Customer Reviews

Stubbs The Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Really. If you're a zombie fan, you have to get this. Basically, the game involves you going around, biting people's brains out(with a beautiful and over the top bloodspray every single time.)
That sounds like it could get old, but it doesn't. Not when you have a horde of zombies following you. Not when the characters are always screaming hilarious things as you maim them or devour their brains. Not when you can throw gut grenades, life-stunning flatulance(which makes it a piece of cake to get those oh-so-satisfying brain bites), roll your head at people and explode it, or rip your hand off to possess people.

It's all great. Think you may wind up with some trouble in the next room? Well, instead of killing a guy in this one with a brain bite, rip off your hand, possess him, and use his gun to go blast away the enemies in the next room. Need to take a break? Push your zombie horde out in front of you and let them do most of the work for a while. Getting overwhelemd? Pull out some innards and let 'em rip, sending the cops flying.

And there's vehicles to cause carnage in. Awesome, grueseom carnage. And, as a nice little touch, your zombies will jump in next to you if there's room for them in the vehicle.

Great humor, GREAT gore, and great gameplay. The story is a little lacking, but you'll hardly notice that as you're going for another brain bite.

If you're not a zombie fan, I don't see any way you'll be hooked to this game, though. But that should be obvious regarding a game where you play a zombie....

Yes, Stubbs' creator company Wideload was founded by Alex Seropian and a few other gaming gurus who once worked for Bungie. So should it surprise to you that this is a good game? Probably not. But are its innovation and dark comedy truly remarkable? That may depend on the price tag...

In Stubbs, you play as a hapless travelling salesman who (for reasons unknown) woke up from an early grave with a desperate urge to munch on brains. Delicious brains.

The monotony of munching on brains (is that even possible?) is broken up by the layers of strategy involved. Walking up behind someone will almost always result in an opportunity for an insta-kill brain gobble. If you don't want to do the fighting yourself, build your army- anyone Stubbs kills turns into a Zombie themselves. Every situation can be played differently.

The game has a high cheese/camp factor instantly shown off by its sountrack- including retro hits like "My boyfriend's back" and "Lollipop", done through excellent covers by current bands. There's also a bevvy of in-game treats ranging from a dance-off minigame to drivable war-machine tractors. Bizarre, hilarious, and fun.

So who wouldn't want Stubbs? If you're on a tight budget, and you want to squeeze every possible moment of gameplay out of your purchase, this might not be the game for you. The story is a little short, and Wideload's founders' quest to maintain few employees and drive down development costs make this game feel like a budget title at times. A great budget title, but budget nonetheless. If that doesn't sound appealing, consider looking for this title as a used game or a rental (or, wait until the price drops). Get it, play the heck out of it for a few days and laugh yourself silly at all the gags- you'll love every moment.

In summary:
-Great game, great humor, and great gore. It's everything you'd expect from a zombie game and more!
-...unless you wanted dozens and dozens of hours of gameplay.

Stubbs is a great title as it stands, but I can't help feeling it would have been better released as a $20 title- the only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars.

i laughed non-stop playing this game. all-in-all a great game. pretty good graphics. controls are very simple, a child could figure it out (though it is rated M and they shouldn't be playing it). the lethal flatulence was my favorite, but i used gut grenades more. this in an original game and a breath of fresh air. although a tad short, worth the play.

Not much to say other than that it's an easy game and it's a lot of fun. The music is great with covers of old 50's songs which really helps the feel of the game. Plus the detail on the town of PunchBowl, A 1950's town with futuristic concepts, adds a delightful touch to the game. It almost reminds me of Disneyland's Tomorrowland back before they remodeled it. I also enjoy the ability to rip off your head and go bowling with it as well as through your hand at people and posses them. All out great game.

Well, maybe not the kids but this game kicks ass! I bought it yesterday and couldn't stop playing it all night. The zombie butt blasts are the best! I was cracking up at the dialog and the funny noises the zombies would make when you whistle at them to join you. It's great to finally have a game where you get to play the zombie and see how the other side lives..

There's just no way for that line NOT to be funny.

"Stubbs the Zombie" reminds me in many ways of "Destroy All Humans!" Both are set in what's supposed to be the 1950's, although the technology encountered seems to be advanced beyond anything we have today. Both feature B-movie monster archetypes as heroes, and the "hook" in both cases consists in the sociopathic glee of taking a bite out of humankind on their behalf. Specifically, both games involve the wholesale harvesting of human brains, which is depicted pretty graphically (especially in "Stubbs" - DAH had to have green blood to secure its "T" rating). But the gore is always in service to the comedy tone of these games, if only because of its ridiculous excess. If you don't laugh at the demo reel off the main menu of "Stubbs," which ends in a literal bloodbath of brain-eating, limb-severing quick cuts, this game might just not be your cup of ovaltine...lol.

