House of the Dead

Games with horror themes have always been popular. Why, look at the success games like Resident Evil (and its sequel), Splatterhouse and Castlevania all share. Since this is the case, it's no surprise that the horrific arcade gun-game. House of the Dead, is making its way home to the Saturn.

For those of you not familiar with the arcade version, HotD allows you to control one of two special agents as they search for a colleague in a very bizarre mansion that doubles as a laboratory. While you make your way through the joint, guns a-blazin you're attacked by an array of different monsters ranging from flesh-eating zombies to insane monkeys and every creature in between.

With all of these beasts running about, it's smart to keep lots of ammo in your chamber and a keen sense of aim. In fact, well-placed shots can send undead limbs a-flyin' and leave holes the size of grapefruits where zombie brains used to be.

With all of the shooting that will undoubtedly be going on, be mindful of innocent scientists who may be running around, hiding from zombies. In some cases, instead of a giant slug coming around a corner, it'll be a harmless scientist who just stopped by the lab to pick up his/her check. If you shoot them, you lose a point.

Since this version of HotD is on the Saturn, you can adjust the game's parameters, including how many lives you get, crosshair style and number of continues. On top of these options, this HotD has a couple exclusive modes of play.

In the Saturn Mode, you can go through the game in a whole different way from the arcade, and have one of six characters to do it with. These characters feature unique attributes like health, chamber storage, aiming ability and reload time. For example, a character who has five health points and a powerful gun may only be able to hold two bullets in the clip at a time. In addition, there's a Boss Mode where you can take a crack at the game's Bosses to better find their weak points.

We should have more info when we get an American beta in that's more complete.

MANUFACTURER - Sega Enterprises, Ltd.

THEME - Light Gun

NUMBER OF PLAYERS - 1 or 2