The House of the Dead series is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been a big fan of the franchise ever since I played the first light gun arcade game, enjoying the two player local co-op (no online, sorry), branching paths, over-the-top gore, and crazy bosses. I remember picking up two light guns for my Dreamcast so that I could dual wield when I played The House the Dead 2 in college. I was delighted when my roommate or girlfriend would join me for a couch co-op game. I was more than a little excited, (and perplexed) when I heard the gory series was being released on the Wii a few years ago.
The House of the Dead: Overkill first appeared on the Wii in 2009, and was a re-imaging of the franchise. While HotD Three and Four took the game into a sci-fi future, Overkill was a prequel. It was heavily inspired by exploitation films of the 70’s, and developer Headstrong Games reveled in grindhouse nostalgia. Not only was Overkill full of violence, it was overflowing with profanity and lewd themes. There were even doses of incest and necrophilia, all wielded with the subtly of a sledgehammer. You can check out our favorable review of the Wii version here.
The House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut is the latest PS3 port featuring HD graphics, a new character, and new levels. If you loved Overkill, you’ll love this. If you’re new to Overkill, or new to the series, I’ll let this video break it down for you:
Warning! This video is offensive to everyone. I said EVERYONE, dammit!
That pretty much sums it up.
You’ll play as AMS Special Agent G. I don’t know what "AMS" stands for, or even "G," for that matter. I’d like to think "AMS" stands for "Awesome Mad Skills," and that the "G" stands for "Gilgamesh," but that’s just me. The second player will be given the pleasure of playing as Detective Isaac Washington, who doesn’t speak English, he speaks F***, with random words tossed in for inflection. (Yes, Overkill did at one time hold the world record for most profane game, ever.) Our two heroes are on the trail of vile madman Papa Caesar, whose wicked experiments have caused an outbreak of zombies, or mutants, or mutant zombies, or zombie mutants. It doesn’t really matter what they are. All you need to know is that you have to shoot those m************ before they f****** kill you first.
Overkill - Extended Cut is a rail shooter/light gun game that can be played with the PS3 controller or Move. I cannot recommend the normal controller; it just doesn’t work well. Awkwardly moving a site reticule around a screen with an analog stick is a punishment best left to one of the lower circles of hell. I didn't see any way to enable Sixaxis motion control, either.
My wife and I used two PlayStation Move motion controllers to great effect. We weren’t using any other peripherals, such as the Sharp Shooter or other faux-gun plastic devices. The normal “wand” worked fine for us. Each time we started up a game we quickly calibrated our Moves, and soon we were scoring headshots effortlessly. When we knocked out several combination kills we were rewarded with the guttural exclamation of "Goregasm!," which jacked up our score multiplier to god-like levels.