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Game Review: Land of the Dead - Road to Fiddler's Green
By John Marrone
Feb 4, 2006, 07:15

Playing games since the years of the Atari 2600, I've seen them ALL.  From rectangle pong to Xbox 360.  When you were growing up, you used to dream of what game systems would be like in the future, and what a zombie game might be like.  Well 20 somewhat years later, hallelujah!  George Romero finally collaborates with game makers and out comes Land of the Dead: The Road to Fiddler's Green.

I first became a fan of George Romero and Dawn of the Dead through the first issues of Fangoria - I had them from #1 and on until I retartedly sold them for some easy cash in college.  Regardless of my stupidity, I was drawing Dawn of the Dead posters before I saw the movie - fantasizing about seeing the mecca of all zombie flicks one day.  Then (thank you Ma!) I saw a Creepshow and Dawn of the Dead double feature at the movies.  I was like 12.  My eyes were glued to the screen, and when I saw that first corpse crawling around on the apartment floor, my stomach dropped and I was in zombie heaven.  When Day of the Dead came out, I rode a bike to the movies in the rain, and saw the first showing opening day - sorry critics, but it kicked ass.  Then, finally, Land of the Dead.  Although seemingly lacking some slight ingredient that made each "Dead" movie a classic, I was still thrilled to see Romero zombies again, lumbering across the big screen in search of some flesh-tearing carnage.

Looking the game up online, I came across some reviews.  Team Xbox rated it a 3.1 out of 10.  I was shocked.  But I was buying it anyway so I left for the mall and hit Game Stop.  Luckily there was a copy (actually I hit two other stores before I scored) and I took it to the desk.  Some geek made this twisted face and said to me, "You want my honest opinion on this?"  I said "No."  He hushed up for a few and then asked, "Are you getting for someone else?"  I said "No, its for me,"  with a look on my face like, "You young, Romero-clueless, TeleTubby raised freak...  Try and stop me."  Needless to say, I went home to play, not expecting very much.

Now the reason I get into horror movies so much is because I can really put myself there and take the situation seriously in my imagination - so now instead of wondering what I would do if the dead rose, I jumped into the game, put the difficulty level at its hardest, and prepared to fight for survival.  I didn't care if I took forever to do it, I wasn't getting eaten alive and torn apart by the living dead.

The story is a prequel - how Fiddler's Green came to be in its earlier days, before the wealthy move in, and zombies plagued the city.  For those miraculously unfamiliar, the dead are returning to life and attacking people at random, hungry to eat their flesh and blood.  Those who die return as the living dead, and so on - this has been going on for some time now, and people are now outnumbered a hundred thousand to one.  You play Jack, a simple farmer who is home when the power goes out.  Reports come on the news about the attacks, and after some time, he notices one of these "suspects" in his yard.  And so the game begins.

You begin inside your house, reminiscent of the situation in Night of the Living Dead.  With nothing but your fists, you stand looking out your window at a stranger with his back turned to you, in your yard.  I took my time and looked around the house and found a weapon, wasting no time in removing the threat.  Returning to the house, looking down the hall and out the open front door while I flipped through some inventory, I saw one come out of the cornfield and stumble over the wooden fence.  He could smell me, and he was headed for the house.  I went to run up the hall to shut the open front door, and as I did, there began a pounding at the back door.  Two of them were smashing their way through, and coming in the house.  It was all happening too fast.  I ran around the house, in a bit of a panic.  When you only have a few bullets and zombies start lumbering up the stairs, I felt for a second a glimpse of what I would be like.

This is what made me like the game in general.  Its not a classic like Halo - but in it you have a chance to feel the Romero experience as the dead rise all around you, and that's priceless.  You have to shoot them perfectly in the head or they keep coming. The healing and ammo are not easily found.  If you play this game at night and have your imagination sharpened, you will enjoy the thrill of trying to survive the undead.  Trust me, there are a lot of shortcomings in the game - but it has a scare factor.  My 5 year old likes to watch horror movies like Poltergeist and Jeepers Creepers and doesn't get scared - she understands its just acting and make believe.  But when she hounded me to play the game, I let her, and she was scared to death when they started smashing through the door and coming up the house.

The game has movie segments between levels to progress the story.  Eventually Jack makes his way to the city, and finds that the plague is completely out of control.  The he meets Mr. Kaufman (played by Dennis Hopper in the film).  Kaufman explains his plans for the building and offers him a place to live safely and elegantly if he can secure the skyscaper and destroy every last walking corpse.  The game is completed upon doing this successfully.  No indication is given as to whether Jack gets screwed like John Leguizamo's character Cholo did in the film.

Sure there are shortcomings, and I can understand why younger people would see the game as a 3 out fo 10.  The graphics don't challenge the Xbox's capabilities, and seem a bit throwback.  The controls are quirky and accuracy is near laughable when under stress.  The levels quickly get repetitive, and you get a headache sometimes with its 3D first person-shooter POV, with all the running and spinning you do.  Also, Ive played a game called Timesplitters and I could swear The Road to Fiddler's Green ripped off the music.  It's nothing you haven't played before.

Final analysis:  Forget what people say.  If you've ever imagined being in the situations you see in George Romero's dead films, this is a cool game.  In the beginning at least.  Then it starts to get old quick.  Dead Rising, by Capcom and coming out for the Xbox 360 this summer, will blow this away, but while you're waiting - hell - Romero - zombies...  If you can get it for $20 or less - its worth it.

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer