A Killer Headache

Random thought: "Can I eat my own brains, like an ouroboros?"

When I started playing this game, I was immediately psyched. A humorous zombie adventure as the zombie? 10/10! I felt a kinship towards my severed head friend Jim, although I was sorry that he wasn't more involved of a companion. The intro was amazing, and I really enjoyed the flashback sequences, which all seemed relevant to the goings on. I think it was really fascinating how the flashbacks were tied to releasing my headache and to what was going on around me. The puzzles were tough, but the ABOUT section did warn about that. I'll admit I'm kind of in a hurry (and trying to finish these games in under the 2 hour limit) so I went to the hints section a lot. Sometimes I felt like it was my fault for not getting it, but other times I didn't feel bad at all. I don't know very many songs by name, I don't know how to siphon gas, and I never would have thought to be so demanding of a nun.


As the game went on though, unless the humor got extremely dry, I felt it went from a silly game to a more grim and serious examination of the apocalypse, and that made the game feel schizophrenic and kind of dampened the humor at the beginning. Furthermore, the difficulty of the game kind of slowed the pace, and the lack of multiple solutions was frustrating (I thought a nun could help me slap some kiddie wrists). There were a few places that lacked polish, but they were few and far between - it was actually very robustly written.

Then the heavy religious text towards the end was incredibly confusing. Was this game a warning about what to expect in the End Times? Was it a religious apology / reminder, like the disclamer that Jackson put on his Thriller video? Was it a mockery of people who still believe despite clear evidence that things are Not Going According to Plan? I mean, I became an unholy monster counting on a rosary of teeth, who presumably since I am dying in a state of repentance will go to heaven, while my religious friend Peter who (according to Catholic doctrine) killed himself will go to hell. Was that a joke? Was it serious? Was it social commentary on how to be a Christian, but not an ass about it? I had a hard time telling.

6/10