Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

Life is good if you are zombie nowadays.  Zombies are in high demand in the videogame and film industry.  Everywhere a person turns, there is a new project starring zombies as the main villain type.  From Zombieland at the theaters to Left 4 Dead 2 in the video game realm, there seems to be a resurgence of zombie love.  With that said, I think it is time to give zombies sometime in the bread line, because they are starting to feel very last week.

I know that I may be alone in my beliefs that zombies are an act that have well outstayed their 15 minutes of fame, but it just seems like every game product or movie looks to zombies as their financial savior.  I mean look at the recent game releases and upcoming releases, and you will see a plethora of zombie titles.  There is Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands has some zombies, Plants vs. Zombies, Crackdown has zombie-like residents, and there is at least one title on the Xbox Indies market that has zombies as a featured citizen (I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1).

Right now, I have several friends that are looking at me, wanting to know when I am going to get in on the Left 4 Dead 2 demo, and I tell them that I am not playing, because I have not pre-ordered the game from Steam.  It is not because I don’t like the franchise, and I am not boycotting the title, I am just burned out on zombies.  I am not trying to make a statement about the quality of these titles, but more about the fact that we need better antagonists in our gaming titles.

Let’s look back to about 10 years ago, when we got our first taste of the new style of World War II games, with both the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises.  Each brought about a new look at WWII, that combined playing through different factions, while having a large, cinematic feel.  It was fresh and fun, and helped both Infinity Ward and Electronic Arts make huge piles of cash.  Fast forward 10 years and everyone is tired of the World War II retreads.  No one wants to play another Medal of Honor game, and people groaned a bit when Treyarch pressed rewind on the Call of Duty franchise, sending it back to World War II.  I played Call of Duty: World at War, and while it was competent, it had nothing to really bring me back.  I just felt like, “here I am, fighting in World War II….again”.  It was shallow and lacking in any real connection with the gamer.

Zombies are really cool when taken in short doses, like the original Dawn of the Dead.  It was a neat concept that really had style, but then it was done to death with countless sequels.  Now we have Dead Rising 2, Left for Dead 2 and Crackdown 2, expanding on the zombie threads that they started with their first entries into the gaming landscape, and while they all look and feel competent, I can’t shake the feeling of “it’s the same game all over again”.

With that said, I am sure that I will end up getting all of these titles at some point in time, making me a huge hypocrite, but maybe some time away from the shuffling dead will help me accept them for the fun loving killers they are suppose to be.  If you agree or disagree, let you voice be heard below.