Earlier this year, Rockstar Games created what is possibly the best Western themed video game of all time titled “Red Dead Redemption.” Featuring beautiful landscapes, thrilling missions, and a grapping storyline that unfortunately had to end eventually. Players were also treated to a well-crafted multiplayer mode, which included a Free Roam mode that allowed players to ride through the forests to the deserts with friends online. Rockstar then made a somewhat unexpected move and took the game in a different direction with the new “Undead Nightmare” expansion.
After two multiplayer downloadable expansions, “Undead Nightmare” is the third downloadable content available for “Red Dead Redemption” and the first single player expansion. With Hollywood pumping out movies built on the premise of cowboys versus ninjas and cowboys versus aliens, see “The Warrior’s Way” and “Cowboys & Aliens”, it was only natural for someone to set up a cowboys versus zombies structure (although the film “Serenity” could arguably be labeled as a space cowboys versus space zombies set up). Zombie games and game modes are also especially popular in recent video game culture.
Building on the core game play of “Red Dead Redemption”, the entire look and feel of the world has been changed to be darker and more ominous in “Undead Nightmare.” Taking everything that the player is familiar with from the main game and rendering it to be bloody scary is terribly effective at setting up an eerie atmosphere for the player. Aside from the environmental changes, zombies have indeed been added en masse. A far cry from the usual gun-toting enemies, having the game’s main character John Marston fleeing from the zombie hordes is an entirely new experience for this cowboy.
Zombies don’t steal the show in “Undead Nightmare” seeing how they are the show. They shuffle slowly and aimlessly around, but will begin running towards the nearest human the moment they catch a whiff of fresh human flesh. Fans of zombie games may recognize the special zombie types that may or may not be ‘borrowed’ from the popular hit zombie game “Left 4 Dead.” Mixed in with the slower bumbling regulars, special zombies will leap, ram, and spit at human survivors. Zombie purists may not be terribly happy to see sprinting zombies, but can rest in piece with the fact that any old bullet to the body won’t do the trick because the zombies in “Undead Nightmare” are almost only taken down for good with a solid headshot.
For the most part, the game play in “Undead Nightmare” has been unchanged from the main game before. Up close and personal combat, along with combat in tighter corridors, can make for sticky situations, as John Marston is clunky and more difficult to control in the aforementioned situations. The slow motion targeting system that “Red Dead Redemption” featured is back and better than before, now recharging much more quickly as players will be relying on it much more to get the much needed headshots on the zombies. While most of the game mechanics remain unchanged, having only a few new weapons being added, Rockstar as gotten rid of the honor system in “Undead Nightmare.” While an honor system is used to keep players responsible for their actions both good and bad in a normal life, Rockstar recognized that a zombie apocalypse tends to break down regular social structures in favor of basic survival. Essentially saying that sometimes teamwork involves tripping your partner when the zombie hordes are at your heels. The monetary system has also been changed from regular currency to vitally needed bullets. Zombie apocalypses tend to cause a shortage both in humans and ammunition.
The presentation of the narrative in “Undead Nightmare” is meant to be cheesy and in classic B-movie fashion. The horror elements are wrapped in a story that is self-aware with tongue-in-cheek moments, but still manages to be creepy nonetheless. The “Undead Nightmare” expansion was available for download directly to consoles just before Halloween earlier this year, but is now available on a disc in stores. The package itself includes all the previous downloadable multiplayer expansions, and even includes the Free Roam mode so players can continue their exploits from “Red Dead Redemption” online with friends without having to buy the original full-priced game. The “Undead Nightmare” package is a great value for fans of “Red Dead Redemption”, and at $20 (a third of a retail full-priced game) is a cheaper alternative to anyone wanting to give the multiplayer aspect of the game a spin. While “Red Dead Redemption” was serious in tone, “Undead Nightmare” is able to kick back and offer some amazing zombie killing fun without taking itself too seriously.
