Reviews// House of the Dead: Overkill
...as far as gun games go, there are two major cats in the arcade...
**THIS REVIEW MAY DEFINITELY CONTAIN SPOILERS**
What up MotherFucker! You all in up my face for swearing in the opening sentence of a video games review? Move along there Keith Vaz... there's nothing for you here. This game is an 18. And if you don't like the idiomatic slang for a person who loves his mother too much, and in entirely the wrong way, this definitely is not the game for you.
Yes, it's a Wii game, and it has an 18 Certificate. Just exactly who the hell SEGA thinks will buy this beats me. Everyone knows the Wii ain't fer no-one but lil kiddies and geriatrics. And the kiddies can't play this game, cause THAT'S THE LAW! And I'm not sure this salty mix of sex, Tarantino-style b-movie dialogue and blood and gore horror mayhem is going to appeal to the gramps and grammas.
You'll all probably be familiar with the House of the Dead franchise. Oh my lordy Christ, I just said franchise. And I really didn't mean that. The Chambers English dictionary defines franchise as "an agreement by which a business company gives someone the right to market its products in an area" and Sega hasn't done that with this product. It markets HoTD itself, almost exactly NOT a franchise. It's a series of games, and this is the fifth game in the series to make it to home gaming machines; the second to hit the Wii. It is also the first HotD game not to have its origins in an arcade machine.
House of the Dead games always have been, and if the good lord up in heaven knows what's good for us (and religious types would have you believe that he does), they always will be first-person gun games. They combine the gameplay we first saw in SEGA's own Virtua Cop with an over-the-top fest of splatter and gore, high octane metal soundtrack and gallons of blood, to make the best approximation of what it would be like to live in a world infested by zombies. A world in which you happen to have the good luck to have a pistol and a never ending supply of ammunition.
I'm gonna lay on you a simple irrefutable fact of gaming science: Shooting MotherFucking zombies in the head, and watching their dumb-ass brains explode in a shower of blood and goop is as cool as all get-out-of-town. Gamin' fun does not get any more visceral than that. And as shooting MotherFucking zombies in the head games go, they don't get a whole lot better than House of the Dead: Overkill.
That's not to say that shooting MotherFucking zombies in the head games couldn't get much better than this. Just that they don't, presumably because they don't have to. Because as far
as gun games go, there are two major cats in the arcade: House of the Dead and Time Crisis, and one of those cats doesn't roll the zombie way. No! that bitch-assed Time Crisis MotherFucker goes the arcade sim route, making it the game of choice for disgruntled ex-employees looking to brush up on their former-colleague slaying strategies.
Yes, it's a Wii game, and it has an 18 Certificate. Just exactly who the hell SEGA thinks will buy this beats me. Everyone knows the Wii ain't fer no-one but lil kiddies and geriatrics. And the kiddies can't play this game, cause THAT'S THE LAW! And I'm not sure this salty mix of sex, Tarantino-style b-movie dialogue and blood and gore horror mayhem is going to appeal to the gramps and grammas.
You'll all probably be familiar with the House of the Dead franchise. Oh my lordy Christ, I just said franchise. And I really didn't mean that. The Chambers English dictionary defines franchise as "an agreement by which a business company gives someone the right to market its products in an area" and Sega hasn't done that with this product. It markets HoTD itself, almost exactly NOT a franchise. It's a series of games, and this is the fifth game in the series to make it to home gaming machines; the second to hit the Wii. It is also the first HotD game not to have its origins in an arcade machine.
House of the Dead games always have been, and if the good lord up in heaven knows what's good for us (and religious types would have you believe that he does), they always will be first-person gun games. They combine the gameplay we first saw in SEGA's own Virtua Cop with an over-the-top fest of splatter and gore, high octane metal soundtrack and gallons of blood, to make the best approximation of what it would be like to live in a world infested by zombies. A world in which you happen to have the good luck to have a pistol and a never ending supply of ammunition.
That's not to say that shooting MotherFucking zombies in the head games couldn't get much better than this. Just that they don't, presumably because they don't have to. Because as far
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Comments
Kyle 11 Feb 2009 00:29
1/6
"...hardly pushing the boundaries graphically."
