So by now most of you know I'm a complete retard for all things zombie, right? (If you missed out on this so far, feel free to catch up on the subject.) My newest living dead obsession is Urban Dead, which is described on the website as "a free-to-play browser-based multi-player game where you play the survivor or victim of a zombie outbreak in a quarantined city centre, alongside tens of thousands of others." It's basically a low-tech zombie MUD.

I'm so loving it, but damn can it be tough to get started. Like any RPG, progress is centered around developing your character through experience. Your character performs actions, some of which grant experience points. When you've amassed enough points, you gain a level, which makes your character more powerful. Most RPGs will have beginning characters rising through low levels quickly, perhaps with something like "You squash the tiny little spider for 1 damage point. It dies. Level up!" Not so Urban Dead.

The key difference is the concept of "action points." Each character has 50 action points. Actions diminish those points. When your character reaches zero, you're done until your points recharge. Each character is given 1 point every 30 minutes, up to that 50 point maximum. So the key to surviving is to finish up your turn in a place where you're not likely to start your next turn dead.

You can play the game as either a zombie or one of several survivor types. Each character type starts with one skill. The big problem is that survivor characters generally need two or three skills to be really survivable. The zombies are the only class that's easy to play right from the start. I have several characters and despite the fact that my zombie character is the newest of the bunch, it's twice as advanced as any of the others.

Go figure. Either way, I still think it's great fun to play, especially after you get your survivors up to around level three.

It's less than a month to 28 Weeks Later. I'm geeking out a little about that. I'm leery of the fact that it's not made by the same creative team as 28 Days Later, but I'm keeping an open mind. After all, I would have never thought the Trainspotting guy would make a good zombie movie and look how that turned out.

A few weeks ago I was at Barnes and Noble when I stumbled across 28 Days Later: The Aftermath. Sweet!

It's a good time to be a zombie fan.

Update: I forgot to mention the best thing about Urban Dead. No one every really dies. If you're playing as a survivor, your death means you rise as a zombie. If you tire of playing as a zombie, you can be revived to play as a survivor again.