The House of the Dead 2 ranked on the 28th spot in Game Informer’s Top 30 Co-Op Games of All Time.


Sorry for the late update with school going on and stuff. In this month’s latest issue of Game Informer “The Co-Op Issue”, Gameinformer ranks The House of the Dead 2 #28 of the top 30 Co-Op Games of All Time. As a fan of the House of the Dead series, I am happy to see that the game has received this spot. Why wouldn’t The House of the Dead 2 be listed as of the top co-op games of all time. My reasons are

– Fast paced arcade gameplay
– Shooting zombies and everything around you
– Humorous voice acting
– One of the Dreamcasts best selling games
– Bringing a friend to enjoy a game with you
– Goldman & his gnome theory

Here’s what Game Informer has to say about the game.

“On-rails light-gun shooters have been a staple of the arcade. Teaming up with a partner in The House of the Dead 2 was like going to the firing range, except without the need to wear those gigantic noise-dampening earmuffs. Even our Mortal Kombat childhoods, The House of the Dead 2 still delivered a startlingly violent cooperative tour through a monster-ravaged Venice. One gun simply wasn’t enough.”

Makes me want to go to Dave & Busters again and play some HOTD2.

Vampire Hunter Profile: Albert


Like his companion Michel, Albert’s background and age are unknown. And, like his fellow hunter, Albert has a cool and collected attitude to his fear – he will not allow himself to be intimidated by the vampire hordes. Careful in thought, each of Albert’s actions is thoughtfully calculated. He too has a highly tuned sixth sense regarding the enemy: “I can feel you… I can sense you… I will grant your wish… Your wish for death!”

Appearances: Vampire Night

Vampire Hunter Profile: Michel

No one knows how old the enigmatic Michel is – his steely gaze and strong demeanour betray nothing. With hand melded to gun, Michel stalks the enemy with silent determination – hunting the vampire is at the core of his identity. But while little is known of his origins, the people entrust themselves to his pledge: “The ages of vampires has come to an end! I shall banish you all to the depths of hell!”

Appearances: Vampire Night

Vampire Night


Vampire Night
Developer: Sega WOW (AM1)
Publishers: Namco and Sega
Platforms: Arcade, PS2
Release Date: 2000 (Arcade), 2001 (PS2)

Vampire Night is a on-rail arcade shooter developed by the same people that brought us The House of the Dead series, Sega WOW Entertainment and published by Namco, makers of the Time Crisis games.. The game features a lot of gameplay mechanics used in later House of the Dead games such as the boss cancel gauge and sounds. The game starts out with two vampire hunters, Michel and Albert, as they journey together to destroy Sir Vampire and his vampire army. Along the way, they are accompanied by a young girl named Caroline after saving her from vampires in her village. The two vampire hunters represents light, while the vampires represents dark. My question is, who shall live and who shall die?

Story
From the manual
Deep within the earth shall they slumber.
Silently, they will wait in the darkness.
After three long centuries of sleep, the awakening will come.
Then there shall be heard a great cry throughout the land.
When the undead walk, none shall rest, and none shall sleep, except in death.

Two shall come to vanquish the immortal one.
Only they can bring an end to the bloodshed, for only those who know their
enemy have the power to destroy their enemy.

It is the fate of light and shadow…
WHO SHALL LIVE AND WHO SHALL DIE…

It will be a VAMPIRE NIGHT.

Website’s story
Throughout time, a dark force has lain dormant, waiting to upset mankind’s peace and prosperity. For each sunlight hour, a blacker time must come, and for each century of harmony, a period of terror will ensue. And the driving force behind this horror is the Vampire…

Empowered by his long sleep, the Vampire stalks villages, destroys homes and feeds his spirit on human blood. While lesser men take flight, the Hunters know that evil must be confronted, and their combined strength must defeat the curse of the undead. But as the dawn rises, will the true identity of the Vampire Hunters be revealed? Could it be that they are made of the same flesh and blood as those that they hunt? Follow the map, join the battle and pray that you will survive the journey… Let us settle this once and for all…..’

