Not so much house of the dead.. Roadtrip of the dead maybe? (The House Of The Dead: Overkill (Wii))

Member Name: Hexxen

Product:	The House Of The Dead: Overkill (Wii)
Date:	05/03/09 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, Good Graphics, Incentive to replay, Worthy addition to the series

Disadvantages: Swearing/Suggestiveness at times may offend

House of the Dead, known for it's 3 or 4 arcade "pump major pound coins into me!" style cabinets strewn everywhere in past years as well as some home conversions now shambles it's brain feasting self onto the Wii. At first i was a little dubious as to how this would actually play, having played Umbrella Chronicles which is in the same vein but Resident Evil's go at an on-the-rails shooter but i have to admit after a very short while this game really does grow on you.

I have played the others in the series and have very fond memories of standing at arcade cabinets trying to pour as many pound coins as i could to get me past that damn Curien thingy boss at the end of the original. This carries on that with a very surreal stylisation that this is some 1970's horror movie down to twists, voice-overs, video quality, cheesy acting, you name it it's in here to try and make it authentic. It does a good job too, really the only links between this game and the others is that you shoot zombies as your moved through the stages complete with massive boss battles that require precision at the right time and the character G.

One big that has you coming back for is the introduction that you can have 2 guns at once and swap them between whenever you like, useful to stop you getting caught reloading when one or multiple zombies jump up in front of the screen with no warning. Going through the stages with better accuracy and picking up all the powerups that are dotted about net you points which you can then spend in the Gun shop to either buy 1 of about 7/8 weapons, ranging from pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, machine guns or once these are in your possesion you can upgrade certain aspects of them e.g. - Damage, Rate of Fire, Clip Size etc so it has a certain element in place to warrant you blasting your way back through these levels to make life easier. On top of this completing the main game nets you a "Directors Cut" version of the other one which is essentially the same game but with deleted scenes and any number of added bits and added monsters but you can carry your guns into this to make it easier which is a nice touch, not to put your hard work to waste.

I have to comment on the graphics because i am a little bit of a stickler when it comes to Wii games, i'm one of these people that takes gameplay over graphics everytime being a fan of many old school RPG's this was generally standard fair but a lot of Wii games in my opinion dont do them justice, they either look quite washed out at times or very flat due to the power difference in the machine vs the 360 and PS3 rivals. The graphics in this game are quite possibly one of the best Wii games i've seen up to date, it really does play well and looks great to boot, strong defined stylised - it has any number of good points in this department and really looks the part.

I also cant leave the review without at least hinting on the 18 certificate, while this is fairly unknown for Wii games this one certainly makes sure it earns it. You have a certain amount of zombie blood and guts as you'd expect from a shooter like this but where it really excels itself is... the swearing. Overkill has absolutely incredible amounts of swearing in it, mainly in the cutscenes between our 2 heroes Washington and G. Fulfilling every sort of stereotype our african american have a go cop hero can and will drop the F bomb in every single other word! This is where i would pretty much recommend anyone who does not like excessive toilet humor or completely excessive over the top swearing, it's possibly not the game for you. It does serve it's purpose to be fair and does not feel that out of place but it could very easily offend anyone who doesn't like that sort of thing.

An extremely good game that in theory for any HOTD buffs out there fits in plot wise before the 1st game in the series as G's first outing as an AMS agent. I would recommend it for anyone who is a fan of shooters and would like to sit back on their couch and shoot lots of zombies, but it really is *strictly* an adult game at heart.

Summary: Great adaption and a very Tarantino-ish effort to add the cult classic series of House of the Dead