{"id":1442,"date":"2025-11-26T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1442"},"modified":"2025-11-26T21:53:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T02:53:34","slug":"house-of-the-dead-issue-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/house-of-the-dead-issue-54\/","title":{"rendered":"House of the Dead \u2014 Issue 54"},"content":{"rendered":"

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House of the Dead<\/span><\/strong>
\nSega, 1998<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Retro House of the Dead sets up shop for franchise<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, the progress that has been made. The on rails shoot\u00aders genre has made strides in the last 27 years. Mod\u00adern con\u00adtrols \u2014 includ\u00ading light guns avail\u00adable for the home mar\u00adket \u2014 have made play\u00ading a lot more enjoy\u00adable. And that has made the House of the Dead series \u2014 and espe\u00adcial\u00adly the orig\u00adi\u00adnal game \u2014 a tad bit more tolerable.<\/span><\/p>\n

House of the Dead starts off as most zom\u00adbie hor\u00adror games of the day did: A mega\u00adlo\u00adma\u00adni\u00ada\u00adcal weirdo is mess\u00ading with bioter\u00adror\u00adism unnec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly and has cre\u00adat\u00aded a mess. And by mess, I mean mutat\u00aded, trans\u00adformed humans with a taste for flesh. That\u2019s lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly the plot of the game. There\u2019s some\u00adthing about a fianc\u00e9e that needs sav\u00ading and stop\u00adping this blight from spread\u00ading to the rest of human\u00adi\u00adty, but that\u2019s the basics. It\u2019s ser\u00advice\u00adable and real\u00adly does\u00adn\u2019t do much to affect the game\u00adplay. You\u2019re killing zom\u00adbies, boss zom\u00adbies and most like\u00adly the end boss guy who cre\u00adat\u00aded the prob\u00adlem. Clean it up and go on in future sequels to take on an even larg\u00ader threat in the bad guy\u2019s boss because, of course, he has a boss.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nClean\u00ading up the prob\u00adlem is the fun part here. The con\u00adtrols are your stan\u00addard light gun shoot\u00ader but they\u2019re fine. Aim\u00ading and shoot\u00ading was\u00adn\u2019t bad, though lin\u00ading up my shot some\u00adtimes was not exact\u00adly sharp. There were a few times fight\u00ading some of the aer\u00adi\u00adal boss\u00ades that the cur\u00adsor just was\u00adn\u2019t keep\u00ading up so I took cheap hits. As an arcade old head, I know that\u2019s the name of the game here: It\u2019s designed to be a quar\u00adter-munch\u00ader. But by the time I get home, there should be a bet\u00adter under\u00adstand\u00ading that this isn\u2019t going to fly. Thank\u00adful\u00adly, cheat codes exist so it\u2019s not a prob\u00adlem. But for arcade con\u00addi\u00adtions sake, this real\u00adly isn\u2019t cool.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because this is a 1998 prod\u00aduct we\u2019re talk\u00ading about, I\u2019m also not expect\u00ading the graph\u00adics to look like much. And they don\u2019t, beyond these zom\u00adbies look\u00ading OK<\/span>. Keep in mind that these graph\u00adics did\u00adn\u2019t real\u00adly improve until well beyond the sec\u00adond game\/Typing of the Dead, so you\u2019re going to be see\u00ading them for a long time. The music fares about the same, too. They are decent enough for the late \u201990s, and they work well in the con\u00adfines of House of the Dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

House of the Dead has made many improve\u00adments in the near\u00adly 30 years since the orig\u00adi\u00adnal game. It did\u00adn\u2019t set the barn on fire then but it\u2019s a nice rail shoot\u00ader if you\u2019re into zom\u00adbie hor\u00adror and like what the series has to offer. Per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adly, I\u2019m more apt to play Typ\u00ading of the Dead before House of the Dead, but that\u2019s because I pre\u00adfer to be a key\u00adboard sharp\u00adshoot\u00ader these days. House of the Dead\u00ad\u2019s ret\u00adi\u00adcle is set in the mid\u00addle with the abil\u00adi\u00adty to go higher.<\/span><\/p>\n