House of the Dead: Overkill

[ed21x]

http://gonintendo.com/?p=53044

I've always been a fan of light gun games, and while I'll be one to admit that the wii is lacking in many departments, it has been the best console for this genre.

my light gun collection:
Resident Evil: Umbrella Corporation
Ghost Squad
House of the Dead 2/3
Link's Crossbow Training

looks like I'll be adding yet another Sega shooter to my collection

 

[Auryg]

Which one of those gun games do you like best? I've been looking to pick one up.

 

[ed21x]

i really like Ghost Squad. Something about just how cheesy the whole package is (really bad voice acting, generic terrorist capturing hostage scenario, low flying helicopters, and trucks with infinite number of baddies appearing out of the window) that I enjoy.

 

[Ichigo]

If the Wiimote actually aimed on the screen to where you point it, I'd like the games more.

 

[ed21x]

you can callibrate the wiimote to exactly where you point in all the above games except RE:UC.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: ed21x
you can callibrate the wiimote to exactly where you point in all the above games except RE:UC.

I think you missed the veiled jab at the Wiimote's sometimes so-so IR sensor.

 

[Ichigo]

You cannot calibrate the Wiimote to "exactly where you point". Consider this. The Wii's calibration settings go from 1-5 distinct settings. 6 differently sized televisions are all running the Wii in 480p dislay mode. The Wii can't take pixel width into account.

So... no. You're wrong.

 

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
You cannot calibrate the Wiimote to "exactly where you point". Consider this. The Wii's calibration settings go from 1-5 distinct settings. 6 differently sized televisions are all running the Wii in 480p dislay mode. The Wii can't take pixel width into account.

So... no. You're wrong.

The games have a calibration screen, which apparently works well. I don't know how well it'd work on my projector though.

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
You cannot calibrate the Wiimote to "exactly where you point". Consider this. The Wii's calibration settings go from 1-5 distinct settings. 6 differently sized televisions are all running the Wii in 480p dislay mode. The Wii can't take pixel width into account.

So... no. You're wrong.

I'm not talking about the Wii's default calibration utility, but the one built into the games listed above. Basically they calibrate based on displaying a dot on each corner of the screen and you point your wiimote on that dot, and the wii will record the triangulation data for the wiimote at that point and callibrate accordingly. Not claiming to be right or wrong, but this calibration seems to work well on my 42'' LCD, as well as a friend's 50'' plasma. Most Wii games come with their own calibration utility because as you said, the Wii's default "one-size-fits-all" setting isn't optimal at all.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
You cannot calibrate the Wiimote to "exactly where you point". Consider this. The Wii's calibration settings go from 1-5 distinct settings. 6 differently sized televisions are all running the Wii in 480p dislay mode. The Wii can't take pixel width into account.

So... no. You're wrong.

The games have extra intra-game calibration, but nice try trolling.:roll:

 

[Ichigo]

Yeah. I'm trolling. That should be everyone's first assumption.

The Wiimote is, in my opinion, terrible for lightgun games. The lag and the inaccuracy just ruin it for me.

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
Yeah. I'm trolling. That should be everyone's first assumption.

The Wiimote is, in my opinion, terrible for lightgun games. The lag and the inaccuracy just ruin it for me.

By far the most playable console FPS method if that's what you mean.

 

[Ichigo]

No, that's not what I mean. You're free to your own opinion but don't try to twist mine.

The 360 controller is inferior to a keyboard and mouse but it work well for what it tries to do, unlike the Wiimote.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
Yeah. I'm trolling. That should be everyone's first assumption.

The Wiimote is, in my opinion, terrible for lightgun games. The lag and the inaccuracy just ruin it for me.

The sega lightgun games are neither laggy nor inaccurate. The calibration takes care of the inaccuracy, and whether or not theres lag depends on the developer. There is certainly lag in RE and LCT, but its simply not there in GS or HOTD. Sega knows what theyre doing in this respect.

Dont knock it till youve tried it. Id have said the same thing as you till I picked those games up. Theyre perfect ports, you dont even need an onscreen pointer after the calibration. GS works particularly well with the zapper, since you can use the Z button as the trigger, submachinegun style.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
You cannot calibrate the Wiimote to "exactly where you point". Consider this. The Wii's calibration settings go from 1-5 distinct settings. 6 differently sized televisions are all running the Wii in 480p dislay mode. The Wii can't take pixel width into account.

So... no. You're wrong.

The wii calibration has two settings - above or below screen for the IR bar. The sensitivity option with five levels has zero to do with pointer calibration or speed, it has to do with how sensitive the wiimote is for IR light sources, so you can correct for any potential IR interference by other light sources that might throw it out of wack.

Not having direct line of sight pointing can be a bit annoying in some games, but it completely ruins lightgun games. Thats why the lightgun experts at Sega added in an additional calibration screen, which takes a few seconds and works brilliantly.

Theres no reason to believe the new HOTD wont include this, so if you really do like LG games and arent just shitting on the Wii for the sake of it, don't dismiss it offhand because of technical issues that wont exist.

