Slashdot Mirror
"Evil Dead: Hail to the King" For PSX Reviewed
An arrogant, kind of rough, everyman character kickin' undead arse with a shotgun and a chainsaw attached to his right arm!? Not to mention the scene where he cuts his OWN hand off when it becomes POSSESSED? I fell in love the first time I saw the movie. The limited edition of Evil Dead, 2 versions of ED2, and 3 versions of Army of Darkness later, I still watch at least one of the flicks probably weekly. When I heard that there was going to be a video game based on the movies, I damned near flipped.
On the 12th of December, I received my copy of "Evil Dead: Hail to the King" for Playstation in the mail at work. I couldn't even wait ... I took it right home on my lunch and blew my whole lunch hour on the game. So anyway, yes, I am reviewing the bugger, I just take a while to get there.
The opening cinematics are damned smooth for a PSX game. Right off the bat, you're greeted with Bruce Campbell's voice-over as our hero, Ashley J. Williams, giving you a nice introduction to the premise of the game.
The game is set 8 years after Army of Darkness, and Ash has settled back into life at S-Mart. However, he has had recurring nightmares revolving around his adventures. His new girlfriend, who works in the Arts and Crafts department at S-Mart, Jenny, recommends that he returns to the cabin in the center of all his trouble and face his fears. Needless to say, the Evil is re-awakened, Jenny is missing, (presumably taken by the Evil) and Ash is off again.
I'm going to mention my only complaint with this game so far, and that is that the gameplay is a bit awkward. It's very similar to Resident Evil, as has been stated in most previews, and sometimes it is very tough to aim Ash properly at the various Deadites.
With that out of the way, I can get down to the fanboy praise. The graphics are absolutely amazing for a PSX release. If I recall, this is the first PSX game to use 24-bit backgrounds, and it shows. The landscape and backgrounds are downright beautiful at times, and always shows the trademark eerieness and darkness that the series is known for. The characters are all 3D rendered, and look pretty good compared to those in many other titles out there.
Ash has in his extensive arsenal, of course, his trademark chainsaw (I wanted an unlimited supply of fuel, but that'd be too easy.), a pistol (a little weak), the trademark "boomstick" (a double-barreled shotgun), and a two-headed axe, among other weapons. A nice addition for us ED geeks is the ability to do a "finishing move" a la Mortal Kombat on some enemies. There is nothing more satisfying than hanging a Deadite on the chainsaw while Ash sticks the shotgun in their face and taunts them with "Swallow this," and blows their face off. Ah -- rampant violence.
That's right folks. THQ set aside a button on the controls whose sole purpose is to make Ash taunt his enemies. This features great Ash one-liners like: "Come get some!", "You wanna little?" and "Ooh, that's gotta hurt." Poetry.
But, I digress. The game is relatively challenging, forcing you to do the old "collect items and figure out where they go" routine, but it keeps you entertained with a nice pace and plenty of gore. (A nice little detail is blood dripping off the chainsaw after gutting an enemy.)
If I have to pick a rating for the game, I'd give it a 6 for gameplay, 10 for graphics, 8 for sound (as I think the score is lacking a bit. Couldn't THQ have licensed the score from Army of Darkness?), and a 10 for ED geek factor.
If you're an Evil Dead fan, not buying this game isn't even an option. If you're a fan of horror flicks, or Resident Evil, it'd be a good addition to your library, and if you're just looking for an entertaining game, give it a shot.
Hail to the king, baby.
Thanks for the review, PuppeteerJPV. Oh, and the babysitting job? I think we found someone closer, but thanks. -t.
you cannot control the damn aiming easily. Quake and QuakeII on the PSX are tough as hell compared to a mouse (yes it is available but not like it is w/a computer). I only knew of one person that used a gamepad for a game like that and he later converted.
:) +controller_look ;-)
There has to be an easier way to do it
sorry, I am quite sick and tired of hearing about the fucking pixels and polygons when the fucking game is just terrible. Hype the graphics when the plot and gameplay sucks.
we need real good games that stick and never get boring. Final Fantasy has had 9 revisions. You play it till you win, and it is over. Boring.
