House of the Dead Overkill (Wii)

[aruljothi]

   Release Date: 02/10/2009
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
Genre: Shooter
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Headstrong Games

If you are under the age of 18, House of the Dead: Overkill is not for you. In fact, you shouldn't even be reading this review. Overkill is filled with things that would not appeal to adolescents, such as strippers, zombies exploding in sprays of blood, and extensive use of the words "d*ck" and "f*ck." I recommend a more wholesome, but still excellent, Wii title such as Super Mario Galaxy or Zack And Wiki. Have fun!

OK, now that it's just us adults, I can talk freely. House of the Dead: Overkill is awesome! It has strippers, zombies exploding in sprays of blood, and extensive use of the words "d*ck" and "f*ck!" As a parody of/tribute to grindhouse cinema, Overkill is B-movie schlock at its best. But as shiny as the presentation is, the execution still leaves quite a bit to be desired. The dialogue tries way too hard at times to be funny, and the characters look and move like blocks of wood. But if you enjoy the over-the-top style of films like Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, you'll like this game.

The game looks impressive for a Wii title, and not just in the stylish menus and deliberate film-grain effect during the cut-scenes. The backgrounds are well-detailed, and the zombie hordes hunting you down look suitably creepy. But an inconsistent framerate bogs down the experience, causing you to miss both power-ups and headshots when the screen jerks unexpectedly. That's not helped by the already-imprecise Wii remote -- it feels like your cursor is constantly half a second behind your movements. But my biggest problem is that in multiplayer, you and your friend's crosshairs are nearly indistinguishable: One is a white cirlce, and the other is two concentric white circles. Why aren't they different colors, like every previous House of the Dead game?

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the game's weapon upgrade system. After each mission, you earn money that you can put toward purchasing new firearms, or upgrading the damage, reload time, etc. of what you already have. There aren't many guns to choose from, but the upgrading gives you a reason to play through each stage more than once other than trying to unlock concept art and background music. And when you run out of ammo durning the game, you don't have to shoot off-screen to reload -- your gun automattically refills when you run out of bullets, though you can always reload manually by hitting the A button.

Where Overkill will truly be divisive is in the narrative: some people will love the nonsensical, fast-paced story. But, with its constant stream of expletives and toilet humor, it may turn just as many people away. And as purposefully offensive as it is, I still enjoyed the game. The dialogue is strained, and the barrage of f-bombs is played out by the second level, but there are several genuinely funny moments. For a few quick rounds of cheesy, light gun-style action, this new House is one worth visiting.

[pradeep prem]

i like more shooter games
this is really amazing experience with this game