Preview – House of the Dead: Overkill

In the arcades, House of the Dead (HOTD) is renowned for its fast paced, zombie shooting action. Throughout the 4 part series, the light gun technology and visuals have evolved with the gameplay, making HOTD a beloved arcade franchise. 2008 saw Sega bring the series, along with Arcade smash Ghost Squad to the Wii, Zapper mode included. House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return was surprisingly enjoyable, despite some technical issues in the ports, and so it’s good to see an original game making its debut on Wii in 2009. Overkill may be a new title, but will it be as enjoyable as the arcade versions

The biggest change that has taken place with this version of the classic series is the style of the game. Taking cues from horror B-Movies, Overkill is stylised throughout. From faux posters of movies on the wall, to the cheesy dialogue, this style is a perfect fit for the franchise. The game has always been tongue and cheek, but this distinct style is set to make Overkill feel even more fresh and original. Just a quick look at one of the trailers released for the game so far will show you just where the developers are coming from with the design, from the famous horror movie voiceover guy lending his voice to the game, to the flash of words appearing on screen in classic font. Even the box art for the game is enough to show off the direction of the game, and this bodes well for Overkill when it’s eventually released.

But this is still a House of the Dead game, and so the focus is on unloading your weapon on a hoard of zombies. The basic gameplay hasn’t changed much from HOTD 4 in 2006, and headshots from your powerful shotgun are still the key to success. The graphics haven’t changed much either, with an updated House of the Dead 3 engine used for Overkill; it’s not a huge step up from 2 & 3 Return. This isn’t a huge problem, only adding to the style the game goes for.

The new additions to the game are very few and far between, but should be welcome changes to the franchise. In certain sections of the level-the game is full on rails still-you can look around outside of the set box of vision the game decides you should have. Very similar to the use of this Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, you can find hidden items, and other hidden extras to use for the rest of the game, which should make multiple playthroughs more interesting. The Wii remote is also set to be used to initiate Melee attacks, which should reduce the times where you are overwhelmed by so many zombies that you can’t continue. Both of these additions could make this one of the more interesting entries in the series in a long time. The game is set to be a bit longer than arcade length, so don’t be expecting a 12 hour epic. But the developers promise loads of reasons to want to go back over and over again.

For the first entry in the House of the Dead series to launch on a console before Arcades, Overkill is looking like it could be a great game. Not much has changed since 2 & 3 Return, but with the minor additions and the distinctive design style, they can’t go too far from the quality of the other games. It’s unknown whether there is enough replay value to warrant full price yet, as less than 2 hours is not enough content for a £40 game, but as it looks right now, most won’t be disappointed with House of the Dead: Overkill when it launches in early February.