5/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of The House of the Dead 2.

System: Arcade Started: April 30, 2024 Ended: April 30, 2024 In the late 90’s and early 2000's, there had to be at least one or more House of the Dead games in every arcade I have been to. The first three House of the Dead games were literally my childhood games back in the day, as I have played them and even spectated on people playing them to see how far they could go with limited credits and even take divided paths. The House of the Dead 2 was the most popular game and I tried to attempt to play the entire game. but I never saw the ending as I always ran out of credits to continue playing until recently, when I finally got the chance to play and see the very end of it. Now the first House of the Dead game takes place in a mansion, just like Resident Evil. Now, it takes place in some European city, probably Italy, with zombies running loose. It kind of reminds me of Resident Evil 2. You play as two new AMS agents, James and Gary instead of Agents Thomas and G from the first game. Lastly, the new villain of this game is not Dr. Curian but just a simple name, Goldman. The gameplay plays the same as the original, as you shoot zombies and prevent them from hitting you, or else you lose a hit point and fight your way to the end of the level to fight the boss. In the first game, you rescue scientists, but in this one, you rescue civilians. I still find it amusing once you get a Game Over in this game and see a line diagram of a map to see how far you survived to that point. Everything about this game was better than the first. It got the gore, the graphical improvements, the divided paths, the awesome boss fights, and the story, as this game was more chaotic as you raced to the Goldman building as the zombie apocalypse was initiated. Of course people would hate this franchise, mainly for the bad voice acting. I cannot blame them, but this is what gives the franchise its charm. I always consider this to be some kind of B-movie-style video game. My little problem with this game was the shoe-horned boss rush by the end of the game. I can understand if you are playing this game with actual paid credits and it seems like a lazy or cheap move for players to insert more money into the machine. At least this game is free-play from the arcade I went to, and the boss rush segment is not that difficult. The House of the Dead 2 was Sega's most popular arcade game at the time. This is definitely a must-play for all zombie genre, Sega, and arcade fans. It's very common to find it almost everywhere especially Home Consoles like the Dreamcast, so if you see it, play it. I have played all five of the mainline House of the Dead games, and by far, 2 is still my favorite House of the Dead game, but there are others in the franchise I have not played yet, like the underrated House of the Dead Overkill and the recent remake of the original. Especially Typing of the Dead. I just hope I get the time to play those.