TELEVISION: THE WALKING DEAD

Elliot Hyams reviews the first episode of AMC’s new zombie mini series

Halloween is once again upon us which means a few guaranteed things will happen. Homeowners are about to be bombarded by undeserving children who think that slapping a bit of fake blood on their face entitles them to demand free confectionary, sales of cobweb in a can are going to experience a sudden surge as unimaginative party throwers try to show that they are game for a spot of easily cleaned fun, and a whole slew of spooky films and television shows are about to be unleashed on the viewing public. Taking up the charge on the TV front is AMC’s new zombie drama The Walking Dead. Based on the long running graphic novel series of the same name, it follows the adventures of Deputy Rick Grimes, a Kentucky sheriff who wakes up from a coma to find the world overrun by reanimated corpses.

Directed by Frank Darabont and adapted for screen by the writer of the original graphic novel Robert Kirkman this mini-series has an awful lot going for it on paper. AMC has proved itself as a challenger to HBO’s title with recent successes like Mad Men and Breaking Bad and with long time James Cameron collaborator Gale Ann Hurd on board as well what could possibly go wrong? One potential problem could come in the form of the narrative, all zombie films no matter how inventive follow a basic formula, zombies attack, survivors hold up somewhere, survivors try and come up with a plan for escape. Often this formula becomes tiresome over the span of ninety minutes, so stretching it over a whole series seems like an even worse idea than a teen camping trip in a slasher movie. But the success of the graphic novel came not from its adherence to the formula but its defiance of it. Now into its eightieth issue the zombies in the Walking Dead form the backdrop for a story that is routed in people attempting to live their lives under extraordinary circumstances.

The first episode of the six part mini-series debuted on Halloween eve and it would appear that all the hype was totally deserved. Teachers star Andrew Lincoln is sympathetic and likable as Rick, a man confused and alone, desperately hoping his missing family has survived the outbreak. The effects and gore are as believable as one might expect from a show with this kind of budget. The pacing is tense, and the finale of the first episode leaves the viewer desperate for more. As with any adaptation a lot has been condensed here, and it will be interesting to see how much of the graphic novel series turns up on screen. But even if you haven’t read the series, and you aren’t a zombie aficionado you can still enjoy the walking Dead, it’s a well constructed drama rather than a conventional horror, a study of humanity, which just happens to have a lot of hungry dead people walking around in it.

Review by Elliot Hyams

GAMING: DEAD RISING 2 (X BOX 360)

Elliot Hyams reviews Capcom’s latest slice of survival horror.

Capcom’s Dead Rising was one of the standout computer games of 2006, continuing the survival horror theme championed by the Resident Evil games X-Box 360 owners were offered the chance to battle their way through a Dawn of the Dead style shopping centre fighting of hordes of the undead with whatever happened to come to hand, a chainsaw, a bench, even...well....a hand. Now four years later Dead Rising 2 has been unleashed on a hungry market. Whilst at first glance it may appear to be a case of simply more of the same, the truth is there has been a world of subtle changes that make this game superior to its predecessor. This time gamers take on the role of Chuck Greene, a survivor of the first outbreak struggling to make enough money to pay for his daughter’s Zombrex medication, the only thing that will stop her from turning into a zombie. This leads him to Fortune City where he takes part in the game show Terror is Reality. However all is not as it seems in Fortune City and it’s not long before the zombies are loose and Chuck is rescuing survivors, fighting psychopaths and searching for Zombrex.

Like the previous game Dead Rising 2 offers the player an immersive seventy hour experience in Fortune City, during that time you can complete missions to forward the main story, rescue survivors or just go on kill frenzies. However playing the missions unlocks new areas and items for exploration so it is recommended that this is the way you play on your first outing. Also like its predecessor PP can be gained from completing missions, rescuing survivors and killing zombies in large numbers. This gained PP allows the gamer to level up increasing life, attributes and adding new attacks to your repertoire. It would seem that the U.S.P for Dead Rising 2 is the ability to combine weapons to create new novelty weapons, a chainsaw combine with a rowing oar, a giant teddy bear combined with a machine gun, an axe combined with a sledgehammer. The graphics are top notch and the sometimes clunky controls of the first game have been improved dramatically.

Although the game is at first great fun the problem facing Dead Rising 2 is very much the same one that faced the last game, after a couple of hours of game play everything starts to feel very sameish, bosses and zombies alike can be beaten with ease once their simple patterns of attack have been mastered. Similarly the A.I of survivors hasn’t improved dramatically since the last game and it often proves a lot easier to just leave the idiots to die and get on with what you were doing in the first place. Where Dead Rising 2 redeems itself is in the online gamer co-op mode. Working your way through different versions of the story with friends is simply a lot of fun, but again once this has been done a few times there really is no need to go back and play again as with the fantastic Red Dead Redemption. In short Dead Rising 2 is fun and well worth a play, but it is probably better to rent it over a weekend than spend any hard earned cash on it.

Reviewed by Elliot Hyams