Been a while since we did this, but I just watched a Zombie Vs. Infected debate rage over gmail for the past two days and kind of want you the readers to weigh in (and enjoy the hijinks).
It starts simply enough, with a simple conversation about the Resident Evil 5 demo.... but quickly changes lanes and Santos "Grim" Gonzalez busts out a comprehensive knowledge of all things brain-eating related.
Enjoy.
Ryan: RE5 demo impressions. I'm writing some up now, just checking to see if any of you are doing the same...? If so we can combine posts. Otherwise I'll be posting something shortly. lemme know
Dan Z: Sadly I haven't played it yet. I know, I suck
Grim: To be honest, You're really not missing much.
Dan L: I played the Japanese demo (which is more or less the same) and loved it. then got the US one and hated it..... anyone else play both and notice differences? I can't figure out why I dug one and not the other.
Grim: I would love to have a podcast round table about it. [Me too - ed.]
Kevin: I won't be trying it out. I thought that Resident Evil 4, while not a bad game, was not nearly as good as everyone else on Earth seemed to think.
Adam: Wow. Maybe I should write a Third Impressions article as it seems that I am the only one that enjoyed the demo. While I think the controls are a bit... outdated, the rest worked really well in my opinion. I'll admit I'm a zombie fanatic, so I could be a bit biased...
Kevin: Adam I'm right there with you on the whole zombie thing. Left 4 Dead is the only game that ever got zombies right.
Grim: I am a huge Resident Evil fan but the demo is really disappointing. They took RE4 and re skinned it. There is no reason why enemies still have that jerky animation from part 4. The controls are just dated and plain bad. If you going to make RE5 a straight action game, You need to change the controls to fit it.
As for Left 4 Dead, I love the game but it's not really a zombie game. The same way 28 Day/weeks later isn't a Zombie movie. Zombie are slow and want to eat your brains. The ones in L4D just want to curb stomp the hell out of you.
Ryan: I'm not too surprised to hear this. RE4 was a huge hit obviously (thus the caveat in my write-up). If you've already "trained" yourself on RE4 controls then the new game is quite familiar. But I can't help but get the sense that we've moved on since 2005 as far as control schemes go.
Seriously, the lack of a dedicated button for the knife and the 180º spin is just baffling. You need to use those things constantly. And yet they dedicate right trigger to "gaze at my girlfriend". WTF.
Kevin: George Romero invented zombies. George Romero made a movie with fast zombies. Left 4 Dead = zombie game.
Ryan: Holy shit, he's right. As they would say on the GAF - Flawless Victory
Grim: Wrong, George Romero never made a movie with fast zombies. Zack Snyder remake a George Romero movie (Dawn of the Dead) and made the zombies fast. Left 4 Dead = Fun... Still not a zombie game.
Kevin: Damn, I think Grim's right on the whole Romero/fast zombie thing. Coulda swore that Land Of The Dead had fuckers that moved quick but the big evolution in that one is water breathing.
Still, if they aren't zombies in Left 4 Dead what the hell are they?
Also, I subscribe to the zombie theory that "freshly dead" zombies are quick but they get slower the longer they're all zombied up.
Ryan: Oh yeah... I thought that he had done something with the remake (Romero) but ended up in this endless clicktrance reading about how his original company let the original film slip into public domain and he had nothing to do with it... And you can in fact find a quote from him recently about how zombies should not run (more menacing).
However he also says that the main thing about zombies are the multitudes... RE5 doesn't have enough. Dead Rising does. Anyway the runner zombies don't bother me... I mean, we are arguing about the logistics of walking corpses after all.
I thought the same thing about Land of the Dead but could not find corroborating evidence... but Romero doesn't seem to like the fast ones. "But they're not zombies they're INFECTED, hurr hurrr"
Grim: In Land of the Dead they are a bit smarter but still slow. Left 4 Dead Infected is more like the 28 Days/Weeks Rage Infected. Also, the infected in Left 4 Dead aren't dead, They just have the virus in them. This is why you can kill them without a headshot. Though the game has a lot of nods to movies in the zombie genre.
