I’ve been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead and really itching to play Call of Duty: World at War’s Nazi Zombies mode. Also looking forward to Dead Rising 2, which appears to be zombies in Las Vegas. Dead Space was essentially zombies in, well, in space.
I don’t actually know what the appeal is. I’m not what you would call a hardcore zombie enthusiast, although I have read World War Z and I enjoyed Bruce Campbell versus the Army of Darkness. I’m not a huge fan (although I have watched) the Romero movies. I know about the zombie flash mobs in San Francisco but I’ve never participated in any sort of zombie themed get together.
I’m trying to figure out the appeal. It may be the general fascination with Robots, Pirates, Ninjas and Zombies, the four internet food groups. The great rivalry, the debate over which apocalypse is the most likely scenario is just so hard to avoid.
It may be the “camp” factor, although neither Left 4 Dead nor Nazi Zombies is very campy.
Ultimately, it may just be the gameplay in those games that’s appealing. Cooperative gameplay at its most fun. The idea of people coming together and failing repeatedly and trying again against an unfeeling tide of undead. What’s interesting is that you canot “win” or beat either of these games.
You can only survive longer than last time. So people are, in short, returning to games where they lose repeatedly against the undead.