Have gun, will shoot zombies. It’s a concept as rudimentary as 2+2=4, but nonetheless it often seems to be one sorely disconnected from mainstream video games. I know, I know, how can I say that? This is in many ways the best time ever to be a fan of the undead. Dead Rising, Left4Dead, the Nazi zombies of Call of Duty: World at War; there are more zombies to blast in games these days than all the zombies in the first four Resident Evil games combined. But then that right there is the problem. Considering all the various and diverse genres available to developers, their creative scope is often shallower than a storm trooper’s dialogue in Star Wars. “Blast ‘Me!”

This isn’t to say the indie scene is lacking in the mindless violence department, in fact I had the pleasure of reviewing Zombie Driver which, for all intents and purposes, is just a long afternoon’s worth of gore and destruction. The fact that you’re driving a car does little to distinguish it from the myriad of other games with a similar focus on smearing the undead. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily. The only reason there are so many zombie games like this is because they’re great fun. The Last Stand, Zombie Horde, their respective sequels and the tons of games like them are all at their core just about shooting stuff: blood, gore, yadda, yadda.

There are a few games out there though that do manage to be a bit creative with the denizens of Zombieland. Infectionator for instance, takes the core idea of the various infection simulators floating around the web and makes them fun. Rather then trying to stop the zombie plague, you’re tasked with spreading it. Initially, this plays out relatively simply. You select a city, wait for an opportune moment to strike and then unleash your virus. Watching your little 8-bit zombies maul the living is strangely cathartic and as the game progresses it adds layers of complexity turning it eventually into a game of strategy and resource management.

Similarly, Cottage of Doom takes the whole defense game schtick and turns the focus away from frantically blasting charging opponents and toward barricading the titular cottage as you’re assailed by an endless legion of living corpses. The goal isn’t to win, it’s just to hold off as long as possible and with your ammo limited and the enemy numbers vastly overwhelming, a well placed bureau to block off a door is often more valuable than a dual gauge shotgun. It’s a really interesting take for a zombie game that is unfortunately dragged down a bit by shoddy controls.

There’s a reason zombies are popular across so many mediums nowadays. Their basic nature and core mindlessness makes them a blank slate. Developers can paint almost any sort of picture upon their horrific faces. They can be straightforward scary, they can be a canvas for social commentary, or they can be funny (Plants vs. Zombies anyone?). When it comes to video games they are the perfect fodder for trigger happy teenagers looking for their next shot of gore. The thing is they can be more than that. It would be nice to see more games that take advantage of the multiple uses for the undead.

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