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Road of the Dead


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Rating: 4.5/5 (220 votes)
Comments (40) | Views (19,336)
DoraRoad of the DeadWhat's that? The undead have started to walk and the army has locked down the city?! Rooooaaaaad trip! In Road of the Dead, an action game from EvilDog and SickDeathFiend, you play a mechanic who decides to ignore the radio's warning to stay indoors when a zombie outbreak happens and make for the city limits, rightfully assuming help isn't coming. Of course, the army also isn't keen on you escaping the quarantine, so you'll have to be prepared to deal with armed resistance along the way in addition to the zombies and destroyed vehicles littering the highway. Just like The Man, always tryin' to keep you down! Zombies and irresponsible driving for everyone!

Default control is using [WASD] to steer and accelerate, with the [spacebar] to brake, [E] to toot your own horn, and [R] to turn on the wipers. All controls are fully customizable in the options menu. You can upgrade your car using Road Points (RP), which you gain for things like making progress or hitting zombies, but are penalized for hitting civilians. If you get blown up or otherwise incapacitated, you can continue from the last checkpoint you reached, and you'll get to keep any RP you earned before you went kaboom.

Accidentally running down civilians that sprint in front of you, shrieking for you to stop and help them, is always funny in a dark, I'm-a-terrible-person sort of way, but the first time you hear Our Hero say in a dead serious tone, "I'm going to need mad skillz to get out of this," you'll have to giggle. The downside is that the scenery (and even the gameplay) is repetitive, and for all the obstacles in your way, there's no disguising that the track really is just a straight stretch of road; no turns, no hills, no variation.

If remembering Outlander doesn't make your left eye twitch with rage, you'll probably enjoy this combination of fast cars and squishy bodies. Just tell me you agree they missed an opportunity by not including AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" over the radio, or the Scissor Sister's "I Can't Decide". Ah, the sounds of the apocalypse. What rockin' music they make.

Play Road of the Dead

40 Comments

fuzzyface October 18, 2010 5:00 PM

Been playing this for a few, I've to say, while it is some nice racing game, the story "logic" just blantly hurts on so many levels.
* How, of all possible things, did shopping carts get on a highway?
* Why is the zombie and the soldier standing next to each other, and both go after the mechanic only?
* Why is hellfire always flying in front of the car instead simply backwards of it (you can argue when using the UZI, but why later when he is using missles?
* Especially after 2 times having to retreat after curshing into 3 signs, you think hellfire might have learned?
* What is the car of a hell machine that survives several missles? (I'm not military trained, but I suppose usually even smaller air to ground missles will blow up a tank on a direct hit)
* That guy must be Chuck Norris in disguise. He can sustain several dozend direct bullet hits.
* Why cant he punch a zombie, because "he could get infected". And is not worried being soon covered all with zombie blood?
* Why cant he punch soldiers? Worried getting infected too?
* Why can doesnt he worry to crush his blood spilled windshield, to get blood in his face, when he is worried to hit a zombie?
* He obviously doesnt care enough to take a single other civilian with him. Fits in the theory, he is a complete ****, since he very likely *IS* infected and tries with all force to break quarantine. And its obviously not only his blood on the car, since when the windshield is intact it gets tainted too.
* How do water barrels get on a highway?
* Why if he drives for 10 minutes at 200km/h only advance like 5km? (it should be more like 33km)
* Why is hellfire asking to get permission to use missle right after he explicitly got told he got permission to use them?
* What actually happens if you "die". And dieing is integral part of the game, since without it, you cannot ever spent any of your road points. (this refers to great idea of Rune Hunt, to make death part of the story).
* Why doesn't he put all the stuff he got in the garage on the car right away?
* What are "Road Points" after all?
* Why does the military build 4 lines of trucks right behind each others, but leaving enough space in every line for a high speed car to get through?
* Especially when they are trying to stop a car?
* Why do they put spikes in one or two lanes only? Why not simply on all lanes?
* And that mechanic not only takes dozends of bullets, sustains a couple missles while driving a burning car, with no windshield, operates a gun and uses a stick shift!
* Why do soldiers stand in front of a car to shoot at it?
* Why does no soldier have a bazooka?

* How do "zombies" that die of a single avarage speeded car or gun sustain a nuke?

Yeah its only a game, and its like with many hollywood movies, don't think too much. But I like to go into the story of the game, as it IS an integral and contiously becoming more important part of it. Otherwise you could simply make it all yellow and blue boxes you either hit or avoid, same game in principle.

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Fuzzyface's post is one of the most amazing pieces of overanalysis I've ever seen, and I adore it. On the one hand, I've had no trouble enjoying the game, but on the other hand, it really doesn't have any internal logic, does it?

