Brainless blasting
An arcady zombie shooter that rots too quickly
House of The Dead, while not the juggernaut it once was, is a well established brain munching title in the horror genre. Alongside Resident Evil, this was the series that popularized zombie video games and reignited interest in the zombie genre as a whole during the late 90s. House of the Dead was surprisingly long-lived, having titles released well into 2018 with Scarlet Dawn. The series went into a brief hiatus until a remake was released in 2022. Ingeniously titled, House of the Dead: Remake.Â
House of The Dead’s story is stupid and delightfully wacky. Agent Rogan is tasked with investigating the Curien mansion. The mansion is over-run with mutant undead creatures. The evil Dr. Curien has engineered these creatures in an effort to destroy humanity to get revenge against all those who wronged him- How original. Being a huge fan of the original arcade game, I was happy to see this game make a return to consoles.
House of the Dead is light-gun-FPS, known for fast-paced and over the top violence. The horrors you face are something right out of Evil Dead. Enemies will ambush and try to make a human hamburger helper meal out of you.These are not just your granddad’s zombies. Smooth dressed funkadelic enemies will toss knives, spiders and maggots will try and lay eggs in your esophagus and Giant blobs will use a chainsaw to carve you up like a Christmas goose. The boss fights in this game are just as delightfully cheesy and memorable as ever. Giant flying bats and knights in shining armour are fought in that classic arcade style- Attack enemies weak spot for massive damage. While armed with standard pistols, a variety of other weapons can be unlocked; Crossbows, grenade launchers, assault rifles, etc- to blast these abominations into oblivion. There are some alternative routes to take, people to save, alternate endings and secrets to discover, giving this game some semblance of replayability. There is no light-gun accessory, which means you will use the joysticks and buttons. It isn’t terrible, but it’s still kind of awkward. The Xbox version uses a USB mouse-control and the Playstation version uses the PS- move aim controls. Do they work? Wouldn’t know, I played the Switch version. Unlike the original, you don’t have to worry about running out of quarters. You have up to ten continues, and if you run out you can buy more with the points you earned. Seeing as you can alter the difficulty, this makes it all the more forgiving. However, the arcade mode is extremely short and once all the secrets and routes are taken, there isn’t much left to see or do.
The sound design and presentation are the highlights of this game. The music is cheeky and upbeat, something right out of a cliche horror-film of the 1950s. The sound effects when killing enemies are also satisfyingly morbid- hearing a splatter sound every time you get a head shot as you paint the walls with brain matter. The voice acting in the original is INFAMOUSLY abysmal. Some debate it might even be worse than the original Resident Evil. The remake opts to carry the tradition as the line delivery in this is intentionally terrible and off-key. Hearing a scientist beg for help with the same urgency as asking someone to hold an elevator door is freaking hysterical.
House of the Dead, while well designed, is seriously lacking. The arcade mode is a faithful retelling, but what worked in 1996 most certainly does not resonate in modern times. You can clear the entire game in the length of an episode of Seinfeld. There could have been so much more added to make for a fresh and exciting experience. The fact this game doesn’t even have an online mode is baffling. I do like this game, but it is too barebones. I would honestly wait until you can get it on sale, it’s not worth paying more than a few dollars. While it’s good to see the series still having relevancy, it’s a misstep and hopefully the remake of the second game can deliver. Grab a gun, blast some zombie scum and let them know your brain is not on the menu.
Mmmmm brainz,
Fil
https://opencritic.com/game/12984/the-house-of-the-dead-remake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Dead_(video_game)#Remake