The House of the Dead

"The beginning...of the end?"

House of the Dead follows in with many of the shooters out in the arcades right now. Plenty of action, plenty of things to shoot at, and plenty of blood and gore. Released by the now software only company Sega, House of the Dead took on a new variation to the already tried and tested theme of blowing things away.

Instead of placing you on just one set path, HotD allows the gamer to now choose their own path depending on what they do and when. If you save a particular scientist, you'll be allowed to possibly move along an alternate path and the same applies to when you fail to save them. All in all, this allow any gamer to literally choose their own path each time they play!

Taking the role of one of two different agents that would for the AMS company, you travel to a laboratory that looks strangely reminiscent of something straight out of Resident Evil. Through out, you'll find small references to different horror flicks ranging from Evil Dead to Friday the 13th. Along with this, lush environments and massive amounts of onscreen targets allow for non-stop action.

But, where the game goes for the better, it starts to lose ground with the horrible voice acting, and the sometimes inaccurate light gun. Nothing like gaining a respectable score, and blasting away at monsters when you all of a sudden start shooting at some other part of the screen. You get your ass handed to you, and lighter in the pocket because you've just been chomped on. It's enough to make you run amok!

-Game Play 8/10-

Your basic shooter but with a new twist. Instead of just being set to a normal path, you're able to pick and choose where you go at certain points depending on whether or not you save the scientists or let them die. The better part of the actual game, is shooting everything on the screen, and making it through with enough health to face off against one of the many challenging bosses.

Through exploration, you'll be able to alter your path in numerous ways, and collect several different items that can help increase your score, or give you special firing power. With the amount of enemies that you'll find advancing towards you, it may be within your best interest to shoot and find everything that you can. Enemies and their types are plentiful, with their own strengths and weaknesses that you'll have to defend and exploit respectively.

-Audio/Visual 8/10-

Well drawn to say the least, each area of the House is detailed to the fullest, emphasizing on darkness and shadows to create a mood. The first couple of times through the game, you'll find your heart skipping a beat when a monster comes running out of the shadows, or when something bursts through a door. Brilliant colors, and several different monster types put detail on gore and blood, and while blowing a head off, you'll find that the blood-factor and gore has been taken to the extreme!

The audio is what you'd typically expect from a game with a horror theme. While somewhat haunting, it has a beat to it that keeps up with the game and the action that seems to be non-stop. Different sound bytes range from roaring chainsaws and growling zombies, to breaking glass and massive explosions. Something that does take away from the sound is the fact that the voice acting is second rate stuff and can be skipped, thankfully, with the start button!

-Control 8/10-

With most games, you have a gun peripheral that allows you to get into the feel of the game. Something that is a plus here, is that for once, the guns are light weight! No more cramping your arm up to hold the gun steady, because you won't need to rest. Reloading is done with the now-standard off-screen point, and if accuracy is a problem, I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

Go slap the arcade attendant and tell 'im to fix it.

-Quarter Crunching: 9/10-

A difficult game in the later stages, you may find yourself pumping out several dollars in quarters just to complete the game. A down-fall to this is that each time you do, your score is reset and you have to start from zero. This can be a turn off to most people who know this fact, and they probably won't want to waste their money to try and regain a high score.

-Replay 7/10-

With all of the different paths that you can take, HotD offers up enough replayablity to keep people coming back for more. After a few times though, you've seen everything the game has to offer, and once you've hit the tenth time through, the gun will be hung up for good unless you just happen to see the machine in the arcade and feel like playing.

-Overall 8/10-

Another great shooter produced by Sega that offers up path-switching and alternate routes as well as blood, gore and guts that splash across the screen. While not the top of the heap, it's definitely within the top 20 shooters of all times, and has spawned a sequel that is equally successful. Worth a few bucks to play, House of the Dead is a great shooter with a few minor problems that are easily overlooked.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/03/01, Updated 09/03/01