Evil Dead: Hail to the King (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
562A playthrough of THQ's 2000 license-based survival horror game for the Sony PlayStation, Evil Dead: Hail to the King.
Evil Dead: Hail to the King is the unofficial fourth installment of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movie trilogy following the 1992 release of Army of Darkness. It largely follows the template established by Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil, and imbues it with the series' signature horror/slapstick vibe. Bruce Campbell reprises his role of Ash, which is probably all any fan of the movies needs to hear to jump on board, and it's his personality that largely carries the game.
The critics slaughtered the game (and every version of it) when it was released on Halloween of 2000. Many of their points were valid - the graphics didn't impress, it was too difficult and obtuse, and the controls were pretty terrible. I won't argue with any of those points.
I really like Hail to the King, despite all of the (valid) criticisms. It doesn't feel like a AAA production, and I was glad for that. The incredibly uneven quality throughout felt, intentionally or not, like an authentic nod to the cult-classic B movies upon which it is based. It goes for eerie, gross, outlandish, and absurd, and it hits each of those targets with a satisfyingly squelchy thud. Chainsaw hands and mustard-covered biscuits have never been signature symbols in high-brow cinema, but they fit the tone perfectly here.
The story is patently ridiculous, and I enjoyed it the entire way through, and the writing feels comfortably familiar, no doubt thanks to Campbell's delivery of some totally stupid one-liners and oddly ironic tone of incredulity throughout. This even carries over to the gameplay: my favorite moment involves Ash stepping up to a classicly vague and nonsensical puzzle involving elements and weights. Instead of channeling Jill and Chris and running about for an hour looking for items and clues, he blasts the machine with his shotgun. The stink eye aimed at Capcom is as effective and as hilarious, and quite memorable.
The gameplay itself is standard in terms of late 90s survival-horror. You navigate prerendered CG backdrops picking stuff up, killing stuff, and generally attempting to survive from one checkpoint to the next. Unfortunately, the game's biggest failing hits here. The controls are absolutely awful. They're tank controls - no surprise there - but they are so twitchy and sensitive that you find yourself missing your enemies (and doorways) constantly. It can be compensated for, but there really is no reason for the game to handle so poorly. Ash will meet his demise many times thanks to whiffed shots before you finally get a handle on his movement.
The graphics do their job well enough. The backdrops look nice, but they're often too dark and look overly-compressed, and it can be entirely too difficult finding the entrance and exit points on many of the screens. The creature design is generally pretty cool though, and some of the areas, especially in the first half of the game, are really nasty (read: well-done). The room with pump and the pugs immediately comes to mind - so gross! The music is pretty well done and fits well (and features some work by Tommy Tallarico), but it generally takes a back seat to the (intentionally) corny one-liners.
You're mileage with this one is likely going to depend on A) Your fondness for low-budget comedy horror flicks, and B) Your love for Resident Evil-clones. Though they are significant, the flaws didn't ruin the experience at all for me. I loved the game, warts and all.
The Dreamcast version is a damn-sight better looking, though!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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