House of the Dead Overkill

Daddy can i be a mutant?

Developer: Headstrong Games
Publisher: Sega
Platform: Wii
Release date(s): NA February 10, 2009
                          EU February 13, 2009
                          AUS February 19, 2009
                          JP October 31, 2009
Genre: Rail shooter
Mode(s): Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s): 18+

 

for no apparent reason we just show you this image

SEGA's franchise reboot of The House of the Dead series is finally here, and as it seems its the first console House of the Dead title that isn't tied to an arcade release, and the only version not created by the original team: WoW Entertainment (AM1). Headstrong Games as it seems did a great job though and as we believe in GA it managed to move HOTD to a whole new level. The fifth game of the The House of the Dead series is actually a prequel to the original House of the Dead series. The interface is full of poster art, character cut-outs, and old film scratches, giving the game an atmosphere of an old time horror movie. There are plenty of movie references throughout the game too. The lines are definately well-written, giving us a lesson of the creativity needed to use the f- word so astoundingly good as Washington does. Vulgarity in the game is creative but sometimes just gets over the top. Anyway we do love profanity and sarcasm and when those two are blended with a good taste of humor then we can't do anything else but admire. The games's set up contains seven levels, each one having the look and theme of a movie. Usually before each level starts you will see a small intro containing Agend G and Isaac Washington, well zombies and sometimes lollipops (dont ask!!!). The levels themselves are fun, the bad thing is that they are too easy, YES this is the easiest House of the Dead ever released, but thank god it is violent and it has some real style of its own. Movind to the violence subject, we clearly see one of the strongest points of the game alongside with its good taste, humor and style. There are plenty of weapons that you can choose from, from pistols to shotguns, smgs and rifles all created for just the sheer fun of blasting some seriously detailed zombie models in pieces. You can quickly finish them off with a headshot, or just have fun shooting their arms and legs off just to see them crawling on the ground. So you have zombies randomly flying in the air, bloodsplatered walls and an endless amount of ammo at your disposal; what else can a man ask. Unfortunately, all this mindless violence doesn't come without a price. The biggest setback in the game is unfortunately the frame issue, as it becomes sketchy and can sometimes downrate the experience of the gameplay. The on-board memory fills up extremely fast and so the game is constantly doing little frame freezes in order to keep up. The price for such an immpresive graphical engine is sadly too high, as in some stages depending on the gun you will notice a frame freeze each time you press the trigger, making it very hard to aim effisiently. Still the game is a must for every wii owner, a truly hardcore game that gave us what it promissed, gruesome fun, sarcasm, busty strippers and ice trucks!!! Heastrong worked hard to make a game that can last five times more than a typical HOTD game till now, wraping it up with an excellent game engine and great action. There are lots of hints in the game (involving one for a sequel) and references to its source materials. You just need to be carefull enough to notice many mentions to films, like the Birds or Pulp fiction, 48 hours and the Texas chainsaw massacre. Even though the game needs about four or five hours to end, the team has made it sure that you will never manage to finish it completely by adding extra content: including the director's cut edition that adds in a few new areas in each stage and extra zombies, special challanges that include shooting some golden brains scaterred all over the place (for gods sake there are three brains in the pool of the 4rth level, not two trust me, it took me many hours to see them all) and many other preety hard achievements that, except from raising your score, can unlock consept art, model viewers, movies and album mixes. Furthermore it insanely hard to gather money in order to upgrade or even buy all weapons, it gets so hard to the point that we came to the conclusion that it isn't even supposed to happen. And if you manage to overcome all this and do every challange expecting to see the game completion at 100%, well guess again, the team has made sure this won't happen, by addin a small bug that just won't unlock the last track even though you did the challange needed.

Gameplay
Like all previous HOTD games, Overkill is a rail shooter, with pre-determined movements, the player can point the reticle near the edge of the screen to move the camera angle slightly in that direction, allowing a further field of view (the well known "Danger Cam"). You can play the story mode solo or co-op, with one weapon or dual-wielding controls (this is extremely fun). You can build up a combo meter by killing mutants in a row without missing (reaching a GOREGASM state after killing 24 zombies in a row) and with further points gained by performing head-shots, shooting bonus pickup (including health packs, grenades and the "Slow Mo-Fo"), or saving civilians. If you die, you can use points from your score to continue playing. At the end of each level, you are awarded a grade that depends on your score and other factors such as not dying, accuracy (we have to warn you though you might not allways agree with that score). The money earned from each stage can be used to buy new guns and gun upgrades at the Gun Shop.

Story
In 1991, AMS Special Agent G is given his first assignment and sent to a small town to investigate a series of disappearances. Uppon his arrival he discovers endless hordes of zombies and is forced to team up with Detective Isaac Washington who is trying to get revenge on  Papa Caesar, the so seemed mastermind beyond this invasion, for apparently killing his father. In their way the will meet Valrla Guns, a busty stripper, who's also seeking revenge on Papa Ceasar for killing her brother (sort of, its actually you who kills him, anyway lets just say that there is a bunch of people who want Papa Ceasar dead). The storiline is interupted by many interesting twists that will keep you entertained till the very end.
The game was initialy going to follow the rest of its predesesors in its style and theme. Finaly though the developers desided to exploit some classical films after watching Planet Terror.

Sound
House of the dead offers the best soundtracks seen in a game of the 2009. Those soundtracks totally fit to the atmosphere, making you move to their groove while shooting zombies! The voice overs are those you will never forget. Agend G and Issac Washington have the most insanely wicked dialogues to be found in any videogame ever. The F-word will be the most common word in the game; there won't be any setence without it. Yet, noone could feel offended, the way those two speak, is so ... geez i don't have words to discribe... maginificent; that you will burst in laughters rather than feel offended.

Conclusion
It was recently confirmed by Dread Central the game is set to receive a Guinness World Record for being the most profane video game in history, it definately deserves it. We recomand this game as a must have, but only if you are an adoult ofcurse. And as a critic said its m****** good. What else can we say.

8.5 Presentation
funny, entertaining storyline, hardcore.
8.5 Graphics
The models are amazing, body parts blown to pieces, blood sprays, environments. The frame issues keep it down.
8.0 Sound
The music is well produced, slow motion transitions are awessome.
8.0 Gameplay
well balanced, one-shot kills tends to get boring. Bosses could be harder.
8.0 Lasting Appeal
Old fashioned arcade fun. Added modes and three mini-games included, level dont get boring and can be played all over again many times