Comments on: Review: House of the Dead 4 (PSN)

By: Josh Newey

Josh Newey — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:43:41 +0000

@grolt
Glad you’re liking them! Yeah your feelings on 4 seem to be the general consensus. While I don’t think it lacks any grunge, I do understand the sentiment it just feels out of place in the HOTD series. Its style just feels…different.

No, I didn’t use a Sharp Shooter, though I’ve been considering it for some time now. Since the Move has basically been little more than a HOTD machine for me, I have a hard time convincing myself that the extra holder is worth the money they ask for the thing. If we get a whole new HOTD on the Move someday, then I’d definitely consider it.

By: grolt

grolt — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:35:11 +0000

Cool Josh. I broke down and bought a move, this and HOTD 3 based on your reviews. Not disappointed. I’d never played more than the first level of HOTD3 and me and the lady had a blast going through that one. Nice to see the difficulty wasn’t crazy too (I pulled an all-nighter trying to get through the original HOTD on the Saturn a few days ago, times sure have changed). The shotgun mechanic in 3 and the automatic gun in 4 add different touches to the game that makes them feel a little fresh after the well trodden paths of HOTD and HOTD2. 4 I still need to play through a little more, but right now it’s my least favorite…just feels kind of empty. Slick, but it doesn’t have that grunge that made the other games memorable. Still, I definitely had fun with it so far and look forward to the rest.

Are you using any kind of gun adapter for the game right now? I was contemplating that Sharp Shooter accessory, but wasn’t sure how much it would actually help the game.

By: Josh Newey

Josh Newey — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:13:50 +0000

@grolt
Oh, and yes, I did use the Move. I haven’t tried this one without it yet, but I did play a little bit of HOTD 3 with a standard controller and it was surprisingly tolerable. Whether that translates to this one or not remains to be seen.

By: Josh Newey

Josh Newey — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:21:11 +0000

@grolt
That is a good point you make. Despite creature designs that are generally more monstrous and detailed, there is a noticeable lack of gore in this one. It didn’t bother me too much, since I found the burst of blue flames to be a hilarious replacement for the usual bloodletting. The zombie faces do eat away as you fire your gun though, which is a really nice touch.

By: grolt

grolt — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:49:28 +0000

Awesome, Josh, thanks for the thorough review, you really answered a lot of key questions I had, like the difficulty and how well it transitions to consoles with the motion control. I’m assuming you played it using the Move? I was a little surprised about your initial assertion that it was a darker game than the others – while playing it in the arcades I actually thought it was significantly LIGHTER than the previous games. It seemed kind of PG-13 to me – I didn’t remember seeing any blood or deteriorating zombies or anything like that. It sounds like that is not the case here, though.

I make it a priority to get the arcade ports SEGA does, be it this, After Burner Climax or that Wii light gun 2 pack released last year, because those are the titles I want to keep seeing from SEGA. Glad to know, based on the review, they’ve kept the standard of quality high.