New Review Posted: Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green

Daniel Weissenberger · 02-01-2006, 01:27 PM

I review Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green, and am not impressed in the least:

"Evil things shamble down narrow hallways, they get shot in the head, the heroes move on to the next shambling thing. That's an accurate description of 90 percent of every zombie film and First Person Shooter (FPS) ever made. So why has there never been a great zombie-killing FPS? It seems like such a natural combination. Yet, other than the first section of They Hunger (a three-part Half-Life conversion) no one has ever managed to handle zombie shooting well."

Want some example of just how wrong they got it? Find them here.

Low Emissions · 02-01-2006, 08:35 PM

Dude, I loved this game. It was so horribly crappy I almost pooped. Cha.

I wrote a review about it as well, you can find it either on my little site (which I believe is in my profile) or at GameSpot in the user reviews, if anybody is interested.

Hypatia93 · 02-02-2006, 11:36 AM

Danny.

I know this was a crap game; I heard that from a plethora of sources.

But I have one question, and perhaps I'm being a bitch by asking it, or perhaps my bias is simply showing through.

Why didn't Bracken review it? He's the /obvious/ choice, after all. I mean, not that you're not a fine reviewer, but it's kinda like not having LD do a first op on a shooter, or David not being involved /at all/ in a Castlevania title, or hmm I could say Bracken or Jason on an RPG too. Get it? He /is/ the Horror Geek. Who knows more about Romero on this (or probably any) board than he? And by extension, a Romero-derivative game (as crappy as it may be)?

Well, he'd better well do the second op. Otherwise, heads will roll. And limbs torn; and body cavities ripped-in-twain. You get the idea.

Daniel Weissenberger · 02-02-2006, 06:44 PM

Ah, Hyp, you've forgotten one thing, while Mike's specialty is horror, my specialty is absoutely awful games. Since there was some serious overlap between those two categories on this title, and because they didn't send us a review copy, it came down to whoever got to the game and felt compelled to write about it first. Looks like I won. Or lost, depending on how you look at it.

Low Emissions · 02-03-2006, 10:53 PM

Won... or lost.

hehehe....

ferrarimanf355 · 02-06-2006, 06:24 PM

I remember a George A. Romero zombine FPS game coming from Hip Interactive. I haven't heard a thing about that game since Hip went under. What happened?

Aw well, nothing will beat the House of the Dead games for zombie killing action, IMHO.

Snack Eater · 02-06-2006, 08:43 PM

I would kill to play a good, gory zombie-themed FPS. In fact, I already did, but no game resulted. I want to play an FPS where you can blow a zombie in half with a shotgun and its airborne intestines will try to strangle you and you have to slice them to pieces with a knife. And where you can chainsaw zombies from any possible angle and their parts will sever accordingly, and their guts will get caught on your blade and start spinning around, spraying the environment with blood that stays there forever. It should be something like Half-Life, only instead of a completely interactive cinematic take on an alien invasion, it's a completely interactive cinematic take on a zombie apocalypse.

Just me thinking about that idea just made Jesus ejaculate.

ferrarimanf355 · 02-06-2006, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solidsnack

I would kill to play a good, gory zombie-themed FPS. In fact, I already did, but no game resulted. I want to play an FPS where you can blow a zombie in half with a shotgun and its airborne intestines will try to strangle you and you have to slice them to pieces with a knife. And where you can chainsaw zombies from any possible angle and their parts will sever accordingly, and their guts will get caught on your blade and start spinning around, spraying the environment with blood that stays there forever. It should be something like Half-Life, only instead of a completely interactive cinematic take on an alien invasion, it's a completely interactive cinematic take on a zombie apocalypse.

Just me thinking about that idea just made Jesus ejaculate.

Well, I can put this idea on the list of "Video games I should make before I die": a good zombie-themed FPS. I like your ideas, but they might be pushing the ESRB ratings too far. They sound... well... juicy, though.

If I ever get a job at Sega, I'll make a House of the Dead FPS game. How's that?

Daniel Weissenberger · 02-07-2006, 05:25 AM

Yeah, I'd like to see a great zombie FPS as well, but instead of a Dead Alive style I'd personally want it to swing the complete other way - Romero-style zombie survival. Run away most of the time, barricade things, search for sparse ammunition - try to shoot zombies in the head, but you're playing as someone who isn't a very good shot. And of course, the whole one bite game over thing.

ferrarimanf355 · 02-07-2006, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Danny

Yeah, I'd like to see a great zombie FPS as well, but instead of a Dead Alive style I'd personally want it to swing the complete other way - Romero-style zombie survival. Run away most of the time, barricade things, search for sparse ammunition - try to shoot zombies in the head, but you're playing as someone who isn't a very good shot. And of course, the whole one bite game over thing.

I think that would make a good multiplayer mode. One side is the zombies, the other side is the humans.

Hypatia93 · 02-07-2006, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC_Danny

Ah, Hyp, you've forgotten one thing, while Mike's specialty is horror, my specialty is absoutely awful games. Since there was some serious overlap between those two categories on this title, and because they didn't send us a review copy, it came down to whoever got to the game and felt compelled to write about it first. Looks like I won. Or lost, depending on how you look at it.

Well, that's true. I hadn't thought of it like that. Would you like a hug b/c you /voluntarily/ took a bullet for us?

I remember going into my GameStop and picking up the title. I was practically swarmed by my compadres there. "No!" they shouted, arms outstretched, "It's wretched! Your eyes will melt and hands fall off if you play that game." Needless to say, I didn't buy it, and I was very disappointed (as were they), at how horrible the title ended up being.

Thanks for affirming what my friends at the game store had told me. I guess.