Play It:
For the arcade, XBox, PC, and Wii (as part of The House Of The Dead
2 And 3 Return).
Story:
The future... is a very bad fucking place to live. James and Gary cleaned
up the streets of some unknown city, but it was just the first of many
epidemics of the walking dead. And other nasty things too. The entire
world is quickly infested with monsters and humanity is almost annihilated.
50 years later, the AMS is no more, but several surviving agents (including
Rogan and G) join other armed forces to try to reclaim the earth. A
single facility is determined to be the origin of the creatures. Rogan
leads a mission into the facility, but all goes awry. Now, Rogan's daughter
Lisa and agent G go in to find him...
Nothing outstanding, but let's face it, what could possibly explain
the zombie apocalypse? The grim future is a nice touch. The war has
been lost, but maybe the humans can salvage the planet. Also, there
is also a little (but just a smidgen) of internal conflict going on
within the characters. It's a joke to compare it to the likes of Final
Fantasy, but it's nice SEGA has tried to bring some character development
to the lightgun genre. May this become something more.
Graphics:
Great. The game is a few years old, but they still look great. I especially
love the Blade-esque disintegration of the enemies.
Sound:
Another overall high point. The zombies now moan, and other enemies
make unsettling sounds when killed... All in Dolby surround sound. Granted,
a lightgun shooter is not the best candidate for it, but it's still
nice. Music is well composed though not particularly memorable. As for
voice acting, that is a very mixed bag. The quality of the script is
much better, although a few stinkers slip in. The voice acting is actually
decent, but still wooden. However, the script tries for a more emotional
impact, which only makes the acting sound even worse. The Dr. Curien
flashback actor does a good job, but everyone else...
Challenge:
Nowhere near as high as #2, and less than #1 as well. The home port
lessens the challenge even more by featuring AUTOMATIC RELOADING. Worse,
it's always on, and not a selectable option. Although the reloading
is not instantaneous and rewards strategic use, it still makes the game
way easier since nobody has to the willpower to simulate normal reloading
(I try.) What kind of blasphemy is this? However, the Very Hard difficulty
is apt, though still probably about as rough as #1's Easy. Keep the
difficulty cranked up for maximum fun, though veterans will probably
blaze through. Finally, are there any lightguns for the XBox that DON'T
feature burst and auto-fire?
Replay:
The biggest disappointment here. The previous games had loads of paths
to try. Here, there's only 2 ways through most levels, with the remainder
having only 1. On the flipside, there are now 4 endings, and they ain't
easy to get. A letdown from previous games, but this is still a lot
more replay than your average shooter.
Enjoyment:
It may not (and doesn't) unseat #2, but the game is still a blast. What's
more, it even has House Of The Dead 2 on the disk as well! If you don't
have a Dreamcast (you bastard), you get 2 great games for one. There's
one problem with the arcade cabinet: though wielding a shotgun is unquestionably
badass, they are also not as light as say, a handgun. Once this kid
put his money in the machine and took the gun off the handle. Immediately,
both of his legs snapped, causing him to go down and the weapon crushed
his stomach, collapsing both lungs in the process. I was going to get
help when I lost, but he was already dead by that time, so I just used
his credit to continue. You'll feel like you've been PT'ing for hours
after beating the game.
Homeport offers you a choice. There's Madcatz blasters for blasting
with ease. Those who miss the feeling of the shotgun can use the Pelican
sniper rifle (with the barrel, scope, and stock removed, it's just like
a shotgun, complete with a pump.) Unfortunately, the port suffers slightly
due to the lack of a first-party lightgun. However, the Madcatz blaster
is about as close as you could get to an 'official' gun since it was
specifically made for the game (well, yeah, it was the only gun game
back then) and even advertised on the box, so there was definitely a
deal between SEGA and Madcatz. Still, the gun is not as good as any
gun SEGA (or Konami or Namco for that matter) has made. With the shotgun
spray, the gun's imperfections are pretty much negated, but when you
play the included House 2, the flaws are immediately noticeable.
On that note, the second title is perfectly preserved in this game and
features all the Dreamcast exclusives. The only difference is you don't
have to unlock the ability to select red blood. However, the graphics
seem to have warped in the translation. They just don't look
quite right. Plus, the Madcatz blaster isn't the best weapon for the
precision required in this game.
Rant Session:
After somehow pinning down the single facility responsible for the end
of the world, an assault force led by Rogan goes in. Naturally, shit
goes down and only 2 people survive, Rogan and some guy named Dan Taylor
(related to James, perhaps?) Dan basically exists to provide a second
player for the first chapter. They are somehow snuck up on by a elephant-sized
beast that makes the ground shake and get knocked out. Taylor is never
seen or even mentioned again, so I guess he dies. Depending on how you
look at it, he's either a character who gets screwed over, or he's cannon
fodder that doesn't go out like a chump.
So what happens when an assault team goes down? You send in 2 more agents
for a rescue... 2 WEEKS afterwards. Very timely rescue mission guys.
They locate Rogan and his mysterious ally, who have also apparently
been sitting in a room twiddling their thumbs for 2 weeks.
Interestingly, SEGA seemed to be doing their damnedest to make the matter
of Lisa's mother not indicate any specific ending of #1. In #1, Rogan
was engaged to Sophie, who may have lived or died (but usually died)
depending on the ending. Lisa clearly does have a current mother according
to the dialog, but she's never named. Lisa's age is 20, which would
place her birthdate anywhere between just before or after the Curien
incident. So Lisa could be a result of some celebratory sex following
massive zombie killing, or she could have been born before the whole
incident, so Sophie could still be the mother even if she died. Or maybe
Rogan just found someone else...
Oh well, it's awfully hard to point out flaws in a series so outrageous
as this one, although now the zombies will occasionally actually BITE
you rather than punch/kick/headbutt/stab/whack/other you. Plus, SEGA
has taken my comments of #2 to heart* and kept this one relatively on
the straight and narrow. I don't really know what that means.
Bottom Line:
SEGA proves they've still got the goods (yes, they DO continue to make
games other than Sonic) with a superb shooter, which unfortunately doesn't
match the second. Can ya dig it?