Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse
Added October 26th, 2005 by Barnolde
Introduction:
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, with a name like that, how can you not be intrigued? This game has been a long time coming, mainly because it’s a first for Aspyr, who’s primarily a Mac porting publisher and it also marks Wideload’s first game. The big thing about Wideload is that they are headed by the ex co-founder of Bungie Studios, Alex Seropian. So you’ve got a lot of the brains behind Bungie and Halo making a unique zombie game based on the Halo engine and being published for Xbox by a primarily Mac-related company. Sounds like the makings to some nerd’s vision of a soap opera, only with more brain eatings.
The story of the game is fairly simple, you’re Edward “Stubbs” Stubblefield, a traveling salesman from 1933 who was killed and buried. You come alive in the 50s as a zombie and from the moment you pull yourself out of the ground, you really do feel like a zombie. A great touch is that these 50s are filled with a bunch of futuristic things, such as hover-cars and robots and it just has a great 1950s feel to it. Of course, you can’t expect a game where your main focus is eating brains to be too story-heavy and Stubbs isn’t, but the story is enjoyable enough to compliment the game.
Gameplay:
The game shares some (and that’s a reach) similarities to Halo, but they’re mostly found in the menus, which are identical to Halo. Stubbs has a done a pretty good job of distancing itself from Halo, because even though they’re running on the same engine, it doesn’t really feel like a third person Halo at all. Many of the environments are very large and open, like Halo was, which gives you quite a bit of room to play around in. This is especially true when you get the vehicles, which are very fun for the little amount of time that you have them. You can drive a sod launching machine, a truck, a tank and even a tractor with spikes mounted at the end. Like Halo, Stubbs is best played co-op, where another player takes the role of Grubbs, who is another zombie who hungers for the living. One of the best features about the game is assembling your zombie army, which is done by smacking (Stubbs is a hand-to-hand kind of guy) or gnawing on your enemies. Your zombie buddies can be used as an assault squad or a distraction.
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, with a name like that, how can you not be intrigued? This game has been a long time coming, mainly because it’s a first for Aspyr, who’s primarily a Mac porting publisher and it also marks Wideload’s first game. The big thing about Wideload is that they are headed by the ex co-founder of Bungie Studios, Alex Seropian. So you’ve got a lot of the brains behind Bungie and Halo making a unique zombie game based on the Halo engine and being published for Xbox by a primarily Mac-related company. Sounds like the makings to some nerd’s vision of a soap opera, only with more brain eatings.
The story of the game is fairly simple, you’re Edward “Stubbs” Stubblefield, a traveling salesman from 1933 who was killed and buried. You come alive in the 50s as a zombie and from the moment you pull yourself out of the ground, you really do feel like a zombie. A great touch is that these 50s are filled with a bunch of futuristic things, such as hover-cars and robots and it just has a great 1950s feel to it. Of course, you can’t expect a game where your main focus is eating brains to be too story-heavy and Stubbs isn’t, but the story is enjoyable enough to compliment the game.
Gameplay:
The game shares some (and that’s a reach) similarities to Halo, but they’re mostly found in the menus, which are identical to Halo. Stubbs has a done a pretty good job of distancing itself from Halo, because even though they’re running on the same engine, it doesn’t really feel like a third person Halo at all. Many of the environments are very large and open, like Halo was, which gives you quite a bit of room to play around in. This is especially true when you get the vehicles, which are very fun for the little amount of time that you have them. You can drive a sod launching machine, a truck, a tank and even a tractor with spikes mounted at the end. Like Halo, Stubbs is best played co-op, where another player takes the role of Grubbs, who is another zombie who hungers for the living. One of the best features about the game is assembling your zombie army, which is done by smacking (Stubbs is a hand-to-hand kind of guy) or gnawing on your enemies. Your zombie buddies can be used as an assault squad or a distraction.
From the moment you pull your corpse out of the ground and start feasting on the flesh of the living, the gameplay really doesn’t change, which is very, very unfortunate. Herein lies the game’s biggest problem, it’s just too damn repetitive. All you do is kill and/or eat people, that’s it, there’s no real official objective or motivation to you. Hell, often times, you’ll just be lost due to the game’s poorly designed and confusing levels. Stubbs walks very slowly unless you push up on the left thumbstick and hold it for a few seconds. In order to keep him running, you have to keep holding it, so that means if you attack or jump, you have to hold it again to make him run. You’re probably saying that “he’s a zombie and he’s supposed to be slow” and that’s fine, if you’re fighting them, because playing as one, just isn’t all that much fun, due to the very slow nature of gameplay. You can only chew on so many people’s heads, before you want to chew on your own, because you’re not doing anything different! Sure, you have some powers, but they really do very little to deal with the overly repetitious nature of the gameplay. Stubbs has a few powers at his disposal from farting, to throwing “grenades” (which are his organs), using his hand to take over enemies and also bowling his head which acts like a bomb. These powers that are at your disposal are nice, but they just don’t add enough variety to the gameplay; it still feels very shallow.
