The Switch doesn’t really have many lightgun games on the console. It’s odd, since whilst it may not have the accurate sensor bar that the Wii did, the joycons do feature some pretty nifty gyro functionality that should do the same job.
Right?
Well, with the remake of The House of the Dead we are sure to find out one way or another.
Many thanks to Forever Entertainment for the review code.
WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF GUN
Starting life (or rather un-death) as an arcade game in the 90s, HOTD was made to be a compelling rails shooter that paid homage to classic horror films, but it also importantly provided a much different experience to Sega’s other popular arcade shooter of the time – Virtua Cop (please remake these too, FE!).
Choosing either Agent Rogan or Agent G, your objective is to explore the mansion of the insane Dr Curien, who has caused an outbreak of monstrous creatures in his attempt to find a cure for death. Rogan’s fiancé Sophie, who conveniently works for the mad scientist, has also been captured – giving you extra incentive to put an end to his madness.
It was campy nonsense that combined a laughable story with voice acting so terrible that it somehow added to the fun of it all. Using the arcade pistols, the game guided you down a set path as you take out creature after creature. And there are a lot of them too. It was an arcade game, after all.
The remake revamps everything, from the graphics and music, to the voice acting, and even some of the core gameplay mechanics in an attempt to modernise the experience whilst making it still feel faithful to the original title… and they succeed! Screenshots don’t quite do the game justice, but thankfully it the visuals looks stunning in-game. The soundtrack and voice acting too is spot on. The latter is particular was a concern as the terrible voice acting added to the charm; but thankfully the re-recorded lines are equally as cringeworthy, making it lose none of that campiness the original had.
DEADLY SERIOUS
From the offset, you’ll be greeted by a bombastic opening menu complete with thunderous arcade-like music playing over the top. It’s surprisingly impactful and will definitely provide a nice warm feeling of nostalgia to those familiar with the series. There’s a variety of options on offer from the main menu, including a handy monster gallery full of information about the beasts you encounter (including some handy information about their weak spots), and a pretty in depth options menu that allows you to customise the experience to your liking. Considering the sheer amount on offer, it’s a little disheartening that there are no options to customise the blood colour or to drastically alter / remove the crosshair – but there’s still a lot you can do. Most notably there are plenty of options to customise the gyro aiming – which is strangely set to off as default – as well as enable ‘performance mode’ to ensure the experience is buttery smooth. The vast options are very welcome, although the choice of font can make things a little hard to read sometimes – a lesson the developers didn’t learn from Panzer Dragoon: Remake!
After tinkering about with the options, you’ll be keen do dive into the rotting meat of the package – the story mode. Before you jump into the game, you can set the difficulty to whatever feels best for you. Easy difficulty will allow you to take double the amount of hits, but will still provide a challenging experience for the majority of people. You can also alter the scoring method to suit your preferences, with the new method allowing for scoring multipliers which are extremely satisfying when you pull them off. There’s local multiplayer too, which can be a great deal of fun if you have someone else you can play with.
Of course, the main concern that everyone has with the game is with the controls and how well they actually function in game. In essence, the controls are simple, with the trigger enabling you to fire and the B button or left trigger allowing you to reload. You can use the sticks to move if you’re boring, but gyro movement is definitely the ideal way to play to play the game – even if there are issues with it.
The gyro movement itself does work well for the most part, but the aiming reticle does end up going off-centre particularly often. It can be reset with a simple click of the right thumbstick, but I found myself re-centering it almost every minute in the later stages to ensure maximum accuracy. I don’t think this is necessarily a fault of the game, and it’s more to do with the controller itself; to be honest, I can’t really imagine that they could have done much better without the aid of some additional peripheral that acts like the Wii’s sensor bar. On the bright side, you do get used to it pretty quickly and end up doing it as instinctually as a reload, but it also means that you are best off using the left trigger to reload instead as it allows you to keep your right thumb positioned constantly on the gyro reset button.
As a final note regarding the controls, there is no official peripheral for the remake of HOTD (at least, not yet), but the shotgun peripheral made for The Hunt and Chicken Range should both be compatible with the game – just bear in mind that they also may not be perfect either, since the game was not designed with those controllers in mind.
SUFFER LIKE G DID?
After getting used to the imperfect control scheme, you’ll find that your enjoyment with the game improves drastically. After all, this is still the same classic title as the original arcade game. Set over four lengthy chapters, you’re guided through the areas of the mansion killing an impressive cast of creatures. Despite looking like zombies, these creatures are fierce abominations that will attack you often faster than you can react. Each type is unique: chubby hillbilly creatures wield chainsaws, which they will drop if you shoot their arm off; partially armoured creatures need precise shots to take out; and you’ll need to shoot the projectiles of the axe throwing monsters if you want to stay alive. It can be really overwhelming, especially in single player but, as with any arcade game, things get easier as you learn the layout of each stage. You’re limited to ten continues as default, but you can use your points to buy additional continues that will allow you to see the end, but with a lower score. It feels balanced and adds some kind of weight to death, even if it’s only a light punishment.
The odds aren’t completely stacked against you, however. The researchers that worked for Curien are under threat of death from his hordes of the dead. Saving them often grants you additional bonuses, including access to alternate routes and even additional health. It gives you a real incentive to saving them, with an unlockable armory of bonus weapons being the reward for saving every single one. If that sounds like a difficult task, that’s because it is!
The armory isn’t the only addition to the remake, with the aforementioned gallery being of particular note, and even an achievement list that will give you extra goals for additional playthroughs. And if that wasn’t enough, the secondary ‘horde’ game mode contains fifteen times more enemies than the main game – making things ridiculously hard, even for grizzled veterans of the genre. An extra player and the armory will help, but not as much as you think it will!
All these additions make for a nice little package that feels way more rounded than the malnourished (yet excellent) remake of Panzer Dragoon. The development team really know that this game is designed for replayability, and they did their best to keep you playing again and again once the credits roll. As with the original title, it’s very much designed to be a game that you throw on every now and then for a bit of cathartic fun.
As with their last remake, Panzer Dragoon, it probably won’t take you more than an hour to see the end of the story. However, this time they have added in plenty more reasons to replay. It’s still not quite worth the full asking price, but it helps make it a little bit more palatable. The House of the Dead is still as fun as ever, and the remake really does it justice. The controls may not be quite perfect, but they’re at least good enough. Fans of the original are sure to be pleased with the remake and I’m sure that SEGA will be happy knowing that their properties are in good hands.
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