Howyse Of Tha Deayehed 2: The Lowdown

QUICK NEWS: 

Former Bizarre Employees Create New Studio: Lucid Games - So they are alive again.

Also, MyGamerCard.net is down forever so I can't keep my perpetually updated X360 gamerscore up here anymore.  That really sucks when stuff goes down like this--slams the door shut in your face...

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And now for your feature presentation...

This is the game I alluded too a while back but let's talk about it since it's Sega's baby and all.  I'm focusing entirely on House of the Dead 2.  It was released in 1998 on Sega's Naomi arcade board.  Crazy Taxi also used the Naomi board but Daytona 2/Scud Race did not (Model3 board).  HotD2 received numerous ports, but I'm playing this on the Nintendo Wii using the Perfect Shot gun:

It's not bad but after a while of pulling the trigger, it feels like I'm straining to push the button because of friction.  Also, about gun calibration--it's not too bad, there's an option to set it in menu (I missed it before), but it's not 100% perfect.  Good enough I suppose since there's an aiming reticule on the screen which helps.  Main problem is that I must sit at least 15 feet/5 meters away from the TV for the gun to pick up.  What a piece of crap.

But about House of the Dead itself...I can't admit to playing these games a lot.  It's dark, depressing, but at least it makes up for it with corny comic relief.  Also, it arrived before this tidal wave of zombie-related games(Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption, Dead Rising, etc.) so it gets a pass here.

When it comes to light games, I've played lots of Time Crisis 2, 3, & 4 and those are definitely stellar, but the nauseating feeling of having to duck when you see that red flash gets on my nerves.  In HotD, you can't avoid attacks, but at least you can see them coming unlike in crap Atari/Midway gun games like Area 51 where the enemy jumps out and you get hit for no reason.  To reload, you aim the gun off the screen although you're stuck with this six-shooter pistol always.  Oh crap, reach for the Double Tap Root Beer!  So HotD is pretty good IMO.

When it comes to killing zombies, headshots are your best bet.  There's some areas where you get hit in the face with a bunch of bad guys so you need to get headshots or you get hit.  It's kind of cool to shoot guys and see them get blown apart.  Enemies include zombies, axe-wielding zombies, army commando zombies, knife-throwing zombies, fish monster zombies, chainsaw zombies, fat zombies, alligator zombies, Edward Scissorhands zombies, killer frogs, killer snakes, killer fish, killer owls, killer bats, etc.  Okay, I'm scared already, but your protagonist James always keeps a straight face.

An interesting facet about the game is that you can take multiple paths depending on whether or not you save civilians.  In Time Crisis, there's no alternate paths per-se--when in two-player, Player 1 and 2 split up occasionally.  In one-player, during these split paths, two yellow guards will appear--shoot the guard to the left to take P1's path, shoot the guard to the right to take P2's path.  But in HotD, depending on whether a hostage dies or not, you'll either enter a building or go elsewhere.



This reminds me of a scenario--I was playing through the game and I saved every hostage up until Stage 2.  I shot the key to open the gate and there's this kid being chased by a fat zombie.  I would usually kill the zombie and save the kid which meant I went into the building to my left...but this time the kid died and I went into the building on the right.  Next thing you know, I'm fighting the Stage 2 boss on a completely different area (a dock instead of a bridge), and Stage 3 (where you ride on the boat) is in a completely different area.  All because of that kid.  Oh, let me repeat again--kids can die in this game.  Crazy game.

Only thing I really didn't like is that the game only displays your score at the end of each stage.  You have no idea what your score is during the game.  I don't know how many points I get for saving hostages, headshots, and secret items.  Though it is good to save hostages since if you save enough in one stage, you get an extra life.

I tried beating the game on Arcade Mode, but the farthest I got was Boss 5 (the Magician).  Creepy looking dude.  The more you play, the more lives/continues you get but I still couldn't get to Goldman.  So after blowing like 40 lives (on Easy difficulty I might add), I die to the Magician and I rage quit cause this game is a piece of crap.  I try this other mode called Original Mode, but the only difference is that you start with fewer lives but can use bonuses like larger clips, increased gun damage, "Machine Gun," and extra continues.  Eventually, I found a powerup for Infinite Continues so I was able to beat the game and see the end credits.

Oh, and the voice acting, just great.  We already talked about Goldman, now here's something else:

G?  Or do you mean Mister G?

Such bad Engrish.  Like your guy will just say "My God," or "I must go and prevent confusion in the city," in this blank voice.  I also think I spotted a typo.  When you get to World 4, look at the opening title with the flickering font.  The serif (plain) font says "The Forth Stage" while the scribble-scratch says "Fourth."  Lol, they also have a typo like this in Daytona USA 2--"Don't crash or you will loose speed," or something like that.  You gotta love the Japanese.

 If you can't aim, you can always play Typing of the Dead.  But do you trust these Engrish types to make a game based on the English language?  Smart-looking boy.

Anyway, that's about it.  Like Time Crisis, if you play the crap out of it, you'll know what to do and I guess it's okay.  And until then, I need a night light when I go to sleep cause I got nightmare fuel.  The end.

FINAL SCORE: 7.837246435630450452324593749857308486752156875457938409803945345 out of 10

Also, there's a band out of the UK called "Suffer Like G Did" ... don't know what's up with that.  Lol, you guys across the pond love Sega, you really do.