Diary of a Zombie Trivia Quiz

Answer: Zombies Ate My Neighbours

The video game "Zombies Ate My Neighbours" in Europe was retitled to "Zombies" and was released by Lucas Arts (hopefully you worked out the lightsaber clue in the question) in 1993/1994. It was a Run and Gun game that spoofed a lot of the early black and white horror movies, with the two playable characters being called Zeke and Julie. Included among the types of enemies are Mummies, Werewolves, Giant Ants and Martians, not forgetting the humble Zombie. The game was praised for its comedy element, which along with the gameplay included the weapons. Some of the weapons are the water gun, which was the standard weapon, all the way up to soda cans, tomatoes, footballs, flamethrowers and many more.

I played "Zombies" a long time ago when it was released, however my gaming abilities were not as good as they are now and I never completed the game. I could never get past a level in a desert if I recall, well it was over 17 years ago I last played the game.

Answer: Dead Nation

"Dead Nation" was one of the games offered to PlayStation users in certain countries for free after the PlayStation Network outage in 2011. "Dead Nation" is a top down view shoot-em up game and the plot follows the norm for most type of survivalist games, a mass virus outbreak, which is becoming a bit cliche for these games. One notable element from the game was that the zombies could be lured by light source or sound. For example flares could be used to give you some breathing space or a car alarm going off would have the same effect.

"Dead Nation" threw me a curve ball when I played the game. Due to me wondering why certain types of Zombies were just not dying in the flames? Only to figure out after dying several times that the Zombies in question were wearing their work clothes when they became infected. They were Firemen before they became members of the undead masses. Realisation or face palm moment, this bit of info I keep to myself.

Answer: Resident Evil

The first "Resident Evil" game was set in mansion outside of Raccoon City (Procyon lotor being the Latin name for the Raccoon) where the Umbrella Corporation have been doing bio medical experiments. You had to choose at the start of the game which character you wanted to play as, either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine.

The game in Japan was called "Biohazard" but had to be changed for the Europe and North American markets due to other things using that name at the time. The continued success of the "Resident Evil" series of games has even led to a series of films with the same title starring Milla Jovovich.

Answer: Dead Space

"Dead Space" is set in the future in the year 2414 aboard the USG Ishimura, a planetary mining starship. Your character called Isaac Clarke (whose name is the blend of the sci-fi authors in the question) is part of a rescue mission to the stricken vessel only to find it has been abandoned or so they thought. It turns out that an alien artifact called the Marker has an alien virus written on it and scientists have made the virus. The virus has the ability to alter corpses reanimating and transforming them into Necromorphs.

One of the novel things that "Dead Space" brought to the survivalist genre of games was that head shots don't work. The only way to truly kill the Necromorphs was to dismember them. Tie that in with the zero gravity aspect in the game in some levels and you had limbs floating everywhere. It is one of the very few games that made me jump while playing, due to its very atmospheric nature. The game has spawned two sequels and the trailer for "Dead Space 2" featured the song "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Answer: Dead Island

The island of Banoi is the fictional setting for the game "Dead Island". One night after a party, the islands residents have fallen prey to a disease that transforms them into flesh eating Zombies. There is a choice of four playable characters to start from as you try to leave the island and head towards the city of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

The characters are Sam B, Xian Mei, Purna and Logan Carter. The original logo for game had to be altered for the North American market as it shown a corpse hanging from a palm tree.

Answer: Timesplitters

Det. Harry Tripper featured in the game "Timesplitters". The game featured levels throughout time from 1935 up to 2035. The time element meant if you were in the 30's era, your gun of choice would be the Tommy Gun and if you played in a later era the gun choice would of that time frame. Gallows Hill was a level on "Timesplitters" and the mansion there was the setting for challenge "Behead the Undead". The challenge is where you have to shoot the heads of fifty Zombies in less than two minutes. Other Zombie challenges were titled "Putrid Punchout" and "Dusk of the Dead".

The overall feel of the game was compared to the FPS called "Goldeneye". However the comedy aspect from "Timesplitters" series is what helped make them very enjoyable to play. One of the challenges was called "Flock Around the Dock", where you had to kill 100 Duckmen in five minutes. The Duckmen were also armed to the beak (should be teeth but couldn't resist) with weapons but when you killed them they made a noise similar to a well-known Disney duck, which never failed to make me chuckle.

Answer: Ghost'N Goblins

"Ghost'N Goblins" was released by Capcom in 1985 as an arcade game, only in later years did it move to other gaming formats. In the game Princess Prin Prin was the damsel in distress that had to be rescued by Sir Arthur. Typical of games from that period there was no health bar and the only way Sir Arthur could be killed was by being hit twice by enemies.

The first hit removed his armour to expose Sir Arthur in his loin cloth, with the next hit being the fatal blow. The main weapon for Sir Arthur to use was the lance, fitting since he was a knight.

The lance could only be used as a javelin rather than its intended design of being used on horseback, as a horse would not be able to scale the ladders that could be used in the game.

Answer: Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Jack Marston was the name of the character that featured in the game "Red Dead Redemption". His role was also used in the DLC content "Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare". In "Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare" Zombies weren't the only undead life forms to deal with. The wild animals would also be affected such as Wolfs, Bears and Cougars, they even threw in some mythical monsters as well. Abraham Reyes in the original game was the leader of the Mexican rebels trying to over throw the government in Mexico. He succeeds and is the leader of the country for a time, however in "Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare" he is the cause of Zombie affliction and John Marston has to kill him to end the terror of the undead.

The "Red Dead Redemption" game was done by the same people who brought out the "Grand Theft Auto" series. So despite "Red Dead" being a Wild West game it still had the feel of a "Grand Theft Auto" game. Even though there were no radio stations while riding the horses, the music that played during the game set the mood for the Wild West theme.

Answer: Lollipop Chainsaw

"Lollipop Chainsaw" is about a chainsaw wielding cheerleader by the name of Juliet Starling. The game is set in the fictional high school of San Romero High. In the game Juliet has to decapitate her boyfriend Nick, despite losing his head over his girlfriend (bad pun I know) Nicks head is still alive. Nick can on occasion take over other Zombies to aid Juliet in her battle to get of the school alive.

The game like many games nowadays has alternative endings depending on how well you have played the game.

The Lollipops or Suckers, apart from being used as a source of innuendos in the game are the only way Juliet can recover any health that has been lost.

Answer: Fallout 3

Ghouls in the "Fallout" series of games are still human beings but just happen to appear like Zombies. This appearance in the game is due to radiation fallout from the nuclear weapons used in the fictional war between the USA and China. Tenpenny Towers is one of the areas in "Fallout 3" and the meeting at the entrance between the ghoul and the guard gives you a couple of options of how to proceed, depending on which way you need your karma to go. The karma rating in "Fallout 3" is how people react to you when they meet your character, it is also how the different endings for the game play out.

One thing that was very enjoyable with "Fallout 3" game was the soundtrack. It helped to introduce people to the musical talents of the Inkspots, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Crosby and The Bobcats and Bille Holliday. Until I had played this game I had never really listened to any of the artists mentioned. So that is just one of the things that video games can do, as well as give hours of enjoyment and frustration.