Zombies vs. Infected

[azncutthroat]

Recently, I've noticed a trend: the "zombies" in games have been replaced with the "infected" (Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead, etc.). This shift has also been going in movies (I am Legend, 28 Days/Weeks Later, etc.). While zombie games are still prevalent (House of the Dead, Dead Rising, CoD:Waw zombie missions), why do you think game creators have recently started to use "infected" rather than "zombie"?

Personally, I have two theories:
1) It's simple market mentality. "Zombies" are getting old, so "infected" brings a "fresh" face to survival horror games.

2) Game creators are looking to immerse players in a more realistic setting by giving a more scientifically plausible situation. This is, essentially, giving games more background/storyline depth.

 

[Vrex360]

If we are talking 28 days later infected, then I reckon zombies beat infected. Infected mught be faster and more cunning but zombies are more determined and can take more damage.

 

[GodsOneMistake]

RE4 and 5 are the only games that use the term infected, and thats because since the beginning Zombies were simply diseased people, and not the living dead (i think i'm right on that)

EDIT: I suppose L4D does it too, but thats hardly a cause for alarm

 

[Devildoc]

Well, in most cases, "Zombies" are victims of some virus, spread by biting, and that's been since the 70's.. the more "traditional" zombies used to be raised from the dead by voodoo magic, or electricity a la Frankenstein but their condition wasn't contagious so it was less scary. The Virus that spreads to living humans, kills them, and reanimates them is more scientifically plausible and scary. Scientifically plausible because there are viruses that will reanimate dead individual cells to make them manufacture virus parts.. however it doesn't reactivate the cell as being alive in a sense that it communicates with the other cells around it, something necessary for the cell to be a member of a tissue or higher organism.. it just.. reactivates the cell as a factory for making new viruses.

The stigma for the "zombie" word also implies slow moving, and dumb, antisocial "creatures" where the new "infected" label allows for them to be faster, more intelligent (at least on an instinctive level) and work together in teams. In Left 4 Dead is perhaps my favorite treatment of them.. They're interchangeably referred to as infected OR zombies.. both.. which I think is most "accurate" Basically a virus that either kills the original being and reanimates while causing mutations and behavior changes, or a virus that drives people batshit crazy like rabies but also causes gross mutations, but also essentially "kills" the entity that once was contained within that body.. the "infected" no longer remember who they are.

"Mutants" is the term used by HoD but I prefer Zombies and Infected to Mutants.

But I think Zombie should lose the slow dumb stigma and be used for creatures referred to as "infected" in RE4/5 and L4D.. you can call them zombies too.

Though I suppose in Resident Evil they have both zombies and "infected" and they're both distinct states of being.. Zombie being recently deceased and reanimated by a virus, and infected just losing control over their minds and developing mutations but without actually having died.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Zombies = Reanimated dead

Infected = Alive yet chemically/viruly (I don't even know if that's word) altered.

 

[NoDamnNames]

I'm not sure why games now have to have zombies associated with a "Virus" or equally scientific explanation. what ever happened to plain and simple dead rising from their graves from reanimation/necromancy or a mysterious rouse of their eternal slumber. Or even better, a demonic DOOM esk factor.

I think we are overdue for a portal to the damned dimension sort of thing that ISNT "Legendary", because that game was shit.

Sigh....*looks nostalgically over at his copy of "Evil Dead:Fistful of Boomstick" for the Ps2*

 

[azncutthroat]

Uh oh, the zombie threads seem on the rise again!

Now where did I put that handy arm-mounted chainsaw?

*abandons thread*

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I enjoy reading the comments of people who clearly didn't even read the OP's actual question. Most games need to be much more frantic than a common zombie can offer. This is why devs choose Infected people instead. It allows them to warp the enemies you'll be fighting into whatever they really feel like. When its a zombie, its hard to actually deviate from the standard set by the media.

I mean, in Dead Rising, you have hundreds of zombies on screen. In Left4Dead, you have 20-30 Infected on screen...but which one seems more menacing? The snarling/screaming/yells of the Infected, or the moans of some zombies milling about?

 

[petrolmonkey]

Wasn't it a virus in I Am Legend? Also they weren't zombies at all. In the films at least.

 

[ghostninja14]

RE4 and 5 are the only games that use the term infected, and thats because since the beginning Zombies were simply diseased people, and not the living dead (i think i'm right on that)

ummm no...

