Games

Best of 2009 | 08 |07 | 06 | 05
Advanced Search

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.

House of the Dead: Overkill, The

EMAIL PRINT wii

9.3 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 65 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 51 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game >

Game Info

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Headstrong Games

Genre(s): Light Gun, First-Person Shooter

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: February 10, 2009

Summary

The House of the Dead: Overkill charges you with mowing down waves of infected, blood-thirsty zombies in a last-ditch effort to survive Bayou City and uncover the horrific truth behind the origins of The House of the Dead. A pulp-style take on the classic SEGA light-gun shoot 'em up franchise. Back when the famous Agent G was still 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 would await them in the streets and swamps of Bayou City. Pulp Funk Horror - Zombie cool, one of the most popular shooter classics injected with a whole new retro b-movie look. An utterly in-your-face zombie-dismembering blast. Non-stop light-gun style action on Wii, blow apart zombies for high-score thrills. Co-op action on Wii. Bring a friend and play the game as intended in your own buddy action movie as two of the meanest mofos in video gaming. Relentless, gore-drenched, over-the-top action - Only the coolest, most cold-hearted agent’s going to keep his head against the zombie flood. Use "Slow-Mofo Time" to make the perfect head-popping shot and "Evil Eye" to spot moments of opportunity that’ll send the whole environment up in flames. Wiimote reactions. Get knee-deep in the dead with motion-sensitive Wii-controls. Shuck a shotgun and when the zombies get too close, pistol whip jaws off or cave some heads in with the stock of your pump-action - all in stomach-churning close-up. [Sega]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

GameShark

In all seriousness, this game is exactly what Wii owners need. It’s fun, funny, violent and tuned right in to the sensibilities of the hardcore. If you love bad B-movies, and you like shooting things, this is a total no-brainer – no pun intended.

Read Full Review >

Impulsegamer

The game is clichéd, entertaining and best of all a blast to play which has truly moved this franchise to the next level.

Read Full Review >

Gameplayer

Unlike Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Overkill doesn't take itself remotely seriously. It harkens back to an age of entertainment that, if not more innocent, was a lot more honest. This is good, dirty fun.

Read Full Review >

Official Nintendo Magazine UK

Overkill is the most offensive, outrageous game we've played and we love it. Mature lightgun fans need this.

Read Full Review >

N-Europe

A game that is fun to play from beginning to end and will have you laughing during the whole thing which shall hopefully show that the Wii isn’t just for children.

Read Full Review >

Cubed3

The first game in SEGA's early 2009 Wii onslaught is a resounding success.

Read Full Review >

NintendoWorldReport

An absurd, playful, arcade-like experience.

Read Full Review >

WonderwallWeb

The blaster to own on the Wii, utter grindhouse perfection.

Read Full Review >

Wii Brasil

The House of the Dead: Overkill is a peculiar game. Although it has exorbitant errors, they point out the game's style. However, they're there and there's a difference between "poetic license" and laziness. One thing for sure: Overkill is one of the best games for the Wii lately because it exudes the feel it wishes to express.

Read Full Review >

GameFocus

This is the perfect evolution for a series that needed a new direction. The always fun gameplay hasn’t been altered at all, but the style is a very definite change for the better. Veterans of the series may find the more casual friendly focus of the main story mode to be a bit off-putting, but patience will pay off, as the more hardcore focused Director’s Cut is every bit as satisfying as the previous House of the Dead games and twice as ridiculous, which is by no means a bad thing.

Read Full Review >

Kombo

I haven't had this much fun with a House of the Dead title since House of the Dead 2 on the Sega Dreamcast.

Read Full Review >

Worth Playing

Headstrong has blown a breath of fresh air into a series that was toying with stagnation. Not only is Overkill fun to play, but it's also obvious that the developers had fun making it.

Read Full Review >

Game Informer

The star of The House of the Dead: Overkill is the unabashed writing, which finds gold in spoofing the genre with a brazen effectiveness. The parade of F-bombs and one-liners fit in perfect harmony with the grindhouse presentation. Tarantino fans shouldn’t miss this clever, curse-heavy shooter.

Read Full Review >

IGN

The House of the Dead: Overkill blends some great gameplay with an impressive style, some great humor, and enough violence and vulgarity to confuse the hell out of soccer moms looking for a new Sims game or Petz title. I wouldn’t put the overall production value or difficulty up there with WoW’s offerings just yet, but for a relaunch of the series on Wii, Overkill is off to a very nice start.

