Light-gun shooters have seen a bit of revival on the Wii, with the light gun being replaced by the Wii Remote pointer controls. Most have been met with middling reviews and tepid sales, with the notable exception of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. In that crowded market, House of the Dead: Overkill tries to distinguish itself by going further over the top with gore, language, and story.
The game’s presentation is based on 70’s exploitation flicks. There are film scratches, exploding zombie parts and plenty of cursing. The story is very similar to another recent take on 70’s exploitation films, Planet Terror. A crazed scientist has created a virus that has a caused a zombie-like outbreak. The game’s protagonists, Agent G and Detective Washington, are tasked with stopping this outbreak. Each level is presented as a different exploitation movie. For example, the swamp level is titled “The Fetid Waters” and the prison level is named “Jailhouse Judgement”. Like the plot and locales, the dialogue also sounds ripped from a Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez film. The emphasis on semantics and the particular style of cursing heard in the game is most often heard in those directors’ movies.
The game’s controls and game play boil down to basic on-rails shooter mechanics. The Wii pointer controls are used to aim. The B-trigger shoots. The A button re-loads or you can shake the Wii Remote. The 1 and 2 buttons switch weapons, and the minus button is used for grenades. Health, score, and time slowing bonuses can be picked up by shooting them.
The game has a variety of zombies including exploding ones, ones on fire, ones in riot gear, bird zombies, and more. The end of level bosses are giant mutants. The tactics taking on a boss are a little different, but not very complex. Each one has a weak point that you have to hit. To get to the weak point you have to shoot the boss at certain times while avoiding the objects and other enemies the boss sends at you.
The game is not very difficult, but if you lose all three of your lives, you have to start a level over. I only had to restart a level about once during each play through.
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