By John Walker on October 9th, 2009 at 1:27 am.
Oh my goodness, Zombie Driver looks a bit fun. Freshly announced (about a week ago, spotted by EG today), it’s the first game from Polish indie devs EXOR Studios, and involves running over zombies with a car. And shooting at them. And blowing them up. They’re promising seventeen missions, six cars, and all manner of weapons and upgrades and upgrades for weapons. And zombie dogs. The first trailer is below.
It looks lovely. Top-down, oddly reminiscent of an RTS, but thankfully not about boring armies and stupid tactics, but about driving a car into crowds of blood-filled zombies. Due out in November, it’s to be released via digital download distribution dportals, but which ones they have yet to say. I mean – it’s not looking groundbreaking, but instead a simple pleasure.
09/10/2009 at 01:31 DMJ says:
So it’s “driving cars over zombies” rather than “zombies driving cars”. Shame. The latter would probably make for some sort of awesome.
09/10/2009 at 01:39 mootpoint says:
Was thinking the same until I realised that that’s what you meet everyday on your morning commute. Not much fun.
09/10/2009 at 10:51 Richeh says:
Yes. Especially since we’re found bears drivign cars to be pant-wettingly hilarious.
09/10/2009 at 10:59 Psychopomp says:
Because it was
09/10/2009 at 13:38 Jon says:
Zombies driving cars? We have that already. It’s called a traffic jam.
09/10/2009 at 01:39 Don says:
It looks a bit like Grand Theft Auto (In the style of the first two games.) with zombies, which is kind of cool. This could be worth checking out.
09/10/2009 at 01:40 rocketman71 says:
Looks nice. Someone should give these guys the Death Rally license.
09/10/2009 at 16:25 bender says:
was thinking the same thing, DO WANT!
09/10/2009 at 01:42 Don says:
Okay, now that I’ve actually watched the trailer, it looks more like Twisted Metal with zombies. Which brings up a good point, other cars to compete against, especially online, would make this a lot more fun.
09/10/2009 at 01:49 El_MUERkO says:
a combination of this and majicka would cause pants explosions but as it is it’s lookin’ good
09/10/2009 at 02:09 Centy says:
It’s not technically their first game as they did the mod DIPRIP which is what they hope to go on making after this. Personally I think I like the look of Zombie Driver better looks more fun.
09/10/2009 at 02:21 Muzman says:
Ok, so the challenge is what exactly?
09/10/2009 at 02:29 Squirrelking says:
for you to find fun in your life? Dude, you are running over zombies.
And your car shoots grenades/missiles/bullets.
What more do you need man! She’s giving you all she’s got!!!
09/10/2009 at 02:35 Wooly says:
Speaking of zombies, didn’t Zombie Shooter 2 come out recently?
09/10/2009 at 02:52 Fumarole says:
zombies + vehicular slaughter = Win
09/10/2009 at 02:57 Snook says:
Death Rally + Carmageddon = this = AWESOME
09/10/2009 at 03:38 Collic says:
This makes me wish Rockstar would do a top-down 2d version of GTA again. The game looks like a lot of fun, i’ll definitely keep an eye out for it.
09/10/2009 at 09:16 Marshall says:
You should check out Chinatown Wars for the DS, if you have access to such a device.
09/10/2009 at 10:53 Richeh says:
Amen. Chinatown wars is like an updated GTA2. It honestly feels exactly like I remember it, but with a storyline.
09/10/2009 at 03:56 Jack says:
The title is misleading
09/10/2009 at 03:58 The Waltz says:
This is my zombie plan actually…. Well, I was gonna weld swords onto the frame of my car, so I could make diced zombie salad with a one ton salad tosser.
09/10/2009 at 04:13 CHIP9 says:
looks super
09/10/2009 at 04:14 Lunaran says:
Sung to the tune of “Holy Diver”?
09/10/2009 at 04:30 bill says:
will the german version include real people and blood?
09/10/2009 at 07:22 Tei says:
On the german version of carmagedoom, the real peple got replaced by zombies.
So to get this approved in Germany, you only have to submit a version where zombies is replaced by real people, and then accept to change it to zombies. This is forward thinking, man!
09/10/2009 at 05:08 Matzerath says:
So, what do you think it’ll take for the zombie phenomena to jump the shark? Is it magically shark-jump proof?
