It's like "Shaun of the Dead" for the DS (The Dead 'n' Furious 'n' Game (DS))

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	The Dead 'n' Furious 'n' Game (DS)
Date:	11/01/09 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good graphics (although drab colours), it's now really cheap

Disadvantages: Gun loading is tiresome, easy, won't last too long, little re-play value

The shoot em up game of my youth had to be the arcade version of House of the Dead, produced by Sega. This game was a first person shooter and armed with a light gun you had to shoot all the zombies as they appeared (some slowly strolled up from the distance, whereas others would appear by jumping out in front of you) and leave the House of the Dead alive.

The original game was a fast paced blood bath that anyone could play. Whilst most people could enjoy the game and complete early levels by wildly shooting at the screen completing it was a different matter and accuracy was the key in doing this.

When I saw Dead 'n' Furious (also known as 'Touch The Dead') I thought it would be worth a go. Whilst the light gun has been replaced with the stylus, which has decreased the amount of skill required some what, I thought that it would still be worth renting for a night.

****Story line****

The game starts with Rob Steiner, a prisoner being held at Ashdown Hole State Penitentiary, suddenly being released from his cell. Playing as Rob you find that the prison appears empty and a pistol in the bathroom, which is going to be required to get out of the prison alive.

As you make your way to freedom zombies appear from nowhere and all are intent on stopping you from reaching the outside world. This turns in to an each man for himself scenario and you do whatever is needed to accomplish your goal.

****Controls and game play****

This game uses only the touch screen and the stylus. The directional pad, A, B, X, Y buttons and the L and R shoulder buttons are not used at all.

The DS automatically controls the movement of Rob allowing you to concentrate on shooting the zombies, which is achieved by tapping the zombies with the stylus.

Other than tapping with the stylus the only other movement is that of reloading the gun, which is a drag and drop action. Whilst this should be simple it is a quite cumbersome, slow and not always responsive, which is not good when you have an army of zombies fast approaching and no bullets in your gun, although it does add a bit of tension to the game.

The gun clip contains 8 bullets and it soon gets to the point whereby you have to reload your gun clip after every zombie kill, so you spend more time reloading your gun than actually killing the zombies. This feels unnatural and is a major low point of the game.

During the game you can get other weapons but these are limited to a crow bar (which is used by swiping the stylus across the touch screen and is pretty much useless), a shotgun and a sub-machine gun. These two guns are a lot more potent and ammunition is in short supply but can be found in various crates around the prison.

There are four chapters that need to be completed and at the end of each chapter there is a 'boss' type zombie that is bigger, more powerful and requires a lot more shots to kill. It's your typical 'old skool' theme and is not original in anyway.

There are parts of this game whereby the tactic is to 'save' ammunition and the way of doing this is to ensure that the zombies are shot in the most efficient manner. Whilst belly shots, arm shots and leg shots will kill a zombie eventually the quickest way is with the headshots. At the end of each level you will be given some statistics confirming the percentage of each type of shot as well as overall accuracy.

The range of zombies is very limited and can be classified as 'thin' zombie of 'fat' zombie. Whilst some zombies will take off their heads and throw them at you, making them a bit more difficult to kill, the other zombies take the same number of shots.

There are non-zombie things to kill such as rats, bats and crocodiles in some places these do not add much more variety to the game at all.

The game play is extremely repetitive and whilst it is fun at first it gets tiresome very quickly. There is nothing in this game that gets you hooked and entices you to carry on playing it to completion.

****Graphics****

The graphics are 3 dimensional and quite good although the colours are drab, un-inspiring and the environment consists of corridors and rooms off corridors. There is very little variety, which is a sham because the producers have missed a trick here.

The zombies themselves are very blocky and do not look threatening, although there is blood when they are shot.

****Audio****

The audio is very poor and the sound effects consist of gunshots, reloading the gun clip, footsteps, grunts and groans.

As well as being limited in nature the sound is not clear or crisp and adds nothing to the game at all.

****Difficulty****

This game is not difficult at all. All it relies on is tapping the zombies, therefore, all that's needed is quick reflexes and the ability to load the gun

****Longetivity****

Providing you can see it through to completion, this game will keep you amused for just a few hours.

I am glad that I rented this game because once it was completed I would not play it again. There is no need to go try and complete it since other than increasing your accuracy there is nothing else you can do. You cannot unlock additional features or mini games or collect special features or anything like that.

****Price & availability****

At the time of writing Dead 'n' Furious can be bought from Ebay for £9.49 (excluding P&P) and from Lovefilmshop for £26.93 (excluding P&P).

The price differential is quite substantial and if you are considering buying this game then it is definitely worth shopping around.

****Conclusion****

This is a poor adaptation of House of the Dead and, in my opinion, a game worth dismissing.

The graphics are OK but the colours are dull and drab, there is no variation in zombie types, the sound is poor and the game play is very repetitive and un-inspiring. Even if you can manage to see it through to completion it will only take a few hours.

This game involves quick reflexes, good hand eye co-ordination and the ability to reload the gun clip quickly, although given the way it works the latter will be difficult, if not impossible to achieve. There is no skill involved at all, and consequently this game would be suitable for gamers of all age groups and abilities, but whether you would want to play it is another story......

Summary: There was no way that this game was going to work on the DS