The House Of The Dead Remake (PC) - 1P. Rogan Normal Difficulty: Bad Ending [16-07-23]
1The House of the Dead is an arcade lightgun game that I cherish more than anything else: It is fast, frantic and never lets up until the very end of a playthrough. You can argue the difficulty can feel needlessly cheap, much like Sega's alternative shooter in Virtua Cop, but it remains entertaining some twenty-five years since it originally released.
Polish developer MegaPixel Studio created The House of the Dead Remake and, to their credit, they faithfully replicate the levels, routes and enemies of the original game, similar to how they had done with Panzer Dragoon. It is a double edged sword however: On one hand, I am absolutely delighted by how it feels so familar to the game I played all those years ago, especially given The House of the Dead never had a definitive home conversion and the original PC/Saturn port was disappointing compared to the real thing. There is no native light-gun support, but mouse aiming is a suitable replacement, and it can be modded for Sinden support if something like that takes your fancy. This remake looks lush at 4K and, if your PC can handle it, plays like a dream with high frame-rates. However, the further you play MegaPixel Studio's remake, the more you realise just how different the visual identity of this new expereince actually is.
The House of the Dead was never a tour-de-force for art design on Sega's Model 2 hardware however it was a finely crafted arcade release, with cues in level and enemy design that made it easier to play and far more accessible. In many respects, there is too much going on in the scenes presented in MegaPixel Studio's remake, with blood effects that cover the screen, ragdolls that obfuscate impeding foes and surprisingly limited interactivity with background objects and environments. The collectibles and secrets remain the same but if you were to start firing at tables, glasswear or other props in the world then your bullets do absolutely nothing to do them. It is a nitpick to be sure but poor attention to detail, as with changes like this, take away from what could be a better remake. Likewise, while the updated artwork matches the aesthetic of Sega's arcade classic, the new versions of Rogan, G, Sophie, Curien and even the scientists look a little jarring to say the least.
Perhaps the worst aspects of The House of the Dead Remake derive from the presentation, with flat menus and UI betraying the excitement that is promised from this arcade conversion. The famous intro of the arcade game is now bottled into a low quality FMV, with terrible rearrangements of the classic soundtrack alongside it. The fact that there is no option to hear the original arcade music instead is an incredible letdown, and a curious omission too given MegaPixel Studio's Panzer Dragoon retained the original game's score in a similar remake to this one.
However, at the end of the day, this remake is still The House of the Dead. while I would prefer having the original arcade game on PC and home systems, something that continues to elude Sega to this day, MegaPixel Studio's edition scratches an itch while we await for them to do the right thing. Hopefully, it won't be too long now.
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Any copyrighted footage I use is covered under fair use laws, or more specifically those listed under Section 30(1) of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989 and under section 107 of US Copyright Act 1976. This video exists purely for the purpose of research and criticism. I do not make a profit from any uploaded content, nor do I intend to. Thank you for watching.