I'll say one thing for House Of The Dead 2, it's easy to get into. Who needs a training mode in a game where you just point and shoot? I will argue for the addictiveness of the game because I think it is more so than Chi did. However, this inexorable aspect of the game is mainly in the "Original mode," where you collect items essentially for the next time you start over. I found it to be pretty slick and on-target because Chi and I worked like crazy to grab every power up we could find trying to get the right combination to beat the game. It's a nice (and probably the best) addition that Sega has made to the arcade port to add some "freshness" to the game.
Unfortunately, House Of The Dead 2 slips up a bit in the other areas. Chi was not exaggerating when he criticized the voice-acting and scripting because it is truly horrible. I feared those cut-scenes more than I did the marauding mobs of the undead. One knock against House Of The Dead 2 that Chi didn't mention was the retread of bosses throughout the game. After the first boss, which was admittedly pretty impressive, it all went downhill. The bosses were relatively hard to kill, but were also pretty boring in their attacks and overall look. What was worse was that I had to take them on twice throughout the game. Come to think of it, I had to take them on three times because the last boss (a cheesy celestial-type being) temporarily morphs into the other bosses to better wipe you out. When it comes down to it, House Of The Dead 2 is still just an arcade port, albeit a perfect one. Like one legendary artist once purportedly said, "great statues are made from great stone." So if you think the original was great, you will no doubt love this one as well, but those looking for something with a bit more depth could be easily turned off by this endeavor.
- Extra Credits: Differences in Scale vs Differences in Kind - May 15, 2013
- Extra Credits: Why Console Specs Don’t Matter - May 3, 2013
- Extra Credits:Intrinsic vs Extrinsic - April 27, 2013
