hotd2review

Play It:
For the arcade, Dreamcast, PC, XBox (as part of House Of The Dead 3), and Wii (as part of The House Of The Dead 2 and 3 Return).

Story:
It's the year 2000, 2 years after the events of the previous game. Another outbreak of monsters has occurred in an unnamed city (though it looks like someplace in Italy.) AMS agents James Taylor and Gary Stewart must go and slaughter a bunch of zombies.

A typical functional but unspecial plot. But hey, it's got ZOMBIES.

Graphics:
No complaints here; they still look good. Unlike with the predecessor, the home ports of HOTD2 look exactly like the arcade version, except for maybe the version on HOTD3 (I swear it looks slightly weird.)

Sound:
Love the music, though I don't like how it restarts whenever you pause. The sound effects probably weren't topnotch at the time, but they do the job serviceably. The voice acting though is TERRIBLE. In #1, the script was alright, but the acting wasn't. This time, the script is bad, and the actual acting is laughable (which you will be doing, unless you're narcoleptic or something.)

Difficulty:
RIDICULOUS. In fact, I'm updating the VC3 review now because I used the good assessment. This game makes Time Crisis look like a walk in the park. Which would probably make this something like a shootout during a high-speed car chase down a tunnel with pulsating walls of blood which drain your life being followed by ninjas in Ferraris with mounted rocket launchers. It took a whole heap of effort and time to beat it on the lowest difficulty with maximum lives and continues. I'm not ashamed to admit that I broke my "always play on the hardest setting" rule and dropped the difficulty... eventually all the way down. I STILL haven't cracked hardest. Thank God I never played this in the arcade. If you live for challenges, you've got one.

Gameplay:
Frantic blasting at it's best. If you can stand the difficulty that is. No gimmicks, just intense shooting.

Replay:
Oodles and oodles. You probably won't beat this on your first (50) trie(s) anyway. There are a bazillion path branches throughout the game. There are 3 different endings, based on how well you do. Getting the best will take some skillz. There's also different dialog based on who you are or single/two players, for what that's worth. Homeport also has additional modes like the arcade scenario with powerups (Original mode), a boss battle mode, and 'training' sessions. In short, a LOT. Writing the walkthrough was a bitch and was why this game took so long to get a section.

Rant Session:
The first game managed to escape this section due to its lack of seriousness. The same theory applies here, but SEGA let their guard down this time and the game has some exploitable flaws. Like the idiot who provided the subtitles. Aside from no concept of whether sentences should end with periods, question marks, or exclamation marks, (though in later works he would simply use exclamation marks) character names are randomly capitalized for no logical reason and there are a few errors.

In a similar vein, the home port features a new introduction bringing the player up to speed on the events of the previous House Of The Dead. In this case, the words on the screen are actually narrations and not subtitles. However, the images should have have sufficed.

"The Curien case... 2 AMS agents Rogan and G... Atrocious monster one after another... Formidable Enemy... Fragmented sentences... What awaited them at the end..."

On another note, how come everyone avoids talking about the fate of the city? They always say things like 'chaos' or 'confusion' without mentioning the ZOMBIES. For example, they say "Go and prevent the confusion in the city." rather than "Go stop the fucking monsters from killing people." It's all one big conspiracy to cover up the zombies I tell you.

Let's take a gander at those character profiles, shall we?

James Taylor: "He is always cool and rational, never relying on intuition or guesswork. He accepts facts as they are and deals with them accordingly, like a computer."

In other words, pretty fucking stock. I guess the 'always cool' part explains the dull voice he always speaks in. Am I getting a hint of G in him?

Gary Stewart: "A kind young man, he doesn't yet know the contradictory nature of this world. He has a passionate and emotional side that comes out in every situation. Lacking experience... reckless... sometimes causes problems with James."

Ah, a naive rookie? Clashes with his partner? So far so good. "Emotional side that comes out in every situation"? Certainly not in this one.

Harry Harris: "In his late thirties or early forties, nationally unknown. He does not like to discuss the past... He always wears sunglasses to ensure his feelings remain inscrutable."

Ooh, he's got the mysteriousness going for him. Well, they needed to replace G. One thing though: wearing sunglasses don't really camouflage your emotions. You'd need to wear a full ski mask (with your sunglasses covering the only openings) or something to get that effect. And then, you'd give off the wrong effect. Actually, it'd probably be the right effect cause you have serious issues.

Anyway, his name is Harry Harris!?! No wonder he hasn't spoken since 7th grade. If any of you out there plan to become parents sometime in the future, DON'T ever give your child a first and last name that is practically the same, like Mike Micheals, or Mario Mario. What would that make Wario anyway? Is he part of the family? He'd be Wario Mario. A rival relative? Then he'd be Wario Wario. I guess Waluigi would follow the same reasoning and be Waluigi Mario or Waluigi Wario, if he's Wario's brother. Maybe he's actually Waluigi Waluigi. Am I getting off track again? Sure, it may seem clever or cute at the time, but it's irresponsible parenting. Any parent who does this to his/her child should be immediately arrested for child abuse and a new name assigned for the baby. Rhyming names are also discouraged.

And why is the red blood always need to be unlocked for the home ports? It's nothing major really, but it's really quite silly.

Bottom Line:
Very difficult but arguably the best shoot-em-up out there. It was voted into the top 100 games list of Game Informer by readers (it was #98, but no other game of the genre made the list.)