Read Full Review >

Gaming Age

All together I really enjoyed The House of the Dead: Overkill, and while it does have a few technical issues that hold it back from being a great shooter, it's still a really solid attempt at making a console exclusive game out of a series that's always been more at home in the arcade.

Read Full Review >

GamingXP

House of the Dead: Overkill is a game, which will fascinate shooter-fans with lots of gory action and cineastes with good humor and coolness. Sadly, the game seems a bit short with about three hour of playtime.

Read Full Review >

NGamer UK

Scratch one up for the 'hardcore.' [Apr 2009, p.52]

Nintendojo

This third-party on-rails shooter really nails the genre. The Grindhouse look and feel melds well with the House of the Dead franchise.

Read Full Review >

Games Master UK

A gleeful slice of adult gaming. [Mar 2009, p.66]

Gamer 2.0

House of the Dead: Overkill offers an impressive package of content that most light-gun games on the Wii fail to provide, especially with two campaigns to play through by yourself or with a friend.

Read Full Review >

HellBored

House of the Dead: Overkill may be a bit short on content but it more than makes up for it by achieving exactly what it set out to do, supplying a gruesome blood splattered shoot’em up, with its tongue firmly in its rotted cheek. Now if only I could import some of the other Wii characters in to replace the mutants.

Read Full Review >

DarkZero

Double the score if you have a totally puerile sense of humour.

Read Full Review >

Pelit (Finland)

A new light-gun shooter that's actually fun. The intensive and graphic splatterhouse action, the excessive violence and cussing – it's almost all good. Too bad the game becomes all too easy when you get the bigger guns. Still – way to go! [Mar 2009]

Eurogamer Portugal

House of the Dead is back from the group of series identified as dead, and Headstrong Games will be forever associated with this unimaginable recovery for adding to the game a lot of charisma and style able to generate in a short time a worship work. For now it is certainly the best "shooter" available on Wii.

Read Full Review >

SpazioGames

House of the Dead Overkill is a funny “rail-line shooter”. New settings, charismatic characters and good graphics make the game really interesting. The title also has few problems; sometimes the frame-rate drops down and the bosses are too easy to beat. Anyway, Nintendo Wii has another good shooter in its collection.

Read Full Review >

Everyeye.it

After few months in witch our Wiis had been abused by girlfriends and parents, it's time to destroy our Balance Board, hide his battery and take again the Wiimote, thanks to the first big hardcore title from Sega. House of the Dead: Overkill is trash, pulp and wild. It's not only aesthetically perfect, but also a exalting gaming experience. Technically speaking the game is good, despite of some issues regarding framerate, and it's art direction is terrific. For an On Rail shooter, the game structure is very solid and consistent, and the replay value extremely high.

Read Full Review >

AceGamez

House of the Dead: Overkill is definitely something to do any day, cold and rainy or not; it's an extremely entertaining, light-hearted, pick up and play shooter.

Read Full Review >

Gameplanet

Over all, it is one of the more enjoyable Wii games out there, certainly the most adult in its humour, and I didn't feel like an idiot playing it. I recommend it to anyone who has ever enjoyed an on-rails shooter.

Read Full Review >

NTSC-uk

It takes the chassis of the light gun game and augments it with one of the most entertaining stories in years, a decent selection of unlockables, a brutally funny soundtrack and an overall level of attention to detail that is as refreshing as it is clichéd.

Read Full Review >

NZGamer

When the last zombie limbs fall, the additional multiplayer modes are passable in the face of cooperative play in the story mode – dual wielding is great too. The only thing letting this down are the frame rate dips. This is a great single and multiplayer title, worth a rent at the very least.

Read Full Review >

Zentendo

While The House of the Dead: Overkill is fun single player, multiplayer skyrockets the game.

Read Full Review >

D+PAD Magazine

With Overkill, Headstrong has delivered an inspired resurrection of both SEGA's decaying franchise and the light gun shooter genre as a whole.

Read Full Review >

Play.tm

It's a little rough around the edges in places, but Overkill has a barefaced charm and mischievous sense of fun that makes it impossible not to love. It's uncomplicated, old school entertainment. Just make sure you leave your sense of decency at the door when you enter this House of the Dead.

Read Full Review >

Gamestyle

It is great that Overkill has turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the year, completely reinventing the series in the process.

