Evil Dead: Hail to the King

"Great for ED fans...pretty good for everyone else..."

Evil Dead is a horror trilogy starring square-jawed, rubber-faced Bruce Campbell that follows the hapless adventures of a chainsaw-armed, shotgun-wielding, wise-cracking retail-clerk named Ash as he battles a body-possessing evil in the woods conjured by the Book of the Dead. Fans of the series have been rabidly awaiting this game for more than a year. A survival-horror game based on the movies that practically invented survival-horror seemed perfect...and for Evil Dead fans, it mostly is.

Gameplay - 7
Although it doesn't add much to the Resident Evil-style control, the game itself is pretty fun to play and there are some clever puzzles mixed into the action. There are some collision-detection issues--Ash seems to run into objects and enemies even when they look like they're several feet away. One of the more unique features of the game is that Ash has a chainsaw on one arm and a selectable weapon in the other. One button controls each weapon and fighting consists of alternating between these attacks and another button that controls his one-liners. It's a little like linking combos in a fighting game and it's really fun once you get used to it--but that might take a while. Some gameplay features seem to have been scrapped at the last minute, though--for example, the game spends several scenes setting up and describing a sub-quest that never actually happens.

Story - 9
For Evil Dead fans, this is the best part of the game. The story begins with Ash returning to the haunted cabin in the woods with his girlfriend Jenny--no, Ash isn't very bright--and discovering that the evil spirits of the book are still present and are preparing to invade our world. The story follows the movies very closely, even more closely than the third movie, Army of Darkness, did. It fills in most of the backstory left open by the movies and features a great plot twist that helps explain the origins of the cursed book and the demons you're fighting. Furthermore, Ash is always Ash in this game--the script never softens his character and he remains the same blundering, loud-mouthed braggart he's always been. The game alludes heavily to the movies, however, so if you haven't seen them lately, you might not get everything that's going on.

Graphics - 7
The graphics themselves are a mixed bag. The rendered backgrounds are beautiful, particularly on the second disc, and the recreations of the woods and cabin from the movie are detailed flawlessly. Ash is nicely drawn and the demons are well-animated and scary, especially the boss characters. The game engine is basically the Resident Evil engine, though, which is really disappointing in a game based on Evil Dead--these movies were all about wild, frenetic camerawork and any game based on them should have a camera that swings wildly about, rushing forward to chase the character, zooming in and out of the scenes and swirling about Ash and the monsters. We know the Playstation can handle such movements--Tomb Raider and particularly Silent Hill are filled with dynamic camera angles and movements that are pretty much lifted from the Evil Dead movies. Using a static prerenderd game-engine is simply bad judgement on Heavy Iron Studio's part. Also, the graphics seem to have been downgraded from the Dreamcast and PC versions, leaving background animations twitchy and many of the in-game cut-scenes looking like little more than hi-res versions of the game engine. However, the graphics are never ugly and are often very well-done; even if they're sometimes not exceptional, they still convey a sense of isolation and surreal horror.

Sound - 10
This is easily the best part of the game. Bruce Campbell is great as Ash, investing even his worst one-liners with the dry sarcasm that's made him famous--and occasionally he has some really good material to work with. Most of the other voice-actors also do pretty well, even though they're usually just playing straight-men to Ash. The deadite monsters sound genuinely unsettling and the boss-voices are especially well-done. The music, which is only used during important scenes and events, is stunning, a series of orchestral numbers and choir pieces that not only surpasses the Evil Dead movies and any other survival-horror game, but even rivals the Final Fantasy series. The in-game sound effects are creepy, filled with such details as branches creaking, fire crackling and groaning half-audible voices chanting ''join us'' beneath the howling wind.

Replayability - 4
This is a very short game, taking only a few hours at most to finish. There's not much point to playing the game after that, since there aren't any optional quests or secrets. You might want to go back to save some of your favorite scenes or play through it again just to see how fast you can finish the game but, as far as the game itself goes, what you see the first time is all you get.

If you're a fan of the Evil Dead movies, this game is a must-have--the story truly does add to the Evil Dead storyline and it's as well-written and presented as any of the films. If you're not a fan of the movies, you'll probably be content renting the game--it can be finished in under three hours and, while it's an interesting experience, it's probably not something you'll absolutely have to buy.

Overall, this is a pretty decent game with a few serious flaws, most of them relating to the fact that this game apparently wasn't meant for the Playstation, that's saved by the fact that it's Evil Dead: worth checking out if you're a survival-horror fan but best appreciated by fans of the movies.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/00, Updated 12/14/00