Video Game Vault - The House of the Dead 2 (Dreamcast)

The ORIGINAL Walking Dead!

While I am a gamer, and really don't care what game I'm playing, there's something about M Rated video games that just never catch my interest.  The violence doesn't bother me, nor does any of the Mature content; it's the fact that I can't seem to get into most of the, "Big name" M-Rated games like Bioshock Infinite, or Mortal Kombat II.  So far, the only M-Rated video games I've enjoyed are Half-Life 2, DOOM (even if the only version I have is the Saturn version, which everyone seems to hate), Quake 64, and the Tomb Raider reboot that came out last year.  I do enjoy the Mortal Kombat games a bit, but they're kinda hard for my taste, so I auto-suck at them.

However, last week, I discovered quite possibly the best M-Rated video game I've ever played, and so far, the one I have popped into a video game console the most.  I was going around to some Garage Sales, looking for games.  I go up to this one guy and asked him if he had any video games. He said he had Gamecube or Game Boy Advance games.  While I already had a pretty big amount of games for both of these consoles, I assumed that he COULD have something I didn't have.

Little did I know that he ACTUALLY had a stack of 7-10 SEGA Dreamcast games, and a console COMPLETE IN THE BOX.

Upon digging through the games (could've cared less about the console, since I have a Dreamcast already and he was asking for $50 for it; the box would've been cool, though), I noticed Phantasy Star Online Version 2 was one of the games he had.  I had already purchased PSO Version 1 about 2 weeks ago, as the eBay seller included Sonic Shuffle thinking it came with the game, so I opened the case to see how the disc looked.

Then, I saw it;
PSO Version 2 wasn't in the case.  No; it was something WAY better.  It was a little game called, "The House of the Dead 2".  I got excited, simply because that was arguably the best game in the stack (Ready 2 Rumble Boxing was catching my interest too, but not as much).  While it was a tad pricey for 1 game ($10), I bought the game anyways, since this would be one of those few instances where I'd find Dreamcast games in the wild.

After a little more game hunting (which mainly just consisted of me getting 2 untested Model 1 SEGA Genesis', 2 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games for N64, and an Intellevision collection for PS2), I got home and started the game up to make sure it worked, and to play it a bit.

Well, crap; we're screwed....

And you get the drill; I fell in love with the game after one measly playthrough.  I have literally played it 5 or so times this week alone (which is more than what I've played my other M-Rated games for, might I add).  It was really good!  But let's see what this game has to offer!

Note:This review will focus on how the game is played with the typical Dreamcast controller.  The game can still be played with a light gun, but as I do not own one, I cannot comment on how well it works on the game.


First impressions:
One of the first thing I noticed is, of course, the graphics (shown above, for an example).  In my opinion, I think this game is one of the most beautiful games on the SEGA Dreamcast.  The models look nice and smooth.  They do have a somewhat blocky look, but you can barely notice it, if you only look at a simple screenshot.  In game, it's only mildly noticeable, since the game is always moving at a nice, steady framerate.  I'm glad to report that this game has no noticeable slowdown at all.  The game always moves at the highest speed possible (Which feels like 60 Frames Per Second, from my viewing).  It's one of the best looking games I've seen on the Dreamcast so far, and is more powerful than most games on the system.

Another thing to note is the voice acting.....My God.  This acting is terrible.  Now, I get that the game is meant to parody B movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  But, this is so bad, that I'm convinced this is the worst voice acting ever.  Yes, possibly even worse than Gotcha Force on the Gamecube!  The actors have no reflection in their voice, and it makes them sound like robots, 99% of the time.  Heck, that flying zombie gargoyle thing at the start of the game is so hard to hear, that you NEED the subtitles to truly understand what he's saying.  That's poor performance, from what I'm seeing, and SEGA should have improved on it at least a little more, in my opinion.

The Game Itself:
The story is simple; it's 2000, zombies are attacking people, you save the world while discovering the cause of these zombies.  That's basically it.  I haven't gotten TOO far into the game, and seeing as how this game is an arcade game, the plot shouldn't be that big of a deal anyways.

However, I feel as though House of the Dead 2 TRULY relies on it's gameplay!  This is, of course, the second installment of the series (there was a first installment on the SEGA Saturn and arcades), so the gameplay should be similar.  For those of you who are familiar with the SEGA Saturn game, Virtua Cop, this basically plays like that, but with zombies instead.  "But that's not innovative!" you say?  Well, from playing this game a few times, I discovered that you're actions in the game decide where you go in the level.  Say, for example, there's a person near a well about to be attacked by zombies.  Well, if you let him die, you go on your merry way, and tell a woman there was nothing "we could do".  HOWEVER, if you save him, he'll show you a less dangerous path to go through.  This increases the replay value of the game a lot, as you can go various routes.  However, it's to your benefit to save people, as you get rewarded extra health from either the people, or at the end of the stage (save 5 or more people, and you get one piece of health at the end of the stage).  When you lose all your lives, the game will show you you're path.  I find this to be a great game for this reason, as it increases the enjoyably factor, and the replay value all at once.

As far as controls go; the game is pretty solid on your typical Dreamcast controller.  The control stick moves the cross hair, the A button fires, and the B button reloads.  The R-trigger also realigns the cross hair, on the off-chance that you lose it.  The only issue I have is that it's really easy to lose you're cross hair between scenes you can't control.  Luckily, the R-trigger fixes this up, but it's still an inconvenience.  Overall, the controls are solid.
Again, as I do not own a light gun, I cannot comment on how well it works for this game.

The Verdict:

House of the Dead 2 is arguably one of my favorite games for the SEGA Dreamcast thus far, and I feel like anyone who owns a Dreamcast should try to get their hands on a copy.  The game is only $10 for a disc, and $14 for the entire game (box and everything), making it a cheap Dreamcast exclusive.  While playing with the DC controller does cause the cross hair to disappear a lot, it's still a great journey anyways.

For those of you who already own this game, and want to try other alternatives, here's a few that play similar (or have a part in the game that's similar) that you may also like:
Duck Hunt (NES)
Virtua Cop (SEGA Saturn)
Alien Storm (SEGA Genesis)