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THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD OVERKILL
Fri, 1st May 2009
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Well, there are those who’ve said the Wii needed to grow up and get some proper grown-up games on board. I guess if you’re sick of rabid bunnies or chucking banana skins around, you should have a butcher’s at House of the Dead: Overkill. It’s overkill - and over the top - right from the start, with the grungiest and sweariest cut scenes since the last season of Deadwood. Be warned; if you have delicate ears, you’d best stay well away from this rip-snortin’, zombie-slayin’, sailor-talkin’ gorefest.

There are a handful of characters and a semblance of a story, which goes well with the B-movie aesthetic on hand, but let’s not get carried away - this is about killing zombies. And there are lots of zombies to kill. Don’t like clowns? There are zombie clowns. Zombie rednecks, too. Probably not much of a stretch, actually...

This is a game on rails in the classic arcade shoot ‘em up sense. Don’t expect a free-roaming environment; once you’ve dealt with the targets available, the game takes you to the next shooting gallery. Be sure to use the Wii controller to check out the periphery of the game scenes, as that’s where you’ll find heaps of goodies.

The first level is a drive through Papa’s House of Pain with a pretty puny pistol, but once you’re through here, there are plenty of juicy weapons to be had. The more you play, the more you’ll unlock. There's a handful of mini-games, upgrades to be bought, and some levels have director’s cuts available with more zombies to gun down. Boss battles aren’t necessarily the toughest; you’ll die, but you'll soon figure out some of the boss patterns.

The cut scenes range from cheesy and sleazy to cinematically hilarious, and the character interaction is amusing. That Detective Washington really needs to expand his vocabulary, though.

HOTD: Overkill is a hoot to play, it looks great and has a great storyline (if that’s important to you). But at the end of the day, it's body count and grown-up laughs that are the big winners here.