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Today, I'm gonna start us off with a what-if. How's that for edgy and relevant?
Y'see, there's this series of games, right? Originally, I had planned to do an entire retrospective on this series as a whole, but inbetween trying to sort out adult responsibilities (landing a job, managing my money, deciding what kitchen surface cleaner to buy), I haven't had the time to properly prepare for a full-scale, week-long retrospective. However, I have a lot to say about the first entry, for reasons you'll come to realise.
Oh, where are my manners? I haven't even told you what game I'm going to be talking about talking about.
THIS would be the game I'm about to talk to you about.
The House of the Dead chronicles the grim events that occour in the dark future of December 18, 1998 (it makes sense in context). In a mostly abandoned mansion somewhere in what is either England or America (hard to tell between the American accents and left-hand drive car), Dr. Roy Curian has been conducting research funded by the D.B.R Corporation concerning the nature between life and death, for reasons that we would later discover with the third entry in the series to be personal. However, the nature of his research soon wore his sanity into the ground, and he releases his experiments upon the mansion, which begin making short work of the staff. Unfortunately for the good doctor, one of his head researchers, Sophie Richards, happens to be shacked up with AMS Agent Thomas Rogan, who along with his partner, the mysterious "G", was assigned to investigate dissapearences at the mansion. One quick panicked phonecall later, and both Rogan and G are speeding towards the mansion, 9mm's in hand and infinate ammo stocks behind them.
Released in 1996 and developed by Sega's WoW Entertainment Branch (previously known as Sega AM1, who were responsible for the Golden Axe arcade games, Altered Beast, and many others), The House of the Dead wasn't the first game of it's kind, but a lot of the gameplay choices would influence later light gun games. The game is quite fast-paced; a split second descision determined whether or not you saved a researcher, what path you'd take as a result, and how badly you got your ass handed to you by the undead. That, at the time, was a relatively new concept. Certain paths would require you to sacrifice a few points in letting a hostage get killed to take it. All of the paths in each stage converge at varying points, but even then, there's a surprising amount of variety to be found in regards to the courses you could take; there were some I'd never found until very recently that are surprisingly well hidden. The zombie variety is pretty decent; it obviously has nothing on Left 4 Dead's randomly generated hordes, but there's enough different zombie designs to hold your interest. It also helps that many of the zombies attack you in different ways; some bite you, some swipe at you with their hands, some punch or shoulder barge you, and some use axes or chainsaws. One type of zombie introduced in Chapter 3 used a wrecking ball on a chain. Said zombie happens to look like a skinless Biker with a moustache. It's as silly looking as it sounds.
Zombies aren't the only you're going to run into, of course; there are also bats and maggots to contend with....
... Zombie Dogs with wings...
... and even Rage Infected Monkeys. (In the first Chapter, at least).
The bosses are also fearsome and imposing figures. A battle-armor covered, 6ft-something zombie with a halberd named The Chariot; a half-man-half-bat hybrid named The Hangedman; an enormous arachnid named The Hermit; and Curian's masterpiece, the legendary series-staple The Magician...
The game was popular. Very popular. Insanely popular. Virtua Cop and Time Crisis had certainly provided the Ur Example of the modern light gun game, but it was The House of the Dead that codified it, and quite a few games had imitated it as a result, including another favorite of mine, SNK's Beast Busters 2: Second Nightmare. And it's easy to see why; though short, clocking in at only 4 stages of length, the game is increadibly fun to play, and is still a decent challenge, even by todays standards, and getting through the game on a single credit is something few have managed to do. It's a very well designed and scored game, too. The aesthetic design of the mansion locales is suitibly gothic rather then outright campy, or rather then going the cliche Victorian manor route. The game never quite takes itself that seriously. Though it isn't as outright parodic and ridiculous asthe later released House Of The Dead: Overkill is, the dialogue is cheesy--and voiced just as much so--and the plot comes off like something right out of a B-Movie. The score, composed by Tetsuya Kawauchi, is both suitibly appropriete and increadibly memorable, made up of a mixture of cheesy organ/orchestra pieces, rock, and synth heavy 90s techno.
Thankfully, the game holds up very well for a game that is now 14 years old. It isn't perfect (the graphics, though still very good for the time, obviously don't compare to those of today, and the calibration of the light guns could sometimes be wonky, making things harder then they need to be, and by design, the gameplay is mindless and simplistic), but that doesn't mean it isn't a thoroughly enjoyable and well designed game.
The game was ported to the PC and the Sega Saturn the year following it's arcade release. The ports are relativly similar--they both boast the same bonus modes- but there are a few differences. The PC port's graphics have taken a bit of a hit, but they're still pretty decent. The Sega Saturn port, due to being rushed, still has it's placeholder graphics in place, and thus, looks like shit (it was supposed to have graphics on par with the PC port initially). The PC Port, like the arcade version, offers you multiple blood colour choices. The Sega Saturn port leaves you with green blood and no option to change it. The PC Port doesn't have load times in the middle of levels. The Sega Saturn port, inexcusably, does, and often times in the worst places; two of which in the first level kick in in front of doors where killer monkeys are about to burst out. The Saturn Port plays at a slower frame rate, and is prone to lagging--the first fight against The Hangedman is especially bad in this regard. I don't recall if either if these issues plauged the PC port, though. Both ports use an arranged soundtrack, also done by Tetsuya Kawauchi, which spruces up the boss theme and makes the lead more noticeable, and that extends the final stage music, adding in an entirely new section that wasn't in the original arcade version of that stage's song, which does soften the blow of the less-than-stellar Saturn port a bit.
Though the franchise isn't as popular as, say the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, the brand name is still very strong, machines of all the series entries still pull in a lot of money in arcades around the world, and the original arcade entry is a very important piece of arcade history. Plus, the Cyril zombie (pictured on the right) makes an upcoming cameo in Wreck it Ralph, so there's that. It's also a game very close to my heart; I used to stare in wonder at cabinets of the game when I was very young, and the first few times I play it, I was mystified and drawn in with each passing moment. One time, on holiday, I quietly watched two kids I didn't know clear the entire game, patiently watching. There's something about the mystique of the game that keeps me coming back and playing it, and even now, I always keep an eye out for it at arcades, and pop a few coins into it to see how far I get.
--Decon (10/24/11)
(images courtesy of the House of the Dead wiki)
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