Sega’s House of the Dead franchise has been ported and transformed across multiple consoles and control systems, from the Dreamcast’s lightgun to the Wii remote and, most wonderfully, the keyboard enthusiast’s fever dream in Typing of the Dead. Every version has shone in terms of pick up and playa arcade action, with the simple joys of pointing at the screen and making zombies explode never really getting old. Fast forward to 2022 and it was no surprise that fans were excited to see the shiny new House of the Dead: Remake, especially as previous ports have usually focussed on the second and third games.
Out now across Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC, it was the Xbox version that we got in for review, playing on an Xbox One X. Where many cross-platform games have fans fussily discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the different platforms through frame rate and resolution comparisons, House of the Dead: Remake has fundamental issues on Xbox that leave it lagging behind other systems.
The storyline of House of the Dead is completely ridiculous, seeing you playing as one of two special agents called in to investiate the goings on at the mysterious Curien mansion. Scientists have been reported missing, and upon arrival you soon discover that the place is infested with zombies and other terrifying monsters. The narrative and dialogue make Resident Evil seem like Shakespeare, but this is a large part of the series’ charm. I was disappointed not to hear the consant f-bombs of my personal favourite, HotD Overkill, but the terrible voice acting brought me nostalgically back to playing the arcade version in my local bowling venue back in the 1990s.
The game itself is a familiar on rails shooter – a format that is mostly extinct nowadays outside of VR experiences. In the arcade and earlier home versions, you would use a lightgun accessory to really feel that arcade thrill, but the shift from CRT to LCD and OLED killed off the lightgun technology, and the Xbox has no equivalent control option. You do on PlayStation and Switch, though. Switch lets you use the Joy-Con gyroscopic motion controls similar to a classic Wiimote, while on PlayStation, every DualSense and DualShock 4 controller has motion controls built in as well. A patch in June even added support for the PlayStation Move and Aim Controller, which many a PSVR owner will have knocking around. Meanwhile, over on PC, the mouse can swiftly zip across the screen and the potential for modding makes this probably the ideal current format.
However, with the Xbox you are restricted to using the thumbsticks – a control system that is as frustrating as it is inaccurate. There are various sensitivity settings and an auto aim that can be adjusted, but even after finishing the game multiple times and getting all of the achievements I never felt entirely in control.
In terms of new additions, MegaPixel Studio has made decent effort. Alongside the orginal arcade mode, there is a high score based new one that rewards hit chains and accuracy rather than just survival. This helps to increase longevity but, again, felt thankless with the thumbstick controls. There is also the inclusion of the ridiculous horde mode that massively increases the number of enemes on screen to a level that the original hardware could not have supported. This becomes increasingly fun once you unlock some of the more powerful weapons hidden throughout the levels. Cheats are available, but these are restricted by the number of achievements that you have earned, so you need to play the game through a few times before you can just let loose with infinite ammo or all weapons unlocked.
The arcade origins of the game are most apparent in the runtime. A single playthrough can be completed in about 30 minutes, so value for money relies on you playing the main campaign repeatedly – at least you won’t be throwing money into an arcade machine while you do so. This is made more palatable by multiple routes throughout the mansion and the aforementioned hidden weapons and some achievements that genuinely reward different styles of play.
