The House of the Dead III Review

The House of the Dead marked an important time in the history of Sega; arguably one of the last important arcade titles and perhaps marking the end of the light-gun genres finest hour, there’s no denying however that it signalled the change in Sega’s fortunes, from heavyweight Arcade developer and home console king to that of a third-party publisher facing dwindlinjg support in the arcade business.<br><br>House of the Dead III arrives exclusively on the Xbox and will please all fans of the series; following on from the <a href=http://www.totalvideogames.com/?section=Read%20News&id=3159&gameid=2231&format=000005>recent announcement</a> between Infogrames, Sega and ThrustMaster, it’s good to see gamers will be able to purchase a light-gun to give this game the full credibility that it deserves, unfortunately us mere journo’s have had to make do with joypads.<br><br>Set 20 years after the events in the first chapter; players initially take on the role of Rogan and new AMS recruit Dan Taylor, however it isn’t long before a sinister interruption and confrontation with a rather nasty security guard, that players switch to the role of G and Rogan’s daughter Lisa Rogan, as they attempt to uncover what happened to the pair.<br><br>Thankfully WOW’s sense of humour hasn’t left them, and we’re still treated to the same OTT acting and terrible dialogue that progresses the plot and provides a degree of light-entertainment amongst all the blood and gore – speaking of which, this game has an abundance of.<br><br>WOW has upped the action counter to No.11 on the dial with this one, placing more emphasis on guns blaring and action. Perhaps as a result of its home console designs, The House of the Dead III makes things a lot easier for the gamer playing at home without a weighty gun in their palms; to this extent manual reloading has been completely removed and there are no humans to watch out for, whilst you’re blasting away. Unfortunately this has had the effect of further dumbing down the gameplay, as the game is just about ramming that button or trigger as quickly as possible without having to worry about shooting civilians that pop up out of nowhere; it’s also had the adverse effect of removing the tension that was built up by having this element in the first two titles, HotD 3 is action all the way.<br><br>Thankfully WOW have upped the action ante so much that you’ll not miss out on these features; dozens of zombies fly at you from every direction as the game moves at a million mph; there’s literally never a spare moment to catch your breathe or think about the game.<br><br>Which ultimately leads onto the big debate about arcade titles making the home conversion; it’s not long before the end credits roll and interest in the game soon begins to dwindle. To make amends WOW have included The House of the Dead 2 as an extra bonus when you’ve completed the game, a move that will undoubtedly please fellow fans of the series, whilst the same multiple paths through a level will allow you to pick the game up a few times after initially completing it. Also included is a hilarious documentary on the forthcoming feature-length film; believe me you have to see this, the movie looks so bad it could end up being quite good! It would have been nice to see more extras make the game, we would have loved to see how the original cell-shaded version looked in action, and character bios or something along those lines wouldn’t go a miss.<br>The look of House of the Dead 3 is slightly disappointing, character models lack fine details on close inspection (although it’s still as satisfying to see their bodies blow apart in multiple ways) and there’s a sever lack of the special effects that we’ve become accustomed to on the Xbox. However the game does up the Zombie count to an immeasurable level, whilst the levels are extremely large and full of scenic touches.