Read Full Review >

Vandal Online

House of the Dear Overkill is a very interesting game that offers direct action, without much complexity, wrapped in very cool aesthetics, which no genre fan should miss.

Read Full Review >

InsideGamer.nl

To be honest, House of the Dead: OVERKILL exceeded our expectations. The whole Tarantino-esque vibe this game breathes is simply hilarious and the game doesn't hesitate to shove tons of curse words and gallons of blood in your face. The fact that you'll have seen most of the game within a week doesn't mean you shouldn't play it. Just clear your mind, get trigger happy.

Read Full Review >

Gamervision

What was born in the arcades has moved to the home, and while the frights were replaced with winks, it still managed to retain all of the entertainment of the original. House of the Dead: Overkill is a must own for Wii owners looking to push a little more use out of their system.

Read Full Review >

Eurogamer

Incredibly for such a simple and strictly limited game, it almost never tries your patience, and it's made with such infectious and irreverent glee and such obvious pride, you can't help but join in.

Read Full Review >

Nintendo Power

One of the Wii's greatest guilty pleasures. With buckets of gore and language that would make a sailor blush, Overkill definitely earns its M rating. But pumping zombies full of hot lead has rarely been so much fun. [Mar 2009, p.87]

Edge Magazine

It’s difficult to be too nitpicky about one of the most flat-out entertaining games of recent times. Overkill resurrects an old franchise as anything but a shambling corpse, and raises the bar for third party production values on this generation’s best-selling console. [Mar 2009, p.89]

Read Full Review >

Computer and Video Games

A very entertaining game that'll have you sniggering and giggling from start to finish. The main campaign can be beaten in a few hours but you'll come back and play some more to earn cash for all the weapons and upgrades, as well as extra collectible goodies that lie in wait. A warning though - don't play it near anyone that doesn't find repeated use of the F word funny as f**k.

Read Full Review >

G4 TV

If you want a game with rewarding, blood gushing headshots, the HOTD arcade feeling at home and a Wii game that doesn’t try to be cute or even remotely family friendly, this is a good one to pick up.

Read Full Review >

IGN UK

It mightn't be perfect, especially in terms of challenge and basic longevity, but Overkill is a welcome rollick in the sort of shameless depravity most other consoles would blush at. Its stylish facade and rock solid core shooter mechanics packs enough visceral thrills and prude-baiting excess to keep you playing long after more respectable titles have lost their lustre.

Read Full Review >

GameDaily

A digital slaughterhouse full of carnage that'll make you happy to be an adult Wii owner.

Read Full Review >

GameSpot

Even though it suffers from technical flaws, The House of the Dead: Overkill offers tons of entertainment with plenty of style.

Read Full Review >

VideoGamer

As long as you're not offended by strong language and an extreme amount of blood (trust us, there's been nothing like this on any console before) Overkill should be added to your collection as soon as possible. For a lightgun shooter you'll get a great deal of time from the main campaigns, and there are plenty of unlockables and multiplayer modes to keep you coming back.

Read Full Review >

Meristation

Possibly, the greatest grindhouse game ever. Great sense of humour, a lot of gore and, technically, one of the best games available on the Wii. Unfortunately, it's very short, as always is the case with on-rails shooters. But, overall, it's a unique experience, and an incredible arcade game.

Read Full Review >

GameZone

Overkill provides a solid light gun shooter experience with a unique and entertaining presentation to boot.

Read Full Review >

Cheat Code Central

The House of the Dead: Overkill isn't an epic adventure, and it actually lacks a fair bit of polish - purposely or otherwise. However, it's just the breath of putrid air the Wii needed, and in many ways it speaks to exactly what the system is all about: short bursts of great entertainment.

Read Full Review >

GameTrailers

House of the Dead: Overkill is undeniably fun. Its crude humor, non sequiturs, self-referential jabs, and brevity are practically overcome by smart level design and surprisingly deep gunplay.

Read Full Review >

Gaming Target

House of the Dead: Overkill is a great attempt to bring light gun games back from the video game graveyard, offering a unique style, entertaining scenarios, and a bit more depth than you would normally find in this type of shooter.

Read Full Review >

3DJuegos

Shots, blood, mutants and morbid humour. These are the key points of The House of the Dead: Overkill, an enjoyable videogame not too long but very interesting due to its retro visual concept. If its frame rate had been better, probably could have been the best in the SEGA zombies series.

