IGN - Hands OnOh, Wii, how you've widened the avenue for a reemergence of arcade-style shooters with your not-quite-a-lightgun infrared pointer. Sure, Link's Crossbow Training with the gimmicky Zapper attachment. And yes, special on-rails modes in first-person shooters like Medal of Honors Heroes 2. But most of all, the reappearance of the classics -- the games first housed in a cabinet and not a console, from Ghost Squad to House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. They may not control identically now that you're shooting enemies with a Wii remote, but they remain as fun as ever. The wait for a ground-up new installment in one of SEGA's acclaimed franchises has seemed to go on forever, but House of the Dead: Overkill is finally here and now that we've spent ample time with the brief, but convincing demo, it won't hit retail shelves soon enough.
To call this game a sequel isn't true. Actually, it's a prequel. You take on the role of Special Agent G fresh out of the AMS Academy and years before his starring roles in later House of the Dead games. G finds himself teamed with the unlikeliest of partners, the down and dirty Detective Washington, a character who -- and seasoned fans will know this -- doesn't appear in any of the other incarnations. Might he meet his demise somewhere in Overkill's Louisiana-based Bayou City? We couldn't say, but with so many flesh-hungry zombies roaming the structures and streets, that's a real possibility.
Overkill adopts a full-blown grindhouse-inspired presentation that's evident from the moment the game boots. Expect lots of cheesy dialog and graphics layered with a stylish cult-movie film grain. The demo opens to a mysterious bearded man in a suit who walks with the aid of a cane. He's talking on an oversized cell phone. "Washington and his associate are on their way," he says, walking past a water tank which encapsulates a grotesque dreadlocked zombie, its white eyes staring forward.
"Tonight, you have been admitted to Bayou County General," an over-the-top voice announces from nowhere. This is the same voice that you will find dubbing the official trailers of the game and it's there for ambience and humor.
"I have a plan that will eliminate both of them and any evidence of our work here," says the man with a limp. In the background, you can see two blood-soaked nurses operating on a mutilated zombie with syringes and scalpels.
The announcer cuts in again. "Your symptoms: Cold sweats. Irregular heartbeat. Anxiety. The diagnosis: Bleeding horror that cuts like a scalpel to the heart. There is only one cure: a white-hot bullet to the brain."
The view closes in on the nurses, who glance up, inadvertently revealing that they are zombies, too. Just then, Agent G in sunglasses and a suit and Detective Washington in a more casual yellow T-shirt and jeans kick open the doors and start blasting.
This opening seems disconnected from the rest of the demo, which begins outside of the hospital. It's clear that this is still very much a work in progress. In the cinematic -- the only one in the all-too-brief demo -- the characters animate a little stiffly and some of the camera transitions seem a little unrefined. But the zombie designs look fantastic. Not only are they gruesome, but they sport decidedly crisp skinning. The game runs in 480p / 16:9 modes with a fluidity that hovers around 30 frames per second. Meanwhile, you'd have to be as cold and dead as the zombies you blow holes through to ignore the ridiculously over-baked, hammy comedic elements, which work very well within this universe.
Cut to the gameplay sequences. "If there is one thing I hate more than hospitals, it's hospitals full of mutants," says Detective Washington, not even trying to mask his disgust. The perspective changes to the first-person. You pull out your weapon. And the hordes of zombies start at you.
Overkill is played singularly with the Wii remote or the Wii remote and nunchuk. We prefer the former setup because as far as we can tell, the nunchuk isn't used for anything except for weapon reloads via a quick flick. So forget about being able to manually turn around while your character maneuvers on-rails-style through the dark and menacing environments. You can, however, point at the corners of the screen with the Wii remote for very slight turns, which works very well. The remaining controls are equally easy to pick up. Merely aim with the Wii remote, shoot with the B-trigger and reload either by shaking the the controller or by tapping the A button. This all feels great because the on-screen reticule is zippy and highly sensitive to your manipulation. The only control misstep is developer Kuju Entertainment's (hopefully temporary) assigning of the weapon cycle to the 1 button -- a choice that makes no sense considering the minus button isn't even being utilized. Bear in mind that the title is still early on -- so early, in fact, that SEGA forbid us from taking direct-feed footage of our own because it feels the current build isn't quite ready for prime time. That being true, we have to think that last control choice is going to change before release.
There are a few other control notables to speak of. If you bring up the pause menu, you can go into the controls section and make a few elegant customizations. You're able to toggle between Wii remote or Wii remote + nunchuk controls. Wii View mode let's you toggle screen turning on and off. You can set right or left-handed control. You can turn the crosshair off. And you can calibrate your aim. The good news is that if you're a Ghost Squad-mastering die-hard who wants to play through Overkill minus the crosshair, you can calibrate your aim well enough to do that.
There's no denying the fact that Overkill is still a little rough around the edges, but from what we've played so far, there's a lot of potential and that's because the core game is good fun. As you run through the hospital environment, zombies pop into frame from all directions -- crashing through windows, leaping from hospital beds, even attacking from behind you. The demo only features two weapons, a handgun and a shotgun, and both feel very tight, responsive, and good. When you shoot, you get a little blowback that slightly pushes your crosshair up and also temporarily nudges the viewpoint in the same direction. There is a variety of enemy types, from lumbering fat men who lack limbs to mask-wearing psychos, hospital patients, security guards and nurses. And of course, every shot is a chance for a gruesome display of gore.
The developer really wanted to push the game where the subject matter is concerned and we're already spotted signs of that in the demo. While G remains cool and calm, Washington drops F-bombs whenever he gets the chance ("I'm deaf! That bitch is made me fu$#!in' deaf!"), as do some of the civilians you encounter. And with well-placed shots, you can rip apart torsos, blow out legs, pop off arms and even decapitate the undead in rivers of chunks and blood. This, however, is still an area that we're hoping will be taken to the next level, or even one comparable to some previous House of the Dead titles. Sure, you can make regular head shots and target some individual body parts, but the deformation model is not nearly as complex as that powering, say, House of the Dead 2, which enabled you to obliterate multiple sections of a single body part, if you remember. The other area we'd like to see made more dynamic is that of level interaction. From what we've seen and played so far, you can't shoot out too many background objects -- some glass here and there, the occasional desk item, but not much else, and it certainly doesn't appear as if interactivity is being used as a worthwhile gameplay mechanic.
In Overkill, you will find DNA strand icons strewn about levels that, when shot, will temporarily slow time, effectively creating a bullet-time mode. Here, you can really turn killing zombies into an art form. Not only do your shots inflict more damage, but everything takes on a bloom-like glow and cinematically slows so that you can ogle as limbs and blood fly through the air.
The demo of the title ends as you make it outside and a helicopter falls from the sky, crashing into a nearby building. It's all over within the span of five minutes, but we've gone through it now close to 10 times in order to evaluate it in great detail and it's fun every time. We think that House of the Dead fans will be pleased with Kuju's results, although we hope a few tweaks will be made in the comings months in order to bring everything together. As a final note, we rebooted House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return after playing through Overkill and once noticed that SEGA's previous titles move at a faster pace all around than this title. We don't know if later levels in Overkill will be sped up or not -- we presume we've only been given a taste of the challenges to come -- but we'll keep our fingers crossed.
clicky