House of the Dead: Overkill Review

[Toastfarmer]

House of the Dead: Overkill Review by Toastfarmer

Wii Review: Overkill or undercooked?

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[Azza]

Yeah, a Flame-thrower WOULD rock, but nothing beats dual-wielding Assault Rifles, for maximum fun.
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Facebook | Youtube | XBL Gamertag: Comrade Azza | Steam ID: Comrade_Azza

[Skiller]

It's an awesome game, if you want a rail shooter and you don't mind violence, swearing or rather disturbing plots IMO it's a must buy. And definatly get the bang bang box, it comes with TWO "hand cannon" gun enclosures for the wiimotes that work brilliantly and feel about as close to real guns as you can get for bits of plastic. There's also aparently a dual wield mode you can unlock to play with 2 guns at once

Personally for a wii rail shooter I'd give it 92/100, the only thing letting it down is it's shortness, though directors cut is a bit longer and it's fun to play through multiple times, and occasionally the framerate will drop a bit (but so far not when it's mattered).

BTW this game has one of the most disturbing songs I've ever heard, it's about a guy "making love" to a zombie, very disgusting but also rather funny

[waz79]

little harsh, after reading it i dk why its only a 7.5

Most people agree that it is the best on rails shooter ever, and its only a 7.5

[Jarrod]

One should note that the replay value of score based games varies significantly from person to person. Someone who is really into the on-rails scene of games and loves racking up 100% accuracy perfect combos for an entire level will find a lot more value here than someone who's just in it for the face value.
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[Jaws]

If you enjoy quality games, like on the rail shooters and would get a kick out of the lowbrow humour and exploitation style content, I would seriously recommend getting this.

As Skiller has mentioned, don't go past the Boom Boom Box edition of the game that includes the patented AMS Hand Cannons.

[tootie_kicks]

[Emuaust]

[waz79]

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[microbomb]

Agreed. I don't need to go to Arcades just to play House of the Dead. I can now enjoy playing it at home Definitely a must buy!

[Gnomey]

[moonhead]

Picked this up today, i have to say it's one of the more enjoyable games i've got on the wii. I feel it actually makes use of the wiimote in such a way that couldn't be (easily) replicated on the other 2 systems.

Although in saying that, it does hightlight all of the shortcomings of the wii. This would be a great game to have achievments on, i know there are unlockables, but it just doesnt feel the same. Also this would be great online, not sure how possible it is with such a fast paced style......

Oh and the graphics look, ummm yeah, "old school". I think they (the developers) have done the best they could with what they had though.

All in all, i would highly recommend this game. If you have got a wii, get it, but make sure you pick up the hand cannon accessory as well. Really makes it feel just right.

[theory]

[Jaws]

[Darius]

Well, based on the review / comments on the game here and on the Penny Arcade forums, I decided I should buy myself a copy. I forked out $100 at the local Harvey Norman (JB Hifi, GAME and EB had all sold out) for the Bang Bang Edition and was pretty damn happy with the look of the plastic addons. I've read complaints about the weight balance with the hand-cannons and I haven't had a problem with them. They feel good to me :)

Right after buying it I took it over a mates place and we had a go at it - I didn't give them any info other than to tell them it was a gun game.

We were amused by the random voiceover comments, as well as eager to start blasting zombies. Unfortunately, being light-gun game nubs, we didn't calibrate the software first so my mate was complaining about inaccuracy. I like to use a lazy shoot from the hip style so I never really noticed the pointing aspect.

An initial difficulty was that we weren't able to recognise the delay in reloading very easily as we were constantly spamming bullets at any and every zombie that appeared. He felt like the controls were poor since they didn't respond as he expected. I figure if he knew the limitations he may have enjoyed it more.

When I set it up at home later, I'd had time to read the manual to see you could calibrate the screen in-game (I was thinking I'd have to use an online tool to work out the distances for where to put my sensor bar to 'calibrate' it). This improved things a bit for people that like to poitn, but as a lazy person, I went back to shooting from the hip anyway. I should probably have used the shotgun more but I loved the pistol for its large clip and headshot damage.

I also read the manual more and started understanding the game valued accurate shots over frenzied bullet spam, so I tried to curb my instinct to bullet spam and to instead take half a second to aim at each zombie head. I could swear there are times where the hit detection is faulty, but without taping it and working it out the more likely explanation is that I'm a newb at this stuff still. I've got myself to psychotic a few times and that was lots of fun - still gotta work at my accuracy and play when I'm not really tired to stand a chance of progressing to a goregasm.

I've also played this game a bit with my brother. Like me, he's really enjoyed the vibe of the game and is damn excited to play with some friends.

I finished the director's cut solo. Initially, it was really hard as you have to develop your focus and go after the zombie heads - you don't have much cash to upgrade your weapons so you're much more reliant on headshots. Later on I had the cash to use a fully upgraded handcannon and it became much, much easier, as the enemies now died from body shots. Still, the challenge is there for me to get headshots and highscores I've probably given the game a good 12 hours at least and still find myself wanting more and wanting to share it with my friends.

I'd rate this game higher than a 7.5. I think an 8.5 is more reflective of this game's quality. It is fun to play, and fun enough to have replayability (unlocking new weapons as well as creating new high scores appeals to me). The Bang Bang Edition is definitely something you'll want to show your friends, and if the reloading / rate of fire mechanisms are explained beforehand, it seems like the kind of game people new to the genre (like myself) would be able to enjoy easily. I'm going to try introducing a few more friends to it in coming weeks - they'll get to enjoy some of the unlocks and upgrades I didn't have with a fresh profile.