Welcome to the next offering for the Zombie Killing dream team, this time, it’s all about the Videogame Characters. But remember, all must be based in real life, apart from my superhero wild card! Here’s a quick recap of the rules;

1. Team of 4 fictional characters plus you.
2. One superhero type allowed but if you choose Superman or someone similar you’re cheating.
3. You must designate a leader.
4. All  other characters must be assigned a role of your choice e.g. tank, chef, herbalist
5. No characters from the zombie apocalypse genre.
6. Bonus points for including for including a dilemma e.g. character sacrifice
7. You may present your team in the format of your choice.
8. You may choose a base of operations within a reasonable distance of your home.
9. Writers who are experts in a particular media must create their team from that media.

So without any further ado, on to my first choice;

Leader – Commander Shepard – Mass Effect Trilogy

Any rookie knows that in the zombie apocalypse, very little time is actually taken up by fighting. So my leader needs to be more than just a soldier.  They need to be able to pick their battles. They should be more about the team than the fighting; charismatic, assertive, and able to hold the team together under immense psychological stress or adverse conditions, all with a huge lack of resources or support. There’s only one sensible choice. It’s Commander Shepherd.

To start with, he is extremely qualified. A Commander in the highest tier of the most highly respected Special Forces group in human colonized space; Shepherd is also the first and only member of the galactic secret service; SPECTER, so it’s safe to say, he knows what he’s doing. In addition to this; Shepherd has been in three different life-threatening situations, and has had to build his own team and work together with people he might not necessarily like, so we know that he is good at encouraging teamwork, and uniting people of all different backgrounds to one cause. He is both a paragon of justice and a dastardly rogue, and he knows when to give a soft touch, or a hard punch, all to get the results he needs. Shephard is the best long-term choice, perfect for leading his team through the apocalypse and surviving.

Contenders – Really? Come on, now.

Scout – Lieutenant Commander Sam Fisher – Splinter Cell

For my next member I needed a scout class. And to me there is only one man that is versatile enough to be high tech, stealthy and agile all at the same time. Sam Fisher.

He’s a perfect middle-man. Not only is he the perfect scout, but he can also support the other members of the team. He can be stealthy, but has also mastered the use of almost every modern firearm, and is even a master of Krav Maga, so he wouldn’t be afraid to get stuck in the middle of a fire fight. He is also extremely agile and dexterous, so would be happy climbing and leaping off rooftops to scout the area. This would also make him a good potential scavenger, thanks to his ability to get to places no one else can. He has a variety of high tech gadgets and armaments such as his trademark goggles among many others. Finally, his knowledge of field craft, urban warfare, combat tactics, surveillance, infiltration and hacking is bound to help Commander Shepherd in his role as a leader and tactician.

In a team of just four people plus myself, I need all my team members to be as versatile as possible, and Sam Fisher’s experience and skill set fit the bill perfectly.

Contender – Connor – Assassin’s Creed 3

Equally adept in the wild as he is in urban areas, Connor has one up on his previous assassins as he is even more agile, and can also hunt and forage for survivability. However, he was just too-outdated for my needs.

Close Quarters – The Master Chief – Halo

For when the worst comes to the worst and the Zed’s get too close for comfort, any kill team needs someone able to step in and go toe-to toe with the horde and give the other team members time to retreat and regroup, or find an exit. You need someone big enough, strong enough and armored enough to stand in the face of death, while minimizing the risk of infection. Enter The Master Chief.

For those who have been stuck in the ground for the past decade, the Master Chief is a huge, hulking wall of genetically engineered super human brute force and endurance, encased in a high tech suit of power amour  complete with force shield. Able to take huge amounts of damage and with immense stores of endurance, he is also equipped with a range of powerful conventional and alien weapons at his disposal, meaning he can put out vast levels of firepower; perfect for cutting down wave after wave of zombies and not letting anyone past. If that’s not enough, the Master Chief does not have a shred of skin on show, he is the perfect choice to wade right in and beat those zombies to a pulp with his bare fists without any risk of infection. In terms of protecting his other team mates, there is simply no better choice.

Contenders – Axton – Borderlands 2

Is there any better way to help stave off a zombie hoard than not one, but two dual-cannon, rocket launching, health regenerating, laser guided, shielded gun turrets? Hardly.

Survivalist – “Steve” – Minecraft

A pretty unconventional choice for my fourth team member, but as any true aficionado knows, surviving in a post apocalyptic Zombie wasteland is not all about fighting and sieges. A true Zombie Killing Dream Team must be able to scrape out a living and plan for the long-term. That’s where our pixelated protagonist comes in. He is the ultimate survivalist; at the game’s beginning he is washed up in an undiscovered land with literally nothing except the clothes on his back and two blocky fists, which he can use to destroy and remake pretty much anything he puts his mind to. Need a shelter? Punch that tree and get some logs; hey presto, log cabin! He is completely adept at being resourceful and making full use of what he’s got.

Give him an hour or two and he will give you a small but workable castle, complete with torches, doors, an oven and plenty of storage. Give him longer, and just like a shady character in a prison movie, he can get you whatever you need. Running low on food? Steve can go and grab some seeds and get a fully functional and irrigated farm up and running. Old fort got destroyed? No problem, he will build you a veritable bunker, and can even decorate it with a few bookcases or portraits. He can even make maps and compasses to help our team navigate, or amour, weapons and explosives. The sky is, quite literally, the limit. For bonus points, he is also more than used to being close to danger, with evil exploding monsters coming out on a nightly basis to terrorize him and his creations.

Contenders – Max – Dark Chronicle

Tasked with pretty much rebuilding an entire world, not only does Max build entire towns, but takes citizens from his hometown to populate these new places. He can also use his trusty camera to gain inspiration to build all sorts of things. Unfortunately Max had to be omitted from the list, as the tool he uses to rebuild his world is a giant magic tree-robot piloted by seven alcoholic dwarves with purple beards. Yes. Really.

Myself – Specialist

Years of gaming has honed my reflexes and hand-eye co-ordination skills to an almost superhuman degree, so I will be able to assist my fellow team members in combat. Due to where we will be setting up our base/making our stand, I will also have essential knowledge about our locality; where to find supplies and so on. With my existing knowledge and prowess in surviving in zombie apocalypses, I will also be invaluable to Commander Shepherd while he is planning his next moves and leading the team. Finally, with my at least enthusiast-level in cooking, I will be able to whip up culinary masterpieces out of whatever meager scraps we manage so scavenge in the ruins.

Oh, alright, who am I kidding, I’ll probably end up being the cabin boy.

Headquarters – My Office

Situated roughly a mile away from the local town center and only a few miles from Manchester, this building is ideally located; being far away enough from any traditional zombie hotspots  but close enough to venture in to town to scavenge for food or supplies. The office is situated on a u-bend of a local river, and is ringed by a medium sized wall, with only one gated entrance. The office is three stories high as well, so plenty of room for posting a lookout on the roof for any zombies that wander too close. The office is also fairly large, so plenty of room to accommodate any survivors, or set up bottlenecks and traps in case the worst comes to worst. It’s only main weakness is that although its one entrance makes it easy to defend and monitor, it will also make it difficult to escape if the horde is on the doorstep.