Storyline: The story unfolds along parallel lines, and here we begin to see the franchise's new system being put to use... perhaps overuse. Once things get going, perspective switches back and forth among the main playable characters — the wife (Radha Mitchell), the husband (Sean Bean), the creepy little girl (Jodelle Ferland) and the macho-bitch motorcycle cop (Laurie Holden) - who all appear courtesy of the previous titles.

This plays out fine, but it's a bit exasperating for the player, whose main job is to jump over that pit of Hell or dodge that zombie-baby in order to get to the next lengthy cut scene.

Lasting Appeal: No word yet on alternative endings; I'll have to play through again on a harder difficulty. The hour and twenty-seven minutes it will take you to get through this one is on par with others in this genre. That said, the exclusion of a pause option — or any menu system in general — means this will be one very long marathon session from start to finish.

With a rumored hour and a half cut from this version, the possibility exists of a special edition released on a competing format. Maybe that extra half of the game would better explain missing plot points from the initial release.

They will inevitably be making a game based on this film.

Overall (not an average): Die-hard fans of the franchise will want to shell out the money they're asking these days. Director Christophe Gans actually took into account the source material, and it really paid off. Gamers have a rare theater port they can be proud to say they finished.

The pedestrian horror enthusiast should wait for the bargain bin. Or the $3 cinema.

Jordan, a writer at Breaking Windows, came up with the concept for this review and contributed partly of it. Thanks!