House of the Dead: Overkill (The House Of The Dead: Overkill (Wii))

Member Name: chris212

Product:	The House Of The Dead: Overkill (Wii)
Date:	24/05/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to pick up, enjoy and play

Disadvantages: A short life span

House of the Dead: Overkill will be one of the most outrageous non-PC games you will ever play, but be warned it is not for the faint of heart and definitely not for those of a younger age.

House of the Dead: Overkill is the latest in the House of the Dead series, and continues in the same classic style of the arcade shooter. Previously, such a game would not have been as good to play, unless you were in an arcade and could hold a plastic gun, a normal controller could not compare. With the introduction of the Wii, playing arcade games has become increasing fun again at home, due to the Wii's motion sensing capabilities; with the introduction of the Hand Cannon (which is in its own separate review).

The story of main story part of the game, like all games is told through CGI cut scenes, that show Agent G and Detective Washington progressing through the game. The main story consists of the two lead characters chasing and hunting down a bad guy, Papa Cesar, that has released a biological agent that is transforming and bring back to life the local towns people. Hence forth the premise of the game, hunt down Cesar, while killing a hoard of roaming zombies that stand in your way. These zombies can range from doctors and nurses in a hospital to clowns at a carnival. It is evident that the game makes have taken their influence of the B movie horror genre, with a mixture of mainstream movies from the like of Quinten Tarrantino's Pulp Fiction.

A point that should be brought to the attention of any person that may want to purchase this game is the age rating, 18. The reason for this rating would soon become apparent to any person that starts the story mode and the very first game. For this reason I would not recommend this game to any person that easily offended, due to the language that is employed in this game. But then the person that would be looking to purchase a game like this, would not be of easily offended nature. But I would watch who was in the room when playing the game or who is within ear shot, such as young children.

The way the game works is that for every zombie killed the player earns points, if a player kills or hits zombies multiple time without missing or being hit by a zombie the player starts to built up a combo. There are 4 different combo levels, culminating in 'GoreGasom', by staying at this level it will earn the player more points. The reason these points are so important is that in between levels the player will have the opportunity to purchase new guns, these range from shotguns to assault rifles; or upgrade existing guns in areas such as damage inflicted and fire rate. Although if the player dies in the game, to be brought back to life, the player loses half of the points that they have collected in that level, a player can do this an unlimited amount of time, but leads to the player losing all their points for that levels so far.

Within the game itself, the graphics, in opinion are some of the best produced on the Wii, but obviously not up to the standard found on the PS3 or 360. There is a slight problem with the Wii control and the cross hair on the screen, as what sometimes happens is a slight lag in the movement from the Wii control to what is happening on the screen; although I would stress this is only minor.

I would recommend this game to any person that enjoys playing arcade shoot em ups, but don't be expecting to play this game forever. So far I have only played the game for two hours and I have completed 3 of the levels in the game so far, with only about 5 or so to go. The end boss of each level are not the hardest you will ever come up against, but I believe this also helps the game. What I have found is that the game is easy to pick up and start playing when you have a spare half hour on your hands, that you do not have to continue to play hour after hour. What I have found with this game is it a great stress reliever, as it does not require any great amount of concentration, especially if you want twenty minutes away from revising, as you just point and press the trigger. But I would not advise a person to purchase the game at full price, but to purchase at a sub £20.

Summary: Good time arcade shoot'um up