HOTD2 + 3
House Of The Dead 2
The first thing I thought when I started up HOTD2 was, "damn this is pretty cheesy". The game is really cheesy, but it is pretty damn fun to play. Arcade light gun shooters typical don't see the best functionality on home consoles, but the Nintendo Wii hardware and motion sensors make for a pretty accurate recreation. The initial setup wasn't perfect however, as it took me a little while to get calibrated and positioned correctly in front of the TV. Once I was all set to go the game played great and I had a blast playing it. The game at its core is very simple. The goal is to shoot all of the zombies, monkeys and river creatures while rescuing civilians for extra lives and higher scores. Kill a civilian, and you will lose a life. There are 3 lives in total, with a few continues to start. This mode is the arcade mode, and every time you play it you will gain additional lives and credits. The game is pretty tough (it is a quarter eater), and it will take a few times playing through arcade to beat it. There are six chapters to the game, and each chapter of the game can follow a different path. Every time you either save certain people or let them die dictates what path you take through the levels. Some of the paths are harder than others, and this method of progression through the game adds some decent re-playability to the game; granted the game will last about 30 minutes for a playthrough. There is a boss at the end of each stage, and the battle will differ slightly based on the path that you took through the level. Original Mode is my favorite of the two, and it is basically arcade mode except that you can find power ups in the levels that aid you in gameplay. The best power ups are ones that increase credits and lives which make the game easier and less frustrating. There are also boss and training modes. The training mini games are pretty hardcore and are way harder than the game. The boss mode is fun. Due to the way that the arcade is structured, beating it can be very grindy. You will have to play it over and over to accumulate credits, and this is artificial replayability that the developer put in the game so it would last longer than an hour or two. The story in HOTD2 follows agents James, Harry, and Amy as they try to save the town from some sort of zombie infestation released from the Curian laboratories. James's partner G is wounded along the way.
Since this version of the game is pretty much a direct port of the dreamcast version, the graphics look very dated and they are pretty blurry. It would have been nice to at least show some effort in updating the graphics. The game can flatout be ugly to look at at times, but I usually don't put too much emphasis on bad graphics so it doesn't bother me too much. The music and sound design of the game is very good even though the voice acting is incredibly cheesy. The music is what I really like, especially the little tune that plays on the level result screen.
Overall House Of The Dead 2 was a fun game to play, but the grinding for credits and the lack of stimulating visuals turned me off a little bit.
House Of The Dead 3
HOTD 3 is pretty similar to HOTD 2, but there are some minor tweaks to the game. The most noticeable difference is that the gun used now is a shotgun instead of a pistol, and it has an on screen reload animation. The same gameplay rules apply to HOTD3, play through the arcade mode multiple times to increase life and credits and eventually finish it. You can gain up to nine lives on a credit in this game, instead of capping out at 5 in HOTD2. Life is gained by scoring an A or S rank for each level, and every time a civilian is saved you gain a life. They are a lot more lenient with lives and credits, and HOTD3 is a much easier game than HOTD2. They are both equally as fun. HOTD3 has one less stage capping out at five, but the game is about 20 minutes longer than number 2. Another slight difference is that you choose your game path through a pop up menu when you come to it, but no matter what path you take you will see the same levels just in different orders. The gameplay feels tighter and better, and it is just a natural improvement over its predecessor. In my opinion, the boss fights are better in HOTD3; they are more intricate. HOTD3 also features a training mode and a time attack mode. In time attack time is added to the bank for every zombie slain, and the goal is to beat the game before running out of time. Training mode is largely the same. There is also an unknown mode that I believe is a boss mode, but I can't seem to figure out how to unlock it. Sadly there is no original mode in HOTD3, and that was a huge disappointment for me. This definitely affects the replayability of the game, and I spent half the time on HOTD3 clocking in at about 5 hours to do everything. The story in HOTD3 follows an agents daughter and his former partner G as they try to rescue him from the Curian laboratories.
The graphics in HOTD3 are pretty good. The game was on the xbox and in the arcades, and the graphics in this version are essentially from the xbox. The graphics are sharp, and they could almost past as a very early next gen system game. I was pleasantly pleased with the visual package. The audio in the game is up to par with HOTD2. The voice acting is leaps and bounds better and more authentic, but the music isn't as good. It is a tradeoff.
Overall HOTD3 was pretty fun to play but suffered from very low replayability and value.
As a whole
The two games on one disc is a pretty nice package. I spent about 13 hours on the games total, and this is low for a $30 retail game. However I think I payed $20 for it when it was fairly new, and at that price its an ok value. The games are a ton of fun to play and even feature co-op.
3.5 stars (7.0)
Gameplay: 8
Replayability/Value: 6
Graphics: 6
Audio: 8
Presentation/Design/Story: 8