Finally...our reviews of The House of the Dead 2 are here...you know, that game that's been out in stores since 9/9/99?We wanted to make sure we test drove HOTD2 with the two light guns (the InterAct Starfire and the Mad Catz Dream Blaster--both were unavailable until this ish) before making any sort of judgement. After all, a light gun game isn't the same without a light gun, is it?Some of us had a lot of hassles calibrating either gun with HOTD2. We tried it on several TVs, including a 32' Magnavox, a 19' Sony Trinitron, a 13' Samsung gx TV, a 32' Sony Trinitron XBR Flatscreen and more. Most of the gaming sessions had problems, from the occasional shot wandering an inch away from where you're aiming to not recognizing the gun at all (this usually happened when aiming for the lower-right corner of the calibration screen). Some reviewers only got the guns to work properly if they sat just right (just right meaning perfectly lined up with the TV screen being only three feet away, something we've clearly learned as children will cause nearsightedness, premature baldness and impo-tency...so don't try it at home). Other reviewers had no troubles at all.There's no rhyme or reason to any of it. No one (including the companies) could pinpoint where the problems lie, so we came up with one conclusion: If your light gun/H0TD2 combo works well, consider yourself lucky.
- But in House of the Dead, there are multiple paths through the game, which are triggered by certain events. For example, at the beginning of the game, a zombie threatens to throw an innocent off a bridge — if you kill the monster, you’ll head directly into the house, but if the researcher dies, you’ll head in through the basement.
- The House of the Dead 1 is a rail shooter light gun game. Players use a light gun (or mouse, in the PC version) to aim and shoot at approaching enemies. The characters’ pistols use magazines which hold 6 rounds; players are required to reload after using each magazine.
House of the Dead III latest version: A tiny taste of this zombie shoot'em up. The arcade game had a plastic pump action shotgun for you to blast the onscreen.
People say:
House Of Dead Free Game
Here are two versions of my review, one for my office TV (on which I was able to calibrate the light guns properly), and another from my home TV (on which I was not). Shoe review #1 (without calibration problems): Boy does this game rock. HOTD2 is an exciting, fast-paced shoot-'em-up. The combination of surprise attacks, quick and slow monsters and larger-than-life bosses keep you on your toes at all times. Sure the dialogue, story line and voice acting have more cheese than Wisconsin and a season of Global Groove combined. The game in between the cutscenes, however, is pretty damn good. The graphics are topnotch, the gore is overflowing, and the replay value is sky high due to the branching levels and all the new stuff (Boss Mode, Training Mode and Original Mode, where you can find and combine all sorts of extra goodies not found in the arcade original) Shoe review #2 (with problems): Boy does this game suck. On my home TV, HOTD2 won't recognize either gun at all, no matter how close I sit or whether I use s-video or RCA...and playing with the standard controller is nothing to write home about (although there are some nice control options). Final score: 7.5. Add 1.0 if the gun works fine with your gaming setup. If not, subtract 1.5 points. HOTD2 just isn't as fun without proper light gun support.
I've heard a dozen stories about why the third-party guns don't work right with this game, and I've tried the guns on several TVs with mixed results. Some of you will have gun-calibration problems. And while The House of the Dead is a fantastic light-gun game with lots of nifty play modes, it loses a lot when you have to play it with the joypad. My advice: Buy the game and a gun and hope for the best. You can always return 'em if you have problems.
As a casual fan of light-gun shooters, this is the best I've ever played. It's quite an intense game on a number of levels: The 3D graphics, the gore, the suspense...at the same time, a few things aren't so great. Gun calibration is tough, on top of that the trigger on the Mad Katz gun is too stiff (blister time). The InterAct gun is nice though. Overall, getting through using standard single-fire is very hard. It takes a lot of dead-eye accuracy.
You shoot stuff and it explodes really messily. You shoot the right stuff and you can open up cool features. The acting may be appalling and the plot pretty dubious, but HOTD2 is a classic gun game. Try not to spoil it for yourself by being tempted by the crazy features on the guns though...playing through with the shotgun with everything switched to auto will get you through it quick, but make it boring. Savor the experience as it was intended.
