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)

The House of the Dead Overkill Extended Cut for PS3 is £7.99 at Game Digital


For European fans out there, Game Digital is selling HOTD OVERKILL:EC for £7.99. Now there’s a bargain right there. Hope you guys enjoy the game.
http://www.game.co.uk/en/house-of-the-dead-overkill-move-compatible-133301?pageSize=20&searchTerm=HouseoftheDeadOverkill&attributeName1=PriceRange_EN_GB&attributeValue1=6

Forgive me for the long link, WordPress doesn’t want me to shorten it for some reason. ^-^;

WOTD Interview with Anthony Aroya, the voice behind Issac Washington

Anthony Aroya is a voice actor, screenwriter, and film maker for his company called “CYGNUS CREATIONS” in New York City. He also voiced the profane homicidal detective known as Issac Washington. I’ve chatted with him on the phone late afternoon and had a great conver “mutha fuckin” sation with him about his experience voicing the character. Later on, I’ve sent him the questions from you guys. Here’s the infinite Q&A of Issac Washington.

1.Issac has an extremely foul-mouth. Were all those f-bombs written in the script or did you ad-lib a bunch of them in there?

To be honest I’ve been known my entire life to use language that they don’t even use in the military! In part because was grandfather was the coolest dude I ever knew and he seemed to curse every other word around the house. So, I guess I took after him, both in good ways and bad. Got me in a lot of trouble when I was in school. But for the game, that was all Isaac and the script. Believe me, even I was surprised by the barrage of cursing Isaac did in the game.

2.Have you played any of the House of the Dead games in the arcade and Sega consoles basically familiarise yourself with the HotD series before taking the job?

Honestly not at all. See, I grew up in the height of the arcade craze. The 80’s were a time of going into the city and hanging out at the local spot, usually in Times Square, and wasting as many quarters as it took to beat the game. Or at least not look like a fool in front of your girlfriend. As times changed arcades went away and games became part of the household. In the 90’s I couldn’t put down the joystick because instead of quarters all I had to do was hit the reset button. How cool is that? I played a few of the HOTD games whenever I was out on the town and near a place that had the games available, but I didn’t play them to prepare myself for the role to any degree.

3.Are you a gamer and what other games do you play?

At this point in my life I’m not a gamer at all. I have seen some that are mind blowing and want to try them out, but once you get domesticated and raising kids, and other stuff that takes away from your own fun time you find your life taking a different turn. Man, I used to play games like Street Fighter and World Series Baseball until the skin on my thumbs started to blister. No lie.

4.Has your voice acting in HOTD: Overkill, vastly increased your use of profanity?

Funny question and I’ll relay this to the first question. I have been cursing like a sailor since the age of five, so I can honestly say that doing HOTD didn’t effect that part of my character at all.

5.Did you try out to voice any other characters besides Issac Washigton?

No, ol’ Isaac was the first and only character that I read for. But I “think” I may have toyed with the voice of Pappa Ceasar because they try to get the right feel for the voice match to a character. Once everything else begins to fall into place the whole recording process runs more smoothly.

6.What was your reaction to the House of the Dead: Overkill having the most profane language in a video game back in 2009 thanks to your character?

I’m actually laughing as I try to answer this question. See, it never, ever dawned on me that the character of Isaac Washington would have this kind of impact on the entire game. But once we were in the studio getting into it I was thinking, oh shit, this guy has some serious vocabulary anger issues. Has a side note that you may find interesting; HOTD is in the Guiness Book of World Records for most video game profanity. No lie. This was actually told to me by the producers, though I haven’t looked into it as of yet.

7.How was your experience with the character and working with the other voice actors (Will Sierra and Sarah Conner)?

You know as with any job, be it on camera, or in a recording both, you have to have a good back and forth with the other actors. I’m a firm believer in making as much eye contact as possible even when doing voice over. Perhaps even “more” when doing voice over because you can focus so much on the microphone and how you sound that you can forget that you’re supposed to be interacting with another person. I just think it makes the sound of what’s being said far more authentic doing that.

8.What are your thoughts of the character Issac Washigton, how do you describe him in your point of view?

As I was doing the character in the sound both, as with any character you’re doing, you start to get into the skin of it all. Meaning it was easy for Isaac to just curse a lot for cursing sake. But I began to wonder why so much? Was he raised around an older person who had a tendency to do that, as I myself was. Or is it a mask to cover up some kind of insecurity or short coming that he can’t or doesn’t want to address. As a voice actor and a screenwriter I can tell you right up front that verbally presenting my thoughts has never been an issue. But I can pull the F-bombs out of nowhere, in happy circumstances and not so happy. Maybe ol’ I.W. and I are more alike than I thought.

