There's a certain rather wonderful irony to the video game zombie mode. A certain deliciously self-mocking satirical feedback loop to the way that seemingly every game released at the moment gets one by default, developers mindlessly shambling towards the idea in a huge slavering mob, blindly devouring the concept and absorbing it into their games, and in turn making them all rather similar.
The latest game to get the "Rotting cadavers or GTFO" treatment is Wipeout 2048, releasing soon in Japan for the PS Vita. Or rather it would be if the mode had made it into the final game. Apparently it was killed, presumably (much like so many failed zombie epidemic survivors) due to a lack of time and resources. But (similarly much like so many failed zombie epidemic survivors), it's not completely dead, according to Wipeout dev Studio Liverpool. Sounds like it may well be resurrected via DLC a little further down the line, then. Or maybe voodoo. But probably just DLC, rather boringly.
Above: A zombie. A flying metal zombie. You know, those ones
How did it work? Thusly: Your ship would be dropped onto an empty track, upon which an ever-increasing swarm of zombie ships (read: creepy, scummy-looking versions of Wipeout's usual craft) would appear, working as a mob to jostle and ram you into an explosive early grave. You would pick up weapons along the way in order to hold them off, but would eventually inevitably succumb. So basically, all the annoying, jostly wall-slamming aggressive bits of Wipeout condensed into a game mode all of their own, with presumably a fair bit less scope for the graceful swooping zen that makes the series' racing such a joy.
Personally, I will not mourn it. But what do you reckon to this most bizarre shoe-horning of token reanimated-corpse-based offerings into a video game format? Awesome, or me-too thinking taken to its nonsensical ultimate conclusion?
