House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

House of the Dead is one of SEGA's most prolific franchises to date. Whether it be in the arcades or on the consoles, House of the Dead has been around for years and has been at the forefront of light-gun gaming for years now. However, with recent iterations being unable to evolve the franchise beyond the potential that still lies in the genre, it's fallen on Headstrong Games to provide a new outlook and a total revamp to the series. And so we get House of the Dead: Overkill, one of a collection of titles from SEGA, collectively known as 'The Big 3', which are set to prove that mature games can be done on the Wii and that people want to play them. But is this the mature game that people have been waiting for? Or does it do little to reinstate the credentials of a somewhat dying franchise?

Gameplay

The House of the Dead series is renown for giving some of the best light-gun action available in the genre, be it on an arcade cabinet or on a console. So it comes as no surprise that this title doesn't stray too far from the series' roots. Overkill represents the first title in the series which has not been tied to an already existing arcade release and it represents a long partnership between SEGA and Headstrong Games in the hope of rejuvenating the series to its former glory. The game plays out slightly different to the other titles. Headstrong Games have actually tried, and for the most part succeeded in, incorporating a story to the game. You play as Agent G, a member of the AMS, who is out investigating why everyone has turned into zom.... I mean mutants. That is one change in the title: that they are now mutants and not zombies. Accompanied by Samuel Jackson clone Isaac Washington, the two set off to find out the cause of the outbreak and cure it one bullet at a time. You'll be introduced to other characters as you progress through the game, such as Papa Caesar, the psychotic mad man involved in the outbreak, and Varla Guns, the rather large chested female protagonist who looks like she's been lifted from some pornographic film, and each one adds to the story as you delve deeper into it to unravel the cause of the outbreak.

The game spans across 7 levels, taking in many of the genres favourite locales, such as the creepy, dilapidated house and an accident and emergency ward of a hospital. While 7 levels may not sound like much, for the style of game you get, it serves as a nice amount of level to sink your teeth into and with each level you get a different theme. One of the big differences between this title and the other iterations is the 'Grind House' styling that the game has been decked out in, with each of the 7 themed levels taking a swipe at many 70's grindhouse movies. The 7 levels will take you about 3 hours or so to run through on the standard campaign, which might not sound like much but for a light-gun title is pretty good. And once you complete the standard campaign, you unlock the Director's Cut, which is an uncut version of the game adding some nice extras to each level. The game also boasts a nice armory of weapons which you can buy and upgrade to ease your progression through the levels although you'll never find it difficult to complete a level, a slight downside to this title, but you can choose to add extra mutants to the level and thus increasing the difficulty. Accompanying this are various unlockables in the form of music, posters and 3d art work which work in a similar way to the achievement system incorporated into Smash Bros. Brawl. And to cap it off, there are a few mini-games thrown in there as well. These things add longevity to a game which, to many, may seem very short and lacking on features. The game is rated as an 18 and as soon as you start it up you can see why. The F-bomb is thrown about a lot and there is plenty of blood and shooting off limbs along with some generally disgusting and disturbing scenes. This certainly isn't the kind of title you'd let your 3 year old nephew play.

Controls

The controls for the game are very simple. You point the Wiimote at your TV screen and press the B button to shoot. When you need to reload, you shake the controller or press the B button when you have an empty clip. The 1 and 2 buttons are used for weapon mapping so you can swap between the two weapons you can carry, although it seems like an awkward place to map them especially if you want to change weapons while you are being encroached upon by mutants. However, that aside, the controls work superbly and are very responsive, even when using one of the various gun shells available for the Wiimote (for review purposes, I was using the hand cannon which I strongly recommend to complete the OTT experience) and really couldn't be improved upon anymore.

Graphics

The graphics and styling of the title are what have garnered it a lot of attention. With this title, the guys at Headstrong Games decided to create a homage to 70's grindhouse movies and so the game is done in a similar vain. You'll see huge poster art screen shakes and flickers and film scratches, recreating the whole grindhouse feel to the game. In game, character models are well done, showing a good amount of detail on both the mutants and the main characters behind the guns. The levels are all nicely laid out and, even though the grindhouse filter clouds some of the work, it all looks superb. The attention to detail when shooting is another nice touch. Arms and legs can be shoot off leaving huge splatters of blood on the walls and on the screen and windows can be shot out. However, for all of the pluses the game brings with its superb graphics and style, the game does have some problems which can dog some of the levels. Slowdown and frame rate issues, while not entirely game ruining, can really detract from the whole experience and the game also suffers from some severe darkness issues, which cannot be alleviated due to the lack of brightness control, which is a real shame as some of the levels look great but it'd be nice if you could see properly where the mutants are coming from.

Sound

This is another area of the game where it takes influences from the grindhouse movie genre. The music falls into the rock genre providing some catchy tunes for you to shoot along to and the music accompanying the game through the menus, much like the speech, is very OTT. The dialogue is very over the top and while some may find it irritating to hear the F-bomb for the twentieth time in a cutscene, it's done in a tongue and cheek way and is very laughable, much like the scripting which provides adequate comedic happenings to bring a smile to many a gamers' face, even if it is a guilty one.

Final comments

House of the Dead: Overkill had been built up quite a lot as the title that'll sedate the hardcore and give them what they've been wanting. And for the most part it does fill that hole in the software where there are no adequate mature titles. However, it's also very short and many gamers may be unhappy at having spent the money they have on the title. That being said, the game itself is a fantastic reboot for the series and while the game does have some teething problems these can easily be overlooked and will possibly be ironed out with further titles in the series should Headstrong Games be allowed to continue to carry the mantle for SEGA.

Pro: Grindhouse style is fantastic as are the levels, controls are superb
Con: Some slowdown/framerate and darkness issues
Final score: 8.5

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