Reviews

A poor relation to Resident Evil, the House of the Dead games follow a similar premise involving mad scientists and the undead, but done in the form of a light gun game, later trounced (ironically) by Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. House was a modest arcade hit that was later ported to the Dreamcast and Xbox. Presented here on the Wii are parts two and three, but don't worry about the plot as you simply need to shoot stuff.

As with any arcade shooter, no matter how well it's presented, it's always going to follow the same predictable path: zombie pops up, you shoot it, reload your gun, go around corner, zombie pops up, repeat to fade. However, there are certain differences between House 2 and 3.

Girls with Guns. All you needed to sell games back in the late 90s/early 00s

To begin with, House 2 feels much more like an old-fashioned arcade port, with many things happening on screen at once and very little room to pause for breath. Even the lightning-quick cut scenes move so fast that the story is unintelligible - something about A.M.S agents trying to control a virus outbreak - and any names or soundbites put up on screen aren't there long enough for you to actually read them. But that's okay, because light gun games are, after all, just about shooting stuff as fast as possible.

There is a training mode, but you'd be better off simply going straight to playing the game as both things involve shooting zombies. Playing as James (do we care what his name is? Nope) you can choose the Arcade version or the Original version of House 2. If you can tell the difference between them then hats off to you. There's also a Boss mode, where you must defeat foes such as The Magician and Hierophant in the fastest time.

What are you shooting for? He's surrendering!

The action takes place in Venice, Italy, as you shoot zombies, birds, swamp things and save civilians to earn an extra life. The graphics are really poor, especially compared with House of the Dead 3, which offers slicker production values more on a par with Ghost Squad. Part 3 also slows the action down a tad, so you aren't constantly blasting away in a mild panic. This allows you to place your bullets more effectively and garner some understanding of the plot for a change.