Friday, October 28, 2011

FPS-ish Friday - The House of the Dead: Overkill Hours Played

Coffee Beans
Do you like zombies? Do you like zombie games? Well, if you answered yes to either of those questions, this report may be for you.

The House of the Dead: Overkill was released on February 10, 2009 for the Wii in North America, and it had a MSRP of $49.99. A port of the game was just released this past Tuesday, October 25, for the PlayStation 3 with a MSRP of $39.99, but it is already discounted 25% at one online site, HERE.

It was developed by Headstrong Games, and published by Sega. The House of the Dead: Overkill received a "Mature" rating from the ESRB with "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language" listed as content for parents/gamers to be aware of.

How many hours of game-play can PlayStation 3 owners expect, and also Wii owners, from The House of the Dead: Overkill if they are just picking it up?  Let's take a look!

That zombie could probably use some Ed Hardy Energy Snacks!
If you want to enter the Ed Hardy Energy Snacks giveaway, you can
do so by clicking HERE.
The Brew
The House of the Dead: Overkill has about 75,110 Wii owners that have reported game-play hours through the Nintendo Channel; with 986 days possibly reported.

The game's average play-time per day/session reported is 1 Hour 35 Minutes, which simply means each time Wii owners have sat down to play the game, they play it for about an hour and a half.

The House of the Dead: Overkill's Wii "professional" review score average is 81.09%, based on 55 reviews on GameRankings.com. The Wii version has a 4 out of 5 Stars rating on Amazon.com, based on 169 customer reviews; which is 77.51% when the customer reviews are converted to a 100% review scale.
Full customer review scores breakdown.
Caffeinated Thoughts
I have not played The House of the Dead: Overkill, and I don't think I will at this point. I'm not a huge fan of over-the-top language in games, and considering this game won a world record for its use of a certain word, I don't see it making it on my list to play.

As for the reported game-play data, I think seeing "9 Hours 25 Minutes" averaged "Per person" reporting data is great for a rail shooter, and knowing that two levels have been added to the PlayStation 3 version I think should let PS3 owners know they can probably expect 10+ hours of game-play from The House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut.

While I probably will never play The House of the Dead: Overkill on the Wii, or PS3, I believe I have one of the House of the Dead games from the Sega Dreamcast sitting around here somewhere, so I may have to fire that up again and see how it has held up.

Questions
Are any of you big fans of the House of the Dead series games, and found yourself to have really enjoyed The House of Dead: Overkill for the Wii? Also, if you have played the Wii and/or PS3 version of the game, do you know if there is a "content filter" of sorts which allows the language to be toned down and/or removed from the game-play altogether?

Did any of you purchase The House of Dead: Overkill - Extendend Cut this past week for the PlayStation 3? If so, how do you think the game controls with the Sony Move controller, if you have used it?

If any of you are interested in either the Wii or PlayStation 3 version of The House of the Dead: Overkill, you can see both games on Amazon.com linked below:

10 comments:

  1. I liked...TYPING OF THE DEAD!!!

    nicodemusatnite.com

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  2. I've never actually played any of these - though I've obviously heard of them - as well as Typing of the dead *grins* Seems like I'd enjoy them, and nice Halloween themed post, but just not titles I've had the chance to play yet.

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  3. I enjoyed the House of the Dead 2 on Dreamcast, so I eventually bought tHotD 2 & 3 Return when it came to Wii. Wanting to perhaps fill a collection (due to 2 & 3 Return selling over a million, I was convinced we might see 1 & 4 Return)., I picked up Overkill when a good deal came along ($10-$15 brand new, I think it was).

    While it brings a lot to the HotD table in terms of humor and options (in-game upgrades, weapon selection, etc.), it's my least favorite House of the Dead due to the gratuitous violence, and probably my least favorite game in my Wii collection. I purchased, beat it, but that's about it. I haven't been able to really get myself to give it another chance...I just feel a bit embarassed to be playing a game so over-the-top in this department.

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  4. I bought HOTD: Overkill soon after it was released and while I'm not sure I played it enough for roi on $49, it sure was fun for awhile. I can't remember if it had a content filter and it's packed away right now, but you're right it sure let loose on a certain word. At times the language was fine and fit right in with that Samuel L. Jackson/grindhouse/b-movie sort of feel, but did get old at times.

    I thought the money and weapon progression was interesting, but ultimately didn't work out. Once you got the auto shotgun you were fine.

    One thing I never got to try was local co-op which I think would be really awesome. Overall I thought it was fun even with the excessive language and being rather short. (despite being a rails shooter which isn't my favorite)

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  5. @Charlie Chang:
    I remember Typing of the Dead using the Dreamcast's keyboard, but I don't know much about the game other than that.
    Was it really good?

    @Chalgyr:
    Hmmm, a game series you haven't played?! *sends letter to Guinness World Records to see if this could be entered!

    I'm really surprised that this game took as long as it has to release for the PS3, considering the Sony Move has been out more than a year now; but evidently they took their time and even added two new levels and did the graphics upgrade as well.

    @reticence:
    "I enjoyed the House of the Dead 2 on Dreamcast..."
    That's the one I think I have around here somewhere...but I couldn't find it when I was posting this. I can remember watching a friend play through several levels of it, but I never really touched it.

    "I was convinced we might see 1 & 4 Return"
    Well, now that you mentioned those...it is kind of interesting they haven't returned recently. Ports were all the rage in the early years, and especially with how games can be released digitally on the other consoles now.

    @Robert:
    "At times the language was fine and fit right in with that Samuel L. Jackson/grindhouse/b-movie sort of feel, but did get old at times."

    Yea, I think writers often forget the "Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." when writing because if that line is true, then "Too much of a bad thing, is a HORRIBLE thing!" right? That's why a content filter would be appreciated, and perhaps even sell a few more copies.

    Thank you all for the comments/feedback! If anybody knows for sure if the game has a content filter, leave a comment letting us know!

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  6. @coffee - rofl! there's a FEW out there I haven't gotten to. Of course, the operative word for me is usually 'yet'...

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  7. @Coffee: I've been searching for reviews or copies the manual tonight to see if it had a low-violence mode or something, but I'm not finding anything. The most complete guide and review I've found is on gamefaqs and it doesn't list anything.

    http://www.gamefaqs.com/wii/952482-the-house-of-the-dead-overkill/faqs/55744

    Doesn't look like the ps3 version offers it either. At least with the Wii there's so much profanity in the cut scenes and song intros that I imagine it would take significant work and storage to create a clean(er) low-violence option.

    You can listen to some of the song intros on the website to get an idea.

    But hey, at least it's not the most profane with Mafia II beating it the next year! Hm,. maybe not cause for celebration. :)

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  8. @Chalgyr:
    Uh huh, you probably have already beaten this one now at the time of my typing this!

    @Robert:
    Well, being that it had a "B" movie setting, and wasn't as serious as the other games because of how "over the top" it was...I could imagine a filter with nothing but the "beeeeep" noise could have been done, and might have mad it funnier to play-through a second time.

    Thanks for checking on the filter options though, I appreciate it. I had checked before for another game, not sure which one now, but I just remember googling and searching resulted little results for what I was looking for.

    Thanks for the feedback again!

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  9. A censored beep mode would have been hilarious. :)

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Keep the comments clean. Rated "E" for Everyone. :)

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