Characters
Michel
Albert
Caroline
Count Auguste aka Sir Vampire

Bosses
Bathe’lemy the Knight
Guillaume the Genius
Raoul the Dark Mind
Diane the Queen of Ice
Auguste the Vampire

Screenshots

Misc
*coming soon*

Trivia/Facts
*Vampire Night was developed by Sega WOW Entertainment (AM1) who are known for the House of the Dead series.
*The game also plays very similar to the House of the Dead games as players must rescue civilians from creatures, canceling bosses attacks, and the infamous voice acting.

The Website of the Dead’s interview with Steve “S0L” Lycett


Thank you for all of your questions fans of the dead. This is a present from me to you… Website of the Dead interviews Steve Lycett, producer of the upcoming Sega crossover game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed!

1.What is your position within Sumo Digital and may I ask, how long have you’ve been working in the gaming industry?
Steve – Hello there! I’m Steve Lycett and I’m Executive Producer at SUMO. I’m one of the many people working on Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. I’ve been at SUMO since 2003, pretty much since it started! Before that I worked at Gremlin Interactive since 1997, though it had a short stint of being Infogrames Sheffield House for a while! I guess that means I’m coming up for 15 years! Ouch!

2.How were you and Sumo Digital approached by Sega with making their famous titles?
Steve- Well, we’ve been working with SEGA since we did the Xbox conversion of OutRun2. Most people remember us for at least that! Over the years we’ve worked on many SEGA titles, so Virtua Tennis World Tour, OutRun2006, Virtua Tennis 3, SEGA SuperStars Tennis and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Plus digital titles like OutRun Online Arcade and SEGA Rally Online Arcade. You can say we’ve been busy!
Each time we’ve worked on a new SEGA game they get bigger, bolder and more ambitious. This time is no exception! Land, air and sea and transforming vehicles? We must be mad!

3.I’ve heard that you’ve worked with producers of Sega’s well known franchises, how was the experience for you to meet people who made Sega, you know, SEGA?
Steve – One of the great things about the All-Star series is we get to work directly with the creators of the original games. Given I grew up playing many of those games it’s a bit strange when you’re in Japan sitting in an office with people who made those games which sit so strongly in your memory! So you have to pinch yourselves sometimes! We get great support and in more than a few cases we find out all manner of interesting background facts about those games, plus a vision of if they were to remake them today, what they’d be like. We try and take all this onboard and bring it into our games. Hopefully fans can recognise that passion and they get the feeling that when we reference a classic SEGA title the experiences feels authentic!

4.Seems like Dr. Curien’s legacy still lives on within the Sega Superstars/All-Stars series, may I ask what is your favorite House of the Dead title and your moments with that game?
Steve – Yep! We see House of the Dead as being one of SEGA’s iconic IP’s and so it’s always high on our must includes. Maybe this time too!
For me I played the original first in the arcade, then again when I got my SEGA Saturn. I’ve always loved how it blends elements of classic horror, with tight arcade game play. When I got my Xbox, House of the Dead 3 was one of the very first games I picked up too.
My favourite probably is House of the Dead 2 as it took what was there from the first game and really made it bigger and better. Plus it helped I could play it at home on my Dreamcast with a Dreamcast Gun! It also rounded the story out more. That’s not to say I don’t like the others, it’s like picking your favourite child though!
I have a very soft spot for House of the Dead EX. I just love the tongue in cheek nature of the game, it’s really really playful J

5.The House of the Dead is filled with not only mad experimental creatures, but a secret governmental agency called “AMS”. Fans of the series expected a certain AMS agent to represent HotD in the first ASR, but we’ve gotten a lovely zombie couple (Zobio & Zobiko) from the spinoff title, Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX. What made you and the team pick the lovely duo than the dogs of the AMS?
Steve – Really, this was more to do with the age rating and cartoony nature of ASR! Especially since we really couldn’t do something as extreme as House of the Dead Overkill. We’d have an 18 rating!
We’d been across to Japan to talk to the House of the Dead team and whilst we were there we saw a work-in-progress version of the game, and it was immediate that we’d take Zobio and Zobiko as characters and then take the look and style to become the three House of the Dead tracks, it just fit into our hyper realistic cartoon ethos.
That’s not to say we didn’t try and include some series staples like Zombie Bob, Zombie Dave and other characters, just we had to keep the right side of the PEGI and ESRB ratings!

