by: Michael Barnes

It used to be that zombie horror was apocalyptic, grim, unrelenting, and hopeless. Not to mention slow-moving and not really all that funny or cute at all. Long before zombies started raiding gardens or standing in as human body-shaped surrogates for mutilation fantasies, they were as much a signifier of the end of the world as nuclear Armageddon. A couple of years ago, a rather poorly written but somewhat ingenious book called World War Z was making the rounds which told the story of a global zombie apocalypse from the varying perspectives of the survivors. It was an interesting concept, because it presented the nightmare of zombie Armageddon on a grander scale than we had ever seen before. Sure, DAWN OF THE DEAD and other films of the genre intimated or offered fleeting glimpses of the fate of the rest of the world, but almost always depicted events are localized and of a restricted scope.

Zombie games are no different. Popular titles like MALL OF HORROR and LAST NIGHT ON EARTH confine their scope into small spaces and are really about cartoonish B-movie characters shotgunning the undead and bickering their way to survival. Even though zombies have jumped over the shark, the whale and the dolphin, I’ve always thought that a zombie game with a global scale that depicts the geopolitical and social effects of nations struggling with the living dead would be an interesting concept. The new release ZOMBIE STATE: DIPLOMACY OF THE DEAD operates on exactly that conceit. Designed by first-time designer John Werner, the game is practically a Do-It Yourself production so you’ll have to excuse the crude artwork, low-budget production values, and questionable visual style. But what is there is a decent, if not great, game that not only has its heart in the right place but is also a fairly original gameplay concept.

Each player represents the leader of one of five nations struggling to contain the outbreak of the “Moaning Virus”, or MV-1, as it spreads exponentially between regions and threatens to wipe out huge swaths of population (accounted for by 60 six-sided dice) while also potentially destabilizing governments. There are four SETTLERS-style resource cards produced by key regions, and these are turned in to purchase generic military units as well as the opportunity to research advanced zombie-killing technologies along three tech trees. Border defenses can be raised, medical science can be called in for solutions, and even nukes can be called in as a last resort. As population gets turned into more hungry zombies, the nations lose action points (“freedom points” in the game’s parlance) as control slips into chaos. Once a nation completely falls or the virus goes airborne according to an outbreak track, it’s all over.

It’s heady stuff with an ambitious scale far beyond the hillbillies-in-a-haunted-house jokiness of past zombie titles and although I don’t think Mr. Werner’s designer chops are quite up to the task yet, it’s a good effort and the game does a decent job of capturing the feeling of desperation and inevitable doom.

Perhaps too good, because the game is outrageously difficult.

I’m fairly convinced after several plays that most players are going to experience a tipping point where it literally becomes impossible to rebound from the onslaught Unfortunately, I’ve seen this tipping point occur two turns into the game. I’ve been in two games where literally 30 minutes into a three hour game that I have been in a position that was absolutely unsalvageable. It isn’t just from lack of experience or faulty strategy either. The randomness of outbreaks and events can derail even the soundest intentions and once you’re on the ropes, you’re on the ropes for the remainder of the game. If it were an elimination game that would be fine, but usually losing players hang on to a couple of territories hopelessly for an hour or two until someone loses their last territory, ending the game.