Read Full Review >

PALGN

What gives this game its punch is the sublime grindhouse presentation, making for a hugely entertaining game experience. The gameplay is ultimately very shallow, but from the soundtrack to the dialogue to the sheer silliness of the story you'd have to be dead inside to not enjoy this.

Read Full Review >

AtomicGamer

It's quick to pick up, has considerable replayability and is a much-needed dose of mature content for the Wii. However, it's extremely short, the bosses are a cake-walk and the writing is obnoxious.

Read Full Review >

Thunderbolt

For what House of the Dead: Overkill lacks in diversity or prudence, it more than makes up for it in style and a sense of humour that dances on the boundaries of acceptability, and at times downright moves it around whilst insolently shouting “na na na na na na”.

Read Full Review >

Total Video Games

We loved every minute of House of the Dead: Overkill, but that's precisely the problem, it's a game that literally is, over in minutes.

Read Full Review >

Gamer.nl

The House of the Dead offers a great package of humour and style. The game has turned a boring genre into a wonderful spoof with a little help of some zombies and two cheeky cops. However, keep in mind that railshooters are pretty limited in terms of gameplay and length and aiming at a sensor on top of the tv is far from ideal. Nevertheless, we still want to congratulate Sega for a job well done, in turning House of the Dead into a very funny game.

Read Full Review >

Teletext GameCentral

The best lightgun game never to have seen the inside of an arcade as Headstrong outdoes Sega Japan.

Read Full Review >

GamePro

It's a solid game and should please any horror movie addict who owns a Nintendo Wii.

Read Full Review >

Destructoid

In the end, how much you enjoy HotD:Overkill will have a lot more to do with how much you like horror/comedy movies, and a lot less to do with how much you like videogames.

Read Full Review >

1UP

Where Overkill will truly be divisive is in the narrative: some people will love the nonsensical, fast-paced story. But, with its constant stream of expletives and toilet humor, it may turn just as many people away. And as purposefully offensive as it is, I still enjoyed the game. The dialogue is strained, and the barrage of f-bombs is played out by the second level, but there are several genuinely funny moments.

Read Full Review >

games(TM)

The one thing really missing from Overkill is a sense of impact to your shots – certain boss fights feel more like mouse-clicking something to death than riddling it with hot lead. [Mar 2009, p.100]

LEVEL (Czech Republic)

So many zombies, so little time. Perfect shooter (though a bit short) in retro style excels in all genre clichés — zillions of enemies, shocking moments and an overall feeling of a B-horror movie. [Feb 2009]

Level7.nu

This is a typical on rails shooter with zombies. When you first boot up the game you're treated to a horribly disappointing first impression, but the game grows with each hour thank to weapons and level becoming a bit more interesting later on. Unfortunately the game is plagued by a healthy number of technical issues, flaws that dampen the experience severely in the long run. House of the Dead: Overkill doesn't do anything new at all, but mowing down zombies is always a hoot.

Read Full Review >

Game Revolution

An amazingly funny game. It’s not actually good, but it manages to fail in such a stylish, over-the-top way that it’s endearing all the same. Although you’ll probably have no real desire to replay the game ever again upon completion, it’s a hoot the first time through and is absolutely worth a rental.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Carlos L gave it a9:
Let's forget graphics and story and bla bla bla, you can't take this game so serious!! I can't believe I'll say it but this is as good as Resident Evil 4! It has all the arcade style and fun!

smiteboy gave it a4:
Okay, this game has a great concept. But it's execution is pathetic. Played through it in about 3 hours and that's including the way too long cut-scenes. I guess the developers think themselves clever writers. Way too talky and the dialog will drive you nuts. Graphics are barely PS2 quality and the boss battles are laughable. Would be an okay game about 4 years ago. I understand that they were inspired by low-budget movies. But what they ended up with is a low-budget game. No serious gamer would be interested.

DJ H gave it a10:
I can't believe that this game doesn't rate higher! It's fabulous, and easily among the best and most entertaining FPS on the Wii. Yes, it's profane, but it's funny, isn't it?

