Its time for a little Zombie payback...

Since the dawn of videogames, we gamers have mercilessly persecuted zombies. We have stabbed, shot, electrocuted, baseball batted, exploded, flash bombed, doused them in holy water, blasted them with sunlight, and turned them on a roll of a d20. (Get a life, John – Ed.) Some of the greatest videogames of all time have been built off the backs of the recently departed, such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Thief, Half Life, Prince of Persia, and Doom. But have you ever considered the zombie’s feelings? Have you ever given them their due? Sadly, no game has ever given the zombie just desserts. Until now.

Edward “Stubbs” Stubblefield wasn’t a very good human. A down on his luck door-to-door salesman, he had a tough time making ends meet, especially during the great depression. Somehow, fate turned against Edward and he was murdered with a shotgun at close range. Poor Edward was buried without much ceremony in a large field in the middle of nowhere. Twenty-six years later, the town of Punchbowl is celebrating its inaugural opening day. A city with all the modern conveniences that were predicted in the fifties (including flying cars and robot mailboxes), Punchbowl is a utopia. Unfortunately, Punchbowl is built right on Edward’s grave. For reasons unknown to him, Edward rises from the grave to find out what happened to him and why Punchbowl’s existence triggered his condition.

A lot of press has been put into the fact Stubbs the Zombie was built on the Halo engine. Its obvious from some aspects of the game that this is true, but don’t go into the game expecting to rule the roost as another Master Chief. Stubbs doesn’t use guns, he doesn’t have a shield, and when faced with an army of bad guys with heavy weaponry he will die, and rather messily at that. Stubbs isn’t defenseless, however, nor is he any ordinary zombie. Sure, he has the zombie-like abilities of supernatural strength and the ability to take a beating, but he has more tricks up his sleeve than MacGyver (Seriously John, get a life. – Ed.). Stubbs can leap really long distances and tear out his gut to use it like a grenade. See that arm? Stubbs can tear it off and send it scouting, ala Thing from "The Adams Family," and it also allows him to possess enemies. Especially the enemies armed with guns that never seem run out of ammo.



A good reason not to leave your tractor keys lying around.

Stubbs can even tear off his own head and roll it at enemies like a bowling ball. Need a handy grenade? Stubbs’s gut is filled with decaying gasses, so just tear that sucker out and throw it at enemies in a very satisfying explosion. And should the day come when multiple enemies surround Stubbs, he can unleash Unholy Flatulence to stagger them all. While stunned, Stubbs can indulge in a little midday snack. By snack of course, I mean brains. Like all of the recently departed, Stubbs yearns and hungers for brain matter. Thus, battlefields are buffets for Stubbs.