As you may know, I’m a huge fan of light gun games. I have fond memories of feeding quarters into arcade cabinets like Operation Wolf and Beast Busters back in, well, let’s just say the last century. The House of the Dead franchise has always been one of my gory favorites, so I was happy to see 2002’s The House of the Dead 3 receiving the HD treatment on the PSN.
HotD 3 takes place in the distant post-apocalyptic future, (my second favorite kind of future) the year 2019. The world has been ravaged by some sort of parasite, or virus or... something - I don’t know. The point is: Zombies! Shoot’em! Players take the rolls of Lisa Rogan, the daughter of the first HotD’s main protagonist, Tom Rogan, as well as the intrepid former Special Agent G. Why is G a “former” special agent? Shut your mouth and shoot some zombies, that’s why. Our pair of heroes find themselves at the source of the global catastrophe, the EFI Research Facility. The towering skyscraper is crawling with the ghoulish undead, horrific monsters, and golden frogs.
Lisa Rogan and G are on the ca- Oh my god! What's wrong with their hands? I hope those are gloves.
If you’ve played the recent HotD: Overkill - Extended Cut, you know the drill. Use your Move controller (or Dual Shock, if you hate yourself) to position your sight reticule over a baddy’s head. Pull the trigger. Ride the invisible rails to the next area. Repeat. That’s the game. Two players can play through the whole thing cooperatively while competing with each other for high scores and bragging rights. Don’t worry, Sharp Shooter owners, I didn’t forget about you; yes, the peripheral is supported.
Unlike HotD:OEC, this game features none of the insane writing, weapon upgrades, swearing, incest, matricide, zombie strippers, and otherwise awesome/icky stuff from that title. HotD 3's story is completely unnecessary, and the developers seem to pride themselves in that fact. The voice acting is delightfully bad. HotD 3 is from a simpler time, when blowing softball-sized holes through chunks of rotting flesh was enough entertainment in and of itself. The graphics are dated and cartoony, but that didn’t hurt my experience with the title. Unsurprisingly, the game looks better than the House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return bundle that was released on the Wii four years ago.