9.Would you like to see Issac Washington make a come back in future HOTD games?

Man, this question is the easiest one of all. I’d love to do Isaac again. Anytime, anywhere. I think most people who play the games we voice over don’t realize how we bond to a character and keep that as a part of us, even after the job has long since been finished.

10.What do you want to say to the fans in Issac’s words?

“I wanna thank all you wonderful mutha fuckas so fuckin much for showin’ me so much love! Shit, I feel like the fuckin prince a’ fuckin’ Persia…or some shit like that! Peace!”

If you missed my interview with Will Sierra, don’t give up hope as you can view it here. http://www.thewebsiteofthedead.com/?p=479

Thank you guys for submitting questions for the voice actors. Hopefully, Headstrong Games can give us a sequel with Will and Anthony reprising their roles again as Agent “G” and Washington in Vegas baby!

The Making of The House of the Dead Overkill


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WGkwCrE90I

Headstrong Games made a video documentary about making of The House of the Dead Overkill back in 2009 explaining the theme of the game by using 70’s movies, blaxiation, grindhouse and zombie movies as a inspiration. The original team of the House of the Dead series gave them the freedom to make Overkill as B-horror theme game as well (which kinda explains the great script). One of the developers even admits that the Ice-cream scene was his favorite scene and never forgettable. Enjoy the video.

Interview with Will Sierra, the voice of Agent G


Will Sierra was born and raised in Elizabeth, NJ. His love for the Arts started at the early age of 10, headlining in every school musical production. Then Will moved on to photography in high school. Upon graduation, Will Sierra discovered a new-found passion in fashion and home furnishings design. In 1994, Will Sierra re-discovered his love of acting and head-lined in numerous theatrical productions.

Today we have Will Sierra, providing answers to many fans of the House of the Dead series about his voice acting role as the famous AMS Special Agent G.

1. Have you ever played or heard of The House of the Dead series before you signed up to provide G’s voice in Overkill?

Yes, of course I did! Back in high-school, we would cut class and run to the arcade and spend all our lunch money on the actual huge video game machine! Such good and scary-fun memories!

2. Did you get the chance to ad-lib any of his lines in the game or did they mostly stick to the script?

When working on voice-over projects, it depends on the director and each individual project. On this project, we were directed to stick to the script. (Besides, I am also a writer, I respect the actual written word and usually do not deviate from a good script.)

3. Was Agent G’s personality something you brought to the character or did you have to follow a strict guideline?

Personality or character is always a huge decision when playing a role. For “Agent G”, I was asked my opinion and we all agreed that where I deciding to go was perfect. I gave him a cool, subtle approach, a la Keanu Reeves meets Rod Serling… Even-toned cool!

4. Did you enjoy providing G’s voice?

“Cream my panties!” or “Almost peed my pants!” … Which best describes an exuberant joy? I am a huge gamer myself… Now my nephews, nieces and friends can all play ME whenever they want to! The kid in me was thrilled!

5. Before you voiced G, were you given a chance to voice any of the other characters in the game?

The audition process was also the favorite of my career to date. I tried out for “Papa Cesar” and Varla’s brother, Jasper. They liked me as “G” and that was that.

6. How was your experience working with the other voice actors?

When doing voice-over work, you are almost always alone. But, on this project, I was scheduled in between Sarah (Varla) and Anthony (Washington). I met and chatted with both for quite some time. Both were cool and it was extremely helpful to build a mini ‘bond’ with my virtual video amigos!

7. Would you love to provide the voice of G in a sequel to The House of the Dead Overkill?

I would be honored and “over the moon!” with excitement. Unfortunately, to date I haven’t been offered.  I’ve heard whispers in the community, they may be going in a different direction with ‘Agent G’… I hope Sega doesn’t piss too many fans off… My fingers and toes r crossed and my voice is in top form, I’m just patiently waiting, like all of you.

8. Many fans asked this question since the first HotD game back in 1997, what does G stand for?

If memory serves me right; I think I know… Unfortunately, I would have to be whisked into a witness protection program if I revealed my information! I whispered it to a dying friend on his death-bed… I have been looking over my shoulder ever since! (Just as a precaution, I have since installed a remote-start on my car.) Lol!

 ~ Will Sierra
Thank you all for submitting your questions to Mr. Will Sierra. Don’t forget to buy The House of the Dead Overkill Extended Cut at your local game store.