The House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return

Review from Cav - Thursday, 08 May 2008 @ 9:48pm

I miss Video Game Arcades. Even though, as a teenager, I would often leave myself with only enough money to get myself home, I still miss them dearly. I think my love of the Arcade was instilled at an early age. When I was still in Kindergarten, my mother was part of a weekly Friday Ten Pin Bowling League. My younger sister and I were placed in a crache while mum hit the pins (not hit the 'piss', although that could explain a hell of a lot about myself today). From this crache I could see a room across the way with flashing lights. I'd swear there were thirty pinball machines and two video game cabinets one of them was Space Invaders and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the other. It was a two player driving game with a steering wheel and gear stick (the knob often replaced by a pool ball) with a top down view. Black, grey and white graphics were complimented by the representation of a car, which was no more than two small squares sided up to two rectangles in sequential order, and an oil patch in the middle of the track. How did you know it was an oil patch? Because of the word OIL written across it, silly! It took weeks of begging, crying and embarrassing tantrums to get my mum to put 20c in the coin slot for me (check it, kids - TWENTY CENTS!) instead of the mechanical horse that she believed would cure me of my fits. Basically I sucked as a driver at the age of 4, but hell did I think that was special.



These days I still can't walk past an Arcade, when I actually find one, and deposit a coin or twenty. You'd think that my 'Arcade Cravings' would be dampened by owning a few home consoles, but alas, this is one of those habits that I just can't kick. I still have two Replay tokens from the Arcade at Chermside Shopping Centre just outside Brisbane in my wallet, from my trip last year, on the off chance that I will be there again soon. It's memories like these that ensured that House of the Dead 2 & 3 on the Wii was going on be a member of my catalogue of Wii Games :). And the free PowerWave Wii-Qualizer gun peripheral that came with. I love free stuff, don't you?

From the moment I inserted the disc into the 'White Wonder', I wanted to rummage through the linen cupboard for a black sheet and nick down to the second hand furniture store to see if they had an old shower curtain rail I could pick up for a song, just to set the mood. The memories came flooding back! The poor voice acting! The blocky looking faces! It's all there! Nothing much has really changes except for the options at the start of the game, giving you various options for the game. Firstly you must choose between playing either HotD 2 or 3 and then you can through the Arcade or Original versions (which confused me as I always thought that the Arcade version WAS the original version!) You also have the options of a Tutorial and Boss Mode, I'll let you work out what the last one is all about. The game still has all the great pick-ups and upgrades that can be selected for use before you start Original Mode, although the Grenade Launcher doesn't have the head splattering effect that you would expect, it's more like an Air Cannon, knocking your enemies over. It's really hard to comment on a game that isn't really that new, just more personal now that it's in my home on a console and not stuffed away in the corner of a Pub or Bowling Alley. If someone gave me an ultimatum and I was forced to pick one game over the other? Well, personally, I prefer 2 over 3. Even though the graphics and voices improve slightly with the third instalment, I just can't help playing House Of The Dead 2 until the wee hours of the morning. Call me crazy, call me kooky, but it's part of my teenage years (albeit late teens ... okay, okay! I give!! Early twenties) that I just can't let go ... and when you get to my age you cling onto whatever comes your way.



One of the main reasons I picked up this game, as mentioned previously was for the PowerWave Wii-Qualizer. Unlike the Nintendo Wii-Zapper, the Wii-Qualizer is more of a Hand Gun than a Rifle. I thought this may be better than the Zapper, maybe because it was bundled with the game, but I was wrong. The game is set up so that when you don't have a nunchuk connected, you only have to press B to shoot. If you do have a nunchuk connected, you hold B on the WiiMote and use Z for the trigger, thus easily done with the two handed Zapper, but really uncomfortable when trying to wrap both hands around the Wii-Qualizer. The one thing that the Wii-Qualizer has going for it is the Class 3a Laser that can be activated to assist with aiming, with the help to two AAA batteries. A great little bonus and great fun at the airport, just ask the pilots!

I am really finding it hard to comment on this game as I feel the only real difference is that I don't have to have an arseload of change in my pocket and that my couch is a hell of a lot more comfortable than standing up at an arcade .... and coming home with gum stuck to my shoe and smelling of cigarettes. Well no that the last option can happen anymore.

Summary

Those looking for new upgraded versions of the games, need not bother. Those who 'wanna kick it old skool?' Rock out with your Wii out! Hang on, can I say that?

Pros

Classic style gameplay. Two games - one disc. Occasional screams through the WiiMote speaker at the selection screen! Good that the Nunchuk or Wii Zapper isn't essential, but who doesn't have a Nunchuk, right?

Cons

The odd load delays, lack of instruction in the mini-games ... well nothing as long as you don't expect anything better than what you got in the Arcade. But hey, someone out there will find something. Good luck to them