6. Who’s your favorite AMS agent from the entire series?
Steve – Well for me it has to be G. What does G stand for? Gary? Garth? Gwilym? It’s hard to say. But he keeps a cool head regardless of the situation – and if you were going into danger, you’d want G by your side!

7. Zobio has a mouth full of words, but Zobiko was awfully silent. Did she have any voice clips early in development of Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing? (She has a lovely voice in EX)
Steve – Well, when we were making ASR, they were very much still making House of the Dead EX! So we only got Zobio’s English VO very late in the day, and whilst we had Zobiko’s Japanese voice, it didn’t really make sense to have one character speaking one language and the other speaking another. So rather than make it all weird, we kept to just Zobio speaking.

8. Were there any other characters that you would have liked to include in previous Superstars/All-Stars titles?
Steve – From House of the Dead? I’ve always wanted to get more of the boss creatures into a stage somehow, though this can be difficult as unless they’re mobile it’d be blink and you’ll miss them as you race by! There’s such a rich selection of cool enemy designs that’d be great for this. Again though we have to keep an eye on the age rating, some of them would properly terrify kids!

9. Now on to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, when did the production officially started?
Steve – We’ve been working on this game now since 2010. We had to do quite a lengthy pre-production though to get all the gameplay elements figured out so that the transforms feel natural and that each of the land, sea and air handling are all as equally good. That’s actually quite a difficult thing to do, as we’re basically making three games in one! Hopefully when it’s released though people will feel that the play is seamless and feels effortless, but it’s taken quite a while to figure that out!

10. Was the gameplay of Transformed influenced by Sega’s past arcade titles? (Daytona USA, Outrun, Afterburner, Wing War, Waverunner)
Steve – Yes, very much so. Our driving yardstick has always been OutRun, I think that shows in the long sweeping drifts and tight handling, we’re more akin to a racing game than being a Kart racer. Air has heavily been influenced by AfterBurner, though we’ve added a whole flavour of our own with stunts, rolls, flips and of course the weapon combat.
Water… Well here we’ve looked at games like Waverunner, but also games like Wave Race and Hydro Thunder. We want that arcade feel to it as if it is SEGA, but I think we’ve broke a bit of new ground there purely as the water we have is very dynamic. We really can go to town with big waves and huge drops, so I think players will really enjoy this.

11. It was stated that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was also made by the influence of the Dreamcast era, if so will we be able to see a brand new House of the Dead track? I heard that a businessman owns a 50 floor building near Point A0063. From up top you can see someone or something has taken over the city)
Steve – You know, we always get accused of paying special attention to the Dreamcast era! Really I don’t think that’s the case, and Transformed I think will prove we’ve got a special love for all era’s of SEGA.
We might have something in the new game based on House of the Dead – but you’ll have to wait and see!

12. Last question, did you suffer like G did while making this game?
Steve – I’m still not quite sure quite how G suffered, but we always pour our hearts and souls into the game, and well, sometimes that involves some late nights and weekends. Next time I see G I’ll ask how much he suffered and we’ll compare notes and get back to you!

Will we see Zobio & Zobiko again, will Goldman Building be represented as a track this time around, and who will protect the LOFY cycle with Goldman dead? Looks like we’ll have to wait and see when Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed releases this Fall.

Zombie Revenge


Zombie Revenge
Developer: AM1 with support from Data East
Platforms: Arcade (NAOMI), Dreamcast, PS2 (Canceled)
Release Date: 1999

Zombie Revenge is a beat’em up title by Sega Corporation and is a spinoff to The House of the Dead series. Once you’ve played the game for a bit, you’ll see what I mean. Players must battle their way through zombies not only with guns but with their bare knuckle, chain guns, laser guns. The Dreamcast version has new modes such as Vs. Boss, Fighting Mode and Original Mode that features Normal, Gun, and Bare Knuckle Mode. This version also ulizizes the VMU (Visual Memory Unit) with unique features like training your own zombie for Fighting Mode with items obtained from Original Mode. Three AMS agents are sent to Woodside City to stop the evil Zed from releasing the virus to turn all humans into zombies. Don’t forget, if your surrounded by tons of zombies, Marco will help you with his trusty rope.

