About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

The House of the Dead (arcade game)

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The House of the Dead (arcade game)

The House of the Dead is a first-person, light gun rail shooter arcade game released in 1996 by Sega, where the player assumes the role of a government agent who must shoot his way through an army of recently resurrected zombies.

Contents

Gameplay

The House of the Dead is a straightforward light gun game. Players simply use a light gun to aim at approaching enemies, and click the trigger to shoot them. The characters' pistols use clips of rounds, so even though the player has infinite ammo, they must reload once each clip is spent. This is done by pointing the gun away from the screen and pressing the trigger. A set of torches next to each player's clip shows their health. Anytime a player is attacked or shoots a civilian, one of their torches is put out. A player is considered "dead" when all of that player's torches are out. A dead player may continue by inserting more money (or selecting continue in the home versions). Sometimes a first-aid pack can be shot to restore health, and some civilians will give first-aid packs to the player if he or she saves them.

This game was one of the first such games to incorporate the possibilities of multiple routes. For instance, in the beginning of the game, a male civilian is about to be thrown off the bridge to his death. If players shoot the zombie and save the civilian, they will enter the house. If the civilian dies, players go down an underground route through the sewer. There are other critical points in which the players' actions decides where they go. This "choose-your-path" was later implemented in its three arcade sequels.

Story and characters

Taking place in 1998, The House of the Dead follows two government agents, Rogan and G, who are sent on an assignment to investigate a series of disappearances at a mansion/laboratory thought to be inhabited by Dr. Curien, a mad scientist, one notorious for his dangerous, inhumane experiments. They soon find the result of the experiments - biologically engineered zombies, thirsty for blood.

Rogan and G must use their wits and their handguns to find Curien and stop him before his zombies can reach civilization. However, the fight is more personal for Rogan, whose girlfriend Sophie is kidnapped at the outset.

One of the main protagonists of the first game. An agent of the AMS, Rogan was part of the investigation of the strange occurrences within the Curien Mansion. Rogan was also concerned for Sophie Richards, his girlfriend and one the scientists working in the mansion. He was the hero of the Curien mansion incident of 1998, then aged 31. He is also the father of Lisa Rogan, one of the heroes of The House of the Dead III. Rogan's career after the incident continued to be marked with his courage and excellent judgement.

Not much is known about this AMS agent, apart from the fact that he is a frequent partner of Thomas Rogan. The manual for the Sega Saturn port of the game speculates that G is a robot of some sort, citing frequent references to artificial blood and a "calculating" personality. However, given that G has aged by the timeline of The House of the Dead III when he works with Rogan's daughter, this has probably been retconned.

A scientist for the DBR Corporation and Rogan's girlfriend, Sophie was one the researchers who had been assigned to help Dr. Curien with his scientific research into the nature of life and death. Whether or not she is killed by The Chariot after it throws her against a wall is unclear; the game has multiple endings depending on the player's score determining if Sophie survives or later reappears as a zombie. The first is thought to be canonical, due to the appearance of Thomas Rogan's 19-year old daughter in The House of the Dead III, which is set in 2019.

A noted biochemist and geneticist, Dr. Roy Curien researched the very nature of life and death, backed by the DBR Corporation. Dr. Curien converted his family mansion into a research facility, with scientists from the DBR Corporation to assist him. Unfortunately, the nature of the experiments performed drove Dr. Curien insane, resulting in him releasing his experimental subjects - bloodthristy zombies and mutants - onto the unsuspecting world. The AMS agents, Thomas Rogan and G, fought their way through the hoard of undead, confronting Curien as he released his greatest achievement, The Magician, in one last bid to destroy them. Ironically, however, The Magician rebelled against its programming and killed its creator with a blast of fire.

Chariot
Enlarge
Chariot

A 3-meter-tall zombie covered in plate armor carrying a large polearm axe. The only crack in its armor was a hole above its heart. This creature proved to be quite slow in its movements despite its strength. The Chariot was the monster who attacked Sophie Richards right after she was found a second time by Rogan and G, who managed to defeat it. Its weak point was a red glowing hole in his right shoulder (when armored), and his armor would fall off after a set amount of hits, allowing the players to actively shoot at its body. As it is knocked back with every hit in its armored state, its possible to kill it without being hit once, and an unusual glitch allows skilled players to literally shoot Chariot through the far wall during the second battle in the caves. Goldman had copied The Chariot as Judgement (Kuarl) in The House of the Dead 2.

