Douglas's game of the week: House of the Dead

Aaaaaaah House of the Dead. Where the playstation had Resident Evil, The Sega Saturn and the Arcade had House of the Dead. House of the Dead is, in my opinion, one of the best arcade games of all time among Q-Bert, Crystal Castles, Dig Dug, Waku Waku 7, and Gunbird II.


The Graphics were pretty great, especially for the time being. You do see alot of blood when you shoot the zombies and monsters like in alot of shooters, but I personally like the Bosses. All of them look pretty awesome, primarily Magician Type 0. But if you ask me, that Spider boss gave me nightmares, well, I do have arachnophobia, so I'm terrified of spiders, especially that one time when my dog was barking and there was like a black widow or Tarantula on the wall. While we are off topic, the characacters look pretty good, especially Curien and Sophie, but the Innocents (Civilian workers) all pretty much look the same with Black hair and only white outfits, but some have different faces and hair styles.


The Storyline isn't very confusing but is pretty good for an arcade shooter. The storyline has multiple paths you can shoose, such as how if you save the guy on the bridge, you enter the house through the front door, but if you let the zombie throw him off, then you have to navigate the sewers of the mansion. The way you navigate the Mansion is based upon whether you save the Research workers. Whichever path you take, you always end up fighting the same bosses and eventually confronting Curien, the antagonist of the game.

The game doesn't really ever get boring, you really need to give your trigger finger a nice workout if you plan on beating the game. Zombies and flying dogs and loads of other enemies can come out of absolutley nowhere, and sometimes you'll have to shoot projectiles they throw at you back at them. And let's not forget the bosses. They have the weakspots but some tend to guard them pretty well, and the final boss can be pretty challenging if you do not know the trick. But don't get trigger-happy or else you'll shoot the Civilians which won't help.

The voiceovers in the game are pretty good, except some of them are a bit hard to hear. However, the music "Say Hello to my Masterpiece" is probably some of the best arcade music ever.

Overall, House of the Dead is probably one of my favourite Arcade games. It can be pretty challenging if you do not know what to do, but if you're going to play it in the arcade, make sure to bring a lot of money because you might need it. And for Halo Hippies who want nothing but Guns and bloody explosions, this is the game you are looking for. 9.50/10

Pros:
-=Say Hello to my Masterpiece=-
-=Great storyline=-
-=Scary looking bosses=-

Cons:
-=Somewhat quiet voiceovers=-
-=A bit challenging if you do not know what you are doing=-

[Fishmael]

Evil pinball, mmmmmm....