 

[Ichigo]

Fair enough.

 

[Illusio]

I got my copy of Overkill this weekend and finally had a chance to play it. I must say, its great! The cut scenes had us rolling on the floor. The game is almost a buddy picture starring Samuel L Jackson (from his snakes on a plane role) and Detective Lassiter from the TV Show Psyc (best i could come up with for Agent G).

But the game is a lot of fun to play and the camp value is really ratcheted up. But if you like Rail shooters. This is a must own.

 

[ed21x]

gotta pick this one up as well. IGN seems to be pretty impressed by the production value and polish of this game

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: Dark Jedi
I got my copy of Overkill this weekend and finally had a chance to play it. I must say, its great! The cut scenes had us rolling on the floor. The game is almost a buddy picture starring Samuel L Jackson (from his snakes on a plane role) and Detective Lassiter from the TV Show Psyc (best i could come up with for Agent G).

But the game is a lot of fun to play and the camp value is really ratcheted up. But if you like Rail shooters. This is a must own.

How does the game work as far as continuing after dying? I don't wanna have to start over like an arcade I'm to lazy for that.

How is the Wiimote aiming? Is there calibration?

I've heard people mention slowdown. Is it a big problem?

 

[Illusio]

The game starts with a round 10 lives and not sure about continues (we only need to use one after one player died) (only played the first 3-4 scenes). So its much more user friendly then HOTD2-3. You also save your progress after each level, so you can come back and play without having to start from square 1.

The wiimote aiming was really good. There is calibration.

The is slowdown, its noticible in some areas, but it didnt deter us from playing. The hardest thing was the game was really dark, so much though it was hard to see the bad guys on some levels. I'm not sure if its just my friends TV though. I didnt see any gama adjustment settings. I'm going to try it on my plasma and see if its better.

 

[BD2003]

Booo!

Majorly disappointed. I was hoping HOTD Overkill would go right where RE:UC went wrong, but HOTD went wrong in exactly the ways RE did.

HOTD 2/3: 60fps, you could shoot as fast as you could pull the trigger, no reload delay, tons of fast moving zombies jumping out at you from everywhere, and the camera wasnt constantly moving, so you could actually aim at them. Calibration worked like a charm, and with the zapper, you could use the much more comfortable Z trigger as fire.

HOTD OK: (and RE) 30fps or less, strange hitches here or there, very slow shooting, always getting punched in the face while reloading for 2 seconds, slow moving zombies which are actually quite hard to shoot cause the fucking camera wont stay still. Calibration doesnt seem to work right, and you cant use Z trigger as fire.

The grindhouse thing is also WAY over done. Its a little more fast paced than RE, which made me sleepy. HOTD makes me just a little drowsy. But its still a snore-fest.

If I didnt know any better (and I dont, actually), I'd say the exact same team made RE and HOTD. Definitely not the team responsible for HOTD 2/3 and Ghost squad.

Also, the way the screen jerks every time you fire a shot is practically nauseating.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Auryg

Originally posted by: Ichigo
You cannot calibrate the Wiimote to "exactly where you point". Consider this. The Wii's calibration settings go from 1-5 distinct settings. 6 differently sized televisions are all running the Wii in 480p dislay mode. The Wii can't take pixel width into account.

So... no. You're wrong.

The games have a calibration screen, which apparently works well. I don't know how well it'd work on my projector though.

I played Umbrella Chronicles at my friend's house on his projector and didn't have any problems. I think the image is about 100"

 

[BD2003]

I literally just dozed off playing this game. Its the very definition of not fun. The game is so incredibly slow paced, monotonous and repetitive. At least RE and other HOTDs mixed it up a bit. In this game, youll shoot either skinny zombies, or fat zombies. Neither of them would have any chance of hitting you whatsoever except when youre reloading. And you can upgrade your guns to shorten reload time and lower the nauseating recoil and what not, but basically you have to play through the game in annoying mode just to play through the game in boring mode.

If I could describe the game in a sentence:

narrator says name of "film", black guy says mother fucker a lot, white guy shrugs, zombies appear, shoot shoot shoot, reload, zombie hits you, shoot again, zombie dies, turn around, game freezes momentarily, identical zombies appear, shoot shoot shoot, lather, rinse, repeat for 10 minutes, mildly interesting boss, girl with large tits appears, black guy says fuck a few more times.

The cutscenes are just stupid, trying so hard to be funny that theyre not. The narrator is the only character with any charm, and even that wears thin quick.

The calibration also simply doesnt work as well as it didnt in HOTD 2/3, confirmed. No idea why, but I loaded it up just to check.

There's nothing I love in the world more than killing zombies, especially with a light gun, but this game sucks. Really wanted to like it, but the older HOTDs are quite simply more fun.

 

[tw1164]

Don't say the Z word.

My wife and I played this last night, she liked it. I had a blast, she kept shooting the innocent people. She didn't like how much they swore, but that was her only complaint. I never played the HOTD games on the wii, but well look for those now.