typing of the dead |

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Modern Dream

Release Date: 10/29/2013

Available Exclusively On

The House of the Dead was a hit zombie light-gun game back in the 90s in arcades. This huge Sega hit spawned a game called Typing of the Dead that featured Agent G and heroes wielding keyboards instead of guns. The game was highly addictive as words and sentences popped up on enemies. If you typed everything correctly, the zombie would die. A reimagining using the Wii hit House of the Dead: Overkill takes the main game and turns it into a keyboard typing fest, and it’s a blast.

The story and voice acting are intentionally left to be cheesy to make fun of the absolutely abysmal voice acting from the original games. It adds a comedy factor. While it’s not nearly as bad as previous games, it’s still enough to bring back memories. Agent G and Washington are after a man named Papa Caesar who has somehow killed Washington’s father and released a zombie virus around the world. Along the way, you meet various characters, but none of them are really memorable. The wacky story and over-the-top adult content, such as swearing and gore, are a blast.

The game is on the rails like any light-gun shooter. As zombies pop up, you just type away with what you see. Each level is unique, with its own themed zombies and bosses. The zombies are well done, and the game can sometimes be downright gross. The bosses are both funny and disgusting to look at, but overall, the typing portion of the game is only as difficult as your typing skills permit. Thankfully, you don’t have to include punctuation or anything like that. Just type what you see as fast as you can. Sometimes you have to save civilians for more points, but outside of killing zombies, there’s nothing else in the levels. If you spam the Tab key, you can get all the hidden extras, which makes it much easier to unlock everything.

Thankfully, this is only half the game. The other half is the actual light gun game, using the mouse to shoot. Basically, it’s two games in one, but if you play through one, it will be tough to get through another due to repetition. It’s not like you can choose another ending or go down multiple paths. The game is really only good for one playthrough unless you are extremely bored. The extras aren’t really anything worth unlocking either.

For what it is, the game offers a lot of content for a small price, but playing through the game twice in different modes just doesn’t seem appealing for the amount of cheese the game layers on.