The House Of The Dead was released to arcades in 1996. Basically, Sega took the template of Virtua Cop and gave it a gory and schlocky coat of paint that was an homage to horror b-movies. And y'know what? This is exactly the sort of light gun game that would appeal to a dude like me.
But real quick, let's talk about light gun games. They were hugely popular in the 90s arcades because they were immensely easy to pick up and play. Nobody had to tell you anything. You just aimed at where you wanted to shoot. Then you shot. Then you'd reload. So easy to learn and have fun in seconds. And in the 90s, Sega did a great job bringing light gun games home. The Master System came packaged with a light gun. The Genesis and Sega CD had Lethal Enforcers. The Saturn had Virtua Cop and The House Of Dead. And even the poor Dreamcast had The House Of The Dead II as far back as 1999. Likewise, even the Playstation and Playstation 2 had their share of light gun games. Namco created the Guncon controller and ported some of their arcade hits to those consoles. And everything was going swimmingly for arcade fans until the HD generation came around. By the time the PS3 came around, nobody had CRT TVs anymore. And so, the very fundamental way that light guns even worked no longer was available to gamers at home. For a while there, the Wii carried the torch for light gun games. Those motion controlled Wii Remotes did a fair job of replicating the experience. And in fairness, once my last CRT ended up on a curb in front of my house, I was glad to have The House Of The Dead II & III on the Wii. Eventually Sony followed suit and made Motion Controllers for the PS3. That was how my wife and I blasted through The House Of The Dead Overkill back in the day. But my point is this: in 2023, the whole concept of light gun games is a super niche thing. Modern consoles aren't really designed for them in mind. You can technically play them with some extra accessories, but it's expensive to buy those extra accessories just for one genre of game. And publishers don't really see the return of investment, so why even bother? There's now a remake of The House Of The Dead on modern consoles. And I can't say that the reviews have been stellar. But me? I'm just glad that it exists. This PS4 version is a miracle that I'm surprised even exists. Legend has it that the source code was lost, so the game had to be remade from the ground up. It looks and feels like the original game, just in higher definition. The music is different but keeps the same tone. But probably most importantly, the PS4 version offers up gyro controls. (The Switch version does too, I guess. The Xbox version does not). While this is far from a 1:1 conversion of how it would feel holding an actual light gun, it's still way better than trying to aim a reticle with an analog stick. I should know. I actually attempted playing light gun games on Dreamcast using an analog stick back in the day, and it didn't go well. I also appreciate the care that went into making this game accessible on a controller. Personally, I switched on the gyro aiming, which somewhat emulated the feel of motion controls. And I found that using the face buttons was sufficient. You fire with X and reload with O. Square will recenter the reticle, which is way more useful than you might think. The original House Of The Dead is a brisk four levels. They're somewhat lengthy levels, mind. But they don't outstay their welcome. Besides, after a single run through my fingers are already starting to cramp. 1. Tragedy The first level takes place in a mansion and gives off a sort of silly/spooky Lovecraft vibe. It's a fantastic setting that feels iconic to the whole House Of The Dead franchise. (By the way, I am enough of a fan to say that I've sat through the Uwe Bowell movies. Ugh). The boss of this level is Chariot, a huge armored dude with a big ax. His weak spot is in his chest, and eventually his amor crumbles and you pick off his flesh until he turns into a skeleton and disintegrates. It's good stuff. 2. Revenge The second level takes place further in and outside the mansion, culminating in a rooftop battle with Hangedman. This is a giant winged creature who kind of looks like a bat/gargoyle mash-up, or maybe even slightly referencing Mothman. He's a jerk because he moves really fast and is often surrounded by other bats who are even more of a pain. 3. Truth This is the best level in the game. It takes place in a weird lab, and has many alien-like creatures. Also, there are enemies that most certainly reference facehuggers and even bleed green. I also can't help but think that the level is named after the X-Files - as in, "the truth is out there." The boss battle takes place in a vent is versus a giant spider called Hermit. This is a really easy boss battle given that its weak spot is so prominent. 4. The House Of The Dead The final level is mostly just a glorified boss-rush, although Hermit doesn't come back. Then you fight Magician, the final boss who is a huge pain. He has a tiny and specific weak spot which isn't told to the player. He moves insanely fast. And he generates a bunch of projectile fireballs. This fight tends to take me a while and is somewhat annoying. But the music is good, and Magician has become something of an icon within the series. Overall, The House Of The Dead feels short but sweet. It's definitely bested by its sequel. But it's a great start to a cool series. Like I said, I don't think the remake was all that lauded. But I'm honestly glad it exists and I hope that we see the rest of the series brought to modern consoles. Nobody has CRTs anymore, and I'll take what I can get. But I honestly think that this remake is a lot better than the reputation it's received would lead you to believe.
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