Nosce te ipsum

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse from Aspyr Media is one of those games that is most certainly not for everyone but will appeal mightily to it's niche audience, yours truly included. Parents (need I even say it?) don't even think of letting your young kids even remotely near this one.

If you combined equal parts James Dean's 1950's cool meets George Romero in the back of a retro-futuristic arcade and you'd likely come up with a game quite close to Stubbs.

The only thing in more abundance than the blood and gore is the twisted, off-beat humor that really makes this game shine. Take one look at the video marked Cinema trailer found here to get a feel for their sense of humor. I don't think I can ever hear the song Lollipop the same way ever again. (Then again, it isn't exactly a song on high rotation on my iPod). To it's credit, it just so happens to be the first non-Halo game to be developed on the Halo engine, made by some of the guys who made Halo, using similar vehicles and controls, featuring a nearly identical interface

In a game where your primary weapon is your body (and a never ending supply of exploding internal organs which be lobbed at your enemies ala grenade style). We don't see it in the preview anywhere but apparent Stubbs can unleash unholy flatulence, a local, last ditch area-of-effect attack, which will kill humans in the immediate vicinity (an attack that would seem to be right at home in a game more like Postal 2). So if you are looking for some quality entertainment that is quite a bit off the beaten path, this game is for you.

Huge kudos to Aspyr for bringing this game to market for the Mac on the exact same day that it hit the shelves for the PC and the various other consoles.