The House of the Dead (video game)
| The House of the Dead | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Wow Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Atsushi Seimiya |
| Series | The House of the Dead |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Sega Saturn, PC |
| Release | Arcade |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror Rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Sega Model 2 |
The House of the Dead is a first-person, light gun arcade game released in 1996 by Sega.
Players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and "G" in their efforts to repel the dangerous, inhumane experiments of Dr. Curien, a madman.
Gameplay
The House of the Dead is a rail shooter light gun game. Players use a light gun (or mouse, in the PC version) to aim and shoot at approaching enemies. The characters' pistols use magazines, and are required to reload once each magazine is empty. A set of torches next to the magazine of each player represents remaining health. When a player is hurt or shoots a civilian, one of their torches is removed, signifying damage. A player is dead when all torches are lost. A player may then continue by inserting more credits, if playing on an arcade machine, and pressing the "continue" or "start" button. There are first-aid packs available throughout the game that will restore one torch. These are found either in the possession of civilians that the player has rescued or inside breakable objects. Similarly, there are also special items located in breakable objects that will grant a bonus to whoever shoots it.
Throughout the course of the game, players are given numerous situations in which their actions will have an effect on the direction of gameplay. For instance, in the beginning of the game, a civilian is about to be thrown off the bridge to his death. If players save the civilian, they will enter the house directly through the front door; however, if the civilian dies, players are redirected to an underground route through the sewers. This branching path system was also implemented in the sequels.
Four bosses are in the game, each boss has a weakpoint wich can be shot to drain it's health faster. A boss attacks at the end of each levle.
Plot
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AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G are sent on an assignment on December 18,1998 to investigate a panicked phone call from Rogan's fiancée, Sophie Richards, and a series of disappearances at the Curien Mansion, home and laboratory of Dr. Curien, a biochemist and geneticist. Curien was obsessed with discovering the very nature of life and death, backed by the DBR Corporation and its scientists. The nature of the experiments, however, drove Dr. Curien insane, resulting in him releasing his experimental subjects into the world. Once they get there, a mortaly wounded man gives them a small book showing all the bosses and there weak point. They use it every time they confront a boss.
Amidst the chaos wrought by Curien, Rogan and "G" face many formidable foes, including The Chariot an undead warrior who wounds Sophie; The Hanged Man, a gargoyle-like creature with bat ears and bandaged legs; and The Hermit, a six-legged spider crab-like creature.
Upon confronting Curien, the AMS agents are treated to his greatest masterpiece, The Magician, a humanoid demon creature, which appears to have some exposed muscles, ram-like horns and a long red scar on his left eye, and unknown weakpiont,and with mastery over fire. After he releases the creature from its incubation chamber, Dr. Curien is killed by his creation. To prevent the Magician from escaping the mansion and destroying the world, Rogan and G are forced to confront it in one final battle. They succeeded in destroying Curien's creation and were given one last warning from the Magician itself, "You haven't seen anything yet!".
The Magician exploded. Rogan and G leave the mansion, taking one last look at it from the outside, then the game ends.
There are however, alternate endings in which the camera pans to the foyer one last time; the doors then open, showing either Sophie alive, running into the camera saying "Thank you!", or Sophie as one of the undead, depending on the player's score and the number of continues used.
Endings
As seen above, there are alternate endengs. They show either Sophie alive (good ending) or undead (bad ending). This is determind by the score, continues used, and there rank. But however the bad ending is not the true ending, because in The House of the Dead III, Lisa Rogan (Thomas Rogan's daugher) that it's immposible that she could have been born after her mother being dead.
Characters
Thomas Rogan- An AMS agent that was sent on an assignment to investigate a series of disappearances at the Curien Mansion. G- An AMS agent that was sent with Rogan. Sophie Richards- Rogan's fiancée. She tried to call Rogan for help when the zombies started to appear, and managed to get out of the mansion, but was intercepted and taken back by one of Curien's creations. Dr. Roy Curien- An acclaimed biochemist and geneticist that worked for the DBR Corporation. He was the mastermind behind the Curien Mansion incident. He was obsessed with discovering the very nature of life and death. The Cheriot- The first boss of the game. It wears a suit of armor and has a giant axe. Under the armor is a slimy skeleton. It wounded Sophie before it attacked Rogan and "G". Dr. Curien made another Cheriot and it attacked the AMS agents again as a mini boss. The Hanged Man- a gargoyle like monster the can fly very fast and can control bats. It killed two men in the court yard and after being killed, it returned on the last level as a mini boss. The Hermit- when Rogan and "G" first meet Curien, he escaped and left The Hermit to kill them. The Hermit was a mutant spiter crab. It could shot balls of webbing and could climb up walls. The Magician (type0000)- The last boss of the game. He had a bug in his hardware so it killed Dr. Curien. After that he tried to kill Rogan and "G" but he was killed by the AMS agents.
Ports
The House of the Dead was ported to the Sega Saturn,the PC and acade.
Sequel's
The House of the Dead was followed by four more games- The House of the Dead 2,The House of the Dead III,The House of the Dead 4 and The House of the Dead: Overkill. It also made several spin-offs and even two movies based on the arcade game.
References
External links
- The House of the Dead on MobyGames
- The House of the Dead at the Killer List of Videogames
- The House of the Dead at SegaSaturn.co.uk - Information, box scan, screenshots and review of the Sega Saturn version.
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