House of the Dead: Overkill - Out Now.

SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced the red hot Collector’s Edition for The House of the Dead: OVERKILL™ for release in PAL territories. This premium edition of The House of the Dead: OVERKILL arrives encased in an exclusive collector’s slipcase and is accompanied by an exclusive graphic novel. It will only be available through selected retailers as a pre-order bonus.

“Prelude to an OVERKILL” tells the fateful stories of Agent Washington and Varla Gunns, on the night before the violent and shocking events of the game. Illustrated by Steve Copter, of dissident punk band ‘Black Mekon’ (http://www.myspace.com/blackmekon), this specially-commissioned comic is only available in The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Collector’s Edition.

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL puts players in the shoes of Special Agent G and Detective Washington. Whilst mowing down waves of infected blood-thirsty zombies in a last-ditch effort to survive Bayou City, gamers uncover the horrific truth behind the origins of the House of the Dead.

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will be released in February 2009, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii™

For more information about the game, please visit http://www.sega.co.uk

Sarge wrote:House of the Dead: Overkill Collectors Edition Revealed

SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced the red hot Collector’s Edition for The House of the Dead: OVERKILL™ for release in PAL territories. This premium edition of The House of the Dead: OVERKILL arrives encased in an exclusive collector’s slipcase and is accompanied by an exclusive graphic novel. It will only be available through selected retailers as a pre-order bonus.

“Prelude to an OVERKILL” tells the fateful stories of Agent Washington and Varla Gunns, on the night before the violent and shocking events of the game. Illustrated by Steve Copter, of dissident punk band ‘Black Mekon’ (http://www.myspace.com/blackmekon), this specially-commissioned comic is only available in The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Collector’s Edition.

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL puts players in the shoes of Special Agent G and Detective Washington. Whilst mowing down waves of infected blood-thirsty zombies in a last-ditch effort to survive Bayou City, gamers uncover the horrific truth behind the origins of the House of the Dead.

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will be released in February 2009, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii™

For more information about the game, please visit http://www.sega.co.uk

Hey look -- a House of the Dead game not being developed in Japan. That's different, as is the approach behind House of the Dead: Overkill. We recently checked in with Steve Pritchard, development director at developer Headstrong, and Sega producer Omar Woodley to find out more about motion controls, the possibility of vehicles, and an unlockable you get for playing "gangsta style."

1UP: In what ways did you guys design Overkill differently than you would have for an arcade game because you were making it for Wii?

Omar Woodley: We were able to push the envelope a lot more with the content of the game. Since it wasn't going to be up for public play at your local arcade where any seven- or eight-year old could play it, we went straight for the, dare I say, "Overkill" of content and excessive gore, cursing, and storyline. We gave ourselves more liberties in achieving a hardcore M rating.

1UP: What's an example of something in Overkill that you wouldn't have been able to include in an arcade House of the Dead?

OW: Some arcades are in more controlled environments but you have to be responsible for what's flashing up on screen when anyone could be walking past, so it makes sense that games in arcades are toned down in the amount of specific gore they show. With the title being a home version, we can be much more over the top in entertaining our audience. Another example would be the language used in Overkill. We use a large amount of curse words to convey the title's style and particular brand of humor. Not everyone is going to find that funny, though quite rightly it's not something you expect to overhear in an arcade.

1UP: Do you think Headstrong being a European studio makes the game different from previous games in the series in any tangible way?

SP: In terms of overall style, yes, very definitely. What we set out to do was to create something very culturally Western, specifically a riff on grindhouse, exploitation, cheap, and shocking cinema. That's not to say that Japan doesn't have its equivalent, but there's something we found particularly joyous about making that connection between schlock Western horror and classic House of the Dead gameplay. I also hope that Headstrong as a studio itself makes a real contribution to the series. Our team is at the cutting edge of development on Wii. Some of the effects we use in Overkill look cool and sound simple -- like motion blur -- but are very challenging to pull off on the hardware.

1UP: Did Sega issue any specific rules up-front about what has to be in a House of the Dead game and what you were free to change?

SP: In terms of actual content, they wanted to check in on the story, but there was very little changed when it came to the final game. House of the Dead is arguably the finest light gun series in gaming, so they wanted to check that the physical gameplay mechanics were up to scratch and had that HOTD feel, but otherwise we were allowed tremendous freedom in execution, style, and story and plot elements.

1UP: Will there be many motion-controlled actions or minigames that pop-up in the middle of the story mode -- melee attacks, context-sensitive moves, etc. -- or will the gameplay be straight pointing and shooting?

OW: It is a shooter, but we have thrown in some fiendish adversaries that you will have to fight off with some context [specific] moves.

1UP: What kinds of motion-sensitive moves will be in the game -- shaking the controller, rotating it in a circle, swinging melee weapons...?

OW: Certain enemies will get too close for comfort. If they grab you, you'll have to follow the on-screen prompts to hammer them in the face and shake them off. Although they will occasionally get the drop on you, often you'll see certain mobs like the Fury scrambling towards you and you'll get a window of opportunity to take them out before they reach you. However, I know of a couple of testers who love the head smacking animations so much that they let themselves get caught every time.

1UP: Will there be any vehicles or chase scenes in the game?

OW: Well, really, the whole game is one big chase scene as our heroes pursue Papa Caesar across Bayou City and the surrounding area, but let's just say you'll make inventive use of an ice-cream van at one point, too.

1UP: Can you explain how the game's upgrade system works, and what kinds of items players will be able to purchase?

OW: We have tried to keep things basic and straightforward...really just letting the player jump in and not worry too much about specs -- basically, the bigger the better. You will have an assortment of handguns, shotguns and automatic rifles that you can upgrade, increase damage and clip sizes, etc.

