by Phoenix, HSM team writer

In case of a zombie apocalypse, meet me at the Mall!

It would appear the world has gone mad for zombies. Some are seriously scary, and some are frighteningly funny. One of the most talked about series today, The Walking Dead, is about them. At last count, there were 662 movies with zombies in them. It doesn’t matter if you are old or young — everyone has seen and knows the name of a zombie movie. They range from White Zombie, a 1932 movie that is sometimes cited as the very first zombie film, to the classic Night of the living Dead in 1968, to Shock Waves in 1977, a personal favorite.

Then there are the 151 video games involving zombies, with titles like Flesh Fest, released in 1997 by SegaSoft and Lollipop Chainsaw, released in 2012 by Kadokawa and Warner Bros Entertainment, to a new release, The Last of Us, from Naughty Dog and SCE, just to name a few.

And that’s not even touching the flood of zombie-related horror novels, including the 2009 pastiche Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, improbably co-authored by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

After all of that, did you know Home has some mini games about the same creepy, flesh-rotted, undead, dead horde? The best of them combine the horror of a movie with the fun of a mini game. And who doesn’t love zombies — right?

There’s nothing like playing a game and becoming so in grossed in it that you are frightened by the game’s events. It’s frighteningly fun, as it were, and Home is the home of one of the first zombie adventure mini games that’s free to play — Siren Blood Curse: Ward of Despair. Home has more than a little love of zombies I think.

Later, there was the zombie maze game based on the PSN title Burn Zombie Burn by Doublesix. This mini game version is a harmless run through a maze patrolled by zombies. Reach the goal and receive — you guessed it — a tee-shirt!

Next there was Dead Island, by Techland and Deep Silver, where you were treated to a zombie free-for-all. Players could hack off heads and limbs, beat the zombies with lead pipes and bats studded with nails or a whole list of other macabre and wonderful weapons. This was a great game to play on Home for fighting back the zombie hordes that had invaded a post-zombie-apocalypse version of our beloved Central Plaza. But, sadly, it is now gone from Home.

Another game in Home to try if you like zombies is Dead Nation. You can find it on the Navigator. This mini game is a zombie firing range. Dead Nation is set in a safe house where the apocalyptic survivors practice their shooting skills. There isn’t very much to this mini game as far as being chased or evading the zombies, but if you like killing them, the firing range is a great place for that. You are faced with various targets and must hit a number of them to advance in the rankings.

In Siren Blood Curse, however, players are challenged to survive the Saiga Hospital and its various scenarios. The Hospital lounge is based on the hospital level in the Siren game. Siren is a survival horror video game developed for PlayStation by Project Siren, which is a development team of SCE Japan Studio, and was published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The Siren video game is the third in the series. It is set in Japan, where an American television crew arrives to investigate and document a legendary village, where blood sacrifice has been rumored to have taken place.

The village of Haunda, which is called the “vanished village”, is reputed to have had these sacrifices just thirty years before. The television crew members encounter a village full of shibito – Japanese zombies. In the mini game, you will find them confined to the Sagia hospital wards.

The mini game has everything a zombie lover would want in an environment where zombies, or shibito as they are called in the game and mini game, lurk. The lobby lounge is dark and dank; the receptionist is a zombie/shibito. There are the sounds of screams and moans, as well as creepy conversations under the blaring sounds of an upbeat theme song, sung in Japanese, as you wait for your turn to enter the game. Once inside the first hallway, you must find your way to the objectives that appear on the screen, without being seen and killed.  All of these elements are reminiscent of the old Creature Feature Zombie movie genre.

As with all zombie tales, you as a human must remain unseen, or you die! Stealth and timing are your friends here. Should you survive Saiga hospital’s scenarios, you receive rewards.  The rewards are a doctor’s lab coat, shoes and trousers, a nurse’s uniform, shoes and hat, a Siren t-shirt of course, and a skirt and vest with shoes belonging to Miyako, a character from the game. They are all clothing items that could be used at Halloween  as well as any other costume themed occasion in Home. (In other words, every day.)

Finally there is a fifth reward up for grabs; this is a furniture item that can be won when you are on a team of survivors. All on the team of four must make it out of the hospital. Not to give too much away for those who have never played the Siren mini game, there are three scenarios to complete. The furniture item can be won on any of them if all the players make it out alive. This is a great decorator item: it is an alcove with the samurai swords from the game displayed in a place of honor. If you haven’t played Home’s Siren: Blood Curse, give it a try. If you have played it, and it’s been a while, try it again; see if you still have what it takes to get out without dying.

With all of the upgrades and fantastic new spaces in Home, Siren is still a pretty cool space inside and out. Once you get out alive or dead, the outside of the lounge is an interesting place to hang out. The atmosphere here is as dark and creepy as the hospital lobby. At certain times of the night, shibito can be seen creeping about in the mist-shrouded landscape. Siren Blood Curse is a great place to explore now and again during the Halloween season in Home.

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2 Responses to “In case of Zombie Apocalypse…”

1. Avakar says:

   March 5, 2013 at 7:18 am

   I remember the first time i went in to the Siren area, i was totally freaked out that an area like that was on Home but in the end i loved it. Now when I’m helping new comers to Home i always take them there.

   Reply
2. Jeff_Psn says:

   March 5, 2013 at 7:10 pm

   Double six lobby was one of the first spaces i went to.I remember finding a quite corner where i was experimenting with the R1 commands and dancing ect.I guess I was being watched because a girl came up to me,giggled and walked away.It was an amazing random experience.I remember thinking “it must be obvious that im new.”Good article Phoenix.

   Reply