The first impression the world got of Dead Island left it with some lofty expectations to uphold.  In one of the most emotionally stirring game trailers of the past decade, no one knew really what to expect from the Techland developed zombie title. At that point, no one even had any idea what kind of game Dead Island would even be.

What Dead Island brings is a combination of many genres both in theme and gameplay style. Debating whether the title is a first person shooter with RPG elements or an RPG with first person combat becomes a moot point as the lines are so blurred in the intoxicating gameplay of Dead Island.

Gameplay:

As just mentioned, Dead Island is a combination of both FPS combat with tons of RPG style gameplay seamlessly mixed together. Add that to an open world environment and the Fallout comparisons begin building up quickly. To say that Dead Island is Fallout 3 with zombies though would be an oversimplification of what Dead Island brings to the table.

First, let’s talk combat. Dead Island is played entirely from a first person perspective. Players begin with nothing more than their fists but soon begin picking up common items found on an island paradise such as paddles, kitchen knives, coat racks and machetes (with all that jungle, it doesn’t seem odd that these are found throughout the game world). Through the use of these items, players must bash their way through zombie attacks.

Continue Reading →

Zombies are hot right now. Hell, they’ve been hot for the past year, since AMC blew the lid off of their ratings roof with the first season of The Walking Dead last October. Now, things are kicking back into scary gear as we ramp up for the Halloween season, and people are coming out of the woodwork to show us their killer zombie franchises.

Creator Eric Powell has been trying to get the animated adaptation of his zombie-killing comic The Goon off the ground for quite some time. The film’s already got voice master Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti signed on, they just need to work on animating the film itself. Here’s the synopsis from the book, to keep you up to speed.

Bones will be broken and heads will roll! The Goon is a laugh-out-loud action-packed romp through the streets of a town infested with zombies. An insane priest is building himself an army of the undead, and there’s only one man who can put them is their place: the man they call Goon.

Recently, Powell tweeted out this awesome PSA featuring Clancy portraying The Goon in some very rough test footage. You can check out that footage after the jump, and we can hopefully see The Goon in theaters sometime in the next few years.

Continue Reading →

Worldwide audiences thought that vampires may be getting a bit stale, so why not hop on over to the world of the flesh-eating dead and take on a few zombie-based properties. Studios saw how successful things were over at AMC when they took a chance on a comic book about zombies, so why not tackle a book without pictures in Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies.

Not only is the film already deep in the works, but they are already looking to the man who we once spent an entire 90 minutes Being, John Malkovich. Here’s the report on the film from THR:

John Malkovich is in negotiations to play the baddie in Warm Bodies, Summit’s adaptation of the zombie-centered book by Isaac Marion.

Continue Reading →

The zombies are back! Well, almost. You still gotta wait until October. But fear not friends and zombie lovers, we’ve got an actual premiere date, and more about the schedule, for The Walking Dead.

The thirteen episode season two will premiere on October 18th at 9PM ET and kick off with full 90 minutes of zombie killing fun. Then, six one hour episodes will follow.

After a break for the holidays (which I think is stupid, by the way) the show will return for the final six episodes on Sunday, February 12th at 9PM ET. Here’s a bit more from the official AMC press release:

The Walking Dead follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln (“Love Actually,” “Teachers,” “Strike Back”), who are traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Jon Bernthal (“The Pacific,” “The Ghost Writer”) plays Shane Walsh, Rick’s sheriff’s department partner before the apocalypse, and Sarah Wayne Callies (“Prison Break”), is Rick’s wife, Lori Grimes.

Additional cast include: Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Jeffrey DeMunn, Chandler Riggs, Iron E. Singleton and Melissa McBride. Recently announced guest stars include: Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson and Pruitt Taylor Vince.

Oh, there’s also something about a new reality series from Kevin Smith that takes place in a comic book store. But really, who cares about that. We’ve got zombies!

A few days ago, we brought you a peek at the first screen shots for the Rezurrection map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. As we discussed last time, the Rezurrection pack is an all Zombie mode map pack featuring the brand new Moon level alongside four remastered classic zombie mode maps which were featured in the Hardened and Prestige Editions of Call of Duty: Black Ops. Players who purchased these special editions will receive the Moon map for free while new purchasers will be paying the standard $15 (1200 Microsoft Points) price.

When looking at the trailer below, players will ask themselves what Treyarch can do to add something new and special to the Zombie world of Call of Duty and the answer isn’t some special weapon or trap. It’s Zero G. Players have become so accustomed to games always feeling and moving the same way for years, but now they have a whole new environment that not only looks different but controls and reacts differently as well.

Not only do zombies run slower and players have the ability to jump throughout levels but, conversely, players will be running away slower while zombies will be bounding at players from across the level as well. The map pack brings an entirely new dynamic and play style not possible in previous levels ever in the series.

Check out the full trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection zombie Map Pack below. Stick tight for the pack’s August 23rd release date on the XBox 360 before headed to PlayStation 3 after.

Continue Reading →

Seriously, who doesn’t love content packs and zombies? They give you a new way to enjoy your previously played game and usually don’t cost all that much. That’s why we like them around here, anyway.

Fortunately, we’re getting another one for Call of Duty Black Ops. This new one, called Rezurrection, is all-Zombies all the time and set to launch first on the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network on August 23rd. Rezurrection “hurls players into orbit with Moon, the climax of the Call of Duty Zombies saga and the first in the series to drop zombie-slaying into low-G lunar battlegrounds. With new outrageous weapons, high-tech gear, and a bloodthirsty undead menace, Moon is the most challenging and thrilling Zombies adventure yet.”

The Rezurrection content pack includes the all-new Moon level, four re-mastered levels of Zombie lore: Nacht der Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese, the Zombie factory that started it all. It also includes an enhanced Zombies Soundtrack.