1UP: Given that this is a prequel, will we see any characters or bosses from other HOTD games?

OW: G obviously goes on to enjoy a fruitful career with AMS, so he's the main link with the rest of the series. Whatever happens to him in Overkill clearly changes his outlook on life though, because as you'll see, he starts off with a slightly different character compared to the one you're familiar with. Everything else is, pretty much, original to Overkill, but there are plenty of in-jokes in the scenes, the soundtrack, and the VO, and little hints here and there that fans of the series will hopefully get a real kick out of noticing.

1UP: Can you give us one fact or bit of trivia that no one knows about the game?

OW: There's a big number of extras in the game that unlock when you achieve certain goals and stats in the story mode, one of which only unlocks when you've capped 50 zombies "gangsta style." Aiming a Wii Remote sideways is harder than you'd think, but it does make you 50 percent more f***ing awesome.

SiRuS wrote:When this comes out I'll be getting me a couple of these.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wii-Perfect-Sho ... 557&sr=8-2

Looks sweet and handles well too. Might pick up HOTD 2+3 as well...

HSH28 wrote:

SiRuS wrote:When this comes out I'll be getting me a couple of these.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wii-Perfect-Sho ... 557&sr=8-2

Looks sweet and handles well too. Might pick up HOTD 2+3 as well...

Well...you know except for the fact they don't actually work...yeah perfect...

I would be excited about this game, but for the fact its been proved 3 or 4 times over that lightgun games don't work on Wii.

HSH28 wrote:I would be excited about this game, but for the fact its been proved 3 or 4 times over that lightgun games don't work on Wii.

Dalagorinch wrote:When this is released I think I will have a little splurge on Wii lightgun games as I've missed HOTD 2+3 and Ghost Squad...

Sled wrote:

Dalagorinch wrote:When this is released I think I will have a little splurge on Wii lightgun games as I've missed HOTD 2+3 and Ghost Squad...

I still haven't bought both of those games either, despite wanting to buy them for quite a while now. They're both under £15 each now so I'll definitely try to buy them soon. Having both of those should keep me going until this is released in February.

For those who have one, or an alternative: is the Zapper, or something like the one posted above, worth buying? I probably wouldn't mind using the Wii remote on its own but I was just wondering if they're any good or not.

The House of the Dead: Overkill has been billed as "The hardcore you've been waiting for" since its first unveiling just a few months ago. As we've said before though, we knew something was cooking with the House of the Dead series long before 2&3 were released as a port to Wii, so our anticipation for this balls-out blast-fest has been building for quite some time now.

On the more personal side of things, I've been a lightgun fan since the start of the genre, having played my way through every SEGA offering across every possible platform; specifically Dreamcast, when I didn't get it straight from the arcade tap. So when a new House of the Dead title makes its way around it's serious business. After about seven hours with the latest previous build of Overkill, taking periodical stops to go back and push through HOTD2 and 3 for a little refresh, I can say that Overkill is certainly a different breed from its predecessors, but it also packs one hell of a punch.

The builds we're playing on now are still very much "work in progress" mode all around. Buttons don't always work when in the interface, glitches riddle the game and often freeze or momentarily halt progress as we blast through a little two-player co-op or duel wield mode, and random issues are still being ironed out. Not a problem, and as long as everyone reading this is clear that these issues are here, and that we're going to carry on (much like we do with most preview builds) that the blatant issues we see will be fixed – that's just the nature of game development – you should have a good feeling of what Overkill offers House of the Dead newcomers and veterans alike by the end of my little rant here.

For starters though, I need to mention the interface and presentation, and the sheer amount of "awesomeicity" (the state of being awesome) that comes with it. With the entire game taking on a grind house feel to it, Overkill is one of the first games on Wii that I've played that doesn't instantly feel like a Wii game. What do I mean? The attention to its style and design, the flow from screen to screen during interface areas, the fact that every asset feels design specifically to put payers in the mood of the game; it's all in here. Cheesy rock music plays in the background while players use IR to select options and modes via gigantic character cut-outs seemingly pulled directly from campy horror/grit cinema, various selections in the game have you grabbing knobs with the IR and then twisting the Wii-mote as if you're actually turning a dial, and the backdrops give the same feeling as the already shown off box backgrounds and character designs. If it could have been on a poster of Attack of the Giant "Insert Normally Small Creature Here" 4, it has a place in Overkill.

Before I hop into the levels that I'm allowed to chit-chat about though, there are a few other notes that should be made on interface and options. SEGA has already announced that there will be alternate playthroughs in the game, as well as some party-like multiplayer modes to check out, and those are already being teased in this build with "Coming Soon" logos over the selection option. Outside of that, duel wield mode is available right before stage select, and allows you to actually select any other gun you've got unlocked for your second hand, knowing to have only one score and health bar up top in the game HUD. Being a huge fan of duel wield (I went crazy with duel Wii-mote videos in Ghost Squad when we got the game last year), I'm extremely pleased to see that a full-on mode made the cut.

Also included is the IR Calibration mode, taken from House of the Dead 2 & 3, and it works pretty well, if not for the general lack of forgiving space in Wii's own cursor technology. You still need to stand far enough away so that you can point around the screen without having the Wii itself lose the IR on the top, bottom, left, or right of the screen, but once you go into calibration mode, it is possible to play through the game with the cursor off; the way light gun games were meant to be played. As long as you don't move around after calibration, and are using a top-mounted gun shell (such as the Nyko Perfect Shot, or similar "Wii-mote on top" pistol shells) it feels pretty similar to what you get in arcades.