Michel J gave it an8:
This is an amazing game and if you are like me (waiting for good Wii games) you must buy this, although the adventure is quiet short you can always repeat the levels to make them perfect, without a doubt one of the best Wii games in my collection

Adam D. gave it a9:
This is a game that has a pretty hefty reputation to live up to. the oriignal house of the dead series was an arcade classic. it was simply one of the best rail shooters out there, and for a lot of reasons. this game is a new twist and serves as a prequel to the original games, let me start by saying that this game embraces grindhouse movies and just runs with it. everything you would expect from a 70's grindhouse film is here, including bad CGI frame cuts, right down to a character on the screen disappearing for a frame here and there. it utilizes film grain very well and it really adds to the feel of the game. this game is cheesy, vulgar and over-the-top violent, but that's exactly how it's supposed to be and exceeds in spades. this isn't to say there's not issues with the game though, there's some frame-rate stutter, but nothing game breaking. also, there's no option to change brightness, leaving you to mess around with your tv for a brighter picture in this game (and trust me, you will, some spots are pitch black until you adjust brightness). that's really all i can think of though for negativity. the game features 2 player co-op, dual-wielding, different weapons and upgrades, and fun hidden stuff/power-ups to find and shoot, along with all the grindhouse campiness and over-the-top violence you can handle. this is an excellent wii title and would recommend it to anyone mature (or immature if you wanna look at it that way) enough to appreciate it.

Tim O gave it a9:
I've always loved the House Of The Dead arcade games, and have the HOTD III for the XBox (includes 2 as a reward for playing through 3). A great Wii gun game was needed because of a limitation of LCD and Plasma TV's -traditional light guns won't work on them! The language has been mentioned over and over again, and while I'm not offended by it, I do find it a bit overdone, which ultimately makes it lose it's impact. There are some other great one-liners in the game. Anyone familiar with the arcade versions of HOTD knows about the weird dialog of Agent G. I always attributed it to the Japanese language not translating directly to English, and it gave it a very cheesy charm. They tried to copy it in HOTD:Overkill and haven't quite got it. Agent G is far too talkative. Not a big deal, just noticeable for fans of the game. There are three playability cons I've found with this title, which is why I gave it a 9 rather than a 10. I'm not really counting the last one, as it might be totally correctable. Interestingly, all of them relate to the hardware itself rather than the game. First, while the Wii remote is a savior for those of us looking for a gun game that will work on flat panel TV's, its accuracy is a bit soft compared to the old corded guns made for traditional tube displays. Second, the Wii definitely shows its horsepower weakness with this title. While some of the stuff is superb, like the 70's looking intro's and loading screens, the frame rate drops often and noticeably when things get busy. The final thing is that they've tried to make the game dark, but I find it extremely dark using the standard Wii RCA cable connection. There are area's where I couldn't even tell what I was pointing at, relying on the crosshair turning red over an enemy as an indication to fire. My TV is nice and bright with all other games, but it just seems too dark to be an intentional decision. Perhaps I'll pick up a component cable and see if it makes things a bit more visible.

Jeremy M. gave it a9:
Overview: HOTD:OK is an on the rails light gun shooter. It features 3 player profile save slots, Three mini-games playable by 2 - 4 players right off the bat. These include a save the civilian game, a kill as many waves of zombies as possible game, and a target like shooting game. The game also features unlockable content, and a gun calibration mode in options. The basic modes of play are: Story mode, which is somewhat of a casual gamer mode easy for 1 - 2 players to jump into, with unlimited continues, and weapon upgrades. Directors cut which features a three continue limit and takes on more zombies and differing routes in the game, also with weapons upgrades - separate from story mode. Upon completion of Story and Directors cut you unlock duel wield mode allowing 2 players to duel wield 2 wiimotes. I thought that was a good addition because you could actually play the game with 4 people then, and even complete with teams for better scores. The game has a heavy focus on keeping a combo of shots with no misses ( unlike umbrella chronicles focus on destroying objects, collecting files, and head shots, etc. ) Pros: Great graphics and video effects, easy to jump into with an atmosphere of the Planet Terror movie. Over the top blood and gore with dismemberment. None of the hit a button at the right time or you die cut scenes of Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Cons: The Game Does have noticeable hiccups, which can effect the combos you are trying to pull off (see above). There are a lot of F-bombs in the cut scenes. It doesn't bother me that much, but I have to know who is around if I take my system on the road to someones house that has children. NOTE: THIS GAME IS MATURE FOR A REASON!

Games

Sony

Microsoft

Nintendo

Other Platforms

Upcoming &Recent Releases

House of the Dead: Overkill, The

Game Info

Summary

What The Critics Said

What Our Users Said

Upcoming &
Recent Releases