09/10/2009 at 10:56 Richeh says:
I dunno, it’s kind of a whole genre rather than a franchise. I think people are just going to have to get bored and move on. And it’s the sort of thing that gets better the more overblown you make it.
And from the developers’ perspective, you have to appreciate how great it must be to be allowed to write AI where lurching blndly at the player and running into walls actually makes it more realistic.
09/10/2009 at 14:08 Junior says:
Easy, zombie sharks jumping normal sharks.
09/10/2009 at 05:34 FernandoDANTE says:
GLORIOUS
09/10/2009 at 05:43 invisiblejesus says:
Wait, let me get this straight… it’s basically Nation Red, only you’re in a car. By the guys who did DIPRIP.
So naturally there are guns on the car.
I’m sold.
09/10/2009 at 05:52 TeeJay says:
“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”
“You have this fiercely independent heroine, you have this dashing heroic gentleman, you have a militia camped out for seemingly no reason whatsoever nearby, and people are always walking here and there and taking carriage rides here and there . . . It was just ripe for gore and senseless violence. From my perspective anyway.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies
Shark jumped?
09/10/2009 at 06:06 invisiblejesus says:
No. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is awesome. Shark jumping is not awesome.
09/10/2009 at 06:07 The Dark One says:
Reminds me of Streets of Sim City more than anything else.
09/10/2009 at 06:27 Plopsworth says:
Oooh. Post apocalyptic Syndicate (Wars), minus the cyberpunk, plus zombie-lore?
A fitting arsenal for window-fired firearms would include at least all manners of shotguns (pump-, sawed-off-, double-barreled-) plus a Taxi Driver “You talking to me?” revolver.
Lovely physics, especially the splatter and gibs. Only nit-pick would be the strange looking turning and drifting where the car steers around its midpoint, instead somewhere between the front axle and the front-row seats (depending on front- or rear-wheel drive).
09/10/2009 at 07:22 Shadrach says:
Looks a lot of fun – first trailer in a while thats made me laugh out loud.
09/10/2009 at 07:59 Darkelp says:
Beginning of the video reminded me of I Am Legend which was cool.
Got me thinking, hopefully you can get a large van ala Dawn of the Dead remake! That would be awesome!
Looking forward to this for sure.
09/10/2009 at 08:45 Simon says:
When I see a game like this I think, Why, WHY?! Why hasn’t this been done before?
09/10/2009 at 08:48 JB says:
Exactly this. They had me at the point with a bonnet-mounted flamethrower. Actually before then, but the flamethrower made my day.
09/10/2009 at 09:08 Subject 706 says:
Everyone should have a bonnet mounted flamethrower. Ah, the traffic jams would be so cozy and warm then.
09/10/2009 at 14:26 JB says:
Especially good if you remember to take a bag of marshmallows on the drive to work.
09/10/2009 at 09:29 Demon Beaver says:
Wow… I hope this will be released with modding tools! I would love to see a full remake of GTA 2 by fans, and the engine looks purrty
09/10/2009 at 09:39 pepper says:
GTA 2 meets random zombie game. With flamethrowers and rocketlaunchers!!
09/10/2009 at 09:41 Schmung says:
The camera and handling looks a bit hnggh, but otherwise splendid. I hope both issues are due to it being early code.
09/10/2009 at 10:57 Richeh says:
Looks like top-down Quarantine.
09/10/2009 at 11:11 clive dunn says:
And the lord on the eighth day gave us this. Praise the lord!
09/10/2009 at 11:14 clive dunn says:
Just one thing though, the zombie count needs to be upped. I wanna be driving through HUNDREDS of the fuckers!
09/10/2009 at 11:59 Monchberter says:
Bring back Carmageddon.
Who needs guns when you’ve got ‘Explosive Gibs’, ‘Electro Shock Bastard Ray’ and other such stupidity.
Failing that, Carma on Steam please?
09/10/2009 at 12:26 Golden_Worm says:
I think it became shark-jump proof after Typing of the Dead.
09/10/2009 at 12:28 Golden_Worm says:
I believe it became shark-jump proof after Typing of the Dead.
09/10/2009 at 12:45 Gunnar says:
Now this looks delightfully deranged :)
09/10/2009 at 13:08 GCU Speak Softly says:
Nice, can I have multiplayer and a Car Wars mod?