In the end, my main problem with the game is a gameplay fact, namely that I've currently got 20,000 unused RPs (having already upgraded everything to the max), bearing in mind that I've been getting no more than 600 at the most on any given run. In other words, in my attempt to make it through this one stretch of road (specifically, the one to Brighton Square), I've had to try it *over* and *over*, well past the point of my ability to make it any easier. I've no doubt people have made it through this stretch of road, but damned if I can figure out how.

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...of course, having posted that, I just made it through that stretch. Well, even so.

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Is the "I Can't Decide" intended to be a Doctor Who reference?

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little_geoff October 18, 2010 5:54 PM

I can't beleive dora didnt make a reference to Carmagedden. Isn't this just a badly done cheap flash version? Also Outrun is a classic, because, when it was made, it was cutting edge arcade hardware-they even had curves in 1986! I've played some bad drving games in my time, but its usually some beta physics engine. But this is just awful. Not even so awful its good.

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fuzzyface October 18, 2010 6:01 PM

Tahnan, stop enjoying it! I beg you! (Just kidding, yeah enjoy it :-)

Directors cut ending. Here is how I would have ended the story, to make an interesting twist / a thought coming up, after all.

Same as the current, driver through the tunnel, stand there, watch ... military reports all zombies are dead, but the cost.

- cut scence-
Mechanic sits in a bar, drinking a beer.

* TV runs in background, woman talks over the nuclear explosion, blaming some yet unkown terrorists for it * (military disguised the whole operation)

Bartender: whats up, you look like a real mess.

Mechanic: You wouldn't believe, I literaly escaped hell. Bartender! Give me the strongest drink you have, my stomach really feel kicked up. *ooogh*

*Mechanic turns into a zombie!*

-- Cut scence to a city view--

You here a soldier talking over radio:
Soldier: General?

General: Yes soldier?

Soldier: We got reports of a new zombie infection!

General: What?? How did they escape?

Soldier: You remember that guy in a car we missed?

General: *sighs*, what a ... there goes the next city. Another few Millions people dead, just because of one stubborn guy.

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Tahnan, Brighton Square is the WORST stretch of the whole game. Took me many, many tries to get through that section.

What with all the foreshadowing, I was expecting the end to be one of two things, or a combination:

1. By the time your character reaches the last segments to get to the highway, the military has cleared out. This actually happened, but in my mind, the military was gone because the zombies were taking over from the perimeter. In other words, yeah, the world is UTTERLY doomed. It would be eerie and creepy, to be driving through this suddenly-very-easy stretch of road and then realize at the end you're all alone in the world, or nearly so.

2. Your character is infected. Obviously. Because of all the cuts and scrapes he gets while driving, and all the zombie guts that are constantly getting all over him.

I loved how the foreshadowing of the radio voices and their dogged persistence in taking out your character makes you think of those possibilities. It was heavily, HEAVILY implied that you are very gray-area, very morally suspect - selfish at the expense of anything and anyone else. I was very disappointed that he didn't turn out to be decisively gray area. In fact, the ending kind of vindicated his assholeishness: being a jerk and running down anything and everything to get your butt out of the city was in fact the right thing to do! Bleh. Give me some moral ambiguity.

The voice acting was absolutely superb. When the general was

telling the military group holding fort at the mall that help was coming "in five minutes" when you knew a nuke was being dropped in two minutes, you could hear it in his voice - he was telling a comforting lie. Was also touching how he told various military who didn't know they were about to be nuked what great soldiers they were.

Wonderful job.

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Yeah, I was half anticipating some sort of twist ending - after the dramatic scene of the guy facing the mushroom cloud, the mechanic turns around and shows the beginning symptoms of zombie-infection.

That being said, there are some good gameplay-mechanics present. For example, you can hit zombies with the sides of your car, and you have an actual driver's-eye view from the car - your car extends to the right, off camera. It doesn't make up for the gaping plot holes (and soldiers being unable to lead their targets), but I'd guess that those were sacrifices made to make the game a game, not a simulation.

Heck, considering the amount of firepower thrown at the car, they could have easily obliterated a stretch of highway. Or taken over the radio to try to recruit the driver - "Mechanic: We know you're listening to us; we want to hire you. Mow down a thousand zombies, agree to a week in quarantine, and we'll get you a multimillion dollar contract for military vehicles."

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@Fuzzyface

There is an answer to it all.

If you're wondering how he survives and punches
And other science facts,
Say to yourself, "It's just a game.
I really should relax."

This game is fun, but some of these pileups looks impossible to get through.

