I was a child when this was initially released. In fact, depending on the specific date, I was either in 8th grade or just going into my freshman year of high school. I was "that weird girl". You know the one. The one nobody liked or talked to because she wore unflattering clothes and didn't brush her hair and mostly liked to watch hyperviolent horror movies. With that in mind, it's of absolutely no surprise that a game such as "Stubbs the Zombie" would appeal to me.
With its retrofuturistic setting and it's comedic overtones overlayed atop a general horror concept, it's a fascinating hodgepodge of ideas that, in theory, shouldn't work together as well as they do. It's by no means perfect, but dangit, it did something truly different, especially for the time, and you have to respect it on that merit alone. It's gameplay is pretty straight forward; you play as recently deceased salesman Stubbs, who returns from the grave on the hunt for your beloved, all while utilizing your various zombie techniques to help bring down the very city that led to your untimely demise. These powers range from attaching your disembodied hand to another person to control them to throwing your own exploding organs at enemies to using your head as an explosive bowling ball of sorts. It's all kinds of ridiculous, and all kinds of fun.
But I completely understand people who maybe don't like the game. While it's core concept is unique in the sense of "Be the zombie" instead of "Kill the zombie" for a change, it's gameplay isn't all that exciting, and I think you just have to be the right kind of person to truly appreciate something of this caliber. You have to like a whole bunch of different things, and then like those things when put together. Campy b movies, comedy horror, etc. I absolutely get why this wouldn't necessarily be someone's cup of tea. That being said, there's value to it, regardless of your disinterest. It was a game that took a lot of risks, and while they might not have paid off in full, it was worth the effort.
One of the selling points that has always stuck out as strange to me, however, and was even used in promotion for the game, was the fact that it ran on the Halo engine. But this never made sense to me, as the game isn't an FPS. In fact, there's really no similarities between the two, so why they chose to really use this to push the title has always confused me, other than the obvious fact that, at the time, Halo was a giant in the field and that name recognition alone might be enough to help push sales. I still, to this day, find it strange though.
One other incredible aspect, however, was the soundtrack. Soundtracks in games have always been...strange. Rarely have there been soundtracks that mimic that of a film, with popular well known songs on them. In fact, outside of perhaps the Guitar Hero or Rock Band franchise, one offs like Parappa, and of course the Remedy titles, I have a hard time just thinking of any. But Stubbs had an honest to god soundtrack, full of classic 1950s and 1960s songs all performed by popular artists of the mid 2000s. The artists ranged from Cake, to The Flaming Lips to Phantom Planet, and it's just such a neat little thing that, unfortunately - likely due to licensing issues with the RIAA which has also hurt many television home media releases - the "remaster" for the newer consoles was missing this soundtrack almost entirely. It doesn't really ruin the game, but it's certainly a black mark on an otherwise great re-release. The only song kept over was Lollipop, and even then it'd been altered and only used on the main menu.
And while it's great that the games from the weird era of gaming, like this or Voodoo Vince or Psychonauts are still being released and are playable, it's a shame that none of them are truly remastered or remade. I was hoping these would get the "Destroy all Humans" treatment. Be all prettied up, made to look nice and shiny for the new age (which is weird for me to want because I don't care about graphics at all). But that being said, the fact that they're accessible at all, especially in an age where far too much media is vanishing at an alarming rate with little to no warning from the companies pulling it, is a godsend in and of itself.
Stubbs is a unique title from a unique time in gaming, when wacky out there concepts still had a chance to get made before the industry decided we all needed nothing but grey and brown shooters and bog standard RPGs. Back when bizarre titles like Kung-Fu-Chaos or Cel Damage had a shot at being produced, despite their overall general lack of mainstream interest or appeal. Stubbs is a treasure, even if you don't like it as a game, just because of the fact that it refused to do what everything else was doing at the time, and the fact that it took an entire genre of gameplay and turned it on its head in a rather amusing way. And, thankfully, like any good zombie, Stubbs refused to stay dead.
The remaster may not be a remake in true fashion, but hey, you can't keep a good zombie down.
With its retrofuturistic setting and it's comedic overtones overlayed atop a general horror concept, it's a fascinating hodgepodge of ideas that, in theory, shouldn't work together as well as they do. It's by no means perfect, but dangit, it did something truly different, especially for the time, and you have to respect it on that merit alone. It's gameplay is pretty straight forward; you play as recently deceased salesman Stubbs, who returns from the grave on the hunt for your beloved, all while utilizing your various zombie techniques to help bring down the very city that led to your untimely demise. These powers range from attaching your disembodied hand to another person to control them to throwing your own exploding organs at enemies to using your head as an explosive bowling ball of sorts. It's all kinds of ridiculous, and all kinds of fun.
But I completely understand people who maybe don't like the game. While it's core concept is unique in the sense of "Be the zombie" instead of "Kill the zombie" for a change, it's gameplay isn't all that exciting, and I think you just have to be the right kind of person to truly appreciate something of this caliber. You have to like a whole bunch of different things, and then like those things when put together. Campy b movies, comedy horror, etc. I absolutely get why this wouldn't necessarily be someone's cup of tea. That being said, there's value to it, regardless of your disinterest. It was a game that took a lot of risks, and while they might not have paid off in full, it was worth the effort.
One of the selling points that has always stuck out as strange to me, however, and was even used in promotion for the game, was the fact that it ran on the Halo engine. But this never made sense to me, as the game isn't an FPS. In fact, there's really no similarities between the two, so why they chose to really use this to push the title has always confused me, other than the obvious fact that, at the time, Halo was a giant in the field and that name recognition alone might be enough to help push sales. I still, to this day, find it strange though.
One other incredible aspect, however, was the soundtrack. Soundtracks in games have always been...strange. Rarely have there been soundtracks that mimic that of a film, with popular well known songs on them. In fact, outside of perhaps the Guitar Hero or Rock Band franchise, one offs like Parappa, and of course the Remedy titles, I have a hard time just thinking of any. But Stubbs had an honest to god soundtrack, full of classic 1950s and 1960s songs all performed by popular artists of the mid 2000s. The artists ranged from Cake, to The Flaming Lips to Phantom Planet, and it's just such a neat little thing that, unfortunately - likely due to licensing issues with the RIAA which has also hurt many television home media releases - the "remaster" for the newer consoles was missing this soundtrack almost entirely. It doesn't really ruin the game, but it's certainly a black mark on an otherwise great re-release. The only song kept over was Lollipop, and even then it'd been altered and only used on the main menu.
And while it's great that the games from the weird era of gaming, like this or Voodoo Vince or Psychonauts are still being released and are playable, it's a shame that none of them are truly remastered or remade. I was hoping these would get the "Destroy all Humans" treatment. Be all prettied up, made to look nice and shiny for the new age (which is weird for me to want because I don't care about graphics at all). But that being said, the fact that they're accessible at all, especially in an age where far too much media is vanishing at an alarming rate with little to no warning from the companies pulling it, is a godsend in and of itself.
Stubbs is a unique title from a unique time in gaming, when wacky out there concepts still had a chance to get made before the industry decided we all needed nothing but grey and brown shooters and bog standard RPGs. Back when bizarre titles like Kung-Fu-Chaos or Cel Damage had a shot at being produced, despite their overall general lack of mainstream interest or appeal. Stubbs is a treasure, even if you don't like it as a game, just because of the fact that it refused to do what everything else was doing at the time, and the fact that it took an entire genre of gameplay and turned it on its head in a rather amusing way. And, thankfully, like any good zombie, Stubbs refused to stay dead.
The remaster may not be a remake in true fashion, but hey, you can't keep a good zombie down.