It’s hip to be dead.
Just when I think there cannot possibly be any more obscure games making a comeback, in comes Stubbs the Zombie. This is a game that had a lot of chatter around it upon launch. It was from former developers at Bungie. It ran on the Halo engine, and it was built exclusively for the original Xbox. Now it is nothing but a lost memory, at leastuntil Aspyr Media decided to bring back Stubbs and his antics for the new generation. Stubbs is making a comeback for multiple consoles and bringing with it the awkward game play and ridiculous narrative, and honestly it was just as weird as I remember it back in 2005.
When Stubbs dropped onto the scene back in 2005 there wasn’t much else like it. The zombie genre was not in full-blown mode quite yet, and even if it was, this game took a different approach entirely. The game centers around the fictional town of 1959 Punchbowl. It mixes classic 50s style with a hint of the sci-fi with robots and other trimmings. Stubbs emerges from the ground wearing a cheap suit and hat and smoking a cigarette before he wreaks havoc on the town.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: XB1 (reviewed), PS4, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
The game starts with Stubbs falling in love with the traditional blonde beauty queen on the TV and hence begins his adventure to profess his adoration. It is dumb and makes little sense, but it provides a nice backdrop to the carnage.
The game is whimsical in tone, but that doesn’t stop the gore. The game is about eating brains and there is plenty of blood flying all around. Don’t let the demeanor fool you, this is not a game for kids. Stubbs has a standard attack to start and can turn any citizen into his denizen of zombies. The idea is to infect as many as possible and continue wreaking havoc along the way. It is a unique system and provides plenty of chuckles and a heaping helping of fun. The game is just dumb enough to make it all work.
The game play presents itself as an open world adventure, but you quickly discover this is a more linear adventure than it seems to be. Stubbs has a limited arsenal. It is all fun though. He can remove his head to create an exploding bowling ball, or tear some of his entrails out to use as a grenade. It all works around mutilating his body. There are even sections where you control Stubbs’ hand to climb walls and take over people. The game never skips on the unique approach to combat. Still, it is a simple game with some interesting mechanics. Nothing about it ever feels complex. There are no skill trees or RPG elements, instead this is just a straightforward action game typical of that era.
With this update the game retains its original look with some new textures and of course a higher resolution. I played on Xbox Series X and it runs great. The style really helps it hold its own 15 years later though. The design is simplistic, and the 1950s motif really helps sell the world. There is an option to turn off the screen filter, which I enjoyed. Outside of that though there isn’t much in terms of an update. The game just looks and runs about how I remember it. Which I am certain is not how it looks today running on an original Xbox.
Stubbs is a fun game that doesn’t take itself seriously. There is really nothing else quite like it, and I had fun revisiting this dumb action title. For those that never got a chance to play it before it is more than worth checking out, if for nothing else but seeing how different this game is from pretty much everything else out there. It thrives on its wackiness and dumb fun and is still enjoyable today. And now players can experience it on every console or PC under the sun.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
