I feel like this isn't about zombie games being bad, but more about just not liking what zombie games are.
Left 4 Dead, for example, is a zombie game, and it is good (generally speaking, anyway. It's not inherently a bad game; I mean, it's not a poorly made game, so regardless of whether or not you like the game play in it, it's generally considered a good game.) But you consider it to be a bad zombie game because... well, I'm not really sure why.
It seems more like you just want a pure horror game that uses zombies. But that's less a problem with zombies and more a problem with horror. Horror games don't sell exceptionally well so most companies have no reason to invest the money into a game that will sell poorly.
It's also generally a limitation of technology right now. What makes the idea of zombies terrifying isn't something that can be conveyed in a video game. You can't convey the fact that they are fearless. You can't convey the fact that they are nigh unstoppable; one because it doesn't make for enjoyable game play if the only way you can stop a zombie is by shooting it in the head, two because you have to be able to write and execute an AI program, as well as a physics program, that will allow a zombie to become a mutilated being with one arm, entrails dragging along the ground due to it's lower half being missing, that will still continue to come after you regardless of its situation. You can't convey the pure numbers. You can't convey the "one bite, one scratch, and you're dead." because, again, it makes for bad game play. You can't convey the horror of seeing something that actually used to be a human being, what used to maybe even be a child, now a cold, lifeless corpse that is still moving and acting, and that is also probably half naked. You can't convey the fact that you have to truly survive against those things. Not that you have to kill them, or get past them, not that you have to survive being attacked by those things, but you now how to survive in a world without power, without guaranteed food sources, without hospitals, without law and order. Those are just things that I don't think can be conveyed in a video game. Even in film and writing those things are incredibly difficult to convey, to make people feel.
So I think to expect video games to be able to do that is setting your standards for "zombie games" way, way too high.
Log in to comment