Reality Check - Why all the Zombies in Video Games?

REAL survival HORROR games >>>>>>>>>> Action Zombie games. :-)

@DigiRave @MapRef41N93W Actually DigiRave, I interpreted what you said as MapRef did. If you show someone a photograph of a dead body, some people will cringe, or puke. Some people won't. Movies and games enhance the aspect by providing disturbing imagery to some.

You are fairly naive in your comment because you extend how you feel to disturbing images to the wider populace, hence "so anyone who doesn't think like you is an idiot". You are just desensitized to this kind of imagery, whereas others aren't.

You calling them idiots because they aren't desensitized and disturbing imagery actually has an affect on them shows more about your idiocy since you don't understand how people operate, only yourself, which you project onto others. You shouldn't be so naive.

I love Reality Check. After 5 years on Gamespot, it's the first web series I follow.

@DigiRave We never said anything about not being able to tell the difference between something on the screen and reality. You said anyone that is just scared by monsters from games or movies is an idiot.
Honestly, for me Silent Hill is horrifying! Not because I can't tell the difference between reality and the game. Just because it is twisted! Some of my friends can't watch ghosty horror movies, just because the thought of a malicious spirit trying to kill will mess with them after the movie is over.
It doesn't make them an idiot.

@MapRef41N93W @DigiRave did I say that, moron? Stop pulling words out of my mouth, everyone can see that's not what I wrote.

@DigiRave So anyone who doesn't think like you is an idiot? Typical internet moron.

@DigiRave Wow, I know a lot of people that need to stay clear of fictitious monsters in games and movies. They are NOT fucking idiots, they just get into the movie/VG a little more then the rest of us.

First off, I LOVED this episode! Great job!

So, if killing millions of zombies can take away all my fear of the walking dead, can they do the same for other nasties? Maybe I should re-enter Skyrim and kill a couple thousand spiders to get my fear of them under wraps! And Alma, maybe I should make another trip into F.E.A.R. and get that whole mess under control.

zombies are always welcomed to games IF they're used in a clever way!

not just because one game wants to have them in at any cost, which is sadly what's happening with most games

that force zombie modes that are less successful and unnecessary!

The flood of zombies in all media made us to loose respect for the zombie concept, i loved dead island as a melee combat and surviving game but now with CoD as a zombie beat-them-up, Plant vs Zombie for kids ( i know is every one) and Warm Bodies a romantic zombie movie we dont feel the fear that the RE games caused at earlier years. PSD: I haven't play ZombiU and State of Decay nor the Last of Us so i cant say anything about those.

The zombie element shouldn't be a beat-them-all, they must be a strong force to inflict fear that we should avoid and survive.

I was a serious fan of zombies long before they were ever a part of games. What I loved about the concept of them back then still needed to be explained to people. They're pretty much the only movie monster where the direct threat is not the monster itself, but how awful human beings become when backed into a corner fighting for survival. I used to back Romero for decades until Land of the Dead and his following movies made me realize those movies were good for their time and place, and Romero was just a burned out hack. Myself as a kid would have never believed what my present self just said.

There were years when zombies started showing up in games, primarily RE, and I was overjoyed that they were there in any form, no matter how watered down. Then, gradually, they started showing up everywhere, but I felt like I still knew when zombies were done the right way, so I could just filter the oversaturation and find the gems.

I started reading the Walking Dead comics and it was kind of like a passing of the torch, since Romero was completely off his game. When the statement was made that "we are the walking dead", I knew Kirkman got it, then the TV show started and I was proud that there was finally a true representation of zombies out where everybody could see it. At the same time, that's when the feeling started edging in like "What's left?"

It's pretty clear to me now that I'm doomed to end up hating zombies. Just like every other awesome thing ever created, it's been sucked into the pop culture abyss and raped to the point of no return. We really don't know when to back off of a good thing, it's not in our nature. Especially now in the age where every form of media you could ever want is there for the taking. We're the bingers. I'm not bitter about it, and I still get excited when something as flawed but great as State of Decay comes out, but now you say zombies and there's an inevitable eye rolling, and the saddest part is my eyes are starting to roll with them.

