Undead Nightmare

Review: Undead Nightmare DLC

The best DLC ever?

It dawned on me this morning that I forgot to talk about Undead Nightmare in the podcast so i’ll do it here.  Undead Nightmare is best DLC you will ever get for $10.00.  With that out of the way i’ll continue.  Taking place two months before the controversial ending of Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare begins with the Marsden family sitting around the house relaxing.  In all honesty, knowing what would transpire two months down the road made these moments feel a bit special.  There is a particular scene where young Jack is reading a historical tale to his father.  You can clearly tell how proud John is of Jack.  Games have come a long way.

Nerd Appropriate

  • The World: Rockstar outdid themselves here.  The complete world of Red Dead is once again open to explore with one big catch.. The apocalypse.  The sun struggles to shine and zombified animals stumble across the landscape.  Familiar towns, like Blackwater now have to be protected from zombie hordes.  An icon will indicate when a town has been overrun and it’s up to you to liberate it.
  • The Currency: Like in a true zombie apocalypse, paper money has been rendered useless.  Replacing the dollar bill is the much more versatile “bullet.”  There were plenty of times in the early portion of this DLC where I was out of ammo running through the darkness armed with only a torch.  This felt amazing, and creepy.
  • The Characters: If you ever wondered what happened to great characters like Bonnie MacFarlane, Nigel West Dickens, and my favorite Landon Ricketts then this DLC answers those questions.  The same voice cast is back with some great new dialog and moments that could actually be considered character bests.
  • The Tools: New magical horses, accessories, and guns make this DLC well worth your 800 MS points.  On the top of my list is an old Blunderbuss that John can stuff with all sorts of zombie parts.  The result is a one shot zombie killing gib machine.  There is something fantastic about turning a zombie into goo.
  • The Violence: John learns early on that the only way to kill a zombie is to shoot it in the head.  That being said, as a player you will be shooting thousands of people in the head…thousands.  Rockstar has outgored games like Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead.  The gore in Undead Nightmare is so realistic its frightening.
  • The Music: An all new score and soundtrack is great.  The highlight of which is the zombie/surf number below that pops up at special time in the story.

This is my BOOMSTICK!

Not Nerd Appropriate

  • The Ending – I don’t want to give too much away, but we all know these Red Dead games don’t have happy endings right?  The ending is abrupt, and It feels as though they left room for a sequel.
  • The Sasquatch – In order to progress the story you have to do some terrible terrible things to our buddy “Sass”.  Even though its just a game I felt awful doing the things I did.  Did he really have to cry so much?  Man up Sass!.. Okay okay.. I’m sorry.
  • Zombies – A lot of you are “over the zombie thing“.  Well this game is all about zombies.  Horse zombies, Mexican zombies, nunn zombies, dog zombies, fat zombies, kid zombies, grizzly bear zombies and maybe even sasquatch zombies.   If you hate zombies, you may hate this game.

Well there you have it.  Even though it’s been out for a month and I just got around to playing it Undead Nightmare is well worth your 800 MS points.  The DLC lasts around 10 hours, longer if you want to go back an unlock all the challenges and side quests. It is so Nerd Appropriate that I may eat some brains.

SPOILER:  Watch John’s encounter with Sasquatch below. “You eat babies!”



This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Chrisfits

    I love that you are a zombie in real life.

  2. Scott

    So why are they selling this as a standalone game in a box for $30?

  3. Ash

    I wasn’t aware that they were. I know when I purchased it , it was only $10.00. That being said it is still worth about $30.00 and is longer than both Force Unleashed 2 and Vanquish.

    1. Scott

      I believe it is a standalone game made up of all dlc thus far

      1. helloscientist

        The standalone disc is all the DLC but you can also buy that on xboxlive marketplace for 1600 points.

  4. Beast_Mode

    I haven’t even played unleashed 2. Weird right?
    I know I am the odd one out, but I don’t like the way Rockstar games play. I felt overwhelmed in Red Dead. This one sounds fun though.
    Don’t give away too much on Assassin’s Creed. I haven’t finished it yet.

  5. helloscientist

    I’ll include myself in the “over the zombie thing” camp, but I think it mostly stems from the hollywoodification of the genre. Zombies are supposed to be slow and lumbering. That being said, Sasquatch alone is enough for me to fork over the cash for this DLC.

    1. Ash

      Even I’m at the point where the zombie genre is reaching its saturation point. The good news is that this DLC is so well done I sort of forgot it was about zombies and just embraced it as gore splattered art.

  6. Micah G

    I always think I am over zombie games until I play another zombie game. There is just something satisfying about an endless horde of slow and easily dismember-able enemy that pleases me. Just like the Nazis… and enemy I never grow tired of killing.

    1. helloscientist

      But not all zombie games have slow moving hordes anymore. Left 4 dead at lightning fast zombies and zombies with special abilities.

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