It was about damn time! Unless I'm very mistaken, this is (a) the first
batch of new games released for the Saturn in 1998 since "Winter Heat" and
"Daytona CCE: Netlink Edition" back in February, and (b) the last time two
domestic releases will come out simultaneously. Add to that the fact that
any new game will come out with a limited edition tag due to the small run
of copies Sega is printing (6,000-10,000 copies), plus their
name-recognition factor, and you have all the makings for demand
outstripping supply by a wide margin. Which makes it the most sweet when I
can get me BOTH "Panzer Dragoon Saga" (so far so good... review coming
soon) and today's victim, a Saturn port of the monster arcade hit (no pun
intended... honest, it's on the box!) "The House of the Dead". A mix of
familiar styles and popular gaming genres (read the title, again!), "HOTD"
joins its Saturn siblings (the "Virtua Cop" twins) at the top of the
shooter genre, with adrenaline-packed thrills and loads of gaming-goodness
making-up for the ridiculously bad graphics. Although it looks just like
Konami's awful "Crypt Killer", this game plays eons better than "Time
Crisis", "Area 51" and "Maximum Force", or the "VC" shooter portion of
"Die Hard Trilogy". This is the perfect game to confront many gamer's
hypocrisy when they say game play should be king, and graphical goodies
are secondary.
GRAPHICS / VISUALS: C
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All the negative-buzz on magazines and online reviews from the import
version of "HOTD" can't prepare you for when you finally experience the
graphical downgrade this Saturn game suffered from its Model 2 sibling
(which, incidentally, looks gorgeous with its Victorian artistic-design).
Although this game was ported by Australian developer Tantalus (the same
folks that ported "Manx T.T. Super Bike", which looked better), Sega
deserves blame for letting a good portion of their third-generation Saturn
ports look like s*** ("Sega Touring Car Championship" which, AGAIN, looks
slightly better!). The frame-rate is inconsistent and hovering wildly
between 20 and 24 per-second, the colors are drab and almost monochrome in
tone (not a primary color in sight, a rarity for the usually
rainbow-bright Sega games), but most importantly the polygon count is way
low and the textures lack any visual splendor whatsoever. The game
literally looks unfinished, which lends credence to the theory that it was
a rush job. Either that or Sega felt it just wasn't worth it, with
Katana/Dural around the corner, to sink a lot of money on this project (I
don't buy this theory, since it wouldn't explain the loads of Yen spent on
"Panzer Dragoon Saga" and the "Shining Force" scenarios). The blood comes
green right off the bat, so you might want to seek the code that will give
you blood (in a variety of colors...lovely!) on the archives of seganet.com. What
survives (barely!) is the visual skeleton of what made the arcade game
such a blast: a chance to go into a big house full of scary monsters and
blast their heads and limbs off, literally! Chainsaw-wielding monsters,
mutated monkeys and frogs, and zombies of all size and speed are at your
disposal for target practice. Blow holes in their bellies, cut off their
arms and legs with your trusty Stunner gun, or aim for the head (haven't
you seen any George Romero zombie movies??!!) and have the undead's brains
spilling all over your living rooms in huge chunks. Although not a looker,
"HOTD" earns its "M" rating with gruesome content and a frenetic pace not
present in its closest Saturn sibling, the action-packed "Virtua Cop 2".
MUSIC / SOUND EFFECTS: B
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Just like Capcom's "Resident Evil", the audio portions have all the
ingredients of what make B horror flicks memorable in a not-too-positive
way: terrible dialogue, hokey lines, moody music and OK sounds effects.
