House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut for PS3 Review

House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut is one of the latest “made for Nintendo Wii” games that has been ported over to the PlayStation 3 for use with the PlayStation Move, and given an HD (and 3D) makeover. Is this Extended Cut version worthy of the PS3, or should it have been left to rot on the Nintendo Wii?

Let’s get this out there: I love on-rails arcade shooters – absolutely love them – and I’m familiar with the House of the Dead series from my old Dreamcast days. So I jumped at the chance to review this game.

Overkill – Extended Cut has got all the makings of a typical cheeseball classic horror flick, all the way down to the flickering reel-style screen effects. Obscene amounts of gore and swear-words are ever-present throughout. The plot is laughable – it all revolves around “Formula X”, a failed military experiment gone wrong which has led to a mutant out break. Yes, the baddies in this game are “mutants”, although they slump and slink along like zombies would. It looks like a zombie, probably smells like a zombie, why not just call it a zombie?

Whatever they’re called, it’s your job to shoot the ever-living shit out of them using the PlayStation Move. You can use the DualShock 3, but the PlayStation Move mimics the Wii-mote controls that this game was designed for. It works better than any light gun – it’s more precise. Local co-op is included and is fun, but you really don’t need the back up as the game is simple. Too simple. Bosses put up no challenge whatsoever, even on Director’s Cut mode.

House-of-the-Dead-Overkill-review — It still looks like a Wii game.

The game is ugly as sin. Not because of the mutants and gore, but because this game was, and still kinda looks like, a Wii game. Some of the grain adds to the visual impact of it being a horror game, but it mostly looks like it’s washed out. 3D has been added, but it’s not even worth turning on. It only makes the game look even worse.

Getting past the nine levels of mutant attacks is a breeze, and be completed in one sitting. And aside from maybe trying to beat high-scores or combo-chains, that’s about all the enjoyment House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut offers. It’s fun for a limited amount of time, especially if the genre appeals to you, but there’s not enough substance there – and what is there isn’t exactly that great, either.