The House of the Dead EXHouse of the DeadHouse of the Dead 2House of the Dead 2 & 3House of the Dead 4
Personally, I'm happy to see House of the Dead getting refreshed, as it has been a longtime pleasure. House of the Dead 2 was actually the game that convinced me to import a Dreamcast. And not only did I played more than my share of the arcade original, I even managed to almost convince myself that the Saturn conversion was a worthy port. (I popped it in yesterday to take a peek. Yikes -- while totally playable, it's a disaster of warped polygons and muddy textures.)
Overkill is the fifth installment in the House series and the first of the batch to not debut in the arcades since the creation of the franchise in 1996. The evolution of the series tracks alongside the waning arcade scene and the rise of consoles that simply started matching -- and even out-pacing -- arcade cabinets. Whereas almost every respectable arcade in 1996, and there were not that many, had a House of the Dead machine, stumbling on to House of the Dead 4 in 2005 was about as likely as finding a kangaroo in Kansas.
SEGA made sure that each of the House of the Dead games existed inside a singular universe, not unlike Capcom's Resident Evil series. The RE mythos is certainly more complete than the House of the Dead plot. (Although, there might have been a race between the first RE and HotD to see who could come up with the worst dialog and voicework.) But there are a few standards in the House of the Dead world, such as the naming of monster bosses after tarot cards and the appearance of characters like Agent G, Goldman, and Dr. Curien. So, to get yourself ready for Overkill, slated to launch in 2009, brush up on the House of the Dead mythos with this tour of each game in the series thus far.
The House of the Dead
Released in arcades: 1996
Released on console: 1998 (Saturn)
Heroes: Thomas Rogan, Agent G
Villains: Dr. Curien, The Magician
The Story: The original House of the Dead takes its title quite literally. The majority of the game unfolds in a creepy mansion owned by the mysterious Dr. Curien. Curien was once considered one of the world's greatest geneticists, but his bizarre experiments with the reanimation of dead flesh have tarnished his name. Now, Curien works in his personal lab trying to breach the divide between the worlds of the living and the dead. Apparently, the mad doctor has achieved some measure of success, because he has resurrected/created an army of undead monsters that prey on the living.
Curien's depravity must be stopped, so an organization called AMS sends in two of its top agents: Rogan and G. Rogan's involvement in the case is personal, as his fiancée has gone missing as a result of Curien's meddling. On-site, Rogan and G push through the grounds and a series of rooms and corridors, fighting off such incredible beasts as the crab-like Hermit and the Hanged Man gargoyle. (In tarot, the Hanged Man represents sacrifice of the worldly for the acceptance of the divine while the Hermit is isolation for the sake of knowing the self.)
Eventually, G and Rogan fight their way to Curien's inner sanctum. Curien reveals the Magician (in some tarot interpretations, the Magician is the bridge between the earthly and the divine) to the pair of agents. However, the Magician turns on Curien and kills him, believing it no longer requires the oversight of flesh. The two agents manage to bring down the Magician, but the being threatens to return.
The House of the Dead 2
Released in arcades: 1998
Released on console: 1999 (Dreamcast)
Heroes: James Taylor, Gary Stewart, Amy Crystal, Harry Harris
Villains: Goldman, The Magician
The Story: Two years after the events of the first game, Agent G has tracked remnants of Curien's operation to Venice. When G goes missing, the AMS sends in a set of four agents to locate G and stop whomever is behind the resurrection of Curien's work. The two main heroes of Taylor and Stewart, who find G not long after arriving in Venice. Through G and further investigation, it is discovered that Curien's work was funded by Caleb Goldman, the president of DBR. Goldman saw great promise in Curien's work, and so he has fused Curien's experiments in genetic manipulation and crossing over with his own work on the human genome. The result is a new army of monsters that threaten not only Venice, but the entire world. The AMS agents must fight their way to the DBR HQ in the new part of the city, but that requires shooting their way through the older sections of Venice.
House of the Dead 2's bosses are bigger and more ferocious than the first batch. The very first boss is a Master-Blaster-esque pair of monsters called Judgment. Judgment is followed by the watery monsters Hierophant and Tower. If Judgment wasn't big enough for you, he's trumped by the chainsaw-sporting Strength. Finally, the player must enter into another showdown with the Magician, brought back to life by Goldman.
Like the first game, the bosses of House of the Dead 2 are based on tarot. Here are possible interpretations of each monster, based on the corresponding card:
Judgment: Depicted as the angel of Revelation, this represents absolution and rebirth.
Hierophant: This card is organized religion.
Tower: Tower represents chaos and ruin.
Strength: This card often represents self-control and discipline.
Magician: The bridge between the earthly and the divine.
Emperor: The need to rule.
Goldman commits suicide at the end of the game, but he makes a posthumous appearance in the fourth game. Taylor also returns in the fourth game, as it picks up not too long after the events of this title.
The House of the Dead III
Released in arcades: 2002
Released on console: 2003 (Xbox)
Heroes: Lisa Rogan, Agent G, Daniel Curien
Villains: Dr. Curien, The Wheel of Fate
The Story: House of the Dead III rockets into the future -- a bad future. It is 2019 and the world has quite literally gone to hell since monsters born from Curien's research and harvested by the evil EFI corporation have run amok. The heroes are Lisa Rogan, daughter of the now-missing Thomas Rogan, and an older Agent G. They are determined to fight their way to the heart of the EFI labs and put a stop to whatever force is perpetuating the creation of this horrible zombies and monsters. However, the story is fleshed out through flashbacks that try to paint Dr. Curien as something of a sympathetic villain. According to these scenes, Curien only started his research to save the life of his terminally ill son. The madness part came later.
Eventually, Lisa and G find not only her father, but also Curien's son, Daniel. Determined to make up for his father's sins, Daniel helps the team bring down the Wheel of Fate, one of Dr. Curien's creations. The Wheel of Fate looks a bit like the Magician, which is explained by confirming that Dr. Curien was working on the two projects at the same time. The Wheel of Fate apparently just needed a little longer gestation and for technology to catch up with its requirements. It is revealed that the Wheel of Fate contains the "soul" of Dr. Curien.
House of the Dead III features four different endings that unfurls after destroying the Wheel of Fate, from Daniel turning into a zombie to the appearance of a stranger that steals some of Curien's work from the Wheel of Fate battlefield. The stranger is limping, so perhaps this is Goldman? Did he survive the fall?
The bosses in House of the Dead III include The Fool, Death, and The Sun, as well as the final Wheel of Fate. According to some interpretations of tarot, these monsters represent:
The Fool: The quest for knowledge and experience.
Death: The end of something, not necessarily death of the physical being.
The Sun: The sun represents success and vitality.
The Wheel of Fortune (Fate): Chance developments, opportunity, and destiny are all possible readings.
The House of the Dead 4
Released in arcades: 2005
Released on console: N/A
Heroes: James Taylor, Kate Green
Villains: Goldman, The World
The Story: House of the Dead 4 backtracks to 2003, with agent James Taylor joined by newcomer Kate Green. The pair is inside AMS headquarters when the building shattered by an earthquake -- and infiltrated by undead creations that look an awful lot like the monsters Dr. Curien's work loosed on the world. The situation turns even more dire when Taylor and Green discover that a nuclear launch is imminent. Mutually-assured-destruction is about to glass the globe.
While fighting back the horde, Taylor receives a message from Goldman (thought dead) on his cellphone. The former partner of Dr. Curien claims responsibility for the upcoming nuclear strike. Taylor and Green then battle their way to one of Goldman's facilities to stop the launch. However, stopping the missiles is not enough to snuff out Goldman's plans. Goldman has one last trick, a project codenamed Pandora's Box. The project in opened, revealing The World. The monster is too powerful, though, so Taylor sacrifices his life to destroy The World in a massive explosion.
However, because of House of the Dead III, we know that destroying The World and Goldman's work is hardly the end of the menace. Dr. Curien's work lives on, set to reduce the world to a wasteland of shambling horrors.
The tarot monsters in House of the Dead 4 include the following concepts:
The Lovers: The card can be interpreted as union or desire.
The Empress: She represents fertility.
The Star: The Star is often interpreted as hope and faith.
The World: Representing the end of a cycle, The World can also be interpreted as fulfillment.
A small town in Louisiana, the setting for Overkill, is far from the streets of Venice and the far-flung future of House of the Dead III. And since this takes place long before the events of the first House of the Dead, it's unsure if the game picks up at all on the Dr. Curien storyline. This is Agent G's first mission out of the academy, so perhaps we'll encounter a young Curien or Goldman, too. And it will be interesting to see if Overkill picks up on the tarot card influence. The bosses of the previous four games have pulled their names from the Major Arcana of tarot. There are just 22 cards in that tarot line, and the only cards untouched are The Devil, The Moon, and The High Priestess. There is the entire Minor Arcana to draw from, though, which includes names like the Ace of Wands and the Queen of Cups. But SEGA took care to create a universe for the AMS and its agents to operate within, so it's doubtful Overkill would completely junk the mythos.
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