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Um, I have a question. How do you get rid of helicopters? And most of you are a bunch of meanies since you didn't put the story stuff in spoiler tags D:

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This is one of the most awesome Flash games I've ever played. Top notch production all the way around. I can't beat it, but sometimes it's nice to see a genuinely difficult game that isn't a pixel-perfect-platformer.

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It was the music of the end of the world on Doctor Who.

I agree with Lumi. The voice acting was phenomenal, possibly the best I've heard in a browser game. The plotting was well-done, and integrated nicely with the gameplay. That said, I too feel the ending was a bit weak. Had the nuke killed the zombies, and the player character transformed into one in a another town, that would have been much stronger.

All in all, a superbly made game with top-notch production values.

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can anyone post the list of the lvls (check point) cause i'm in "north side park" and i would like to know if the end is near... i get tired of it -_-

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@Fuzzyface

Like what Reece said, it's a game. Games are meant to be playable, not impossible so everyone rage-quits. You are right in some points (EG the shopping carts and not able to punch soldiers), but overall, it's still a game. They're meant to fun, not logical (although it is preferable if it were).

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Kitsune Zeta October 19, 2010 9:38 AM

The game does a good job of mentioning how to take care of (or avoid) a good portion of the big hazards. For instance, after dying once after (or due to) your first encounter with the helicopter, it'll mention one part of the highway that you've probably thought was just aesthetic scenery up until then.

also, unless you're really good at shakeoffs (slamming the side walls repeatedly to get a zombie/soldier/?????? off of your car), get a pistol ASAP. The soldiers are NOT the reason for this (although they can one-hit you if you hit them too slow - there's an achievement for killing them right before they do this). You don't need it fully upgraded, you just need a couple bullets until you get used to dodging a certain enemy.

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Hello JayIsGames users,

I've seen this game on newgrounds.com (and other places) and never realy attempted to put in the "effort" to load and then play it,

Anywho
Today I've finally bothered to load it... and HE WON'T ACCELLERATE! (hope that's spelt right)
Please help! :(

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Heatwizard October 20, 2010 7:27 AM

"* Especially after 2 times having to retreat after curshing into 3 signs, you think hellfire might have learned?"
Nah, they're different helicopters.

"* That guy must be Chuck Norris in disguise. He can sustain several dozend direct bullet hits."
He's a really fast moving target, who says they're direct hits?

"* Why cant he punch a zombie, because "he could get infected". And is not worried being soon covered all with zombie blood?"
Well, as long as he doesn't lick himself clean, he should be fine.

"* Why cant he punch soldiers? Worried getting infected too?"
They're armored, and could see it coming. Wouldn't be worth the trouble of taking your hands off the wheel.

"* How do water barrels get on a highway?"
They do that, at least in California. Sometimes they're sand.

"* Why if he drives for 10 minutes at 200km/h only advance like 5km? (it should be more like 33km)"
Because the perspective doesn't handle driving that fast particularly well. In order to see anything coming and not bog your computer down with lag, your speed on the road isn't really going to look like whatever's on the speedometer.

"* Why doesn't he put all the stuff he got in the garage on the car right away?"
Because he only has them on the runs where you equip them, y'see.

"* What actually happens if you "die". And dieing is integral part of the game, since without it, you cannot ever spent any of your road points."
Then that one didn't count. Abandoned alternate timeline, if you're into that sort of pontificating.

"* What are "Road Points" after all?"
A gaming abstraction. *shrug* When it comes to games, you gotta let some stuff slide.

"* Why does the military build 4 lines of trucks right behind each others, but leaving enough space in every line for a high speed car to get through?"
Because you got lucky. I got stuck behind some undodgable obstacles a few times. (And then those obstacles caused me to go careening into other obstacles, and those pushed me into tire spikes, and then...)

"* Why do they put spikes in one or two lanes only? Why not simply on all lanes?"
They don't have enough time to shuffle them around like that. Abstractions aside, you are supposed to be going pretty fast.

"* How do "zombies" that die of a single avarage speeded car or gun sustain a nuke?"
Cockroaches survive nukes, and you can step on them.

I just like to rationalize stuff, though. *shrug*

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fuzzyface October 20, 2010 8:19 AM

"Nah, they're different helicopters."
No, it is the same, because he is alwaysy called with the ID "hellfire".

"He's a really fast moving target, who says they're direct hits?"
Come'on, he gets ten-twenty hits from hellfire, screaming "ouch" every time, and not a single hits his head? All strive exactly over the skin? Every knifethrower must envy that helicopter doing that precision on close missing.