Story
Arcade
In a top-secret military research facility, UDS (United States Defensive Specialists) developed the ultimate warrior. This warrior requires no sleep, consumes no food and possess unnatural strength and agility. Some call them the undead but you know them to be synthetically engineered Zombies. A radical ban of terrorist located and overtook the research installation killing all those that got in their way. They have since amassed an army of Zombies and set them loose in the city. You and two other special agents must locate and neutralize these Zombies before they escape the city and inflict their terror throughout the country. For your sake, I hope you don’t run out of bullets.
Dreamcast
The time is the present.
A city has been suddenly filled
with the souls of the dead.
A GOVERNMENT TOP SECRET PLAN
U.D.S. Undead Soldier
It was a top-secret plan to utilize the dead
for military purposes. Just before it
was ready for operation all was thrown
into darkness by someone unknown.
A year later the city had become
the home of the dead.
Who?
Why?
The only thing certain is that the world’s fate
is in the hands of 3 agents.

Characters
Stick Breitling
Linda Rotta
Rikiya Busujima
Zed
Yoko
Marco Cloud
Episodes

Bosses
UDS-03
Varm Hedlin & Shell Hedlin
UDS-05
UDS-02
UDS-07-Nikelle
UDS-06B
UDS-7P II 00 & UDS-7P II-01
UDS-03-Neclien
UDS-04C
Zed
Black Magician Type 01

Screenshots

Trivia/Facts
*coming soon*

Guest Character Profile: Bruno Dillinger


Lieutenant Bruno Dillinger, a 42 year old man from Texas who’s a “do-it-yourself” type of guy and a SWAT member of the San Francisco police force also known as “Mr. Dynamite” is one of the main characters of AM1’s arcade series, Dynamite Deka. Well trained for a captain of the SWAT. Bruno has saved the president’s daughter, Caroline, twice and faced danger many times against Wolf Hongo’s band of terrorist, pirates, witch doctors and even asians. But is he up against zombies?

Bruno can be unlocked as a costume in The House of the Dead 2 Original mode in his Dynamite Cop attire.

Appearances: Dynamite Deka (Die-Hard Arcade), Dynamite Deka 2 (Dynamite Cop), Dynamite Deka EX: Asian Dynamite, The House of the Dead 2, Project X Zone

The House of the Dead Overkill

The House of the Dead Overkill
Developer: Headstrong Games
Platforms: Nintendo Wii, PS3 (Extended/Director’s Cut)
Release: Feburary 10, 2009
October 25, 2011
The House of the Dead: OVERKILL™ charges you with mowing down waves of infected, blood-thirsty zombies in a last-ditch effort to survive and uncover the horrific truth behind the origins of the House of the Dead. Survival horror as its never been seen before, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL is a pulp-style take on the best selling, classic SEGA® light-gun shooter series. Back when the famous Agent G was fresh out of the academy, he teamed up with hard-boiled bad-ass Agent Washington to investigate stories of mysterious disappearances in small-town Louisiana. Little did they know what blood-soaked mutant horror awaited them in the streets and swamps of Bayou City. This is the HARDCORE game you’ve been waiting for!

Story *taken from the manual*
Welcome to Bayou City

Dear Agent,
For your first assignment out of the AMS academy, you will be dispatched to the locale of Bayou City. You have been briefed thoroughly by your supervisor and know where to start your investigation of the man known only as Papa Caesar.

This procedure manual has been developed to equip you with the knowledge needed to use your deadly AMS skills. Try to obtain additional expertise and insight from regional law enforcement, but bear in mind that they are not trained as thoroughly as you are. Never forget that you are at the peak of the rigorous AMS training program.