Ryan is right, as flawed as Dead Rising is it's the only game to get zombies dead on. Wow, I know way to much about zombies.
Ryan:What do you think about fast zombies — the kind we see in video games and movies like 28 Days Later?
Well, I took a big swipe at them in this film (Diary of the Dead): There’s a running gag in the movie that dead things don’t move fast. Partially, it’s a matter of taste. I remember Christopher Lee’s mummy movies where there was this big old lumbering thing that was just walking towards you and you could blow it full of holes but it would keep coming. And in the original Halloween, Michael Meyers never ran, he just sort of calmly walked across the lawn or across the room. To me, that’s scarier: this inexorable thing coming at you and you can’t figure out how to stop it. Aside from that, I do have rules in my head of what’s logical and what’s not. I don’t think zombies can run. Their ankles would snap! And they haven’t yet taken out memberships to Curves. [Source]
I think we should simply file "infected" ala 28 Days/RE as a legitimate but distinct subclass of Zombiehood and move on. Santos, please update the appropriate taxonomy files. (Just a side note, you don't get much brain-eating these days, either.)
Grim: haha... Well I really don't mind fast zombies, They worked in Return of the Living Dead and the Dawn of the Dead remake. The reason why I don't think of 28 Weeks/Days later as zombie films is two main things. Zombies crave brains or flesh and they are undead. The infected have neither of this traits. They don't eat people, also they aren't dead. As they died out at the end of 28 days later from starvation. They are just really pissed off virus filled people.
Kevin: Damn, I was just about to bring up Return Of The Living Dead. Long live Trash!
Grim: Return of the living dead 1 & 2 are a good time. They change some zombie rules, IE. They can only be killed by fire or electricity and of course they run really fast.
This is because John A. Russo, who wrote the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead and the book that Return of the living dead was based on. He made some changes so Return would stand by itself and would not be included in the Romero series. Ok that is to much info. Here is something mindless.
Dan Z: So help me we're one email away from me posting this on the site! :P
Kevin: The previous thirty aren't enough?
Grim: Let's go full circle. George Romero directed Resident Evil 2 (Biohazard 2) Commercial.
Comments (9)
... written by swiftwulf,
February 03, 2009
Nerds.
+0
... written by Kevin Alexander,
February 03, 2009
It's fun when the wheels come off.
+0
... written by Santos Gonzalez,
February 03, 2009
This info might save your life one day. =P
+0
... written by ender,
February 03, 2009
Pfft, zombies aren't real, so I think though romero made some killer zombie culture, it's not written in stone. I for one, will bend over and gladly take whatever Capcom can throw at me, with a grin on my face.
+0
... written by Santos Gonzalez,
February 04, 2009
One thing you have to remember ender is that Resident Evil 4-5 have no zombies in them. Capcom were very adamant that Las Plagas are not Zombies in any shape or form.
Both Dead Rising and Resident Evil 1-3 have Romero style Zombies. Also both have homages to the Dead series. So Capcom has pretty much given their blessing to Romero zombie lore.
As for bend over for Capcom... that is a good way to get burned. =)
+0
... written by Rich,
February 04, 2009
Traditionally zombies do rise from the dead and hunger for human flesh and brains. Though in 28 Days Later these creatures do not rise from the dead, it doesn't mean that these should not be considered part of the zombie culture and lore. They key to any zombie story is not about the creature. It is about how the uninfected living treat each other after "society" has fallen apart.
+0
... written by Rich,
February 04, 2009
Also, I wasn't a big fan of the RE5 demo either.
+0
... written by Mohammed,
April 03, 2009
Hi. Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. I am from Saudi and know bad English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "New york airline listings airline tickets."
:p Thanks in advance. Mohammed.
+0
... written by Gallagher,
April 05, 2009
Hello. You're dealing with the demon of external validation. You can't beat external validation. You want to know why? Because it feels sooo good. I am from Kenya and know bad English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "The system of id fares id, id, etc."
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The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
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