Dead in the water (The House of the Dead III (Xbox))

Member Name: sympatic

Product:	The House of the Dead III (Xbox)
Date:	22/10/06 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ok if you have not played the previous two in the series

Disadvantages: Nothing new to offer and poor reload function.

House of the Dead III is a game I fund slightly disappointing as it did not really improve on the previous two games in the series and I was very glad that I had decided to rent it rather than purchase it. It is not a bad game and if you have not experienced the previous two versions then it is worth checking out but not if you have played either of these games.


For those new to the game this is very much based on the arcade shooter games that make use of a variety of increasingly larger and larger guns to play with as you blast your way through hordes of zombies that attack you. In this game you can either use the controller to aim your gun or invest in one of the many light guns available for use with the x-box.


The story of the game revolves around Lisa Rogan and G as they seek to rescue her father who is trapped in an industrial complex which is over run by the zombie creations of the evil Dr Curien.


Basically all you have to do in the game is blast away at everything that comes your way, you do not control your movement rather as you kill everything in sight you automatically advance until the next wave of zombies approach. All you have to do is fire at will and remember to reload your shotgun at regular intervals and also make sure that you shoot any health or ammo symbols that appear.


Part of the reason I may not have enjoyed this game quite so much is that I find my light gun does not seem to be very accurate and also has the tendency to automatically reload itself when I do not ant it to, this means that I’m unable to shoot while it does this which is not good and ultimately results in you taking more hits than is necessary.


Visually this is a good game, there is a great deal of variety in the zombies that you face and some are a lot harder to kill than others and some of the boss battles can be quite difficult as they require direct hits to the head to stop their advance. There is also a satisfying amount of goo when they take a hit with limbs and other bodily parts falling off or just disintegrating.


In summary this is not a bad game it is just that it does not really bring anything new to the table and as such it has very little replay value however getting to the end will release a hidden version of House of the Dead II so you sort of get two games for the price of one.

You can buy this game at Amazon for £9.00 in the new and used section but my advice would be to rent as it is a very average game.

Summary: Pretty aerage zombie shooter game.