By Anthony Swinnich on January 25th, 2006

Stubbs is a zombie fan’s bloody, chewy, gaping hole of a wet dream, though this probably isn’t a shocker when one considers the pedigree of Wideload Studios. The studio is made up of ex-Bungie staffers, so the fact that Stubbs is designed masterfully should come as no surprise. Also, using a modified Halo engine ensures the game will play solidly, though the level of creativity showcased here is astounding-- this isn’t just Halo with zombies, it’s a whole new game. However, it’s not just the creative and unique gameplay in Stubbs that shines, as each element obviously had a lot of thought put into it; this includes everything from something as small as a loading screen, all the way to something as important as the soundtrack. Except for a few small shortcomings, Stubbs is practically perfect and highly enjoyable.

As I said before, Stubbs uses the Halo engine, so if you’ve played Halo you’ll immediately feel at home when it comes to the basic controls. You move around with the left analog stick, and look around with the right one. R attacks and L throws grenades. Stubbs even has a shield-like life bar that recharges after a few seconds just like Master Chief’s. In fact, the only major difference is that Stubbs is in 3rd person, while Halo is in first. There are segments where you can switch to 1st person, but they probably only make up around five percent of the game, if that. Playing Stubbs in 3rd person is actually a positive thing, because the game wouldn’t have such a comedic feel if it were in first person. Watching a zombie eat brains is funny, whereas simulating what the zombie sees while dining on someone’s gray matter might actually be kind of frightening, or gruesome, and definitely too visceral for the atmosphere Wideload Studios has so expertly crafted. Since Stubbs is comedy game, horror game elements used in the wrong places would probably ruin the jovial mood.

Stubbs gleeful mood is surprising considering the main objective is to eat everybody in sight. Bringing a city to its knees is a refreshingly fun, even cheery experience because of two things: the humor, and the soundtrack. Though the lines frequently repeat, most quotes in this game are genuinely amusing. Upon seeing you consume a human’s head, a scientist will say "Even I wouldn’t do that, and I don’t have any ethics." The cutscenes are even funnier, though I don’t want to spoil any of them. The soundtrack is comprised of 1950’s hits done by modern bands, and they do a surprisingly great job. Death Cab for Cutie’s rendition of "Earth Angel" is fantastic; the Raveonettes do a great cover of "My Boyfriend’s Back," Ben Kweller’s version of "Lollipop" is out of this world, and Oranger’s cover of "Mr. Sandman" is simply dreamy (come on, I had to). Also, the story isn’t awfully hard to figure out, but it offers a surprisingly good reason to continue playing with plenty of plot twists and revelations.

While Stubbs takes Halo’s basic controls, it does many things that are entirely its own, so the game feels almost completely different. Stubbs’ main attacks are melee, so most of the fighting is done up close and personal, just like it would be in a "real" zombie attack (ignoring Romero’s semi-intelligent, semi-automatic toting Land of the Dead zombies). That’s not to say there isn’t gunplay, because there is. Stubbs can rip off his arm from the elbow and toss it away, at which point your hand becomes the character you control. The hand can jump, climb walls and through heating ducts, which will help you get to use the more important ability-- possession. If you’re able to attach the hand to a human’s head, you’ll gain control of him and his weapons. If the human dies in a firefight, control simply moves back to Stubbs, who will have been waiting patiently where you left him. But beware-- leaving the body unprotected means it can still be attacked, and if the body dies, you die.

After beating a human to a certain extent, Stubbs will usually be given the option to "Eat Opponent’s Brains" (unless he’s wearing protective headgear). Eating brains is important for many reasons. First of all, it will refill your ammunition and abilities; this is the only way to get more grenades, hands to throw, or to refill Flatulence, which can be released as a radial-blast that stuns enemies caught up in the "explosion." Secondly, it not only kills the enemies, but turns them into your allies. A few seconds after you’re finished munching on someone’s cranial innards and their lifeless body hits the ground, the corpse will reanimate and join you in your quest to conquer the 1950’s futuristic utopia of Punchbowl, USA. The inevitable army of zombies you’re going to amass isn’t just there for show-- they’ll attack enemies and create new zombies to follow you around as well. In this respect, Stubbs can be best summed up by thinking of it as Halo, but this time you’re playing as the Flood.

Punchbowl also allows players to traverse its massive outdoor environments on either foot, or by vehicle should one be available. Having such spacious stages offers up players a level of freedom when deciding how to tackle the objective of getting from Point A to Point B. Should you try to run past the numerous military officers who haven’t spotted you yet, attack them from behind and create new foot soldiers, or will you get into a Warthog-like jeep and simply mow them down? The choice is up to you. Even in Punchbowl’s corridor-laden buildings, fantastic level design offers up a certain degree of freedom during firefights that most games fail to present. You could choose to hide behind some pillars and let your minions go to town, or you could toss a grenade into the fray and send humans flying every-which-way. And while the level design helps open up doors for the player to explore, the enemy A.I. is always ready to change its game plan should you do something it didn’t expect. Even on the highest difficulty Stubbs’ Police Officers, SWAT Team members, and scientists can’t match Halo’s "Legendary" Elites, but there is still enough of a challenge to keep you busy.

The best part about Stubbs is clearly its variety. Through its thirteen stages you’re rarely bored or lost, and it seems that each time a level is about to become monotonous, something zany happens to keep your attention. Unfortunately, this is where Stubbs falters the most. Stubbs is a game with a surprisingly fast pace, so because of this the game is easily completed in around five or six hours. The main problem is that Stubbs has little replay value. Wideload Studios hoped that hiding developer commentary in the stages that you can only find during a second play through would be enough of a reason to go through it again, but even if you’re hell-bent on finding each of the audio tracks, you’ll be playing through only one more time. Co-operative play is also a nice touch, but it’s the same game all the way through so the appeal for some will be limited. Being built on the Halo engine Stubbs was screaming, well, more like groaning, for multiplayer, but alas, there is none. There will surely be those who play through this game multiple times simply to screw around, or to laugh at all of the hilarious scenes or crazy things people say while you’re eating them, but for most people one or two trips through Punchbowl will be enough to satisfy their taste for brains.

Wideload Studios has officially become a studio to keep an eye on after putting out something as fantastic as Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse, and gamers looking for more originality in games owe it to them to find out why. Stubbs is a rip-roaring ride from start to finish, even if it does let up rather quickly. It might not take very long to complete, but a massive amount of fun awaits players courageous enough to take a journey into the land of the undead.