House of the Dead


Developer: 

 Tantalus

Publisher: 

 Sega

Players: 

 1-2

TV System: 

 Japan / NTSC

Accessories: 

 Virtua Gun

Style: 

 3D Light Gun /
Shoot'em up



Well since I've given up on trying to guess when Katana will arrive, I might as well concentrate on the awesome saturn games I haven't gotten. Well, heres a review for HOUSE OF THE DEAD which I got on Friday from my Import dealer. Well, if everyone has read my review of the HOTD Demo, then you know how I feel about this game.....I friggin love it. I'd even go so far to say that it's the best Gun game on a console. Well first off, when you get the game going, you'll notice the MAJOR downgrade from Model 2. The worst part about the graphics is that everything is soooo pixelated. Absolutely everything is too pixelly for me, with the worst part being the whole enviroment. HOTD was done by the same team who did Manxtt but the quality translation isn't here. It's basically the quality of a Sega TCC port.

Later on in the game when there's many zombies on the screen, the frame rate becomes a little slow but suprisingly not too bad. I'll admit it right now, it looks like a piece of crap compared to the almighty model 2. There I said it, but if I was annoyed by every inferior saturn translation that came out, then I would'nt have Daytona USA CCE (import), or Sega TCC. Once you get past the mediocre graphics, you feel the POWER of Sega gameplay, which only they can deliver. Ok, those were the bad points, the presentation (graphics mostly), but now let's get to the good points. The gameplay is perfect in this game. Take the addictive non stop action of the arcade and put it on your home screen. I played the game for like 3 non stop hours. I was lucky, my father let me put the saturn on the 35' Mitsubishi stereo tv. The game was rockin! Seein those zombies explode on full screen makes me laugh an evil laugh....hahahaha!!!

The sound seems like a perfect port from the arcade. All the zombies' sick groans are really cool. Of course, the crappy voice acting is in there too. I just wanna shoot the guy who does the "Sophie" call, and of course the girl who did Sophie too. My mom and I laugh our ass off when we hear that cool winged creature in the beginning yell "Nobody leaves here...Alive!" Ahhhh...Sega Memories. One thing also, the game has a Saturn mode, which is really cool. You get to pick 4 different characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, one guy has the powerful bullets, but he'll only have 2 bullets per reload. Cool stuff. Also, the Saturn really makes the zombies shine. Every part of the zombies are interactive just like the arcade and man does it look awesome. The zombies are so friggin fun to shoot.

Well, I really don't have to go into that since you've probably all seen or played it in the arcades. Also, the blood is only green, I have'nt seen an option to turn it red, so that might disappoint some people. I could'nt care less, blood is blood. I was also pleased to see that AM1 left in the intro. You know, the one where it shows Sophie calling on the phone and that cool guy Curian Proclaiming we will all die, and the cool voice over at the end saying "THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD". AM1 has made the 2nd best gun I ever played. The first is the godlike Lost World. It's scary to think what AM1 could do with a model 3 board!! Overall, Sega thank you for once again giving more gaming memories to look back on.

Saturn comes through with a totally awesome game (once again). With GREAT zombie graphics and decent but totally pixelly enviroment graphics, this game delivers in every category. Did I mention the alternate paths, this game has ALOT of alternate paths. They might only make a 2 minute difference but it still spices up the replay value. I can't wait to get my friend over to play. Imagine if we lived in a world where people actually bought systems for quality and not the # of games they have? Same goes for games. Sega, just bring out that new dream machine and I'll be yours forever. Wait for the US version which comes out soon, save 40$ and rush to your local game dealer and buy this game!

Review By: Patrick McManus



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