Retro|Spective 092: The House of the Dead

[Neon Ignition]

Light up your dead with...



Mainline Entry 01 - The House of the Dead
Formats: Arcade, PC and Saturn
A fairly simple thread this week because key changes within this franchise aren't numerous, it's a long running series born of this game that evolves as the underlying tech rather than the core concept being messed with often. The original game expanded on the success of Virtua Cop by introducing the then popular undead theme and better visuals. Played via the usual light gun system where players blast oncoming threats and reload by shooting off screen, you worked your way through the various stages before facing the coin hungry bosses.



Mainline Entry 02 - The House of the Dead 2
Formats: Arcade, PC, Xbox, Wii and Dreamcast
Spin Off Entry 01 - The Typing of the Dead
Formats: Arcade, PC, Playstation 2 and Dreamcast
The sequel was a direct affair, using a new engine to justify its existence. It was well received and Sega wasted little time producing an alternate version bizarrely using a keyboard to make tackling enemies a reaction timed typing test.



Spin Off Entry 02 - Zombie Revenge
Formats: Dreamcast and Arcade
It rarely gets credited as being part of the series but the game contains many references to THOTD and was originally to be directly names as such. This simple walk along beat em up let players also weild weapons as the took on waves of enemies through several stages.



Mainline Entry 03 - The House of the Dead III
Formats: Arcade, Xbox, PC, Wii and Playstation 3
The third game added branching paths and several gameplay alterations such as no longer having civilians to rescue. The game was to be cel-shaded but this effect was wound down as releases approached.



Spin Off Entry 03 - The Pinball of the Dead
Formats: Game Boy Advance
Nintendo handhelds draw pinball adaptations for some reason and THOTD was no exception. Based on the first two games this was oddly well received containing several tables and six boss battles to contend with.



Mainline Entry 04 - The House of the Dead 4
Formats: Arcade and Playstation 3
Spin Off Entry 04 - The House of the Dead 4 Special
Formats: Arcade and Playstation 3
Set between the second and third games, this fourth entry continued the action in traditional terms and had an extra stages expansion the following year with Special. The game was mostly notable for being one of the first to move to using a HDTV as its screen to showcase the new Lindbergh board visuals.



Spin Off Entry 05 - The Typing of the Dead 2
Formats: PC
As with the previous game, this used typing as the method of combat and adapted the events of THOTD3.



Spin Off Entry 06 - The English of the Dead
Formats: Nintendo DS
Mainline Entry 05 - The House of the Dead: Overkill
Formats: Wii and Playstation 3
This grindhouse themed game is canonically a prequel to the original game adding in a combo meter and selectable route environments. The PS3 version expanded the experience a little and used the Move controllers to aim.



Spin Off Entry 07 - The House of the Dead EX
Formats: Arcade
Comprised of mini-games this was a more light hearted title using the lightgun and a foot pedal to take on small challenges like stepping on bugs.



Spin Off Entry 08 - The Typing of the Dead: Overkill
Formats: PC
The third entry was made just for PC and adapts the grindhouse prequel in the same typing manner as previous games. This release also includes the original lightgun version as well.



Spin Off Entry 09 - The Darts of the Dead III
Formats: DARTSLIVE2 Platform
Mainline Entry 06 - The House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn
Formats: Arcade
Canonically the latest in the timeline, this recent sequel brings the series up to modern tech standards whilst continuing the traditional light gun gameplay the series is known for.



Share your thoughts and memories of the series

[Atticus]

I was never a massive fan of the series but had a few laughs in the pub shooting the Max Wall-bies, or Max Wall-kers, if you will

2 was very impressive on the Dreamcast. Felt proper next-gen that did. I quite liked 4 on PS3 too, but found the Move/camera/gun set-up to be too hit and miss. It sucks the Gun-Con was only compatible with Namco games. That one on the Wii was okay too, though not very hotd, not really.

But I was always a Virtua Cop guy. I prefer to pick my shots over firing frantically into the horde. Nice that Sega did something different though.

[Dogg Thang]

Aside from the pinball game (which was okay), I have only played the first three and they are all good. The second is my favourite by a long shot though. It is just choreographed perfectly, the pacing is great and the music is fantastic. The voice acting is atrocious but you can't have it all, I guess. I real light gun highlight for me. Perhaps my favourite gun game ever.

[Leon Retro]

I remember really liking the first game on the Saturn. Then the #2 on the Dreamcast really impressed me. After that, #3 on the Xbox is excellent, but I didn't have a gun.

The Pinball of the Dead on the GBA is really impressive, fun game. Easily one of my favourite games for the system.

I really need to explore other games in the series.

[fuse]

The voice acting is atrocious but you can't have it all, I guess.

"SUFFER LIKE G DID!"

*clears throat*

Wasn't even aware of some of those spin-offs; can't imagine the Darts-based one being anything but hilarious though. Imagine a superplay video on Youtube posted by Eric Bristow.

While they're not bad by any stretch, I didn't dig 3/4 so much, but mainly because 1/2 were so great - which is very much how I feel about Time Crisis, too. That said, Emperor in HotD2 can eat me. Can't remember where I read it now, but I hear that the brand new one, Scarlet Dawn, is meant to be pretty good, but also nigh-on-impossible to 1CC in the west as it doesn't have the IC card / internet access to allow the between-stage shop.

[wakka]

The second is my favourite by a long shot though. It is just choreographed perfectly, the pacing is great and the music is fantastic.

Yeah, I completely agree. It's a very well paced game that's consistently enjoyable to replay. The only thing that lets it down is how bullet spongey the final bosses are. It's kind of ridiculous how many hits Magician takes, and the boss rush on the final level is finger knackering!