Left 4 Dead you can play on the Infected side.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Also, using the word Zombie in a zombie movie is hardly ever done. Seriously watch some and you will notice hardly ever will the word zombie come up.

 

[TehCookie]

The only way to kill a zombie is a bullet through the head and infected you don't have to be as precise. Imagine a game where you have to get a headshots of every enemy as they move as a extremely slow pace, that doesn't sound as fun as the face paced infected games.

 

[azncutthroat]

Wasn't it a virus in I Am Legend? Also they weren't zombies at all. In the films at least.

I enjoy reading the comments of people who clearly didn't even read the OP's actual question. Most games need to be much more frantic than a common zombie can offer. This is why devs choose Infected people instead. It allows them to warp the enemies you'll be fighting into whatever they really feel like. When its a zombie, its hard to actually deviate from the standard set by the media.

I mean, in Dead Rising, you have hundreds of zombies on screen. In Left4Dead, you have 20-30 Infected on screen...but which one seems more menacing? The snarling/screaming/yells of the Infected, or the moans of some zombies milling about?

Interesting theory. Although, the situations you mentioned at the end seems pretty balanced to me in terms of entertainment. The L4D "Olympic Runner zombies" seem to be more ferocious in the way they charge at the players. However, wouldn't a 100 zombies strike just as much fear into a player because of their sheer numbers? That they will eventually surround you and then... well, you get what I mean.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

Wasn't it a virus in I Am Legend? Also they weren't zombies at all. In the films at least.

I enjoy reading the comments of people who clearly didn't even read the OP's actual question. Most games need to be much more frantic than a common zombie can offer. This is why devs choose Infected people instead. It allows them to warp the enemies you'll be fighting into whatever they really feel like. When its a zombie, its hard to actually deviate from the standard set by the media.

I mean, in Dead Rising, you have hundreds of zombies on screen. In Left4Dead, you have 20-30 Infected on screen...but which one seems more menacing? The snarling/screaming/yells of the Infected, or the moans of some zombies milling about?

Interesting theory. Although, the situations you mentioned at the end seems pretty balanced to me in terms of entertainment. The L4D "Olympic Runner zombies" seem to be more ferocious in the way they charge at the players. However, wouldn't a 100 zombies strike just as much fear into a player because of their sheer numbers? That they will eventually surround you and then... well, you get what I mean.

Well, thats kinda what I was getting at. You have to balance them out, zombies have to have an immense amount of numbers to actually strike fear into you, but when it comes to Infected, they're only needs to be a handful before you start to book it outta there.

I, however, am not a fan of the Infected in L4D since they only beat the shit out of you. I rather they clawed and bit you. Thats scarier then a bunch of them just smacking you around.

 

[rockingnic]

This should be zombies vs. infected vs. flood. The flood are very effective. They can cross galaxies without difficulty, many forms for different purposes, and virtually impossible to exterminate without the Halo rings. One of them even has 3 forms, a light for moving around, heavy for whooping arse and a turret for range attacks! Much more effective than normal zombies.

 

[rockingnic]

Infected sounds better...

 

[gigastrike]

I think it's because the story writers need a plot device with a more believable explanation than "magic".

 

[MiserableOldGit]

Infected work better in a video game- undead zombies are slowmoving but relentless, and hard to kill (the traditional trick being to destroy the brain). This leaves you with a problem- while spending several days cooped up in a mall while the undead claw and moan outside makes for a good character driven film, it makes a crap game, and running round zombie hunting invariably means moving away from the traditional zombie model- kills with body shots, a main character thats immune to bites, ammo stashed in the most unlikely of places etc. Infected allow you to address some of these issues - body hits can count, so you dont have to be a grizzled head shot veteren to play, and a lone infected is a lot faster and more dangerous than a lone zombie, so you dont need so many of them at any one time to create a challenge. The overall experience of fighting them is a lot faster and more in keeping with action games.
Personally I'd like to see a game with both - murderous enraged infected humans that become shuffling undead when they're killed or starve. The infected wipe out humanity, but the undead inherite the earth.

 

[MiserableOldGit]

I think it's because the story writers need a plot device with a more believable explanation than "magic".

Check out Max Brooks' 'Zombie survival guide' and 'World War Z' - a straight laced explanation as to how undead might exist without any of that 'no more room in hell so the dead walk the earth' nonesense.

 

[LazerLuger]

Fast and weak vs. Slow and tough. They're both equal in my books. As long as they're mindless and attack in hordes, they're zombies to me.