Another comparison is that both are unfortunately extremely short. "Stubbs" has a cooperative split-screen mode (as you have no doubt heard, it's built on the Halo engine), and if you play through with a friend, you'll have a lot of fun, but you'll probably beat the entire game in a couple hours on the default setting. Even by yourself, it's maybe 5 hours tops. There are no real "extras," either.

That said, one of the reasons it's bound to go fast is just because it's so much fun. For every human you kill either in the traditional brain-eating way, or by swiping them to death with your grisly meathooks, or by blowing them up with your guts that you hurl like hand grenades, or your head that you roll like a bowling ball, you earn an undead henchman to be used in your ongoing battle against the remaining humans. This means that there's going to be a lot of spontaneous bloodshed happening all around you in a busy room, and if you find yourself in trouble, you can usually go to a quiet corner to recover (your "health" automatically recharges after a few seconds without a hit, again like DAH!) and let your zombies take care of things for a while. In addition to the powers described above, you also have the ability to fart your enemies into a stupor, and to possess armed enemies with your severed hand and make use of traditional firepower in classic 3rd-person shooter fashion. All of this, plus the ability to pilot some very obviously Halo-ish vehicles in certain areas, makes for more varied gameplay than you might expect from the first couple levels. But again, it's hard not to feel like the whole thing's over too quickly.

I like this game and I'm glad I bought it, although I'll probably get sick of playing through the same levels with friends pretty quickly, as fun as it is. Hopefully the game will really catch on and they'll release some new maps - I can think of a lot of obvious campy suggestions. (The game isn't online enabled though, it's purely old-school co-op.) I would definitely recommend renting before you buy, but you might wind up buying it anyway. I don't see how it really matters whether you're a "zombie fan," although if you're repulsed by over-the-top Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Strong Language ("M" rating criteria) - then what the hell are you even doing reading this??

This game is great! You play as stubbs the zombie, a businessman that was murdered in the `40s. In the game, you can eat people`s brains and they will become your zombie minions! You can also take your hand off and make it possess people and use their weapons. Also, you are able to take off your head and use it like a bowling ball to attack enemys,and you can fart and it stuns enemys! The game is very fun and never gets old. On the downside, it is too short! But I think it is worth getting.

Okay, the fact that this game was made by the makers of Halo should be enough alone to consider that this game has something to offer. The game play is simple and if you have ever played the above mentioned game then you will be able to play this game just as easily since the controls are pretty much the same. The humor is amazingly simple but it all works pretty well. The one level I didn't like really was a dancing level that is a memory game and it's just a little annoying but the makers must have seen this because you are allowed to skip it if you fail to get any of the different parts of a given level. And also, the difficulty settings are the same as Halo with an easy, normal, hard, and "mpossible" ranges.

Another factor that makes this game stand out is of course the music. All of which are covers of 1950's and 60's classics, which are probably easy to make sound cheesey but all of the bands do a excellent job of either making the song they do their own or staying true to the original.

Overall this is a remarkablely good game dispite the awkward subject matter but I think that just adds to the funness of the game. The game is a bit short though, a friend and I beat it in one sitting in about 4 and a half hours on normal.

Lastly, be on the look out for the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas nod. It's easy to spot and just kind of adds to the laughs.

In this day and age when games seem to try "too hard" to be realistic, or take themselves so seriously, here comes a game that's sole purpose is to just have fun! Considering that the next-gen systems are just around the corner, it's a very refreshing experience to play this game.

The graphics aren't anything special, (actually, they're kind of ugly). The controls sometimes get a little clunky. There's even a little slowdown from time to time. What really matters to me, is that the game keeps the player entertained at all times. Stubbs himself kept me going at the game, just because I was so eager to see what else the character can do with his body! The soundtack is GREAT! I love the use of covers from the classic oldies such as "Mr. Sandman", and "My Boyfriend's Back".

The game isn't for everyone though. This game is BRUTAL. Blood spurts all around the room when you attack, and the gore even remains wherever you attacked someone. The sound effects are equally grotesque, with tons of gurgling, and fleshy sound FX. The game seems to constantly makes fun of itself, which may take some players out of the game (although this is my favorite part). This definetely isn't Silent Hill or Resident Evil, as it seems to even make a mockery of the "survival horror" genre. I think zombie fans will eat this one up (especially those into the cult 50's zombie films).

Overall, this is one game that I recommend that EVERYONE should at least take a look at. You may find yourself pleasanlty surprised. I hope this one does well so a sequel can be made!! :)

In this game you are playing a zombie with various abilities and the goal of making more zombies....great fun! I won't ruin any of the story or game, but it was great and doesn't seem to lose replay value. It was also a lot of laughs. Don't miss it. The only reason I gave it a 4 star rating instead of 5 stars was the fact that it has boss levels. I hate boss levels...always have. Otherwise a great game and well worth the money.