The music and sound effects sound almost like the arcade version of "The
House of the Dead", with the gun shots and groans from the monsters
competing with the environmental sound effects (stuff crashing through
windows, knife-wielding midgets spinning around, etc.). The music is a
weird remix of the arcade music, which was pretty weird to begin with and
kept you on your toes while playing at an arcade; sadly not one tune is
worth listening as a stand-alone musical piece, which relegates "HOTD"
music strictly to the background. As for the dialogue? It still sounds
muffled and sampled in a low-res fashion, especially the voices and taunts
of the bosses which are sometimes unintelligible (this seems like a trend
of Sega's Saturn games... remember the "VC" bosses?). The lines are
laughably bad in both content and delivery ("This is terrible!" made me
burst our laughing), and they are mercifully kept to a minimum throughout
the game but are ever present in the in-between cut-scenes where your
on-screen characters confront the game's nemesis, Dr. Curien (think of him
as a mix of Gary Oldman charm and George Michael fashions). As for the
scientists you're trying to save? You've never heard a more dorky or
insincere "Thank You!" in your life :-P.
GAMEPLAY / FUN FACTOR: A
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This is where Tantalus earned its fee big-time; this sucker is packed
with all the good stuff that made the arcade version of "HOTD" a hit, as
well as extra bonuses only available in the Saturn. For starters, very
rarely will one game go through the same path, because there are different
"branches" through each chapter of the game activated by the actions of
the player (for example, don't save the scientist guy about to be tossed
from the bridge in the opening of the game and you will go through the
basement/sewers... save him and you will go through the front of the
house). This feature alone adds tremendous replayability to the game,
unlike the memorization-stuck path of the "VC" games. The pace of the game
is fast and furious, with a blink making the difference between getting
that monster aiming his claws at your face or his head on a silver
platter; think John Woo (the characters, Thomas Rogan and 'G', look like
characters straight our of "A Better Tomorrow" or "The Killer"), think
"Resident Evil", think "X-Files" (those rain coats!), think your favorite
H.P. Lovecraft novel, etc. Originality goes out the window when playing
"HOTD", since you've seen any of these elements in countless other forms
of entertainment... but all tied together in one little CD full of shooter
fun? Never! Sadly one of popular culture's most persistent stereotypes,
the helpless female in distress, is perpetuated in the form of Sophie
Richards, Thomas Rogan's fiancée which just happened to be stuck in that
scientific research facility when he just happened to show up in time to
save her from the clutches of evil. Refreshing, ain't it? Extras include a
Boss Mode (go up against any boss you have defeated, and take him out in
as little time possible with the least amount of damage) and a Saturn Mode
where you can select from a roster of characters with individual
advantages and handicaps ('G2'??!!); it's finally payback time for poor
little Sophie :-), and the possibility of extra levels, but I'm not
saying! The Options Menu gives you the standard selections you have come
to expect from the "VC" games, including the option to play the game using
a regular controller (not recommended), the number of torches (lives) and
continues in the game, and so forth. If the game had better graphics, and
didn't have this mood-killing Loading breaks every few rooms (they aren't
too long or boring, thanks to that spooky heart-pounding sound effect...
just very obtrusive), the Saturn version of "House of the Dead" would have
scored a coveted 'A+' in my game play book. Alas, an 'A' is not bad
nowadays when "Winter Heat" and "NHL '98" are the only two other games
released for the Saturn in 1998 I can compare this one to. Will "Panzer
Dragoon Saga" be the next coming of "Final Fantasy VII", or will it go the
way of "Secret of Evermore" (all hype, very little game)?
OVERALL: B+
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Ignore the graphics if you can, and you will be rewarded with a fun
little shooter that looks worse than the original "Virtua Cop" but plays
faster and better than Namco's "Time Crisis", and throws in a roster of
characters that have a different number of lives and hits, bullet
number/power, etc. If you can find a copy I would recommend getting it for
the thrill of having a bona-fide collector's item that, along with "Panzer
Dragoon Saga" and "Burning Rangers", are sending the Saturn to console
heaven with a heck of a bang that was lacking in the departures of 3DO,
the Jaguar, the Genesis, the Atari Lynx, the Virtual Boy, etc. Although
flawed in its visuals, "The House of the Dead" is the best excuse I've
ever come across to get myself a second Stunner and pull the John Woo
twin-pistol cross routine in front of my TV one more time. Get some
garlic, a super-soaker gun full of holy water, and Saturn copies of "Enemy
Zero", "D" and "Resident Evil" for a fun little weekend of freights... the
horror of "SNL" bad skits not included! NeXT!!!
