By John Walker on May 10th, 2011 at 3:49 pm.
It’s really not fair on Dead Block, which has just announced that it will be using the Unreal Engine 3, that it feels like one heck of a heavy straw for this here camel. Because it looks pretty cute. Jim mentioned its existence last week, and now we have a trailer for you below. It’s funny, and the game looks like it might be ace. But crikey, there’s a lot of games about zombies with “dead” in the title.
Described as a “third-person action defence” game, it will be downloadable only when it appears from Candygun Games later this year.
But I’m just saying.
And so on.
10/05/2011 at 15:54 pakoito says:
Left for Dead
10/05/2011 at 16:21 Bettymartin says:
You probably deadn’t need to mention that.
I’m so sorry.
10/05/2011 at 17:33 Nick says:
never heard of it.
10/05/2011 at 15:59 Boozebeard says:
The last article about this stated it used unreal, and linked to their website which has that exact same video as embedded here. What was the point in this article? xD
10/05/2011 at 17:16 Mario Figueiredo says:
Gaming is mostly unreal!
10/05/2011 at 16:02 Ergates_Antius says:
There’s a certain irony that there are hordes Zombie games and that the idea refuses to die.
10/05/2011 at 16:03 Gap Gen says:
I was going to suggest that their putrid, rotting flesh was a metaphor but I decided that that was a little harsh.
10/05/2011 at 16:02 Gap Gen says:
“But crikey, there’s a lot of games about zombies”
Yes. It’s a shame that so many creatives fall back on this crutch for a setting, I think, especially since they’re making so much effort to stand out. But then again, it’s similarly telling that Kieron’s comics about superheros are doing well and his comic about indie wizards is not.
10/05/2011 at 16:16 Ergates_Antius says:
There’s going to come a point soon where the number of Zombie games will exceed the number of WW2 games. When that happens…. well, probably nothing.
10/05/2011 at 16:25 arienette says:
We’re reaching a point of zombie singularity! After which it’ll become impossible to to stay what will happen, except that there’ll be more zombie games.
10/05/2011 at 16:33 Gap Gen says:
I hear the new Dawn of the Dead game is about World of Goo, Psychonauts, Portal 2 and Machinarium holding out in the Steam Store as waves of zombie games swarm over them.
10/05/2011 at 18:55 geldonyetich says:
To bad fair, it’s partly the zombies’ fault for being a concept you add to the game that provides human-like targets the player can freely gib without needing to harbor remorse.
10/05/2011 at 19:20 Gap Gen says:
To be fair, it’s the fault of superheros for being power fantasies, with the weight of this overused genre dragging down an entire medium because finding an interesting non-superhero comic is like finding diamond in Minecraft. As in, you will probably find a few but not before dying in lava several times*. And to be fair, it’s the fault of medieval fantasy for choking an entire medium because not enough people have moved on from Tolkein, etc…
There *is* interesting zombie fiction, and aside from everything the stylings of this game look pretty nice. And to be fair, unlike my above example the medium isn’t choked to death by this single genre. It’s just a shame that indie developers are chasing the money/attention of the unimaginative game-buying public rather than doing something interesting with the medium. Then again, I’m sure someone in ancient Rome was bemoaning plays as becoming nothing more than a vehicle for an unimaginative public to watch criminals get torn apart by bears.
*I realise that Forbidden Planet is probably a bad example of places to look for non-superhero comics.
10/05/2011 at 19:31 Kaira- says:
I know. It’s such a shame that all these zombie games focus solely on zombies and killing them/evading them instead of using zombies as a primus motor for survival, where it boils down to “man is a wolf to a fellow man”. Shame.
10/05/2011 at 16:10 icupnimpn2 says:
Zombies? Done. Pirates? Done. Ninjas? Done. Vampires? Done. Aliens? Done. All played out.
Can you predict the next genre sensation?
10/05/2011 at 16:12 deejayem says:
Were-hamsters.
10/05/2011 at 16:12 Gap Gen says:
Cubes.
10/05/2011 at 16:13 Ergates_Antius says:
Megalomaniac AIs.
Or Wizards.
10/05/2011 at 16:18 yhancik says:
You forgot Dinosaurs, icupnimpn2 :p
10/05/2011 at 16:20 Matt says:
Sapient breakfast sandwiches. Or “McMurderMuffins” as one might call them. (Don’t call them that.)
10/05/2011 at 16:20 yhancik says:
And of course the next genre sensation will be Quintin Smith
10/05/2011 at 16:25 lokimotive says:
Miles Davis
10/05/2011 at 16:31 tomeoftom says:
…revolutionised the zombie genre with “Kind Of Dead”
10/05/2011 at 16:37 Heliocentric says:
Space marines (unless they serve an immortal god emperor) are on the banned list. The next hotness will be actual mariners.
10/05/2011 at 16:38 frenz0rz says:
Klingons, clearly.
10/05/2011 at 16:41 diebroken says:
Sharks
10/05/2011 at 16:44 tomeoftom says:
I want it to be snowboarding games so that, eventually, someone will get it right.
10/05/2011 at 16:45 Tei says:
Shadows, Dark Matter, ..Vampires again?