I always find it hard to define in my own mind exactly what makes one lightgun better than another. They're so simple that there's a lot of subtlety to what makes Time Crisis 2 and HotD 2 massively fun again and again, and Vampire Night and Silent Hill generally pretty boring.


As for the rest of the HoTD series - the first one is fun but I've not played it that much. It disappeared from UK arcades so long ago (whereas 2 STILL hangs around) and I didn't own a Saturn till recently. The third one is alright. I've completed it a few times over the years in arcades, but neither the vibe nor the gameplay are as satisfyingly executed as in 2.


The fourth one is a good un, but I'd put it in the same category as 3. It's decent, but it's not cigar compared to the pacing of the first. I also just don't find waving an uzi around as satisfying as using a pistol (ever the problem with lightgun games that expand beyond the most basic peashooter, for me).


The Wii one is actually amazingly great. It was a really cool adaptation of the series - it's completely different to the other ones, to the point of being nothing to do with them really, but as a Western, home console take on the series, it's really satisfying. A lot of fun to play through and really very much a 'home' game rather than arcade one.


Pinball of the Dead I'd completely forgotten about but now really want to play.


And finally...Scarlet Dawn. Haven't played it. Don't believe there's a cab in London yet. Hopefully Namco Funscape will get it before too long. It looks terrific.

SUFFER LIKE G DID

Speaking of which, was anyone clear on Goldman's plan on HotD2? It seemed to be along the lines of:

1) Create zombies
2) ???
3) Profit

[Dogg Thang]

The pinball game is pretty good but it’s on a system that had Pokémon Pinball and Sonic Pinball Party, both of which outshine it. I have handy I think so might give it a go if my GBA has any charge.

[_SD_]

Absolutely love the second game, put many hours in on the Dreamcast port. Our local bowling alley had the big cabinet of the third game which was quite cool.

I really liked the Wii game, although I never expected to hear that sort of language on a Nintendo game…

I really miss lightgun games, they’re definitely one of my favourite genres.

[dvdx2]

I have a really nice house of the Dead 4 set up on my PS3 that I play fairly regularly. I remember the Japanese Import dc version arriving with light gun. I think that was the moment the term ‘arcade perfect’ really came to mind!

[wakka]

The pinball game is pretty good but it’s on a system that had Pokémon Pinball and Sonic Pinball Party, both of which outshine it. I have handy I think so might give it a go if my GBA has any charge.

I bought Pokemon Pinball on the WiiU on the basis of your and Dave Fallows’ recommendation. It’s a banger.

Will investigate Sonic Pinball Party.

</OT>

[Asura]

They're so simple that there's a lot of subtlety to what makes Time Crisis 2 and HotD 2 massively fun again and again, and Vampire Night and Silent Hill generally pretty boring.

Time Crisis 2 (in fact the entire TC franchise) works because it uses the same trick over and over. The game is a rapid fire test in threat assessment and target prioritisation. The colour of the enemies and the rate/pattern in which they appear creates a situation where, at a fast speed, you have to assess all of the targets, stack them in order of priority, and work from top to bottom, tempered with superb design concerning the distribution of targets onscreen (in a 2D manner, i.e. how much you have to move the gun to snap from target to target).

It's a clever formula that never ceases to be fun, and I would argue that Time Crisis 2 is its ultimate refinement. Consider this; if you replace Time Crisis 2's graphics with you shooting simple 2D shapes in those patterns, which attack you in the same manner, the game would still be really fun.

I'd argue that outside of the bosses, House of the Dead is very similar in terms of core gameplay, because you have to make similar judgements (this was its evolution from Virtua Cop, which works differently). However, I never enjoyed it quite as much, because the enemy design isn't as satisfying (it's meant to evoke horror, whereas in TC2 you're meant to feel powerful).

[QualityChimp]

Played all of these in the arcade at some point. What was that we were playing together in the London arcade, [MENTION=9465]Brad[/MENTION]?

I've definitely played that last one. It looks great and the zombie models look cool, but there's a lot of repetition of them.
Look at that pic. The same hat, waistcoat, blue shirt and brown shirt zeds repeated.

I'm not a massive fan as I've always found it unfair. Unblockable boss attacks and enemies appearing with very little chance to hit them.
If I took a hit in Time Crisis, it felt like my fault.
I didn't have a DC at the time, so I couldn't learn the patterns, I guess.

I call shenanigans on that potty-mouthed Typing of the Dead 2 picture, but I LOVE TotD 1, it taught me to touch-type and was a hell of a lot more fun than Mavis Beacon.
I'd come home from work and did 15 minutes of drills until I almost got there.

Any other the TotD games on Steam or GoG?

Cat food salesman.

[Dogg Thang]

I bought Pokemon Pinball on the WiiU on the basis of your and Dave Fallows’ recommendation. It’s a banger.

Will investigate Sonic Pinball Party.

</OT>

Sonic Pinball Party is pretty good. It has three tables. One of them is based on Samba de Amigo and I think it’s too basic and also rock hard. It has rhythm game parts with Sega tracks like the Burning Rangers theme and so on but I think it’s a weak table. However, the other two are really good. One is based on Sonic Advance and one is based on Nights Into Dreams. They both stay quite true to the game that inspired them and even change level and have boss fights as you work your way through them. A lot of fun. There is also a Chao Garden and some other minigames if I remember correctly.

[JazzFunk]

HOTD2 was soooooo impressive on DC, I think it always looks amazing, probably my fave DC game and one that took full advantage of the machine.

HOTD2&3 on Wii is also the nuts and really easy to find for pennies.

[ExMosquito]

The first game is one of my fav gungames, i used to rinse this so much in the arcades back in the day. I didn’t spend much time with the sequels unfortunately.


Here’s a 1-credit replay done with my dog Peaches AKA: Peach-O-

https://youtu.be/fXKYG_VxdYI