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A couple Halloweens ago, I busted out the ol' Dreamcast, managed to track down some
keyboards, and showed the world the madness that was The Typing of the Dead. Now, I get
the chance to do it all over again, except with more copious editing because holy **** do
they like their four-letter words. It's The Typing of the Dead: Overkill, a moderately
mixed-up version of Sega's infamous grindhouse gorefest that ditches the guns in favor of...
wait. They still have guns. They're supposed to have Dreamcasts strapped to their backs
and power them with giant Duracell batteries! My suspension of disbelief is immediately
broken.
I'm sorry, what was that? OH YEAH, video game. It's... well, it's House of the Dead: Overkill,
only with keyboard controls and letters that put holes in zom... I'm sorry. Mutants. When
you get right down to it, I'm kinda shocked that this hadn't happened earlier, especially
in the convenience of a PC version. You get the ridiculous ultra-violence, innuendo, and
foul language of the original, but now you don't have to figure out how to get a light
gun to work with modern systems. Instead, you've just gotta type fast or die trying.
Finish what's in the box, and the zom... erm, mutant dies. Take too long and the border
starts flashing red before you get smacked by a claw or hatchet or body part or some
such. Spaces and capitalization don't count, so I don't know how accurately it's supposed
to model real typing... or at least, typing while being chased down by the shambling undead.
I've gotta say, it's absolutely everything I want out of a Typing of the Dead title:
off-kilter humor, off-kilter things to type, an emphasis on quick reactions, and boss battles
that mix things up a bit, like this one where you've gotta pick out the correct grotesque
mutant before she crawls through the image all Sadako-from-The-Ring-like. There are also
various collectibles scattered throughout each stage, like jukebox tracks or comic book
pages, which have to be picked up by hitting the tab key. You might find yourself replaying
a stage just to get that last 3D model, or to improve your accuracy and score, or just
because you **** want to. That ever occur to ya?
But at its core, it's just The House of the Dead: Overkill, and this release includes
the non-typing version because it'd kinda be ridiculous if it didn't, truth be told.
The story of two cops, two strippers, and a ****load of guns can be enjoyed separately...
if you don't mind trying to poke and pop zomb... erm, mutants with your mouse. But since I'm
on a laptop with a touchpad, that kinda sucks. So I'm gonna stick to typing, especially when
it comes to the high-intensity mini-game modes that task you with keeping a number of civilians
safe or surviving wave upon wave of vicious hordes.
There's support for DLC dictionaries (bet that's a term you've never heard of before)
as well as a multiplayer mode seemingly yet to be implemented, but I'm quite satisfied
with what's here: touch-typing and violence. And content likely to appeal to the prurient
interest. In other words, a bloody good time. Just... um... don't spend too much time near
cars. Bad things tend to happen to cars.