The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii, 2009)

Coming off the Grindhouse craze of Death Proof and Planet Terror, Sega made this game in the same style of 1970s Grindhouse trash. And if you're a fan, of either Grindhouse movies or House of the Dead, you may want to check this game out.

However, the game can offend some people, with the Samuel L Jackson wannabe spewing obscenities every couple of seconds, the dark sense of humor, and some of the gross out moments (especially near the end). If you can be easily offended, this game may not suit you. But, keep in mind, this is true to the style of the 70s horror cash ins.

The game also has touches that call back to cheesy movies, from the horrible stereotyped villain, the running gags (what dose that "G" stand for anyway?) scenes that aren't consistent with each other (the scene where Jasper gets his glasses knocked off, and is still wearing them in the next scene), and even the realist film grain on the screen while playing, all make it feel like a bad movie, in a good way. Even the chapters are highlighted by movie posters.

The gameplay itself is much in the style of the standard House of the Dead games, with the goal of trying to rack up a high score and kill chains. You can also shoot grenade pickups, and time slowing powerups. You can buy guns to use in later chapters, but it will take a while to buy guns and upgrades, requiring multiple playthoughs to unlock just the guns.

The game's story mode won't take a lot of time to beat, and the extra mutants mode (they're not called Zombies) will make it more chalenging. Director's Cut mode is much more challenging, with additional scenes, and only three continues. There's also some party style minigames, but not much else if you're not into these kind of games.

Overall, a fun parody of 1970s Grindhouse flicks, with enough gameplay to keep you going. But if you're easily offended, or don't care for arcade style lightgun games, it might be a hard sell. Still, if you're looking for a great game to add to your Wii Zapper library, you can't really go wrong here.

After reading such great reviews about this game I purchased it hoping that it would be like the "zombie killing" arcade games I used to play. And for the most part that is exactly what it is. The game play is just what I was looking for. What kept me from giving this game a five star review was the language. I honestly did not expect it to be so extreme. Every other word the characters say is F!@#. I really wanted to enjoy this game with family and friends but am too ashamed to even own such a vulgar game. I have yet to find a way to skip the storyline and go straight to the shooting. For those who enjoy the "b-movie" style, it is a must have and would thoroughly enjoy this game. But for others, the "Strong Language" rating is an understatement.

Man this game is sweet! I love how they made the zombies more zombie like. I really like the fast moving ones, it really gets your heart beating. The language is a little fowl, but overall funny. Just the all the gore, I love it. Ran through the basic game pretty quick, but that director's cut is quite a bit more of a challenge. The only think I really didn't like about it is that the guns and upgrades were kind of expensive. Plus the reloading was sloooow. Wish they would have kept it the same as the 2 and 3 where you just have to shoot off the screen for a quick reload. I wanted to buy this game because I've always loved playing House of the Dead at the arcade and what better way to spend the day then to blast mutants all day long without pumping out quarter after quarter. Great game I think!!!!!! And as for the people saying this game is not intended for kids, that's why they put an M on the cover for Mature Audiences Only. If you let your kids play games that are rated mature, that's your own fault. Besides, it's just the F bomb, they probably hear worse at school.

After all these years, the House of the Dead series is going strong and the latest installment is no exception. This is a game that embraces its M rating, with tons of blood, gore, and profanity. The game parodies 60's and 70's horror films and has a campy presentation that makes it all the better. For being a Wii games the graphics look great and the game is fun from start to finish. The games graphics also have a film filter that represent the grainy film quality of the time. If you are sensitive to over-the-top toilet humar, profanity, and gore this game is not for you. However if you can enjoy these things you'll be awarded with one of the best games on Wii.

This is one of the most fun arcade-at-home shooter games! It's got some surprising adult humor language in it, not for kids. It has this Robert Rodriguez kind of old school horror theme, with cocky and outrageous characters and some freaky bosses. The levels and extras give it a long gameplay life, leaving plenty of room to come back for more with add-ons like the "extra mutants" option available after you beat the level. You can also upgrade your guns and buy new ones. The game plays well, I tried RE:Umbrella Chronicles afterwards and it paled in comparison, Overkill is just way more fun and just takes the previous titles to the next level. Matter of fact, just thinking about it makes me wanna go blast some more zombies...