The Hanged Man
Enlarge
The Hanged Man

A dark, green-skinned humanoid with large bat-like wings and claws on its hands and feet. This creature had the ability to control bats telekinetically. When Sophie managed to get out of the mansion just as Rogan and G arrived, it was The Hanged Man who flew down and carried her back inside. Before he flew back to the mansion, he taunted Rogan and G, declaring "Nobody leaves here alive!". Later in the game, The Hanged Man tried to kill Rogan and G as they explored the Curien Mansion further, but was defeated. Its weak point is its torso, which is harder to hit, as it is usually hovering a fair distance away from the player. Goldman had copied The Hanged Man as Judgement (Zeal) in The House of the Dead 2.

The Hermit
Enlarge
The Hermit

A giant, mutant spider, this beast guarded the passageway leading to Dr. Curien's restricted research area, where the Magician project was taking place. In order to continue the search for Dr. Curien, Rogan and G killed it. Its weak point is its head, which it occasionally covers with two of its legs. During some portions of the battle, The Hermit will crawl towards the player and excrete several balls of webbing which must be shot in order to be avoided. Lastly, The Hermit protects its head as it crawls towards the player for the last strikes.

The Magician was Dr. Curien's most powerful experimental subject. A horned, half-armored humanoid, this creature had the ability to move quickly, levitate and emit fire as a weapon. It turned against its creator, Dr. Curien, and killed him, with the intention of destroying the world. To prevent The Magician from escaping into the outside world, Rogan and G laid it to rest behind Curien's restricted research area before any harm could be done. Its weak point in this game is considered 'unknown', but for both it and its The House of the Dead 2 incarnations, they are anywhere where its muscle/wiring is not shielded (specifically, its right side of the face, left bicep, right forearm, left thigh, and right shin). The Magician is seen also in the second and fourth games.

Sequels

Wildly popular in North America, The House of the Dead was followed by The House of the Dead 2 in 1998, the beat 'em up spin-off Zombie Revenge, and The House of the Dead III in 2002. A House of the Dead 4 is now available for arcades

There is also a separate version of The House of the Dead II, called The Typing of the Dead, released in arcades and on the PC and Dreamcast. Played with a standard keyboard instead of a light gun (the arcade version had dual keyboards, and the PC version could be played over a LAN), every enemy zombie has a certain word written above it, which the player has to type in order to kill. As the gameplay progresses, the words get longer, harder to type, and often more bizarre (often involving keyboardized variants of tongue twisters), and bosses usually require long sentences or other special typing to finish off. All in all, TOTD is significantly more bizarre and humorous than the original, with popups such as «Balloon Heads» (all players' heads grow), «Monkey» (you turn into a monkey), and the 3D characters running around with giant Dreamcasts on their backs and keyboards instead of guns.

Another game based on The House of the Dead 2 was released on the Game Boy Advance, entitled The Pinball of the Dead. Although it was a completely different genre of game, it featured level designs from The House of the Dead 2, complete with their retrospective bosses and enemies.

Trivia

In the game series (except for Zombie Revenge), the bosses are all named after cards in Tarot's Major Arcana.

Movies

Notes

In 2003, a film version of House of the Dead by Uwe Boll and produced by Brightlight Pictures, was given limited theatrical release with the intent of becoming a cult film, serving as a prequel to the game (It was revealed that the last name of the protagonist is Curien, the villain in the first game). It received poor reviews and little box office return.

In 2004 a sequel to House of the Dead was greenlit. The previous director Uwe Boll was unable to direct the sequel due to commitments to his other films. Michael Hurst was chosen as the director.

External links

The House of the Dead series
Games: The House of the Dead (arcade game)>House of the Dead | House of the Dead 2 | House of the Dead III | House of the Dead 4
Films: House of the Dead (film)>House of the Dead | House of the Dead 2
Spin offs: The Typing of the Dead>Typing of the Dead | | Zombie Revenge | The Pinball of the Dead

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: