Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
They are a cheap way to get out of having to come up with an enemy which is intelligent and a cheap way to get out of a good plot.
First off, I agree with everything Milf said. Which is why I disagree with this point very strongly. The draw of zombies is that they are a mindless, effectively endless, untiring horde, and what that means for the survivors in a world over run. Yeah, zombies can be used as a cheap way out of having an interesting story. Just like Nazi's, Russians, monsters with a vague or non-existent back story, giant turtles who kidnap princesses because, well, why not, and evil sorcerers who want to rule the world because they're evil.

The problem you have isn't with zombies, it's with lazy game developers jumping on the bandwagon with a popular trend. Just like what happened 10+ years ago when Medal of Honor came out and every FPS had Nazi's, and just like every other time period and media in history has and continues to do.

Anyway. Since 2008.

Dead Nation, Dead Block, Dead Space, Dead Space 2, Dead Rising 2, Left4Dead, Left4Dead 2, Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies, Yakuza: Dead Souls, Rock of the Dead, Zombie Panic in Wonderland, Zombie Wranglers, Undead Knights, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Zombie Tycoon, Burn Zombie Burn!, Plants vs. Zombies, Zombie Apocalypse, I Made a Game with Zombies in It!, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, The Last Guy, Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ, Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys!, Killing Floor, OneeChanbara Revolution, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Resident Evil 4 HD, Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, The House of the Dead: Overkill, Silent Hill Homecoming, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Silent Hill: Downpour.

From one list I found online, anyway. I recognise well over half of those titles.
I recognize a lot of those titles too. Funny thing is most of the ones I recognize are either re-releases of games that have been out for years or not actually zombie games. For many of the rest, zombies are incidental. They could be replaced with just about anything else and nothing would be lost from the games.

So the question becomes quite simple to me really: is Naughty Dog a talented enough developer to make a zombie game that features a well told and thought out story and, if not bring something new to it, tell an interesting story well? Past experience is telling me it's a bit silly to doubt them now.