I'm very honest with myself...I feel OK to kill lots of "human like" opponents in my games but never like or enjoy parts in games where I'm to kill humans.

In the Last of Us I was completely OK with killing tons of runners, clickers or bloaters but never enjoyed the parts where I had to kill humans...even if those same humans would kill me even faster than the non human enemies.

The same failed logic goes when playing Killzone...even if Helghan people look just like humans, they are from another planet so I don't feel bad when mercilessly decimating their numbers. While when I play Battlefield or COD I don't really enjoy knowing I'm killing humans.

Crazy...I know. :)

Undead in various games. Not only the zombie specifics( i hate them all) but Dead Space series,already mentioned in comments, and in Mass Effect series the husk and reaper creatures from different alien species can be seen as another form of zombie.

In fantasy games, zombies are almost cliché. Every fantasy game i played had them. Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age, Two worlds I & II, Kingdoms of Amalur among others. in this case, such theme comes from real life ignorance about decay in the Middle Ages.

don't forget dark Souls, where the player IS a zombie.

There have been a lot of zombie(esque) games recently. Though there's also been plenty of zombies on the small and big screen. One of my favourites from recent(ish) times is Dead Set (which you can still watch on 4oD).

The main issue I have with the zombie games though, is that most of them have been terrible. Still, I am looking forward to playing The Walking Dead and Dead Space when I get through my current backlog.

Having grown up in the 80's watching horror movies (from about the age of 8), and being a horror fan all round, I'd say that I'm well desensitised to pretty much anything gory. And I don't need an excuse to kill anything in a video game, give me a Banshee and a bunch of innocent pedestrians and I'll happily run them all down, then wheelspin their guts all over the road. Ahh, GTA, how I love you so.

I have been wondering why zombies are in games since they first showed up in games. They make horrible enemies. Individually they are slow, stupid, and uncoordinated. As a group, they are slow, stupid, and uncoordinated. The only thing you can do to make them dangerous is throw WAVES of them at the player, causing desensitization and a "who cares" attitude after about 15 minutes of gameplay. Frankly, if you want a great game, you need a great nemesis. Zombies aren't and never were.

The entire Beowulf CG film... I lasted 10 minutes before turning it off, yet I can watch unlimited horror/gore content.

Same sheeps claiming Zombies are overused are seen on other pages praising Crap of Us as the best game of this gen.

imo the fast movers are more dangerous.They just RAM into you and knock you down.I am more afraid of being left alone in the world.............not really afraid of zombies though...... :)

I'm pretty much over Zombies in video games at this point, and other forms of entertainment. I'm able to make a few exceptions, but 'Dead Island' to me just looks like a form of torture. Most things with zombies at the crux of them these days bore the living hell out of me and it sucks because they are a lot less scary now that everybody's decided to cash in.

The only ones that have ever been scary are RE ones (Nemensis in particular!)

They serve a purpose i.e. giving an enemy to gun down without getting in to the political realms of making a particular ethnic/religious type as the bad guys! Weve seen it with some of the modern day military shooters.

im very tire of this my only tru games of zombies is RESIDENT EVIL and left 4 dead, and interestinc is that they exist they buy games that the company say that is the best or consoles that made parameters and limits and that say that u have to play to play online because yes u have is great

I've played the first couple of RE games and thats all the zombies i've dealt with. They just dont interest me.

i hate zombies in video games and the characters that run to you with a sword even i have a gun

the zombies are fun for some time but still

I like fighting zombies for the same reason I like fighting alien bug swarms. They are predictable, plentiful, and generally less capable than my character(s). Wading/mowing through hordes of weak enemies feels empowering to "simpler" parts of our brains.

There is also the social aspect of certain zombie games and the societal impact of a zombie apocalypse, which has been covered before.

Very interesting!

I thought all the zombies in games (is/was/always will be) a lack of creativity or a tack on to play to the mainstream.

After people seeing zombies all the time in tv and video games, maybe we won't be scared of them if any zombie outbreak happens, and we'll be more successful against them?

Bah, no need for youtube, I can watch it right here.

Anyways, I'm ok with zombies, but yeah, it is getting old. Necromorphs are still awesome though, those are unique. :)