09/10/2009 at 13:17 jameskond says:
A game with zombies, how original!
Looks fun though, multiplayer would be fun :D
09/10/2009 at 17:00 invisiblejesus says:
I just had a look at their site, and unfortunately it’s not going to have multiplayer. :( Still, it looks like fun stuff.
09/10/2009 at 13:32 PHeMoX says:
This DOES look groundbreaking. It’s one of the most interesting top down games I’ve came across.
I’m sold.
09/10/2009 at 13:46 Tom says:
This one looks filled to the brim with potential. Hopefully it’ll be fully moddable.
09/10/2009 at 13:54 Theory says:
It appears to be a Source game, so we can assume so.
09/10/2009 at 16:55 invisiblejesus says:
It’s the Ogre3D engine, not Source. No idea what that means for moddability, though it’s worth noting that these guys did get their start as modders so one would think they’d be pretty friendly to the idea.
09/10/2009 at 17:16 Tei says:
Is not Ogre3D open source? If thats true, you could probably* reuse the engine, … enhance the engine, then add some extra medias. Enhancements could be a better particle engine, blood stains, ragdolls..
09/10/2009 at 17:56 Cedge says:
The graphics engine being open-source does not mean that the game would be open-source, Tei.
09/10/2009 at 18:45 Tei says:
“The graphics engine being open-source does not mean that the game would be open-source, Tei.”
But the engine *MUST* be released, is LGPL. So you can add new particles. Maybe the gameplay is implemented as a closed source library, so you can’t change that, but you can still add new particles, or whatever stuff is implemented on the open source part.
09/10/2009 at 13:55 MonkeyMonster says:
Hee hee, car slaughtering powered by zombie win. Ook. Groovy.
09/10/2009 at 13:57 Guernican says:
That is undoubtedly the most amusing trailer I’ve seen in months.
Although it looks like a mod for Micro Machines.
09/10/2009 at 13:57 MinisterofDOOM says:
If this game includes some variety of free mode in addition to the missions, it has the potential to eat up weeks of my life.
09/10/2009 at 14:07 Junior says:
Hmm, could be cool, everything looks a bit paper thin and explodey though, I’d prefer decent ragdolls to bloody explosions.
Oh, PHSX? Meh, it’ll be terrible for half of us then?
09/10/2009 at 14:33 EyeMessiah says:
Cunning stunt bonus!
09/10/2009 at 14:55 Tei says:
You can’t have ragdoll phisics with zombies. You can have ragdoll phisics with everything else, people, animals, robots, even mountains of trash. But If you shot to a zombie with a shotung, his left arms will fall, and If you shot the zombie with something more potent, everything will fall, in gibs. Zombies are like leppers, on steroids.
09/10/2009 at 16:46 Marty Dodge says:
Can you say a top-down Carmageddon (the Euro-version with Zombies)?
And yes Carmageddon needs an update. If I were to start a game company I would get that licence if I could.
09/10/2009 at 17:35 airtekh says:
I concur. Chinatown Wars is easily the best game available for the DS.
09/10/2009 at 17:39 namuol says:
car needs more chainsaws.
09/10/2009 at 18:38 KT says:
Mhmm, squelchy! More top-down games are a good thing.
09/10/2009 at 18:53 Gabanski83 says:
I love the spins and slides. A Drift mode (a la DiRT) would be fantastic, trying to beat hi-scores by seeing how many zombies you could take out in a powerslide.
09/10/2009 at 19:00 Howl says:
(GTA1 + Spy Hunter) X Zombies = Winz!
09/10/2009 at 19:54 Ratty says:
WHY ? I ask.. WHY ? is this so appealing ?
Zombies.. Killing n stuff.. Yay !!
09/10/2009 at 21:10 ikigeg says:
That immediately made me think of GTA.. then after the description Quarantine.. then it made me long for Carmageddon.. Good times!
09/10/2009 at 23:41 We Fly Spitfires says:
Is it just me or can you add Zombies to anything and make the game more fun?
12/10/2009 at 10:13 d. says:
I see no zombies. As far as I can tell from the low-res video, the car is running over poor starving children.
12/10/2009 at 10:35 Catastrophe says:
That view is how the newer Grand Theft Autos should of used.
Top down car stealing madness turned into 3rd Person Shooter.
05/10/2010 at 18:45 autoglass says:
i agree with your observation.