House of the Dead
 | |||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||
The wait is finally over. Is the game a load of shit or were we all being too hard on the game because it was being developed by Tantalus? Well read on! Graphics We'd have to start off on the bad point right? I'm not gonna lie to you one bit and as much as I'd like to praise the graphics I can't. There bad. The slick polished look of the arcade version is gone and instead with get a shadow of it's former self. In most areas of the game the backgrounds are quite rough. Why didn't they sort it out? That's what I'd like to know. You don't see that in Virtua Cop 2. To be fair to the developers they did have a hard job porting the game over. Model 2 was being pushed to the limit with this game and considering the Saturn isn't great at handling normal model 2 conversions then we always knew the graphics were going to suffer. I wouldn't have minded if they held the game back a little longer to get the graphics looking a bit better. The games graphics themselves aren't rubbish there just not polished like they used to be and are rough in places. The zombies don't look as good but there not that bad. It's still really fun blowing them away. Sound One thing that has remained perfectly intacked is the sound. All the moans and groans from the zombies are here like in the arcade. The music which is quite dancy surprisingly fits in well with the game although a bit of scary music wouldn't have gone a miss. Still it's the same as the arcade so we certainly can't complain here. Playability The main point in HOTD. It's more or less the same which is as you all know brilliant. You can choose to blow their brain out and kill them stone dead or take off their limbs one by one. It really is a laugh blowing these zombies and monsters away. This game is the most fun shoot em up game there is. Sure Virtua Cop and Time Crisis are great but one shot and their dead. There's also no blood in those games as well. This is not so in HOTD. Buckets of blood comes flying out of each and every monster you shoot and that squish noise when you pop their head off is really cool. It gives replay value to bringing you back to kill just one more zombie. Lastability Ah the big question, how long will it last? Well it's a very big game and with lots of different routes their too you'll be playing for a long time. Unlike Virtua Cop where you can choose your path going different ways depends on how you play. It all depends on saving scientists who will give you key cards, shooting objects and killing different enemies. If you fail to kill a certain enemy you may get pushed over the side where you'll be forced to take a different route. This gives huge replay value which simply isn't in any other game of this type. Options You can either choose from :- Arcade Mode: Exactly the same as the arcade. Work your way through the four stages killing all those freaks as well as trying to find out what's going on. Saturn Mode: You may think it's a gimmick at first but there are a few differences. At the start you get to choose which character you want to be. You can choose from Rowgun, G, Rowgun 2 and G2. Each one is different. This ranges from reload time, bullets, hit rate, damage rate, to accuracy. Each character has their own specific ending and there's even two secret characters at least to find in their. Sophie and one of the scientists are both up for grabs but the questions is how do you get them? To add to that again there also some Saturn specific routes in there as well to find giving even more replay value. Boss Mode: You can take on any of the bosses in the game to try and get the fastest time. This is a great mode for practising your skill so that if you can't beat a certain boss you won't have to go all the way through the stage before you can see if you can beat him. You can also play all 4 stages through using no continues which is good practise for the 4th stage where you'll have to play 3 of the games bosses anyway. Ranking: You know what this is right? Options: All the usuals from game difficulty to configuring your gun. If you want any more information take a look at the import reviews and the preview we did two weeks ago. There is other info in there such as the levels themselves. If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to E-mail me. So as you can see I really like this game. The graphics are quite crappie which is the only thing bad about it but unfortunately it's a big aspect in a game like this. It doesn't ruin the fun though as once you get over the arcade version then you can have fun at home. If your a graphics tart then this is not for you but if you like to have fun blasting away zombies or you like this genre then I strongly recommend it to you. At the very least rent it out if you can or play it in your friends house if they have it. I am however going to enjoy the next couple of weeks playing this game to death.
Review By: Matthew Langan |
 |
|
![[Click to expand]](houseofthedead_screenshot_1.jpg)
![[Click to expand]](houseofthedead_screenshot_2.jpg)
![[Click to expand]](houseofthedead_screenshot_3.jpg)
![[Click to expand]](houseofthedead_screenshot_4.jpg)
![[Click to expand]](houseofthedead_screenshot_5.jpg)
![[Click to expand]](houseofthedead_screenshot_6.jpg)
[Back]