"Well, as long as he doesn't lick himself clean, he should be fine."
Then he should be able to punch them as well, but he doesnt, because the game says "might get infected".

"Because the perspective doesn't handle driving that fast particularly well. In order to see anything coming and not bog your computer down with lag, your speed on the road isn't really going to look like whatever's on the speedometer."
Its not how the speed looks like, it are two meassurements given in the game, which hardly make sense. Could've just gave you meassures that actually fit, even if the perspective was much smaller.

"Because he only has them on the runs where you equip them, y'see."
And he gets it by dieng?

"Then that one didn't count. Abandoned alternate timeline, if you're into that sort of pontificating."
OK, yeah wakes up, was only a dream... but why does he get equipment from the alternate timeline?

"They don't have enough time to shuffle them around like that. Abstractions aside, you are supposed to be going pretty fast."
They have enough time, to put 5 behind each other, but not next to each other? Sorry, doesn't make any more sense.

"Cockroaches survive nukes, and you can step on them."
Not in the center. I suppose those that do where quite under earth.

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What a great game! I just cant beat the Brighton Square level! I cant shake the 2nd helicopter :( But heres a tip, i zoomed in on the browser so i can see and play the game better!

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Heatwizard October 20, 2010 5:04 PM

LOGIC WARS AAAAAA

"No, it is the same, because he is alwaysy called with the ID "hellfire"."
The same word can refer to different individual units. Hellfire was just the word they were using to refer to their helicopters, it seems.

"Come'on, he gets ten-twenty hits from hellfire, screaming "ouch" every time, and not a single hits his head? All strive exactly over the skin? Every knifethrower must envy that helicopter doing that precision on close missing."
Taking a bullet to the shoulder or the gut isn't instantly fatal. Besides, that helicopter WILL kill you pretty fast without any bulletproof armor upgrades.

"Then he should be able to punch them as well, but he doesnt, because the game says "might get infected"."
Because if he reaches out to punch them, they might bite him, and that's how infection spreads.

"OK, yeah wakes up, was only a dream... but why does he get equipment from the alternate timeline?"
Buying the parts with points is like digging through the pile of miscellaneous junk and going "Hey, I could use this".

"They have enough time, to put 5 behind each other, but not next to each other? Sorry, doesn't make any more sense."
Actually, they just pulled that on me a few moments ago, so it looks like it does happen when the procedural highway wills it.

"Not in the center. I suppose those that do where quite under earth."
I'm given to understand that the actual, initial explosion is not all that large, that their reputation is due to how the radiation makes them pretty thorough. But if you are something that does not worry too much about radiation, perhaps because you are an insect of some kind, or maybe a shuffling corpse, you would have less to fear then the average human. *shrug*

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403forbidden October 20, 2010 11:00 PM

"Then he should be able to punch them as well, but he doesnt, because the game says "might get infected"."
Because if he reaches out to punch them, they might bite him, and that's how infection spreads.

Sir, I think you need a lesson on how STDs and blood borne diseases are spread.

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Anonymous October 21, 2010 3:32 PM

I don't get how to destroy the helecopters ):

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Anonymous October 22, 2010 6:27 PM

Addictive game play right up to the point where most of us cannot complete the Brighton stretch. Too much army firepower, and madskilzz not enough to get through it. After trying 50 times all this game gives me is a case of serious virtual road rage. If anyone knows how to beat the helicopters plz share! The road signs are good for one heli-kill, but after that it's hopeless. Tips? Tricks? Come on, experts, help us out.

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Hurtz2poop October 22, 2010 9:05 PM

What's so hard about the Brighton Square level? I was able to get passed it on my first try...

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Anonymous October 22, 2010 9:52 PM

Knew the first response would be lame. Now, can anyone offer some tips for the rest of us? Thx.

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JIGuest:

Use the handbrake (spacebar) generously, and get used to swerving, trying to avoid stand and taking bullets. Try to time swerving past it between bursts.

Some might disagree, but at that point, I tend to focus more on avoiding the heli than taking it down. I swerve to the side to set it up for a hit on the road sign when it's feasible, but I mostly focus on not taking too many shots Same for the soldiers and their bullets. After several failed attempts, I did much better after I stopped trying to hit zombies and focused on taking as little damage to my car as possible.

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Anonymous October 23, 2010 2:49 AM

Thank you Ransom! All good advice. I use the handbrake to swerve a lot and yes it definitely helps. But maybe have been trying too hard to bring the heli down and taking too many hits. Appreciate your advice about avoiding car damage as much as possible - after you have all the upgrades the zombie points don't matter any more. Did you make it through Brighton? I've made 6+ kilometers, how long is that road??