But wait, it gets better. If you’ve purchased the Black Ops Hardened or Prestige Editions and already own the four re-mastered maps, the other contents in the Rezurrection pack will be included at no cost, including Moon, the soundtrack and the theme. For players that have not purchased the Black Ops Hardened or Prestige Editions, Rezurrection will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Sounds like a winner. To get you excited, we’ve got some screens from the pack to share with you today. Click through for all the fun.

Continue Reading →

It’s Comic-Con day 2 so that means even more news and info coming out of San Diego today. This time around it’s more about one of our favorite shows: The Walking Dead.

During a presentation today Comic-Con, AMC unveiled an awesome new four-and-a-half-minute trailer for Season 2 which gave viewers a first look at , among other things, Hershel’s Farm and the terrible happenings that drive the survivors there. I know, right?

AMC also let fans know the official date for the series to premiere season 2: October 16th. This will be during the network’s month-long “Fearfest” marathon. and to be honest, can’t come soon enough.

Click through for the full trailer.

Continue Reading →

Zombies are awesome. Be they in movies, comics, novels, video games or TV shows, we just can’t get enough of those undead sons of bitches. Obviously, that means AMC’s The Waking Dead is one of our favorite shows, especially because of the zombies but also because it’s a damn fine program.

With AMC’s panel at Comic-Con set for tomorrow, it makes sense that the network is releasing some brand new images from the second season of the series to get fans even more excited. In fact, we’ve got 9 new ones for your viewing enjoinment.

OF the images we see the usually suspects in the usual kind of danger but we also see that time and constant threat of being eaten has taken a bit of a tole on our characters. They just seem a bit more haggard this time around.

Although, if you were constantly under the threat of being eaten alive you might look a bit haggard too. Think about it.

The only other question we have is when is Rick going to finally ditch the uniform? There’s not more society dude and you’re not a deputy anymore. Just let it go. . .

The Walking Dead returns to AMC in October. Check out the rest of the photos after the jump.

Continue Reading →

One show that we’re pretty much universally in love with around The Flickcast offices is AMC’s The Walking Dead. After a hugely successful first season on the network, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic series promises to be even bigger and better when season two arrives.

Previously, we’ve had some bits of info about the second season including the first pic and the first teaser. Now, there’s a brand new teaser for the season which debuted during the season premiere of Breaking Bad Sunday night and we’ve got it for you right here.

In this new video we see our main man Rick Grimes in action as he deals with some unwanted attention from a couple of the undead. Needless to say he’s not a fan of them and takes care of business. Good to see him back in action.

Check out the teaser after the jump. The Walking Dead returns to AMC in October. Not. Soon. Enough.

Continue Reading →

With San Diego Comic Con fast approaching, some friends of the Flickcast have sent us advanced looks at their new releases which will be brought to the public for the first time at Comic Con. In this SDCC 11 preview, we are taking a peek at the first issue of Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers. Back at NYCC last year, we previewed issue 0 of the series. Now, Jeff Marsick and Kirk Manley, along with colorist Euan Mactavish, bring the first issue of a five issue miniseries to the floor at San Diego.

The first issue of Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers: Odyssey helps introduce readers to the zombie heroine Z-Girl and her three brothers in arms, the Tigers. Each of the Tigers has mastery over different elements as well as a military role on the team. Currently, Z-Girl and her squad are down a member as they attempt to stop a anthropomorphic ape Tavvus from summoning the spirit of Shiva to destroy the bane of humanity from the world. The second half of the issue revolves around the repercussions of this encounter as well as the Red Tiger’s spirit search for a new host to help round out the team.

Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers is a fun take the combined sci-fi, horror and action genres. Lots of influence can be seen from other successful works such as B.P.R.D. without feeling like a rehash. The combination of sci-fi tech and ancient mythologies leads to a creative and original first issue that leaves readers waiting to see what comes next.

Continue Reading →

It feels like years since Robert Kirkman and Frank Darabont’s visionary zombie drama The Walking Dead left the air until season two. But that only means that we’re getting closer to the second season, with twice the zombies, and twice the zombie killing!!

In a recent interview with creator and series writer Robert Kirkman, he stated that there will be a much bigger story arch this season, as well as some new and familiar characters returning. One thing we learned from both the comic series and the AMC adaptation is that not a single person is safe, and anyone can die at any time.

With shooting currently underway in Atlanta, GA, there will be lots of footage for us to drool over in the coming weeks (possibly Comic-Con?). But in the meantime, we’ve got the very first teaser trailer for season 2, which has got some good old fashioned slow-motion zombie killing.

Check out the full teaser after the jump, and be sure to keep an eye out in the next few weeks as we bring you more content and scoops from the show, leading up to their season premiere this October on AMC.

Continue Reading →

Even as those of us here in the US celebrate our independence day, our friends across the pond are hard at work still bringing the news. One awesome bit that’s surfaced today are the first set photos from the eagerly anticipated film World War Z.

The Daily Mail has a bunch of photos from the Malta set, dressed to look like an Israeli border checkpoint, featuring the film’s star Brad Pitt and the first glimpse of the evil zombie hordes that will menace him, and the world, during the film.

In the film, Pitt will play the author of the World War Z book Max Brooks, and tell the story of his exploits collecting the stories and experiences of those who have survived the human victory over the zombie hordes, also known as World War Z.

Even though we seem to be getting a lot more zombie stories these days, the fact that this book is finally getting the big screen treatment is welcome news. Love the book and can’t wait to see the film. For more, you can check out my interview with the real Max Brooks over at ComicMix.

Click through to check out all the pics. The Marc Forster-directed World War Z is expected sometime next year.

Continue Reading →