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Touch the Dead Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Friday, May 18, 2007
User Score
Lots to shoot; mostly smart gameplay; good looking visuals and haunting sounds; interesting multiplayer options.
Can be too hard for its own good at times; manual reloading feels like a chore; on rails.
Sega's House of the Dead games have garnered quite a following. And why shouldn't they? What better way to grumble at your stress-causing boss (not you, Justin) or take out unnecessary aggression, than by sending legions of the undead back to their shallow graves? While Sega hasn't considered any kind of home port for their latest foray, House of the Dead 4, Eidos has the next best thing with Touch the Dead, a variation of sorts on the theme. Players take control of a prisoner locked up in a maximum security cell, only to find that the whole complex has been overrun with zombies. What can the guy do except pick up a weapon and begin picking them off?
The gameplay works very simply. Players simply tap the screen to shoot enemies before they come charging in to cause life-decreasing damage. Aiming really isn't an issue here, as I was able to rack up 195 head shots during one particular session of the game without really trying. The real hassle here lies in reloading. Instead of tapping a button, players are forced to drag over a full clip of bullets over to the gun, wait a second for it to click in, and start firing. This sounds like a nice addition, but in the middle of a tight squeeze it really makes all the difference between life and death. New weapons can be picked up that make the fighting a little more fair, but the ammunition runs out quickly, with players turning once again to the handgun.
Touch the Dead runs "on-rails", meaning that the player doesn't actually control their movement whatsoever. Occasionally, they can shoot signs to choose a path to follow, but that really about sums it up. Not that there's anything really wrong with that -- the game still delights in every single zombie-killing way. While the graphics look fuzzy in parts (particularly when a zombie gets way too close for his own good), the environments give off a haunting look of darkness, like the whole world's really caving in against you. The sound effects sound equally fitting, particularly the screams of fellow prisoners as they meet their demise and the growls of the hungry zombies. The music tends to repeat itself, but at least it's moody without being utterly cheesy.
The game runs through various stages, with the occasional boss battle popping up just to keep the player on his or her toes. Once the game ends (or life runs out), players can revisit the stages and try their luck again, seeing if their shooting accuracy has increased. Eidos was kind enough to also include multiplayer options, although it does seem a little gimmicky -- and makes the game much easier. In some cases, though, that can be right up someone's alley. These zombies come non-stop and a helping hand does the trick. It's just a shame that multiple cartridges are required for local multiplayer -- Game Sharing would've gone a long way here.
Overall, Touch the Dead earns a slight recommendation. The game still runs out of gas way too soon once it's been beaten, with few extras to keep coming back to. But at least it finishes what it intended to do without tripping all over gimmicks or stupidity in enemy AI, and stays relentless on its attack. Fans of House of the Dead, zombie blasters and more mature games in general won't have any trouble touching this Dead. Just make sure to keep the improper touching to a minimum -- you don't want to be completely freaky like these guys. It is still a prison, after all.