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JIGuest:

Brighton Square is exactly 7km. Should be possible to drive through within six minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7qU506otNM
-> not me, but example of how you can do it.

F-anyone else's-I: to destroy helicopters, you need to make them crash into three road signs - drive against the walls AS SOON AS you see a green road sign. They will come back though, so just repeat.

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by the way:

Here are all the areas and what happens in them.

Evans City

Your starting position. There will be no soldiers yet, only cars, zombies and civilians. Eventually a moving vehicle (which is you) will be spotted and you will encounter the first checkpoint, containing a few soldiers.

Monroeville

Same as before, only there will be some soldiers on the highway too and there will be more soldiers at the checkpoint.

Red Ridge

The amount of soldiers will be the same, but there will be some stationary spikes too.

Burgony Street

Your identity is rvealed to the army. More soldiers and spikes, and the spikes can also move now. The checkpoint will be filled with a lot more soldiers.

Central City

Hellfire is commanded to fly to the highway to take you out and eventually allowed to engage. More soldiers and more spikes will appear.

Down Town

Even more soldiers and spikes, also at the checkpoint. The bomb squads are called in and the commander is starting to fail.

Chinatown

General Sherman becomes the new commander and tries to keep the army organized. The mutated zombies are reported. These zombies will always try to get on your hood. Driving into them will make them land on your hood and you will have to shoot them off. They can be avoided. The checkpoint is commanded to let you through because the general has a 'surprise' for you. There will be soldiers anyway.

Brighton Square

More (mutated) zombies, more cars and more soldiers. In short, more chaos. Air support gets called in will drop carpet bombings, and the checkpoint will be filled with soldiers and bomb squads.

North Side Park

There will be somewhat less soldiers but still lots of zombies and carpet bombings. The general is starting a pull-out. Hellfire gets permission to use missiles. The checkpoint will also be less filled.

West Ridge

Anthem Eagle gets contacted. There will be no more soldiers since they are evacuating, but Hellfire and Air Support are still active.

Tunnel Drive

The whole army is evacuated. You have 2 minutes to reach the tunnel before the nuke lands. If you do it correct, you are able to leave with about 10 seconds left. Then the game ends with a cutscene.

courtesy of LiquidOoze.

[Edit: Spoiler added ~Kayleigh]

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The Phenomenon October 23, 2010 9:33 AM

I write things (like those Fuzzyface wrote) on Newgrounds (website sponsoring the game) about different games and I don't get an answer. Here Fuzzyface's post is so well received and almost gets a trophy. While for me it's just something I would usually write. I think I found a better place for me.

There's not much to say that hasn't been said yet about this game. It's great, just like all games by the same author.

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Hey, thanks to Ransom and GjazT I made it through Brighton *and* North Side. Looking forward to viewing the video for extra driving tips so thx for posting that. The missiles still get me every time so maybe need to improve those swerving skillz even more.

I speak for many of us lesser mortals when I say how much I appreciate your help. :)

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DarthMeow504 October 26, 2010 5:15 AM

Sadly, by the time I got to Central City there were just too many objects on the screen and I began lagging to the point control was impossible. Good game though.

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DarthMeow504, you can go into options and change settings such as removing buildings that should help with the lag.

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how to take down helicopters?
I couldn't read the text.

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Those annoying helicopters. See the green highway signs which appear on the left and right sides of the highway? Hug the wall and speed towards it (unless there are cars in the way) and the helicopter will smash into it. In Great Escape, two such hits will take the copter down. In Highway to Hell, I think it's three hits.

Aside from that, use your spacebar brake and swerve like a dervish to avoid those bullets.

Keep at it.

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Why does this game end like it does?

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Kathryn Ann December 15, 2010 5:59 PM

For two days now Road of the Dead hasn't been loading properly. Either it takes 20 minutes to load, or just stalls part way through. What's up?

[Thanks for reporting this. Looks like there may be a server issue. I'll get on it and hopefully find a fix for it right away. That said, the file is HUGE (about 25MB), so the download will take a while even when the server is up to full speed. -Jay]

[Update: The issue should be resolved now. -Jay]

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Kathryn Ann December 15, 2010 11:17 PM

Thanks so much, Jay et al. I know it's a relatively slow load (tho' worth waiting), but this was definitely a server issue. Thx again for your quick response.

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@fuzzyface

How do "zombies" that die of a single avarage speeded car or gun sustain a nuke? First of all, there's nothing average about that car's speed. Secondly, radiation can't kill zombies any more than any other poison because they're already dead. The only way of stopping them is to take out the brain. A bullet to the head is more than enough, as is hitting them with the car, usually (& if not, you already left them in your dust).

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