Undead Nightmare really is something special. Priced at $10, or 800 Microsoft Points, on PSN and Xbox LIVE, it’s the kind of DLC that even the most anti-DLC person can get behind. It features additional multiplayer modes, but even more importantly a stand-alone single player campaign that will last you roughly six to eight hours depending on your play style. It’s so well done and so well polished, that Rockstar released it as a retail game packed with the other DLC content for Red Dead Redemption to sell for $30, meaning you don’t even need to have Red Dead Redemption to play Undead Nightmare if you buy the disc version. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a sign of the quality of Undead Nightmare… it can stand as its own retail game, albeit budget priced.
Undead Nightmare turns the Wild West into light-hearted take on a zombie apocalypse. It’s cheesy by design and the comedy throughout serves well to remind you not to take the story or situation too seriously. And there’s definitely a lot of humor packed into this game, featuring the same cast of characters that you came to either love or hate in Red Dead Redemption.
The world is fighting a virus that’s turning everyone into zombies, and its up to John Marston, again fighting for his family, to save the day. Your journey through the gloomy West is still packed with extra stuff to do; side missions, challenges, random encounters, hunting zombified animals, unlocking outfits, and finding mystical creatures. The cut scenes are of the same high quality as Red Dead Redemption, and the new soundtrack is every bit as good as the original. In short, everything you loved about Red Dead Redemption and the freedom of it, returns here just with a little bit less of it (it is DLC after all).
Zombies can be a bit of challenge at times, mostly because ammo is scare. You’ll have to be killing zombies and looting their bodies, as well as saving towns, to get that ever important and scarce ammo. Without the ammo, your weapon of choice is going to be a torch, and as fun as it is the jam the end of the torch into a zombies eye socket, using the torch is a good way to get overrun by a horde of zombies. The zombies themselves aren’t spooky, but if you want to experience some creepy/spooky stuff, venture into Tall Trees at night and come across a zombie bear… and maybe bigfoot as well. Tall Trees is really a scary place at night, even in Red Dead Redemption.
Undead Nightmare adds two multiplayer modes: Land Grab and Undead Overrun. I can’t comment on the quality of the Land Grad mode simply because I didn’t play it (I could care less about the competitive multiplayer of Red Dead Redemption; I love the free roam, the hideouts, and the co-op though.) But I will comment on Undead Overrun… it’s awesome. It’s like any other horde based mode; you and up to three others have to kill wave after wave of zombies. A coffin appears and you’ll want to open them, as they give ammo and put a little bit more time on the clock. Time is of course important. You can revive fallen teammates until you run out of time, at which point there are no more wave counts, no more coffins (or ammo)… it’s sudden death. You continue shooting a never ending wave of zombies until everyone on the team dies, and when you’re the last one left standing with a large group of zombies closing in, and you see the ammo draining, you know you’re screwed and yet you love it.
Between the single player campaign and the Undead Overrun multiplayer mode, Undead Nightmare is an absolute joy to play and whether you purchased it as DLC for Red Dead Redemption for $10, or as a stand-alone retail title with all the other RDR DLC for $30, it’s worth every single penny. As DLC though, which is how I purchased it back in October on its release date, it is an absolute steal and is easily the best downloadable content that I’ve ever purchased. Heck, I would have gladly dished out $15 for it.
Bottom line, Undead Nightmare isn’t just great DLC, and really a gem at that, it’s also one of the best zombie experiences out there with a great 6 ½ hour campaign and one of the best multiplayer modes in the game. If you have Red Dead Redemption, this is a no-brainer download at $10. If you don’t have Red Dead Redemption but like great multiplayer and zombies, this is a no-brainer purchase at $30 (it includes all of the RDR DLC, which means the outstanding multiplayer from the game as well). It’s a shame more companies don’t take the time to put out quality DLC like this that offers something for online and offline play AND at such a steal of a price. As is, this is a tremendous bang for your buck and something that you’ll want to play again and again.
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare gets a five out of five: EXCELLENT.
RDR was great all on its own. At least a 9/10 game. Then this comes along and jams it up with tons more content for both single player and multiplayer. The entire RDR package might be close to a 10 even for me. (I rarely if ever give out high scores like that for anything.)
Undead is a better value going for it than any number of more high profile stand alone games out there.
I wish they’d put out some more DLC or something for this great game. I just can’t get enough of it.
This sounds so awesome. I’m not sure what’s taking me so long to get it because RDR was easily one of the best games to come out last year.
I wasn’t aware of the Undead Overrun mode… that sounds really, really cool.
Definitely get it ASAP man. As far as DLC goes, you won’t find a better deal out there, especially for $10. The single player campaign is great, but that Undead Overrun is really a blast.
No brainer purchase all the way.