	PART II (THE NUMBERS GAME)

	Play It: For the arcade, Dreamcast, PC, XBox (as part of House Of The Dead 3), and Wii (as part of The House Of The Dead 2 and 3 Return). Story: It's the year 2000, 2 years after the events of the previous game. Another outbreak of monsters has occurred in an unnamed city (though it looks like someplace in Italy.) AMS agents James Taylor and Gary Stewart must go and slaughter a bunch of zombies. A typical functional but unspecial plot. But hey, it's got ZOMBIES. Graphics: No complaints here; they still look good. Unlike with the predecessor, the home ports of HOTD2 look exactly like the arcade version, except for maybe the version on HOTD3 (I swear it looks slightly weird.) Sound: Love the music, though I don't like how it restarts whenever you pause. The sound effects probably weren't topnotch at the time, but they do the job serviceably. The voice acting though is TERRIBLE. In #1, the script was alright, but the acting wasn't. This time, the script is bad, and the actual acting is laughable (which you will be doing, unless you're narcoleptic or something.) Difficulty: RIDICULOUS. In fact, I'm updating the VC3 review now because I used the good assessment. This game makes Time Crisis look like a walk in the park. Which would probably make this something like a shootout during a high-speed car chase down a tunnel with pulsating walls of blood which drain your life being followed by ninjas in Ferraris with mounted rocket launchers. It took a whole heap of effort and time to beat it on the lowest difficulty with maximum lives and continues. I'm not ashamed to admit that I broke my "always play on the hardest setting" rule and dropped the difficulty... eventually all the way down. I STILL haven't cracked hardest. Thank God I never played this in the arcade. If you live for challenges, you've got one. Gameplay: Frantic blasting at it's best. If you can stand the difficulty that is. No gimmicks, just intense shooting. Replay: Oodles and oodles. You probably won't beat this on your first (50) trie(s) anyway. There are a bazillion path branches throughout the game. There are 3 different endings, based on how well you do. Getting the best will take some skillz. There's also different dialog based on who you are or single/two players, for what that's worth. Homeport also has additional modes like the arcade scenario with powerups (Original mode), a boss battle mode, and 'training' sessions. In short, a LOT. Writing the walkthrough was a bitch and was why this game took so long to get a section. Rant Session: The first game managed to escape this section due to its lack of seriousness. The same theory applies here, but SEGA let their guard down this time and the game has some exploitable flaws. Like the idiot who provided the subtitles. Aside from no concept of whether sentences should end with periods, question marks, or exclamation marks, (though in later works he would simply use exclamation marks) character names are randomly capitalized for no logical reason and there are a few errors. In a similar vein, the home port features a new introduction bringing the player up to speed on the events of the previous House Of The Dead. In this case, the words on the screen are actually narrations and not subtitles. However, the images should have have sufficed. "The Curien case... 2 AMS agents Rogan and G... Atrocious monster one after another... Formidable Enemy... Fragmented sentences... What awaited them at the end..." On another note, how come everyone avoids talking about the fate of the city? They always say things like 'chaos' or 'confusion' without mentioning the ZOMBIES. For example, they say "Go and prevent the confusion in the city." rather than "Go stop the fucking monsters from killing people." It's all one big conspiracy to cover up the zombies I tell you. Let's take a gander at those character profiles, shall we? James Taylor: "He is always cool and rational, never relying on intuition or guesswork. He accepts facts as they are and deals with them accordingly, like a computer." In other words, pretty fucking stock. I guess the 'always cool' part explains the dull voice he always speaks in. Am I getting a hint of G in him? Gary Stewart: "A kind young man, he doesn't yet know the contradictory nature of this world. He has a passionate and emotional side that comes out in every situation. Lacking experience... reckless... sometimes causes problems with James." Ah, a naive rookie? Clashes with his partner? So far so good. "Emotional side that comes out in every situation"? Certainly not in this one. Harry Harris: "In his late thirties or early forties, nationally unknown. He does not like to discuss the past... He always wears sunglasses to ensure his feelings remain inscrutable." Ooh, he's got the mysteriousness going for him. Well, they needed to replace G. One thing though: wearing sunglasses don't really camouflage your emotions. You'd need to wear a full ski mask (with your sunglasses covering the only openings) or something to get that effect. And then, you'd give off the wrong effect. Actually, it'd probably be the right effect cause you have serious issues. Anyway, his name is Harry Harris!?! No wonder he hasn't spoken since 7th grade. If any of you out there plan to become parents sometime in the future, DON'T ever give your child a first and last name that is practically the same, like Mike Micheals, or Mario Mario. What would that make Wario anyway? Is he part of the family? He'd be Wario Mario. A rival relative? Then he'd be Wario Wario. I guess Waluigi would follow the same reasoning and be Waluigi Mario or Waluigi Wario, if he's Wario's brother. Maybe he's actually Waluigi Waluigi. Am I getting off track again? Sure, it may seem clever or cute at the time, but it's irresponsible parenting. Any parent who does this to his/her child should be immediately arrested for child abuse and a new name assigned for the baby. Rhyming names are also discouraged. And why is the red blood always need to be unlocked for the home ports? It's nothing major really, but it's really quite silly. Bottom Line: Very difficult but arguably the best shoot-em-up out there. It was voted into the top 100 games list of Game Informer by readers (it was #98, but no other game of the genre made the list.)

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	All HTML/web design copyright 2005 stickghost. All rights reserved. The House Of The Dead and all related items are the property of SEGA.

All HTML/web design copyright 2005 stickghost. All rights reserved. The House Of The Dead and all related items are the property of SEGA.