{"id":43650,"date":"2012-08-27T11:43:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T09:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=43650"},"modified":"2012-08-27T11:45:09","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T09:45:09","slug":"a-brief-history-of-zombie-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/43650-a-brief-history-of-zombie-games","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Zombie Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Zombies are the superstars of modern gaming (ahead of cybernetically-enhanced megasharks, expected around late 2015), but it&#8217;s been a long, groaning stagger to the top of the heap. Top secret US military bio-weapons programs may or may not have been involved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zombie Zombie (1984)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Quicksilva&#8217;s Zombie Zombie for the ZX Spectrum was actually the sequel to Ant Attack, released the previous year, although apart from the same isometric perspective, there&#8217;s no significant connection between the two games. The point of Zombie Zombie is basically to rid a city of its unwelcome undead, but instead of using practical things like chainsaws and machetes and tanks to get the job done, the player was equipped with only an air-gun. Not an &#8220;air-gun&#8221; air-gun, mind you, but a gun that shoots&#8230; air.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43660\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombie-zombie-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43660\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43660\" title=\"zombie zombie screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombie-zombie-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombie-zombie-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombie-zombie-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombie-zombie-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43660\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The player also had access to a helicopter, but I&#8217;m guessing the &#8220;air force&#8221; pun was quite unintended.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0The Evil Dead (1984)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Based on the cult classic 1981 film of the same name, The Evil Dead had players securing and defending a cabin from waves of monsters and reanimated limbs, using a variety of weapons, including shovels and shotguns. That should totally be a proper game name, shouldn&#8217;t it? Shovels &amp; Shotguns.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43664\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/evil-dead-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43664\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43664\" title=\"evil dead screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/evil-dead-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/evil-dead-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/evil-dead-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/evil-dead-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43664\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unlike the movie, however, there weren&#8217;t any sexual predator trees.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Wolfenstein 3D<\/strong> (1992)<\/p>\n<p>Dr Schabbs&#8217; zombie Nazis had machine guns grafted onto their chests, because if there&#8217;s one thing better than a zombie Nazi, it&#8217;s a dead zombie Nazi. And if there&#8217;s one thing better than a dead zombie Nazi, it&#8217;s a zombie Nazi with a machine gun grafted to its chest. It&#8217;s a self-improving cycle.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43667\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/wolfenstein-3d-zombies.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43667\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43667\" title=\"wolfenstein 3d zombies\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/wolfenstein-3d-zombies.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/wolfenstein-3d-zombies.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/wolfenstein-3d-zombies-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/wolfenstein-3d-zombies-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43667\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Years later, zombies and Nazis would collaborate again on Call of Duty: Black Ops, but without the machine gun grafts. It wasn&#8217;t the same.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Alone in the Dark<\/strong> (1992)<\/p>\n<p>The last place you&#8217;d want to be in the middle of a zombie outbreak is alone, in the dark, so that&#8217;s why private investigator Edward Carnby shuts himself up in a creepy, abandoned Louisiana mansion with a sinister reputation instead.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43669\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/alone-in-the-dark.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43669\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43669\" title=\"alone in the dark\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/alone-in-the-dark.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/alone-in-the-dark.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/alone-in-the-dark-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/alone-in-the-dark-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43669\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Maybe I didn&#8217;t think this through properly.&#8221;<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Zombies Ate My Neighbours<\/strong> (1993)<\/p>\n<p>Local teens Zeke and Julie versus pretty much everything that ever lurched, crawled, or slithered out of a 1950&#8217;s B-movie. With <em>water pistols<\/em>. They should&#8217;ve called up the protagonist from Zombie Zombie &#8211; with the powers of water and air combined, they could&#8217;ve made a proper tornado.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43670\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombies-ate-my-neighbours-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43670\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43670\" title=\"zombies ate my neighbours screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombies-ate-my-neighbours-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombies-ate-my-neighbours-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombies-ate-my-neighbours-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zombies-ate-my-neighbours-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43670\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">BATH TIME, BOZOS.