By Simon Ang

ON THE left, Zombies from 'Left 4 Dead' a third-person shooter with four survivors trying to escape from a zombie-infested city. On the right, a surprise contender, the Nazi Zombies, from the unlockable chapter of the first-person shooter Call of Duty: World At War.

Best Zombie Plot Award

Winner: Left 4 Dead

Both are no-brainer arcade shooters for fans of the undead.

However, Left 4 dead packs more bite, with five survival chapters featuring different scenarios. A blockbuster-style movie poster will introduce each chapter with your name (or whatever gung-ho zombie killer moniker you choose) on it.

The fact that your character can respawn after the zombie tears you apart also makes the game less morbid.

For Nazi Zombies, it's 'hora incerta, mors certa' (hour uncertain, death certain) as you try to survive as many levels as possible. If you die, you have to start the game all over again.

A metaphor about the imminent nature of death, perhaps?

Best Zombie Variety Award

Winner: Left 4 Dead

The Left 4 Dead zombies come from all walks of life.

Their tattered uniforms serve as a grim reminder that these soulless fiends were once policemen, nurses, flight attendants, white-collar workers and regular folks. Likewise, death comes in many forms.

An encounter with a corpulent Boomer Zombie will drench you in green vomit, turning you into a lighting rod for more zombie attacks.

A Smoker Zombie will ensnare you with his frog-like tongue.

Tank, a burly zombie with gargantuan biceps, will charge or hurl concrete slabs at you.

The agile Hunter Zombie will spring on you while a Witch Zombie will hunt you down if you should disturb her wailing sessions.

Nazi zombies are boring dead people wearing the same Wehrmacht uniform.

Enough said.

Best Zombie Behaviour Award

Winner: Call of Duty: World At War

In movies 28 Days Later and I Am Legend, zombies were sprinting like Olympic athletes.

Good if you're a zombie. Bad if you're trying to kill them.

The running zombies from Left 4 Dead are a stark contrast to the feet-shuffling Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty.

The Nazi Zombies resemble the original shambling corpses from George Romero's 1968 cult classic Night of the Living Dead.

We prefer old-fashioned zombies.

Best Zombie Fight Award

Winner: Call of Duty: World At War

A good zombie is a dead zombie.

But a zombie-slayer does it in style. Call of Duty offers more weapons of mass destruction, ranging from MK2 fragmentation grenade to M9 bazooka.

Talk about overkill.

Best Looking Zombie Award

Winner: Left 4 Dead

Fast and furious, these bunch of zombies are quite a sight to behold. Especially when they are seen up close.

Zombies never looked so ugly.

All-Rounder Performance Zombie Award

Winner: Left 4 Dead

You get what you pay for.

This story was first published in The New Paper on 3 January 2009.