Top four zombie games: titles bring horror to your hands

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Video games bring the desperation and terror of surviving a zombie apocalypse to an entirely different level.

Though it seems every other release these days includes the infectious ghouls, even appearing as a bonus mode in “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” these four classics truly set the standard for a dedicated undead experience.

1. “Resident Evil” (PS, 1996)

The title that not only made zombies cool in video games but kick-started the survival horror genre takes its rightfully deserved place at number one.

A somewhat tongue-in-cheek take on horror movies in general, “Resident Evil” introduced us to the T-Virus and the sorry fate of Raccoon City, zombie capital of the United States.

The game’s mixture of intentionally obtuse camera angles, frustratingly robotic controls and scarce ammunition would have been a deal breaker anywhere else, but instead heightened the tension of each panic-inducing encounter.

Though for every hair-raising terror there was a groan-worthy moment of cheesiness, “RE” will live on as the father of zombie games.

2. “Left 4 Dead” (PC, X360, 2008)

Taking on a horde of rotting undead can be a daunting task. That’s why “Left 4 Dead” made such a big splash when it let players fight with friends online.

The game throws four survivors together with only one objective: get to safety. Though cooperation is for the most part optional, lone wolves quickly find themselves up the zombie creek without a paddle.

The game’s speedy infected are for the most part obstacles to avoid; real moments of horror are found with “special infected,” mutated zombies that can destroy a careless group of humans in a matter of seconds.

3. “Urban Dead” (PC, 2005)

One man’s low-budget, browser-based game did what so many others had simply avoided: depict day-to-day survival in a city overrun with walking cadavers – with each entity controlled by a fellow player.

The free-to-play “Urban Dead” allows its users to be either humans, scavenging for supplies and barricading themselves in safe houses, or undead, shambling around the streets searching for the scent of living flesh.

The game’s extremely minimalist user interface takes some getting used to but sets up a perfect theater for the drama of life in eternal fear of what claws at the front door.

4. “Dead Rising” (X360, 2006)

This game had a prominent disclaimer box on its cover warning consumers it was not associated with George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead,” and for good reason.

No previous attempt at zombie gaming captured anything like a massive zombie horde overtaking a shopping mall, so “Dead Rising” made rendering dozens and dozens of the monsters at once its biggest selling point.

Though it presented dozens of ways to kill the freaks beyond the tried and true “remove the head, destroy the brain,” it’s Romero-esque social commentary, which paralleled American consumerism with the zombies’ mindless hunger, solidified its place on this list.