I downloaded the “Madden 25” demo the moment EA Sports released it on August 12. I recognized the improvements instantly— the sharper graphics, the smarter AI and more dynamic blocking, passing and defensive motions. From the moment I started my first series with the Seattle Seahawks, I blinked and an hour went past. Simply put, I was having fun. But I had this weird vision of playing against a hypothetical all-zombie team.
I’m not talking about a roster of NFL legends no longer with us, but the actual walking dead. What would be their strengths and weaknesses? “All Day” Adrian Peterson could run circles around their defense unless he was facing a “28 Days Later” team. James Harrison would be a natural attacking the head of a crossing zombie receiver. Then my mind wandered even further and pondered what great gaming moments were robbed of an epic zombie mode.
Grand Theft Auto
Rockstar gave us “Undead Nightmare” to compliment “Red Dead Redemption,” but could you imagine a hoard of lurkers roaming Liberty City or Los Santos? The amount of potential damage done is off the charts and you wouldn’t even accumulate a wanted rating because, well, the cops would rather have the zombies off the streets, right?
Fantasy Scenario: Niko’s cousin turns into a zombie and lures you into the bowling alley (again), but this time you get to bludgeon him with a bowling pin. “I’m finished!”
Halo
“Call of Duty” is famous for its zombie modes, and while Master Chief fought the Flood (the mother f’ing Flood), an alien race of zombie killers would be icing on the cake. They wouldn’t even have to be part of the campaign. Bungie could take borrow a page from Treyarch’s book and make it a fun, multiplayer mode to let the Marines take them out in waves of hoards.
Fantasy Scenario: Two words: Rocket. Launcher.
The Sims
If you think “The Sims” is played mostly by teenage girls, you’re probably right. But there’s a way to open it up to a whole new demographic. Those dream homes you spend hours designing and building? What if you could zombie-proof them. EA already dumps a dozen expansion packs on its users, why not include a zombie one? You could spend time building up your home like a tower defense game. Steel doors, barbed wire, crows nest for snipers— and when the moment comes, so do the zombies. The bonus to “The Sims” is it will play on older PCs, so grab some wireless Internet for laptops and make the public wonder what the hell you’re doing on a teenage girl’s game.
Fantasy Scenario: Instead of boxing your sims inside a windowless, doorless room, why not trap them in with a zombie?
Skyrim (Mod)
The modding community behind “Skyrim” is insane, both in size and literal definition. Some of those guys I suspect are actually crazy. So modders of “Skyrim,” if you’re reading this, make a mod that turns every NPC in the game into an aggressive, brain-hungry zombie. The game would start with your character in full armor, weapons and given a horse. There is no campaign, just kill as many zombies as possible before your inevitable death.
Fantasy scenario: Dragons killed zombies instead of you. So you could lead an entire hoard into a dragons sight and watch it destroy them all.
Image by Acey Duecy via Wikimedia Commons