Yes, this is IMHO but it is true. Would you rather watch a good looking show or one that was actually good on content (Waterworld comes to mind -- even though I personally liked the story, a lot of people did not and were not impressed by the pricetag of production)
Here here. One questions why this is news when other topics, such as the impending AOL/Time Warner merger, carry much more weight.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Because it reinforces the important fact that the dead are nothing to be played with. No matter how much you may want to dig up your neighbor's grave, RESIST THE URGE! Let me assure you, he'll be none too pleased, and you might get your knickers dirty in the process.
Children should be taught respect for the dead. Just a few hundred years ago, ancestor worship was prevalent across most of the civilized world (Europe wasn't civilized at the time). Today, people are confined to elderly homes before dying and are quickly forgotten. It's a darn shame. Someone should be working on this.
Sorry, that's just the third time I've seen "here, here" in the past 24 hours, felt like I should say something.
Really? Never get boring? Where could one of these mystical, magical, everlasting games be found? Have you invented one?
I see your point... Dark City was much better than The Matrix, but the latter had leather-clad boobies and a techno soundtrack.
But to claim that a single game should entertain you for all eternity is silliness that transcends mere arrogance.
grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
It's a game with a gun.
I am become Troll, destroyer of threads
Why do you think everything is about karma?! Who cares? I certainly don't. Half the discussions on this webpage are deticated to the accumulation of karma. I just do not understand why there is such a greed for the points.
I do not post to be moderated, I post to enlighten or to be enlightend.
What you don't realize is that this stupid First Posting nonsense is exactly why there are moderators and exactly where there are people who "whore for karma." It's a catch-22. The only way to prevent abuse actually tends to promote it.
Of course, that could be attributed to the nature of the beast. You, your friends and every one of the losers that attempt to make a first post are contributing to the downfall of intelligence and freedom.
I just cannot understand where things started going wrong? What is funny about being a troll? What is funny about linking to goatse.cx? That is incredibly stupid an immature.
I am absolutely sure I am not alone in this belief. It's a pathetic world where the trolls outnumber and overrun the people actually interested in positive contribution.
I could have easily moderated that post down, but I thought it might be more worthwhile to express my anger. Obviously you completely missed the point.
Idiot.
The List of Grievances with Slashdot.
ever played duck hunt? i dunno about anyone else but that seems like the optimal way to play a game such as this on a console system. i've seen a game for psx called time trial (it was something like that) where it showed your crosshairs on the screen and you shot at people. combine this with some type of 1 handed movement controller and shoot-em-up games would be alot cooler
Actually the game is coming for the PC didn't you know ? ..
http://mrhide.pinnesota.org
The vast majority of Duke Nukem's one-liners were not original. A few were taken from the Evil Dead movies (including 'Hail to the King, Baby'), and the rest come from other random movies like "They Live".
symantics.. whatever, doesn't matter, your point is moot.
The PS2 lets you plug in a USB mouse which make some games more playable.
--
...but the first go round they called it "Duke Nukem 3D".
Hail to the King.
--Lenny
And the commercial is not to be missed!
--
Rob Carlson
I could never get bored with Tetris.
Actually, it's sEmantics :]
And yes, I see the need for posts like this too.
This is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to video games. I've seen THQ's game history, and I'll just bet that Evil Dead: Hail To The King developer Heavy Iron is responsible for most of the design decisions in the game. People who don't understand that the publisher and developer are often completely separate companies shouldn't be doing game reviews (or at least not ones that get posted as articles on prominent websites).
Yes...there are things that interest me here, but they are becoming less and less.
Then don't read the damn site. Simple, huh?
This seems like a really hard concept for slashbots to grasp.
If you just want tech news go to The Register or C|Net...If you want trolls, flames and frippery, read slashdot.
And quit bitching. It annoys people much more than the stupid RMS/ESR/GPL articles.
--K
---
If in-game tools existed to program 2D/3D action or RPG elements, you'd have a real winner.
This sounds like Neverwinter Nights. Can't wait for this game to hit the stores.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
A friend of mine got a PS2 and rented quake II
No version of Quake is available for PS2 as yet. The only FPS for PS2 on general release is TimeSplitters. Unreal Tournament comes out soon, Quake 3 is further off in the future.
Maybe you're thinking of Quake 2 on PS1, or Quake 3 on Dreamcast. On DC Quake 3 you can split the screen horizontally or vertically AFAIK, as well as play online fullscreen.
--