So Red Dead Redemption played like Grand Theft Auto and was done in a ‘Post Western’ setting. And it was freakin’ sweet. Now, to expand on a story that was pretty much complete at the end, the developers have gone way left field. Now clearly because there is nothing else to draw inspiration from, Undead Nightmare has the world of Red Dead Redemption overrun by an undead hoard of zombies. And the end result of this unconventional conventional approach is a bit mixed. In the very least, the download size indicates some proper content inclusions this time around.
Now that you’ve got zombies running around the Wild West, things were bound to be different with the story. Comfortably living in the family ranch, John Marston’s son Jack explains to him the book that he's reading, one about Aztec curses. That night, Uncle returns in an unusually blood-thirsty mood. Caught up in a zombie plague that has spread the land and infected Abigail and Jack, John journeys back out into the wilds to see if he can stop the madness and save his family. Again.
Oh noes!
Now, the story is quite difficult to compare to anything. It’s not quite GTA, nor is it vintage Western, let alone RDR. However, it’s got a wicked dark sense of humour surrounding the behaviour of people during the end of the world, which is best displayed in the interactions between some of the familiar characters. There is some good writing involved, though it does get a bit twisted. However, the overall pace of the six or so hour story is a bit skewed and it doesn’t all quite come together. The ending is very abrupt and doesn’t really feel like you’ve reached a crescendo. In simple terms, other recent DLC stories are much more endearing. Still, the after game scenario was pretty neat.
The overriding concept of Undead Nightmare is survival. Money is now redundant and your most valuable commodity is ammo. And finding it can be tough. Aside from following the story, each town in the game has been overrun by zombies, and for you to earn some ammo and a place to sleep, you’ll need to help the survivors out. This can be done by collecting ammo for them and/or eliminating zombies. Outside of this, you’ve got a whole stable of challenges, stranger missions, random ‘zombie’ encounters and missing persons (replacing bounties) to keep you occupied.
The majority of the wildlife in the game has been replaced by zombie versions of them, where zombie bears, cougars and coyotes make for some ferocious obstacles. Now that money is irrelevant, undead parts are now used as ammo for the blunderbuss and for other weapons, of which there are a few new ones. Furthermore, there are challenges and missions involving some appropriately mythical creatures, such as the four horses of the apocalypse. It’s just a shame that it seems like you can only keep one of them at a time. There have been some minor multiplayer additions as well. These include ‘Undead Overrun’, which is a mode similar to Horde or Firefight and ‘Land Grab’, which requires you to defend towns in free roam.
I said dance!
In terms of overall content, it’s very difficult to fault Undead Nightmare, particularly at a price point of 800 MS points/AU$15.95. The story itself will take at the very least five to six hours, and the outside challenges and missions are good enough to keep you going. However, there are a few issues that may begin to grate with players, particularly if they’ve already had their fill of everything involved with Red Dead Redemption.
Firstly, the zombies don’t quite fit. And no, it’s not that we can’t get past the whole "what on earth are zombies doing in a Western?!?!". Basically, these zombies are the rushing variety, while the RDR mechanics struggle at anything outside of cover. In addition to limited ammo, it seems like an attempt to recreate survival-horror. So yes, it does have survival, but it’s more survival-annoyance rather than horror. Getting overrun by zombies isn’t scary, it’s just annoying because the mechanics can’t support it. Yes these are better than the games of yesteryear, but Marston just isn’t lithe enough to be efficient with twitch gameplay.
Secondly, if you’ve seen just about everything that RDR has on offer, Undead Nightmare can be a little difficult to get into. And that’s mainly because of how long it takes to get everywhere. Those who couldn’t get enough of riding around the desserts or forests will no doubt be fine with collecting five Dessert Sage in Gaptooth Ridge, or other related fetch quests. For those yearning a departure from the fetch quests and desert rides, Undead Nightmare exacerbates the problems with less variety than the main game. And rather pesky zombies to boot, too.
Who let the zombies out?
Players who don’t have liberal use of the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live will be able to purchase all of the DLC on one convenient disc. To be released by the end of November, it will contain Outlaws to the End, Legends and Killers, Liars and Cheats and Undead Nightmare, as well as all the free additions to Free Roam. While it won’t require the original game to be played, it’s a pack that’s rather light on unless you intend to play multiplayer. Which then begs the question, why didn't you just download it?
Undead Nightmare is a tricky piece of DLC to rate. The final ‘statement’ at the bottom can by no means precisely cover how this work should be viewed, and not because adding zombies to a serious Western is left field idea. In fact, that whole concept could have turned out much worse. In terms of a content-to-price comparison, the price tag of 800 MS points/$15.95 is certainly hard to question. For those who loved Red Dead Redemption, still can’t get enough of it and can’t get their hands around the whole zombie shtick, it’s definitely worth it. For anyone else not enchanted by the game world, the tasks (namely fetch quests) within this DLC can unintentionally come off as mundane. The kicker though, is that Undead Nightmare faces a much more discerning standard than it once would have. DLC is changing and everyone is on notice...
Worth buying? Yes
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Downloadable content ratings system
We've given a 'buy' rating of 'Yes', 'Maybe', or 'No'.
Yes means that the content is either great value or brings some substantial additions to the game, or possibly both.
Maybe means that the content may be fun while it lasts, but may either be too short or not enough to fully justify the price tag.
No means that we don't recommend downloading this insubstantial content.
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