Use Plastic Guitars To Kill Zombies in Rock Of The Dead

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
Use Plastic Guitars To Kill Zombies in Rock Of The Dead



Looking for something to do with that plastic guitar in the corner? You could use it to make zombies more dead in the campy Rock Of The Dead this spring.

You may be bored with killing zombies in videogames. You may even have grown tired of your fingers dancing across the frets of your Guitar Hero or Rock Band controller. But combine the two, adding the vocal talents of Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day, and you got yourself a clever little game called Rock of the Dead. Epicenter, the studio comprised of ex-Call of Duty designers that brought you Real Heroes: Firefighter [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93504-Former-Call-of-Duty-Devs-Fight-Fires-Not-Wars], is putting the finishing touches on the game for the Wii and it's due out late spring or early summer.

The gameplay is simple to describe. "Picture Typing of the Dead [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.103807-Retro-reviews-Typing-of-the-Dead] but with Guitar Hero guitars instead of a QWERTY keyboard," the designers said. You use the guitars to strum a few licks and if you get it right, you take out the zombies coming at you. You can play by yourself or in co-op, with both players racing to get off their riffs first to get the kill. There is some branching of the plot to get to the end of the game, but Rock of the Dead aims to be a five hour playthrough with replayability through high scores.

The team is still awaiting confirmation from Nintendo to allow the guitar peripherals to be a requirement to play, but they have a contingency plan using the traditional controller just in case.

In order to get around licensing costs, Epicenter cleverly commissioned bands to create rock versions of classical music recordings in the public domain. During the boss battles though, when the gameplay turns a little more rhythm-based, you might recognize a few Rob Zombie tracks which the company licensed.

It appears that Rock of the Dead is attempting to deliver a campy horror game with an interesting gameplay gimmick. With the writer of The Witcher and Felicia Day playing the love interest for NPH's protagonist, they might just have the talent assembled to pull it off. It might even be worth the budget price point of $30-$40.

Source: IGN [http://wii.ign.com/articles/106/1068000p1.html]

Permalink
 

Sir Kemper

New member
Jan 21, 2010
2,248
0
0
This.Is.Fucking.Epic.

EDIT: Can anybody imagine doing this with some Midnight Riders songs on there?
 

Deathfish15

New member
Nov 7, 2006
579
0
0
I sounds interesting, but it's for the Wii. I mean, .....hello!, there are 2 other consoles with guitar based controllers. And, a zombie game for the Wii would be so much more interesting with the Wii remote instead of using a guitar...., this screams "stupid" on the developer's part.
 

Dusty Donuts

New member
Jul 16, 2009
928
0
0
Deathfish15 said:
I sounds interesting, but it's for the Wii. I mean, .....hello!, there are 2 other consoles with guitar based controllers. And, a zombie game for the Wii would be so much more interesting with the Wii remote instead of using a guitar...., this screams "stupid" on the developer's part.
Don't knock it til you try it.
 

presidentjlh

New member
Feb 10, 2010
320
0
0
I like the originality of the idea, but why the Wii? The Wii has its own motion device to begin with, even though it's pretty crappy to use, and the Wii is really a family video game console, so this game doesn't fit its market. This would be better aimed at Xbox 360/PS3 users.
 

laryri

New member
May 19, 2008
276
0
0
Deathfish15 said:
I sounds interesting, but it's for the Wii. I mean, .....hello!, there are 2 other consoles with guitar based controllers. And, a zombie game for the Wii would be so much more interesting with the Wii remote instead of using a guitar...., this screams "stupid" on the developer's part.
Making a game on another console isn't as easy as typing 'Xbox 360' into the source code.
 

wooty

Vi Britannia
Aug 1, 2009
4,252
0
0
Too bad it's not killing Nazis, yahtzee could finally complete all the ways to kill one of those goose stepping morons
 

The Austin

New member
Jul 20, 2009
3,368
0
0
Sir Kemper said:
This.Is.Fucking.Epic.

EDIT: Can anybody imagine doing this with some Midnight Riders songs on there?
Every girl is crazy when her Daddy's not around!
 

Sir Kemper

New member
Jan 21, 2010
2,248
0
0
laryri said:
Deathfish15 said:
I sounds interesting, but it's for the Wii. I mean, .....hello!, there are 2 other consoles with guitar based controllers. And, a zombie game for the Wii would be so much more interesting with the Wii remote instead of using a guitar...., this screams "stupid" on the developer's part.
Making a game on another console isn't as easy as typing 'Xbox 360' into the source code.
This, although if the game proves popular enough perhaps the 360 and PS3 might get graced with a port?

Also, i like your Avatar.
 

TheNumber1Zero

Forgot to Remember
Jul 23, 2009
7,345
0
0
Sounds like they're trying to cash in on both the popularity of both Zombies and Plastic Music games.

It will be either pure genius or utter rubbish, there will be no middle ground for such a game.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

New member
Aug 11, 2009
3,044
0
0
There is almost no part of that that does not sound completely awesome. I sincerely hope they achieve great commercial success.

I won't be buying it myself since I'm the proud owner of precisely zero consoles, but if I did own a Wii I would be all over that game in a heartbeat.
 

Sir Kemper

New member
Jan 21, 2010
2,248
0
0
The Austin said:
Sir Kemper said:
This.Is.Fucking.Epic.

EDIT: Can anybody imagine doing this with some Midnight Riders songs on there?
Every girl is crazy when her Daddy's not around!
Gotta Reach for the top, Stay on the moutain! Na Na Na Na NaNan Naaaaa!
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
5,630
0
0
FInally a use for all that plastic that just sits in a corner till drunken parties~!
 

The DSM

New member
Apr 18, 2009
2,066
0
0
If they are Nazi Zombies Yahtzees stagnation of nazis will have been fufilled!
 

capacollo

New member
Nov 17, 2009
352
0
0
I thought Yahtzee may have proposed this in his reviews but not sure which ????? Hmmmm, Wonder who came up with the idea first.
 

Nalgas D. Lemur

New member
Nov 20, 2009
1,318
0
0
Please let me give you my money, RIGHT NOW. The devs are attempting to make something similar to Typing of the Dead, and they have a writer from The Witcher involved, and NPH, AND Felicia Day? It's like it's specifically designed to separate me from my money.