Graphics:
The graphics in Stubbs are quite good and the graphical filter that’s used adds a nice touch to the game, adding to its already excellent aesthetic feel. The art style is great and the environments are very cool for the most part. I just wish they were designed a bit better. Textures are pretty good and as a whole, the game is a great looking game, reminiscent of Halo, which isn’t a bad thing in the slightest. Unique character designs are present, which aids the 50s setting and adds to the immersion factor of the game.
Graphics:
The graphics in Stubbs are quite good and the graphical filter that’s used adds a nice touch to the game, adding to its already excellent aesthetic feel. The art style is great and the environments are very cool for the most part. I just wish they were designed a bit better. Textures are pretty good and as a whole, the game is a great looking game, reminiscent of Halo, which isn’t a bad thing in the slightest. Unique character designs are present, which aids the 50s setting and adds to the immersion factor of the game.
Audio:
It’s hard to write about the audio in the game, because there’s a great soundtrack to the game featuring contemporary bands covering classic songs, which gives the game a great touch. The soundtrack is a really good thing, but for 90% of the game, there’s NO MUSIC AT ALL! It boggles my mind why there’s no music playing for the vast majority of the game, which really, really sucks and that’s why I can’t give the audio a higher score. There are also some nice “organ” sound effects and there’s some nice, albeit repetitive screaming when you’re eating someone’s brains. The sound effects are great though, very fitting for a zombie game, but the lack of music is just bad.
Controls:
You’re not going to be running into any problems controlling Stubbs. If you’ve played any third person action game before, things will be familiar for you. Since it’s running on the Halo engine, it also shares the same customizable control schemes as Halo. So, if you desire lots of options, Stubbs will deliver. You can move with the d-pad or left thumbstick and each power is assigned to its own button, such as X and R for attacks, L for grenades, white for head rolling, B for unholy flatulence and so on.
Replay:
Stubbs the Zombie is not a long game by any means, you can beat this game in a night. Clocking in at only 6-7 hours and with no extras or other multiplayer, besides the co-op, you’ll probably only play this game through once. Stubbs is a great rental due to its length and if you were to replay any of the game at all, it’d probably only be a few levels. Playing by yourself and in single player does offer a new experience, but the gameplay just isn’t deep or engaging enough to keep you coming back, like Halo did.
It’s hard to write about the audio in the game, because there’s a great soundtrack to the game featuring contemporary bands covering classic songs, which gives the game a great touch. The soundtrack is a really good thing, but for 90% of the game, there’s NO MUSIC AT ALL! It boggles my mind why there’s no music playing for the vast majority of the game, which really, really sucks and that’s why I can’t give the audio a higher score. There are also some nice “organ” sound effects and there’s some nice, albeit repetitive screaming when you’re eating someone’s brains. The sound effects are great though, very fitting for a zombie game, but the lack of music is just bad.
Controls:
You’re not going to be running into any problems controlling Stubbs. If you’ve played any third person action game before, things will be familiar for you. Since it’s running on the Halo engine, it also shares the same customizable control schemes as Halo. So, if you desire lots of options, Stubbs will deliver. You can move with the d-pad or left thumbstick and each power is assigned to its own button, such as X and R for attacks, L for grenades, white for head rolling, B for unholy flatulence and so on.
Replay:
Stubbs the Zombie is not a long game by any means, you can beat this game in a night. Clocking in at only 6-7 hours and with no extras or other multiplayer, besides the co-op, you’ll probably only play this game through once. Stubbs is a great rental due to its length and if you were to replay any of the game at all, it’d probably only be a few levels. Playing by yourself and in single player does offer a new experience, but the gameplay just isn’t deep or engaging enough to keep you coming back, like Halo did.
Summary:
I really wanted to love this game, I truly did, but it was just way too repetitive for me. Walking around slowly and eating brains is only fun for so long. The game just doesn’t offer up much initiative to play it, due to the lack of engaging gameplay. Acquiring new powers adds a bit of variation to the experience, but it’s only a paltry amount. The setting of the game is nice and there is a bit of humor in there as well, which never hurts. The lack of music for most of the game really takes away from the experience, especially when the soundtrack is so fitting for the game. A few of the levels are great, but others are more of a chore such as a couple of the later ones where you lack pretty much any idea of where to go. There’s not that much incentive to replay the game, because of the core gameplay, which forces you to do the same actions way too often. Stubbs is a great concept and a great character, but it’s hampered by some lackluster execution, if it had some more interesting gameplay, I would’ve loved to recommend this game, but I found it just way too boring overall.
I really wanted to love this game, I truly did, but it was just way too repetitive for me. Walking around slowly and eating brains is only fun for so long. The game just doesn’t offer up much initiative to play it, due to the lack of engaging gameplay. Acquiring new powers adds a bit of variation to the experience, but it’s only a paltry amount. The setting of the game is nice and there is a bit of humor in there as well, which never hurts. The lack of music for most of the game really takes away from the experience, especially when the soundtrack is so fitting for the game. A few of the levels are great, but others are more of a chore such as a couple of the later ones where you lack pretty much any idea of where to go. There’s not that much incentive to replay the game, because of the core gameplay, which forces you to do the same actions way too often. Stubbs is a great concept and a great character, but it’s hampered by some lackluster execution, if it had some more interesting gameplay, I would’ve loved to recommend this game, but I found it just way too boring overall.