??
What? Have you seen this game? It has one of the most unique graphic styles I've seen in a long time. I don't know what game you were playing because this game has great graphics.
??
What? Have you seen this game? It has one of the most unique graphic styles I've seen in a long time. I don't know what game you were playing because this game has great graphics.
Smelly 11 Feb 2009 19:25
2/6
""...hardly pushing the boundaries graphically.""
.. yet again a reviewer who knows nothing about what he's talking about... yay!
.. yet again a reviewer who knows nothing about what he's talking about... yay!
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DoctorDee 12 Feb 2009 07:59
3/6
Smelly wrote:
""...hardly pushing the boundaries graphically.""
.. yet again a reviewer who knows nothing about what he's talking about... yay!
.. yet again a reviewer who knows nothing about what he's talking about... yay!
OK, in response to this cutting criticism from two anonymous posters who can't even quote properly.
I'm sorry that I said something less than positive abotu the games console you sleep with every night.
Don't confuse stylish art direction and a lot of blood with good graphics. The game looks good, but it does so without being technically excellent. Some of the character models are rough, some of the textures are bland and the frame rate drops noticably in places.
It is only right for a reviewer to acknowledge this, but given that the reviewer has said many many times in print and on the web, that graphics are far from the be all and end all of gaming, it's hardly a damning criticism. The art direction of HotD:O is stylish and witty. There is bucketloads of gore and blood. It's a fun game.
If you want to imagine that Overkill has cutting edge graphics, be my guest. Just don't look at Killzone 2, or since you are bound to cry "That's not a Wii game", The Conduit and you will be able to keep fooling yourself.
dh 14 Feb 2009 12:05
4/6
DoctorDee wrote:
Smelly wrote:
""...hardly pushing the boundaries graphically.""
.. yet again a reviewer who knows nothing about what he's talking about... yay!
.. yet again a reviewer who knows nothing about what he's talking about... yay!
OK, in response to this cutting criticism from two anonymous posters who can't even quote properly.
I'm sorry that I said something less than positive abotu the games console you sleep with every night.
Don't confuse stylish art direction and a lot of blood with good graphics. The game looks good, but it does so without being technically excellent. Some of the character models are rough, some of the textures are bland and the frame rate drops noticably in places.
Sleep with the console? Oh I see?
Perhaps you shouldn't write responses before checking them for typo's?
Firstly, art direction should be confused with "good graphics" as that is a component of what makes them 'good'. Secondly you said the game "looks good" - so how can it not have "good graphics"?.
The game supports a grain filter and has motion blurring (not mentioned) and does feature good graphics for the Wii. No it's not Killzone 2, but only somebody who was really trying to make a point would try and compare the best looking game on the PS3 with one on the Wii. Very badly written article.
Moop 14 Feb 2009 12:58
5/6
dh wrote:
Firstly, art direction should be confused with "good graphics" as that is a component of what makes them 'good'. Secondly you said the game "looks good" - so how can it not have "good graphics"?.
hah lol. graphics is the techincal realisation an artistic style so it entirely possible for a game to have s**t graphics but still look good. liek viewiful joe. I thought the style was great but the graphcis were roughroughrough. its a bit like building an gothic cathedral out of cinder block ... looks great from afar because the architect did an astounding great job, but doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
The game supports a grain filter and has motion blurring (not mentioned) and does feature good graphics for the Wii. No it's not Killzone 2, but only somebody who was really trying to make a point would try and compare the best looking game on the PS3 with one on the Wii. Very badly written article.
hah lol x2. silent hill on PS1 had film grain. and I'm pretty certain there were some ps1 games that had motion blur. silent hill had great graphics for the hardware at the time, but today it looks s**t. So the guy said the graphics aint good but the "Look" is. what exactly is your beef?
DoctorDee 16 Feb 2009 11:03
6/6
dh wrote:
Perhaps you shouldn't write responses before checking them for typo's?
For typo's what?
Very badly written article.
If you think you can do better. Feel free to submit something.