The 5 strangest zombie games of all time

Because zombies are weird, and so are some games about them

While we already listed our favorite zombie games earlier in the year, we don't feel like that's enough zombie coverage. It's a truth universally acknowledged that zombies and video games go hand in hand, but what happens when the combination feels not quite right?

The games here aren't necessarily the "worst" zombie games, but rather the ones we believe are among the weirdest. As one of the video game industry's primary fallback antagonists, the average zombie has suffered a lot of ill will over the last several decades, and while they may be deserving of our ire (they're inherently aggressive to humankind and they eat flesh) they probably didn't deserve what these games had coming for them.

With that in mind, peruse our short list of the weirdest zombie games of all time, and then tell us what you think we've missed.

Zombie Tycoon (PSP)

While the name promises similar gameplay elements to other Tycoon titles, you won't be building a thriving, undead-operated free-market economy in Zombie Tycoon, which is gravely disappointing. Instead, this is a mutant RTS where you'll focus most of your efforts killing other zombies. Because you know, when zombies successfully eradicate living kind, they'll only have each other to blame. Just when you thought you'd found a game where you could throw the ugly wretches a bone...

The Typing of the Dead (Dreamcast, Windows)

Somewhere in a Tokyo boardroom in the late '90s, SEGA publishing head honchos spent a tense all-nighter concocting an ominous plan to make "edutainment" appealing to people who hate learning. The result was The Typing of the Dead, a multi-platform masterpiece that required players to learn touch typing in order to fend off hordes of zombies. To video game publishers, zombies make everything fun, and in this case we'll begrudgingly acknowledge their logic because this was actually pretty cool. It even spawned an arcade version. So while this game isn't technically among the "dumbest" zombie games (it's meant to make you smarter), it's certainly strange.

     

Gloom 3  (Amiga)

This is a first-person shooter for the Amiga. Take a moment to let that sink in. Gloom rhymes with Doom and this was a clone of sorts, except it shares more in common with Wolfenstein 3D, except instead of Nazis you shoot... wait for it: zombies. You play as some guy on some planet unaccountably infested with zombies. You shoot at them with weird green projectiles. They attack enmasse and explode into clouds of off-coloured pixels. I'm sure it was fun, but... actually no. It looks like it sucked.

Isle of the Dead (PC)

...and if you thought Gloom 3 was weird, this Wolfenstein 3D clone is even weirder. A first-person shooter with light RPG elements, you're a guy stuck on an island (flat wall ocean textures!) tasked with fending off hordes of out-of-proportion zombies in an effort to get to the end. Few people did, because a) the game was very difficult and b) it wasn't fun. Still, like 1970s video nasties and Scandinavian prog-rock bands, this has immense kitsch value. It has to be seen:

Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3, Xbox 360)

You're a cheerleader tasked with mowing down zombies (with a chainsaw), all the while wearing your jock boyfriend's skull on your waist. Schlocky, gratuitous and very fun '80s horror films seem to be the inspiration here, and if you take Lollipop Chainsaw for what it is - a score-driven hack-and-slasher - it's pretty damn cool. But if you're a really serious person who likes Artistic Cinematic Cutscenes depicting Real Emotional Trauma, go play Prototype 2 instead.

~computerandvideogames.com