House of the Dead 4: PS3 review

House of the Dead 4

Platform: PS3
Released by SEGA

Zombies - there's just something about their shuffling, never stopping ways which brings out the violence in all of us.

So, enter into the fray, the PS3 version of the classic arcade game, The House Of The Dead 4.

Set in between episodes two and three of the series, this rolling scenes interquel is a hell of a lot of mindless shooty fun.

You take on the role of either James Taylor (not that one) from the second in the series or newcomer Kate Green as they fight their way through hordes of marauding creatures of varying strengths. Armed with a limitless supply of bullets and some grenades, you simply blast your way through each level and culminate in a smackdown with a level boss.

Sounds simple eh?

Well, it's kind of not, if you're looking to boost your skill set and points at the end of each level. Mindlessly just shooting everything doesn't net you the best score - a more carefully aimed skill shot at the head nets you a "Perfect" or "Amazing" leading to a higher bounty. It's a clever way to ensure some degree of tactics in what is effectively a shoot 'em up. But you also have to be strategic too, electing to use grenades to get take out hordes rather than continually having to reload - though with only three grenades, you have to be careful as well.

Shaking the Siaxis will help you reload the gun and also help shake off zombies who latch on for a feast, as well as opening doors etc - these feats are only done though when you're prompted to do so (and are more effective if you're using the Move technology to help the game progress).

That's perhaps one of the only frustrations of the game in that it keeps going; you're not free to control your characters movements and directions - merely to blast the heck out of everything around you. Still, if you think about it in terms of the genre and arcade gaming (where this series originated) it's true to its ideals. It's been faithfully brought over from the arcade version and looks nicely sharp in its HD form.

Ultimately, The House of the Dead 4 is a great way to kill a bit of time; it's tense, nervy stuff which gets the adrenaline flowing and the bullets flying.

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