Right now we might all be enamored with a certain Xbox 360/PC zombie shooter, but our intern still loves some classic light-gun action. See his thoughts on the Wii title a year after its release.
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By Sal Basile
Game: "The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return"
Platform: Wii
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: 03/11/08
What it was about: The original "House of the Dead" was released in arcades in 1996 and was well-received, resulting in three other arcade sequels. "House of the Dead 2" picked up two years after the original game, pushing the story of the Curien Mansion incident forward. The President of the evil corporation from the first game, known simply as Goldman, had continued the research of Dr. Curien, resulting in another zombie apocolypse.
"House of the Dead 3" is another continuation of the story arc, picking up where the second installment left off. Special Agent G is back accompanied by Lisa Rogan. Together they set out to find Thomas Rogan, Lisa's dad and Agent G's old partner. The third game kept the core mechanics in tact but departs from the other two games in many ways. "House of the Dead 3" allows players to pick their own route through the games levels, and replaces the pistol with a shotgun with a wider blast radius.
What was cool about it: The Wii title combined two of the greatest arcade shooters into one game without the need to waste countless quarters on continuing. In addition, numerous bonus modes were added, such as extreme mode and boss survival.
What wasn't so great: The story and dialogue of the two games remained the same as in the originals, which means they're so horrible, it makes you look around and hope no one else heard it (but "House of the Dead" was never appealing for its depth or voice acting).
Features I neglected: One new game mode added customizable attributes to "House of the Dead 2" such as clip storage +4 or life +2. This made playing with a buddy even more fun than playing the original game. Due to this, playing the original became stale, and I only wanted to play the new mode allowing for customization.
Why it's great to play with your significant other: This game is bloody, gory, and contains unspeakable horrors and death around every turn. Therefore, this is the perfect game to play with your significant other! My girlfriend is not zealous about gaming, but she loves playing this game. It was easy for her to pick up, and she didn't have to worry about not playing the first game to know the story. Finding attributes like life +4 or continue +2 added a subtle RPG element to the game as well as to the replay value. Once she became confident enough to not need the extra life or continues, she moved on to gun power +2 or clip storage +2. She is now a crack shot; I now prefer to have her as a partner over some of my veteran light-shooter friends!
When I last played it: March 9, 2009 -- with my girlfriend.
How long I played it: Roughly 15 hours (we've beaten it a few times)
Worth tracking down? If you're a fan of light-gun action or just want to mindlessly mow down hundreds of zombies, "House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return" offers two great games for half the price of one new game. Also, it's a great party game and because of its easy pick-up-and-shoot gameplay. People new to the series aren't at a disadvantage if they skip every cut scene in the game. If however, you are turned off by cheesy dialogue and require your games to have a decent storyline, you might want to pass on this.
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