Stubbs the Zombie follows in the footsteps of other antagonist driven adventures which have steadily been gaining in popularity. You play Stubbs the Zombie, and driven by a combination of anger, madness, and love, begin to attack the city which has disturbed your eternal slumber. Beginning with a thorough and easy to understand tutorial, you can't help but gain a certain sense of satisfaction as you munch on the brains of your first 1950's teen jock, and watch as his Suzie Q girlfriend watches on in horror.

Built with Bungie's acclaimed Halo engine, Stubbs the Zombie features some very nicely rendered locations within they city of Punchbowl. As the game progresses you get to sample a varied set of locale's, from the city itself, the outlying country, and many different indoor areas. The game utilizes the engine's physics, allowing for impressive explosions, easy to use vehicles, and fragmenting bodies. The AI is effective also, which is good since the horde of zombies you'll be amassing is important. They'll proceed on their own, recruiting new members to your personal army leaving you to progress with more important matters.

The interface is nicely done, and very simple. On the screen you have your health and your abilities, which are all you need to keep an eye on. This leaves you to focus and enjoy the game-play more fully. The controls were relatively easy to get the hang of, using a combination of the WASD keys and the mouse to look around. The game does allow for a gamepad, since it was a console port, but I didn't use one while I played, since I enjoy the keyboard more. The different special attacks were all located in the vicinity of your movement controls, with your mouse handling most of the attacking.

Aspyr and Wideload did an amazing job assembling the music for the game by picking era-specific songs and having them covered by some of today's popular rock bands, and several emerging artists. You can expect to listen to such classics as My Boyfriend's Back, Earth Angel, Mr. Sandman and more, recorded by such bands as The Raveonetttes, Death Cab for Cutie, and Oranger. The sounds in the game were plenty immersive, as well as amusing. Decidedly squishy sounds were used, appropriately, for many of the zombie related actions. From the disturbing flatulence, to the oddly realistic sound of a head being bowled across the ground, the Stubbs team did an excellent job. The amusing anecdotes spewed from the denizens of punchbowl as you rip off their arms, and sink your teeth into their brains more than once had me laughing out loud.

As the game progressed, the difficulty level advanced at a relatively steady rate. Some of the areas were a bit frustrating as I watched myself being taunted as I lay dead (undead?) on the ground, but a bit of persistence and the payoff was worth it. At times, I even found my adrenaline pumping as I was throwing my entrails at the head of an overbearing hillbilly. As the difficulty of the game progressed, Stubbs slowly gained more varied attacks. With his unholy flatulence, he could stun a group of mobs into a dazed and choking buffet of brains. With a simple toss of his arm (literally) he could attach to an unsuspecting victim and control them as through they were a puppet. Among the most fun, however, was the ability to bowl his head at a group of cops and have it explode in their midst.

The storyline itself I found to be rather engrossing, which is odd since I'm generally not one for too much plot. The game had a great balance of story and cinematic cut-scenes which drove the narrative forward without forcing you to sit through long and pointless segues. The narrative was filled with amusing characters, some hilarious situations, and even a few very surprising plot twists. Unfortunately, I can't get into too much detail without giving away the story, so you'll have to check it out on your own.

Stubbs the Zombie is very fun to play. There's something about playing the bad guy that's always intrigued me, and zombie games aren't generally mainstream these days. It was nice to see a game that took an original concept and developed it into such a fun game. The controls were easy to understand, the attacks inventive and very zombie-like, and the music and sound was simply amazing. While the selection of mobs in the game was amusing and challenging, as I finished the game I did notice that it was a bit limited. Aside from a few minor glitches the game ran very smooth, and was very nicely designed. If I have the chance, I'll definitely be playing this title again.