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Review: House of the Dead Overkill
House of the Dead: Overkill
Sega
Headstrong Games
Wii
US Release: Out Now
UK Release: Out Now
Screenshot Gallery
For a game composed entirely of viscera, gratuitous swearing and gross-out moments that are simply wrong, you’ve got to admit that The House Of The Dead: Overkill has real class.
From the first flickering XXX screen warning ‘restricted access’, illustrated by a wheelchair, to the inspired OST and the unbelievable ending, everything about it screams detail, polish and – most of all – love for the source material.
While this certainly includes the earlier entries in the HOTD series, Overkill’s style is dominated by the golden age of British low-budget horror. Amicus Productions, Tigon and of course Hammer Film Productions are the presiding spirits, inspiring everything from the level titles (‘Papa’s Palace of Pain’) to the brains in jars, secret labs, sexploitation, tumescent nasties and overarching narrator.
Into this mix add two buddy cops straight out of Lethal Beverly Hills Weapon, and you’ve got Overkill. It’s not original stuff, but who really cares when it’s this good?
The best news? The shooting lives up to it, picking and choosing perspective tricks, enemy patterns and surprise tactics from the genre to keep the on-rails action fresh.
Mutants shamble from corners, alcoves, behind desks, around corners, sneak up behind you and sprint for the throat. Your guns stop them in their tracks, dismember, send corpses twirling backwards and turn heads into red clouds with a punctuating splash.
This is all in the context of intricately twisting and turning locations, where you’re diving through windows, popping out from cover and checking every angle as much as walking straight ahead.
Accompanied by the occasional banter of the protagonists, which is never less than foul-mouthed and grin-inducing, it’s a firm boot in the behind of a genre that, this generation, has been lacking..jpg)
It falls down with its bosses which, excepting the disturbing and disorienting Screamer, come across as big lumps with weak spots rather than threats. The last boss in particular is a barrel-flicking damp squib, when the concept and design surely begged for a rip-roaring no-quarter-given bullet-fest.
A more fundamental letdown is the difficulty level. Overkill isn’t a particularly challenging experience, even with the ‘Extra Mutants’ option enabled, and on the initial run-through compounds this with infinite continues and a gun upgrade system that quickly sees you toting weapons that could lay waste to an entire nation of the walking dead.
The Director’s Cut unlocked after a first run-through lengthens every level, usually at the beginning, and limits you to three continues on each one. It’s more of a challenge to maintain the lengthy combos that exponentially boost your score and lead to the immortally named ‘goregasm’ multipliers, but all of the game’s unlockables are achieved relatively easily, so it stands as a rather self-contained option.
There are enough compensations to counter these letdowns, and it’s difficult to be too nitpicky about one of the most flat-out entertaining games of recent times.
Overkill resurrects an old franchise as anything but a shambling corpse, and raises the bar for thirdparty production values on this generation’s best-selling console. Bet you’re a believer in gun control now.
8/10
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
A rent only for me.
Too easy, too short, repetition is a major problem (I know it's on rails, but still variety would help), zombies are all just mild variations, it's a blast.but this is why arcade games should stay there! Music good, swearing was OTT didn't add anything to it..
Frame rate problems at times, look it's not bad graphics wise, but seriously, this isn't pushing the wii at all, code efficiency is not the same as muscle.
6/10 for me, nothing special at all. Amazed it's getting good reviews..see if you are playing this in a months time. If it were a budget title, it might fare better.
Heyl Larson quick!---look over there! It's a matured rated Wii game! Quick buy it now before Miyamoto censors it and turns it into a whack-a-mole game! And don't forget your light gun!
Congratulations you're now on the Picard Face/Palm list. You're a fanboy that's full of win.
What is it with EDGE and zombies lately? First, they gave Left 4 Dead a 9. And now, they give this game-- a Light Gun Game! an 8. Lol, indeed, the reviewer (maybe some EDGE's staffer cherry-coke stoned teenage brat) went through every tiny B-movie cliches in the game like it was freaking War and Peace. So EDGE, for you, this light gun game is equal to MGS 4? Tsk tsk.
The cut scenes are better than MGS4. So that's most of the game better. ;-)
In all honesty though, I think people need to get over this thing of comparing scores between games, especially when it's as spectacularly irrelevant as the example above. MGS4 & HOD:O are practically polar opposites, why would you even need to compare their scores? You'll already know which you prefer just by reading a bit about the gameplay,.
"B-B-But they gave them both an 8! That's like saying..."
SHUT UP. NO IT'S NOT. TRY USING YOUR BRAIN.
This got an 8 because it's a tidy little game that's great fun and exceeds your expectations of it. I give your comment a 3/10. Mainly for the phrase "freaking War and Peace".
No frame rate issues? No awkward loading issues? No random rail stop issues that prevent you from proceeding? I'd give this game props for the music and story but that’s about it. This game is definitely just a renter.
I've been playing it all weekend and had none of the above.
Either you have not had an experience of playing a game that runs properly or you have a super Wii.
"Unfortunately, its wildly inconsistent frame rate puts a serious damper on the action, and less significant but still frustrating issues like mutant pop-in and clipping occur all the time." - Gamespot
"It's something that becomes less and less of a problem as you play, but when combined with occasional extreme frame rate issues there are clear signs that the console might be being pushed too hard." - Videogamer.com
"Unfortunately, this all comes at a price. The graphics are at the top of the Wii echelon, which often leads to poor frame rates. Throw a multitude of zombies on the screen at once and add fire effects and flying limbs, and the game will occasionally slow to a crawl." - Gamertell.com
"Also, when the action is too frantic, Overkill's frame rate slows to a crawl. It never lasts too long, but it can easily screw up a combo." - Nintendo World Report
I know what slowdown is thanks, I've been experiencing it since I had a Spectrum (128k+, the one with the built in tapedeck :-) ).
I revisited it after this to make sure I was right and, yes, I'll conceed there is a bit of it going on, but not enough to effect the gameplay in any way like mentioned above (I've not tested the extra zombies mode so maybe it's worse there).
All Wiis are super anyway.
Surely that should be [8]?
I did a genuine lol just then Rob. Good show.