Ok, I finally got my import copy of House of the dead a couple of days ago and after playing this game I am satasfied with it.

Here is the good:
+ Great Gameplay (Nuthin' beats blowin zombies to bits)   - 2 Player is a blast.
+ Multiple routes in the game.
+ Difficulty (It's challenging)
+ Options (Different characters with gun attributes, Boss Mode)

Here is the Bad:
- Downgrade in graphics (what did you expect on the Saturn?)
- Silly voice acting
- Loadtimes in the middle of the game.

Ok, with that out of the way and before you read further, it is my opinion is that this is a game worthy of importing. I really didn't find the graphics that distracting, hell even Time Crisis suffered from a lower resolution than it's arcade counterpart.

GAMEPLAY - 9.0/10

After playing Virtua Cop, Area 51 and Time Crisis, I can safely say that this game is a step above the rest. It just gets so intense! I found myself emptying a whole round into a zombie before it fell, Sometimes when I decapitated a zombie, It got back up an attacked me, headless! 2 player is even more chaotic, My friend an I went ballistic, mowing down everything in site. I have to admit having a buddy at your side sure makes the game easier. Unlike Area 51, blowing away boxes, cans etc. to reveal bonuses is extremely difficult in HOTD. After taking care of a couple of zombies thay expect you to blow away 6 boxes and shoot the little gold frog before the camera moves away, damn that's tough! The multiple paths route is also well done like Time Crisis, however you have to either shoot a certain object or switch for this in HOTD. The only thing that brought the score down was the length of the game. Too short. Af course shooters are always on the short side, for me anyway.

SOUND - 7.0/10

< Music is OK, more of the American style rock type. At least is wan't techno, eeeugh! Sounds are average, grunts, groans, and the lot. Nothing special really.

GRAPHICS - 7.0/10

Ok you arcade mongers, if you've played this religiously in the arcade you're in for a dissapointment. It's like comparing a 3D-accelarated game on the PC (Turok for example) to, well the Non-accelerated version of quake. It's OK, just not spectacular. To be quite honest, after reading the reviews of the game before I purchased it, I was expecting the worst. However, the graphics are not that bad, they don't have anti-aliasing and light sourcing etc, however it' still looks good, just not great. I was a little miffed at some slowdown during the game (for brief periods of course). I really hate slowdown, I'd rather have frames cut from animation then to have the entire game slowdown (Samurai 4! Grrrrr). All in all it's what to be expected in 3D on the saturn, good not great.

BTW - The greed blood didn't bother me, anyone ever watch the Evil Dead movies? Their zombie blood was green, so what's the problem? The only thing they could have done was add PUSS .. :)

OVERALL 8.5/10

This is a really enjoyable game. I'm glad I paid the big bucks (Canadian $$ (sigh)) for this game. You're guaranted to be throughly entertained by this one. Whip out yer stunners and blast those zombie bastards 100% Pure Whoopass!