You’ll be scared at times, agent, but don’t worry; we’ve all been there. You’ll want your mommy before tonight is through, that’s fine. But I have faith in you, I know you can solve this case. Good luck.

From the desk of the AMS Director General.

Characters
G
Issac Washington
Varla Guns
Papa Caesar
Candi Stryper *Extended Cut exclusive
Clement Darling

Episodes
Papa’s Palace of Pain
Naked Terror * Extended Cut exclusive
Ballistic Trauma
Carny
Creeping Flesh *Extended Cut exclusive
Scream Train
Fetid Waters
Jailhouse Judgement
Overkill

Creatures/Mutants
coming soon

Bosses
Jasper Guns
Coco and Sindy
Screamer
Nigel and Sebastian
Meat Katie
Crawler
Lobber
Brutus
Mother

Screenshots
Wii Version

PS3 Version

Trivia/Facts
* This game is a prequel to the entire House of the Dead series and the first game in the series that was not developed in Sega’s in-house studio, AM1.
* The game was originally intended to follow the same style as previous The House of the Dead games, while other themes such as steampunk were also considered. Headstrong ultimately chose a theme inspired by exploitation films after watching the film Planet Terror, which inspired the art direction, plot and marketing.
* Most of the main characters were presumably modeled after several famous individuals. For example, Detective Washington was modeled after rapper Common, Varla Guns after glamor model Vikki Blows, Papa Caesar after Burt Reynolds, Jasper Guns after Stephen Hawking, and Agent G on Keanu Reeves as he appears in Point Break.
* Overkill received a World Guinness Record for being the most profane game in history until the release of Mafia II a year later.
* In Carny as G and Washington stumble through a arcade room, players can see arcade cabinets of classic Sega arcade games (Space Harrier, Ghost Squad, etc)
* The prequel before the events of Overkill was written in comic form as a bonus. Starring Issac Washington and Varla Guns. Readers can also see Coco and Sindy before they were mutated.
* A special release of the game in Australia, the “Bang Bang Box”, comes packaged with the graphic novel in addition to two Wii Remote gun shells modeled after the AMS pistols carried by the main characters in the game.
* Some of the gameplay elements were borrowed from previous HotD titles (Boss cancel gauge from III, shaking the gun and throwing grenades from 4)
* Saving civilians makes a return in Overkill which haven’t been seen since The House of the Dead 2.
* Papa’s message to Issac from the tape G obtain mentioned that Clement has powerful friends. This could be references to the other villains of The House of the Dead (Curien, Goldman, Zed, and the Mystery Man)

Creatures Files: The House of the Dead 2

Can’t you see. Man committed a sin. Distrubing the life cycle of nature. The original sin that man is responsible to protect the life cycle! ~ Caleb Goldman

David: David is a basic Zombie seen in the first stage. He is highly adaptable, thriving in all environments. His special attack is with his sharp teeth. HP:100

Steve:Andrew looks very similar to David, differentiating by wearing red shorts and a shirt. He attacks the player with his arms. HP:110

Johnny:Johnny is a tough Zombie to deal with, as he loves to rush at his prey hiding his vulnerable face behind two axes. When he’s not descending on you with terrifying speed, he will throw his axes with lethal accuracy from a safe distance. Be warned! The Zombie’s name alludes to the famous”Here’s Johnny!” line from The Shining. Ironically, Johnny wields two axes, which is the same weapon Jack Torrance used to stalk his family (although in the film its a single one).HP:140

Cecil: Cecil attacks the player by throwing two axes, usually from faraway distances, such as windows. HP:100

Max:You’ll know Max when you see him. He’s the Zombie crazily swinging two chainsaws about. He’s also the biggest of all zombies. He moves quite fast at times and may swing his chainsaws in front of his head, making a headshot more difficult. HP:250

Bob:Despite being big and fat, this hippo-sized Zombie can move fast. Bob’s principal form of attack is a drop kick. He also throws barrels and oil drums. HP:220

