Bizarre. Odd. Retro. Entertainment.
BioShock Infinite is set to release on March 26th, 2013. Photo: faseextra (via Flickr)
“Would you kindly?” – Three words that will send shivers done the spine of any gamer that has played the first BioShock title. Read more
Banjo-Kazooie made its debut in 1998 on the Nintendo 64. Photo: gamerscoreblog (via Flickr)
A honey bear and a large red bird don’t sound like the most exciting premise for a video game; however Banjo-Kazooie proved otherwise.
The plot behind the games saw Banjo (the bear) and Kazooie (the bird) attempt to thwart Gruntilda’s (the witch) various evil schemes, with the protagonists collecting musical notes and jigsaw pieces in order to progress through Gruntilda’s lair.
Created by Rare, Banjo-Kazooie made its debut on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, with the sequel Banjo-Tooie releasing on the console two years later. Both titles were also ported to the Xbox Live Arcade to coincide with the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for the Xbox 360 in 2008 – ten years after their original appearance. Banjo-Kazooie also made an appearance in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, which released in 2010.
Each of the games received favourable reviews from critics. Nevertheless, the future doesn’t look too bright as there are currently no plans to bring the pair back, despite rumours that Rare were in talks with Nintendo to bring the duo to the 3DS.
One of the oldest and most well known Zombie games of them all. The franchise, also known as Biohazard in Japan, began in 1996 when the game was released for Playstation. At the start of the game players choose between two protagonists, Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine; the two remaining members of an elite task-force known as S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Service), who find themselves trapped in a zombie infested mansion on the edge of the fictional Raccoon City.
Players must survive the eerie corridors and spooky staircases of the mansion by solving puzzles whilst fighting off the living dead that appear when you least expect them.
The game has sold over 2.75 million copies and was included in Time magazine’s list of 100 greatest games of all time.
Resident Evil was followed by several sequels, prequels and spin-offs;
The game has been turned into a successful film franchise, spanning several releases and starring Milla Jovovich as the lead protagonist battling the evil Umbrella Corporation.
The 2009 video game that took the internet by storm sees the player defending their home from swarms of zombies by strategically placing plants with different capabilities in their path.
It swept across almost all platforms from Xbox to Blackberry smartphones.
The addictive gameplay, catchy soundtrack and great visuals has earned plants Vs. Zombies several awards nominations including “Best Download Game” by the Game Developers Choice Awards and is considered the top grossing I-Phone launch.
A sequel to the game, Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is set for release in June 2013.
Here’s the the official trailer for Plants Vs. Zombies.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHAbHz8iYHc[/youtube]
House of the Dead (1998)
First released as an arcade game in 1997, players fight zombies in first person with a ‘real’ hand-held gun for a more immersible experience. The game was also turned into a low-budget film in 2003, although it didn’t receive much attention or praise. Here’s some footage of House of the Dead gameplay:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5wCrCaVHiU[/youtube]
Left 4 Dead (2008)
Another first person zombie game, Left 4 Dead is packed with adrenaline surging action, with players taking down hordes of zombies that come running out of the darkness.
In the eerie atmosphere of each map, players can expect to be attacked by different types of zombies, each with their own attributes:
There’s a huge selection of weapons to be used in the various maps, from axes to AK-47’s, pipe-bombs to petrol cans. The gameplay revolves around four separate characters, who are relied upon to give aid or help each other out when they get grabbed by a zombie. The game was so well received a sequel was released almost exactly a year later in 2009. It wasn’t popular everywhere though. It was banned in Australia for it’s graphic violence which some people found hard to stomach. Luckily it wasn’t banned where I live though! Watch Left 4 Dead gameplay here;
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVIdHPG0wYI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJRNHAJAcYg[/youtube]
Unless you’ve been living under a rock with your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed for the last three years, you will have heard of the TV zombie phenomenon; The Walking Dead. One of the most watched cable series of all time, it follows a group of survivors in southern America trying to make it in the the months following a zombie apocalypse.
If the trailer doesn’t rope you in, we don’t know what will.
This huge cult hit has almost infinite amounts of information and statistics for the avid fan. Here’s just a few interesting facts and stats for you to divulge in;
15 things you may not know about The Walking Dead.
A chronological look at every zombie kill throughout the three series so far.
The TV series is so popular it even has it’s own spin-off show featuring the actors discussing it’s goings on, ingeniously entitled The Talking Dead.
The BBC recently aired a British zombie programme. In the Flesh was a three part drama set in the aftermath of a zombie epidemic. Once the initial smoke has cleared, the government have created a treatment program to ‘rehabilitate’ the Undead that they have rounded up and plan to reintegrate them into society. Enter Kieren Walker, a former zombie who has been treated by the government and is now classed as a sufferer of Partially Deceased Syndrome (PDS).
PDS sufferer Kieren Walker is the protagonist of the BBC drama ‘In the Flesh’
Returning to his home village of Roarton, Kieren realises the people there are far less welcoming to a semi-zombie that he’d hoped. Trying to fit in with the living proves much more difficult than he expected, and Kieren has some serious problems to overcome. The series took a different angle to the generic angle of zombie entertainment, empathising with the human behind the monster. It was a disappointment that the series was so short. However, In the Flesh was still a great piece of television that proved the genre is far from used up.
