The whole zombie fad looked like it was maybe running out of steam…until we saw and played what the madmen behind Dead Rising 2 are cooking up for the game’s wacky new multiplayer mode. Who knew antlers, hamster balls, and zombies were a match made in heaven?

To set the stage, you’re playing as Chuck Greene this time, a motocross rider who’s rampaging through the Vegas-alike Fortune City to rescue his daughter from a zombie invasion. On the single-player side (shown in most of the surrounding screenshots), the game’s focusing on way, way more weapons. Yes, it’s possible. In the casino sequence we played, we had 10 minutes to kill 300 zombies, which is harder than it sounds. We swung for the fences with chainsaws, croupier sticks, stuffed marlins, and even a giant blue teddy bear, barely making it in under the wire. Our reward? A wheelchair with mounted guns. Now that’s good clean American fun.

When he’s not coping with that, Chuck signs up to be a contestant on Terror Is Reality, a game show where you put your life on the line to be the guy who can kill the most zombies. Hosted by the over-the-top Tyrone King — complete with a pimpy fur jacket, gold chains, and a lady to drape each arm on — this game show channels the WWE’s jumbotron screens, smoky entrances, and hyperkinetic atmosphere to create a pretty intriguing multiplayer mode. Decked out in different-colored leather motocross suits (that unfortunately make the avatars look like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), four players compete against each other in a series of goofy, over-the-top mini-contests.

Our insta-favorite was Pounds of Flesh. Here you don a pair of gigantic antlers and face a tightly packed crowd of zombies. You charge in antlers-first and use the horns to scoop up zombie flesh and toss it on a scale. You win by piling on the most pounds of rotting meat before time runs out. The sheer cheek and zany humor of this whole notion had us cackling the whole time. You can even “refill” your zombies by pressing a button, which causes a factory-like piston to thud down in front of you and deliver more potential poundage your way.

Another fave was Slicecycles, where you climb on a motorcycle with a ginormous scythe-like blade mounted on each side. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what’s next: rev the gas and charge into the horde! You’re competing against the other three players for the number of kills you can amass, and the only downside was that the screen was so constantly splattered with red gore that it was sometimes hard to see where to go.

Next was Ramsterball, where your contestant climbs inside one of those giant rolling balls. All four balls roll out onto a pinball-like arena packed with bumpers and, of course, zombies. Only one of you — the “It” — can roll over zombies, and the other three have to chase down the “It” to tag him and get the zombie-killing power from him. It’s like demented pinball.

Last up was Headache, and that’s putting it mildly. All four players charge into the same throng of zombies, competing to jam as many helmets on as many zombies as they can. Periodically, you rush over to a big red button and push it, which activates a guillotine inside the helmets and decapitates your zombies, earning you points. Advil won’t help with that.

When all was said and done, we were actually kind of speechless. A depraved yet creative zombie-killing game show? When’s that coming to Fox in real life?