Sega’s cheesy shooter franchise shambles onto PSN early this year.
The House of the Dead numbers three and four are making the jump to PSN, complete with HD graphics, trophies and PlayStation Move support. HOTD 3 hits on February 7th, followed by HOTD 4 – the much the harder-to-find sequel that bridges the gap between the series’ second and third installment – this spring. Both games can be played with either the Move or a standard controller. Oddly, there’s no word on whether or not the games will support any of the actual light guns available for the PS3.
HOTD 3 has been ported before, both to the Xbox and, more recently, the Wii in the form of The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, but this will be HOTD 4’s first home-release. Both games offer the qualities you’d expect; plenty of zombies to shoot and awful voice acting to sneer at, with the odd new addition. 2002’s HOTD 3 removed the classic ‘shoot off-screen to reload’ mechanic and armed players with a shotgun. HOTD 4, which snuck into arcades in 2005, took a leaf out of Crisis Zone‘s book, and gave players an immensely satisfying submachine gun.
As a fan of light-gun shooters, I always hoped the growing popularity of pointer control systems like the Wiimote and PlayStation Move would fuel a resurgence of the genre. Unfortunately, that never really came to pass, but there’s still some fun to be had in reliving the glory days. Even if it’s not quite the same without the sticky carpets and constant threat of abduction by sexual predators that made the arcades of my youth so exciting.