10/05/2011 at 16:47 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
Queens, leprechauns, Masai warriors, ghosts, succubi, Huns, mandarins, wisewomen, grizzly bears, hamsters, sea monsters, vegetarian aliens, terrorists, firefighters, generals, gangsters, detectives, magicians, spirit mediums, shamans, whores, and lacrosse players.
10/05/2011 at 16:48 Jim Rossignol says:
Liches! Mark my words.
10/05/2011 at 16:49 yhancik says:
Delicious healthy fruits
10/05/2011 at 17:10 icupnimpn2 says:
We are in the presence of prophecy. BTW: Cowboys beginning to peak.
10/05/2011 at 17:17 westyfield says:
Pirates? I must have missed that one.
It’s got to be dinosaurs next, it’s already started with Dino D-Day, the Telltale Jurassic Park game, and that indie game I can’t remember the name of with the jetpacks and dinosaurs.
10/05/2011 at 17:23 Mario Figueiredo says:
hmm… zombies will keep on coming, no matter what we think next. There’s just too many of ‘em.
10/05/2011 at 17:35 icupnimpn2 says:
Well, pirates and ninjas both got played out at about the same time. Not so much in the game world, but definitely in pop culture at large. There may be another pop because of the upcoming Johnny Depp vehicle.
In the game world, we’re seeing a pirate Two Worlds expansion and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.
10/05/2011 at 18:02 TillEulenspiegel says:
There aren’t *nearly* enough vampire games. Which is surprising, given their ongoing popularity in film and TV ever since Buffy/Angel.
One of my ongoing side-side-side-projects is a cyberpunk vampire game set in future-Berlin. I desperately want more stuff like VTM: Bloodlines, which was absolutely fantastic.
10/05/2011 at 18:19 Rii says:
@TillEulenspiegel
Vampires have always been primarily a female thing. More than that, the underlying nature of their appeal and utility for women – as sublimated representations of masculinity and male sexuality in particular – doesn’t translate well to video games. The dearth of such titles is unsurprising.
10/05/2011 at 18:57 geldonyetich says:
What – nobody mentioned mummies yet?
10/05/2011 at 19:11 JFS says:
Pugs. It’s about time.
10/05/2011 at 19:44 Lambchops says:
Crabs?
10/05/2011 at 21:03 Shadram says:
Turkeys. Turkeys that want to gobble-gobble you up.
Sorry, sounded funny in my head. When I was 7.
11/05/2011 at 12:21 noggin says:
I’m with lokimotive – let see more Miles Davis based games please
10/05/2011 at 16:13 Freud says:
Nice, I wondered what happened to the kid in Up.
10/05/2011 at 16:18 SpinalJack says:
Don’t forget http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/
10/05/2011 at 16:34 Cyber Rat says:
I’m assuming the developers had an artist block when thinking of a name.
10/05/2011 at 16:43 Bilbo says:
I find myself wondering if they had to pay to license that guitar.
That’s how boring I found that trailer.
10/05/2011 at 16:53 magnus says:
Actually you’re all wrong, it’ll be the Chuckle Brothers, I can feel it!
This would have made sense if it was in the right place, Bah! (facepalm)
10/05/2011 at 17:05 diebroken says:
To me?!
10/05/2011 at 17:07 Baboonanza says:
DON’T FINISH IT! YOU WILL SUMMON THE BEAST!
10/05/2011 at 21:59 Creeping Death says:
*sneaks in, looks around*
….
To you!
10/05/2011 at 17:09 Baboonanza says:
Honestly, I can’t think of anything scarier than a game where you are relentlessly persued through Sheffield City Centre by the Chuckle Brothers. Oh, the horror when they final corner you in the make-up ailse of Boots.
10/05/2011 at 19:38 Lilliput King says:
OH DEAR OH DEAR
11/05/2011 at 01:26 P7uen says:
Oh dear, OH DEAR, oh dear.
10/05/2011 at 17:13 Mario Figueiredo says:
Does it have crates?
10/05/2011 at 17:17 tomeoftom says:
That’s a good idea, actually. I reckon crates are about to have their turn in the spotlight. Portable, practical, cuboid – perfect.
16/05/2011 at 23:40 DrazharLn says:
Perfect. One might even say fairest.
10/05/2011 at 20:59 Falx22 says:
Mostly dead is slightly alive!
10/05/2011 at 22:53 ZIGS says:
Don’t forget about the upcoming Dead State!!
11/05/2011 at 07:27 cpy says:
Nothing beats the good ol Zombie Shooter!
12/05/2011 at 16:28 thebluemonkey81 says:
If we’re going to have this many zombie survival games, can someone just get on and make a zombie survival mmo.
I know you’re not a fan of the “dead is dead” thing but…
mmo
get to top level in a week or so
everyone can kill everone
zombies… lots of them
When you die you respawn as a new character at level 1
Have a whole “colelct resources that are needed to survive” thing going on so that it encourages people to band together but at the same time encourages people to screw each other over.
You could have it as “more security you get in numbers, as long as people don’t turn on each other”
Ballance it out with something like “the older your character, the more zombies it attracts unless you’re in groups of lower levels” that’d encourage people not to screw each other over.
I donno, there are few games, bar deus ex 3 that’re exciting this little monkey at the moment.
and I know…
“my idea sucks”
“no one want’s to die and go back to square 1″
“blah blah blah blah”
I like my niche games :P