Short And Sweet: House of the Dead Overkill - Extended Cut

Since we have a full blown gaming drought I had to go in my backlog for my review today.  I've been meaning to review House of the Dead Overkill for quite some time now and I'm glad I got around to playing it.   Its one of the first on-rails shooters I've played this year and its a blast.  Overkill oozes fun with over the top dialogue, mutant dismemberment and tons to unlock.


Presentation: 
It's clear House of the Dead: Overkill -- Extended Cut didn't start out as a PS3 title, usually these Wii ports don't really look all that great.  This is the case with this game, its not ugly but it sure doesn't take advantage of the cell processors.  The cutscene character models are blocky with weird hair clipping through bodies, but the levels themselves actually look good.  The gory dismemberments of the enemies look great and some times really earn that M-rating. I've read that playing in 3D adds depth to the screen and looks sharp, but I myself wouldn't buy a 3D TV for just this one game.  The audio is pretty hysterical with the over-the-top writing of these characters.  This is definitely not one to play around kids or the elderly, with all the constant swearing.

Core Gameplay:
Extended Cut takes the content of the original game, gives it a much-needed HD coat of paint, and adds cool new levels as well as enemies.  I'm seeing all these comparisons with the game and that piece of crap Tarantino movie Grindhouse(Yeah I said it),  its a pretty spot-on comparison.    The game has nine levels, the Wii version had 7, each of the levels offer a different variety of scenes and locales.  Shooting in House of the Dead: Overkill -- Extended Cut feels great with the PlayStation Move.  I've finally gotten a chance to use my Move controller, its been collecting dust since last year.


You can use a Dualshock controller, but the aiming isn't as precise as the Move.  Once I had a handle on shooting(it takes time), I tackled learning the onscreen combo meter. Hit zombies without missing, and the combo builds for extra points -- points that determine where you rank on the online leader boards.  There are bosses in the game and you won't be spending a lot of time since there completely too easy.  You will have the most fun with a buddy on the couch with the co-op.  

Final Thoughts:
Extended Cut is one of the best reasons to own a PlayStation Move in months, since I haven't played with it in months.   I liked playing though this game, but when the credits rolled, I was ready to get on with my backlog.

Final Score = 7.75/10