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Resident Evil<\/strong> (1996)<\/p>\n<p>Capcom&#8217;s iconic zombie-&#8217;em-up featured all the guns, guts, and gore you&#8217;d expect to find in a mature-rated game, but the bits in the original intro that showed protagonist Chris Redfield smoking a cigarette were removed by American and Europeans censors. Blowing everything to bloody chunks <em>good<\/em>, smoking <em>bad<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43671\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/resident-evil-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43671\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43671\" title=\"resident evil screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/resident-evil-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/resident-evil-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/resident-evil-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/resident-evil-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43671\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Warning: Smoking may cause disorientation, necrosis, and a hunger for human flesh.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><del>House of the Dead<\/del> <strong>The Typing of the Dead<\/strong> (1999)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Okay, everybody knows House of the Dead, but did you know there was a sequel where you killed zombies by typing words on the screen?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43674\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/typing-of-the-dead-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43674\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43674 \" title=\"typing of the dead screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/typing-of-the-dead-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/typing-of-the-dead-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/typing-of-the-dead-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/typing-of-the-dead-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43674\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I bet that air gun and water pistol don&#8217;t seem so lame now.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Dead Rising<\/strong> (2006)<\/p>\n<p>Typing is one way to kill a zombie, but so&#8217;s a lawnmower. And a dumbbell. And an umbrella. And a shower head. Even a sausage rack. In fact, there&#8217;s nothing Frank West won&#8217;t try killing a zombie with, except maybe his camera.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43679\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-rising-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43679\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43679\" title=\"dead rising screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-rising-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-rising-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-rising-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-rising-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43679\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frank West would probably even use an air gun or water pistol if it came to that. And he&#8217;d make it look cool.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Left 4 Dead<\/strong> (2008)<\/p>\n<p>Valve&#8217;s instantly popular co-op zombie shooter introduced several new types of zombies, prominently including the <em>fast<\/em> zombie. Nobody had ever thought of that before, but it seems so obvious now, doesn&#8217;t it? Obvious in an obviously terrifying kind of way.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43680\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/left-4-dead-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43680\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43680\" title=\"left 4 dead screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/left-4-dead-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/left-4-dead-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/left-4-dead-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/left-4-dead-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43680\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fast, huge, <em>and<\/em> on fire. It&#8217;s the zombie apocalypse trifecta.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Dead Space<\/strong> (2008)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Okay, so fast zombies are in now. What can we do to improve on that?&#8221; mused Hypothetical Dead Space Designer. &#8220;I know, let&#8217;s tear off most of their faces, rip out their intestines, glue on some bonus appendages, put them in zero-G space, and switch off all the lights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43683\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-space-screenshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43683 \" title=\"dead space screenshot\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-space-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-space-screenshot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-space-screenshot-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dead-space-screenshot-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-43683\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yeah, that works.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Related Articles<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/43468-10-awesome-console-mods.html\">10 awesome console mods<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/43022-10-games-youll-never-finish-because-theyre-too-hard.html\">10 games you\u2019ll never finish because they\u2019re too hard<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/43331-9-most-expensive-gaming-gadgets-youll-never-need.html\">9 most expensive gaming gadgets you\u2019ll never need<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/hardware\/42835-5-cool-pc-gaming-preipheral-features-we-take-for-granted.html\">5 cool PC gaming features we take for granted<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From shamblers to necromorphs, deadly jokes are free<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":43684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[6417,1503,1177,21,3064,2139,6416,6419,4195,6415,1321,6418],"class_list":["post-43650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-alone-in-the-dark","tag-dead-rising","tag-dead-space","tag-headline","tag-left-4-dead","tag-resident-evil","tag-the-evil-dead","tag-the-typing-of-the-dead","tag-wolfenstein-3d","tag-zombie-zombie","tag-zombies","tag-zombies-ate-my-neighbours"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}