Xbox

The House of the Dead III

If you like frenetic arcade shooting action, HOD3 is a good choice. The non-stop carnage is exhilarating at times, and there aren't many titles like this for the XBox. Light Gun Note: For best results, use the Pelican Rifle or the gun by Cypher Games. Beware of the MadCatz Blaster which doesn't work on many TVs.

House of the Dead III certainly isn't for everyone. But if you loved II or are just a fan of light gun games, this one's a definite keeper. A good, straight-up, mindless shooter, HOTD III does something unique in that you don't really need a light gun to enjoy it. Of course, purists will want to dole out the extra dough, but more frugal buyers can still have fun with the Controller S. The game's biggest drawback is the length, which is too small even for a shooter. The last boss seems to be totally out of place with the rest of the game and is much tougher to beat than anything else in that game. Not in that "yeah, the last boss is always hardest" way, but in a "Oh, Holy Moses! This damn thing is gonna tear me a new--" sort of way.

Ce troisième House Of The Dead fait plus figure de refonte des épisodes précédents que de réelle suite, peu (et même « pas ») d'innovations de gameplay mais un nouveau design et une réalisation rehaussée pour un titre qui parvient toutefois à se montrer très accrocheur. Si on fait abstraction de la durée de vie réduite, voilà une bonne justification à l'achat d'un lightgun. On lui mettrait bien un 17 s'il était plus long et plus innovant, mais il faut savoir raison garder.

Overall, The House of the Dead 3 fills a gap in the Xbox library and offers lots of replay value. More variety in the levels and mini-games would have made it an absolute must-have.

As the only light-gun game currently available on the Xbox, picking up The House of the Dead III will be a no-brainer for fans of the genre. Those new to light-gun games will enjoy it too. However, for the longtime gamer who's tried of the genre, The House of the Dead III won't offer anything new to hook them.

The House of the Dead III is an odd package. If you must have an Xbox light gun game, The House of the Dead III is the only one around. Getting two games for the price of one is a nice deal, but it seems less appealing when you factor in the relative blandness of The House of the Dead III and the less-than-perfect port of The House of the Dead 2. If you're looking for some mindless shooting entertainment, this package should suffice.

House of the Dead 3 is in about the same boat as House of the Dead 2 was a few years back. While its got some excellent eye-candy, the game is super-short and simply isn’t that fun without a gun. However, fans of the genre (who will definitely buy a gun) should get a couple hours of enjoyment.

In and of itself, House of the Dead III doesn’t warrant a purchase and perhaps only warrants a rental as it doesn’t quite measure up to its previous incarnation. Considering that it includes "II"it’s more worthy of your consideration. It remains an excellent party title that visitors are going to want to have a gander at and is an excellent testament to light gun games still having a place in modern consoles. The game with two Blasters will set you back quite a few bones, but it’s worth the experience despite its shortcomings. I didn't comment much on the B-movie story because it’s far too short to warrant revealing anything about it and it’s something that should be experienced without comment, other than to say it isn’t much better than House of the Dead 2. But you’re buying this game for an "S" word other than "story" . . .

This newest House of the Dead title simply illustrates how old this genre feels. First Person Shooters have essentially taken over where these gun games left off, but added non-linear paths, multiplayer death matches, and things to interact with. It's hard to imagine a game like House of the Dead III appealing to more than the most avid gun game fan.

It could be argued that being able to disable the otherwise unavoidable auto-reload feature in The House of the Dead III would have made it a significantly more challenging endeavor, and this might be true. But honestly, the mere fact that this is a light-gun game is going to dissuade more people from playing it than any specific mechanics it might have. With no similar competition on the Xbox, The House of the Dead III should satiate players looking for a light-gun fix, especially considering the inclusion of The House of the Dead 2 as a bonus.

And that's pretty much all that's in this particular House... er... Factory of the Dead. It's fine, but it does nothing new whatsoever. Great looking zombie-splattering will have the girls and other casual observers fighting for control of your lightgun, but real gamers will chew quickly through this light zombie snack.

Much as we hate to admit it, we're not overly impressed with House Of The Dead 3. Believe us, we want to be; the classic series looks better than ever in its new home. But that's just it - its appearance seems to have got the better of it. The actual gameplay is a leap backwards from some of what we've seen recently and a lot of the skill has been removed by replacing the pistol with a spread weapon. As a result we're left with a dumbed-down shooter in fancy clothes that offers brief bursts of fun in moderation - but then such is the nature of the genre. With little extra replay value on top of the included prequel, you don't even need to go near a Dreamcast or an arcade to see how this genre should be done - just play through House Of The Dead 3 once to unlock a perfect example.