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> Results: Touch the Dead
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The ESRB Says
Blood and Gore: GamerDad watched zombie bits go flying as we shot wave after wave of them. Violence: The entirety of the game is about killing waves of undead ... and their bosses. There are quite a few examples of static shooters through the years, from the classic arcade 'pop-up' arcade game in which physical targets would appear and you would use a realistic gun to shoot only hostile targets; to the light-gun games found in video arcades and on some consoles; to games like Beachhead 2000 in which you man a variety of stationary guns in war situations. Oh - and then there is a series of games called House of the Dead that feel very similar indeed. The common element in all of these games is that you remain in one place while the world changes around you, and you need to be quick and accurate in your shooting or you will end up dead. Touch the Dead doesn't change that formula too much. You get pulled from place to place and mobbed by undead - and then pulled to the next place to face more undead. Yet there are two other enemies you will find more daunting - boredom and reloading. Reloading is the most difficult thing about the game, as it requires critical timing and movements - you are dragging bullets to your weapon each time. It is a frustrating mechanic, yet it is the cornerstone of making the game challenge. That is because the game is basically that same first zombie fight repeated over and over again - you will meet new zombie types, encounter bosses that present a unique challenge that the game always make sure you know how to solve, but otherwise just be doing the 'reload dance' faster and faster as enemies become more numerous and difficult to kill. It is the type of game you could pick up for fifteen minutes and have a great time, put down for a month, pick up again and find more fun. It is definitely not intended for sustained play as the fun wears off fast and you are left with a boring zombie hunt that feels as if it will never end but mercifully does.  
Despite the game title raising overtones of necrophilia (y'know - 'touch' the dead? Oh, never mind!), pixilated blood and gore are the sole reason for this game earning a M-rating. And it is quite gory despite having crude graphics - but let's face it, you know that the things you are shooting are humanoid zombies, that you are shooting their heads and limbs, and that those limbs and heads are gushing blood until the zombie finally falls dead or explodes. This is a gory and violent game that never pretends to be anything but a rampant kill-fest. Yet it shares the same basic game mechanic as the arcade mode of games like Point Blank, making it somewhat less offensive. This is still not a game for kids - I have given it an Adult GamerDad seal, but older teens who have played shooters before will likely have no problem with this.
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