Ebitan: Ebitan is a revolting and perpetually rotting Zombie. Accordingly, his resilience is lower than other monsters. Ebitan resides in the water, suddenly leaping from the murky depths to attack his prey. His main method of attack is to bite his prey. He comes in three variants in different colors: a green regular one (HP:90), a black one with a better resilience (HP:180), and a brown one that jumps at you out of the water without warning. (HP:1)

Kageo: Kageo is a mummified Zombie, who prowls the darkest, most dreadful areas. He may look weak, but watch out for his fierce punch. HP:90

Kageo J: Kageo J is exactly the same as Kageo, but instead of being pale in color it is a dark green and has one eyeball. HP:60

Ken: Ken was modeled after Kageo. He wears an iron mask and is armed with vicious clawed gloves. His face is his most vulnerable part, but as it is covered, it makes Ken an extremely troublesome Zombie to stop. Like Kageo, Ken also lurks in dark corners. Ken attacks with his lethal claws. HP:150

Randy: Randy is a small, mask-wearing Zombie. Don’t be fooled by his lack of stature because Randy is a vicious little monster who can run along walls and ceilings as easily as on floors, while his mask makes getting headshots nearly impossible. Randy often roams with a friend. His preferred method of attack is a leaping death scratch. HP:150

Mickey: Mickey is a small ninja Zombie who wields knives in both hands. His method of attack is to leap down at his target from roof tops and other high places. Even if Mickey throws both knives at you, there’s no time to relax. He can produce an unlimited supply of knives from his hips. Since Mickey has a tendency to move around a lot and can guard a bit with his knives, it’s best if he’s killed before he moves too far away from you, making him harder to hit while he can still hit you with ease. HP:130

Ryan: A bandaged Zombie in a brown-red vest who throws two golden shuttel-like blades at once at you. HP:150

Keith: Keith is an alligator-like Zombie that lurks underground. He’ll crawl towards the player and attack with his tail. HP:140

Gregory: Gregory is a bit of a show-off and there is nothing he likes to do more before finishing off his victims than to flourish his giant sword. You will find it hard to aim your gun at Gregory, because he uses his sword to defend as skillfully as he does to maim. HP:220

Ricky: A muscular Zombie with exposed muscles and brain,he is also seen driving a car suggesting that he has inteligence. HP:130

Patrick: Another muscular Zombie with an orange military beret. HP:150

Peter: Peter is infested with giant parasitic worms and is relatively weak. He puts his worms to horrifyingly effective use though, for when his chest is wounded, the parasites will leave Peter’s ribcage and leap at his attacker. Peter can also pack a mean punch. To avoid having him sending a worm your way, avoid hitting his chest and aim for his head. If his chest is hit, he’ll stop and waver around before the worm jumps out “chestbuster style”, killing himself in the process. HP:100

Lance: Present only in the fifth and final stage and similar to Mickey, Lance likes to crawl on walls and ceilings, throwing crescent energy blades at you. They have the ability to appear out of nowhere as well and teleport, making them difficult to hit. HP:130

Franklin: Present only in the final stage, these robotic Zombies can appear out of nowhere and walk through walls to confront you with a punch. Like Lance and Eric, his body parts cannot be blown off, meaning he’ll be ready to strike no matter what. HP:150

Eric: Present only in the final stage, Eric is armed with dual pulse sabers for hands to attack you with. Though he doesn’t share any ghosting abilities like his robotic brethren, he can take a considerable amount of hits before going down. HP:230

Murrer: Murrer is a snake-like Zombie, who often infests areas in hoards. Murrer attacks by flying at its victims and gouging at their faces with its myriad teeth. HP:1

Moowl:An owl-like Zombie that attacks the player from the air. HP:1

Buyo:A small parasite Zombie similar to Murrer. They can be found in the clock tower and had also infested themselves in larger Zombies. HP:1

Devilon: A quick bat-like Zombie that will usually attack in groups. HP:1

Bouere: A frog-like Zombie that attacks the player by hopping at him or her. HP:1

Mofish: A fish Zombie that closely resembles a piranha. Seen with Hierophant and various other levels with water. Attacks by swimming at the player and biting. HP:1