House of the Dead: Overkill Interview

Wrapping Up

bit-tech: Talking of the credit system, I know that if you die then you carry on but lose half your score in the Story Mode, but what happens if you have a score of zero and you die?

Gwilym: You just carry on. We wanted it that way to make sure that everyone could get through the game, but there would still be a risk and reward for people who want a challenge. In DC Mode though there’s more zombies and a classic lives system, for the hardcore gamers.

Nathan: Yeah, because realistically we want people to play and enjoy all the game even if they’re just whacking it on after they come home from the pub.

BT: Do you think that’s becoming a trend in games lately, with accessibility I mean? Take Prince of Persia for instance; in the new game it’s impossible to die, but the first game in that series was so difficult that really all you could do was die. Do you think there’s a trend there, to make games more accessible than they might have been a few years ago?


N: Maybe, but I think the important thing is to add depth for people who want it. Everyone pays money for that game and should be able to get an enjoyable experience from it.

G: We just didn’t want to frustrate people.

John: It’s a difficult balance to get right, which is why we tried to give a casual player a chance to just play the game, but a better player can spend some time aiming for the achievements and high scores. Those things really add value and depth.

G: Dual-wielding shotguns are great fun, for example, but you need to work hard to unlock that. Or the minigun, which is even harder to get in Director’s Cut. And Dual-wield miniguns, which are really interesting. You don’t get great accuracy, but you can really slice things in half.

J: The combo meter too, that adds a lot to the game and lets you unlock and upgrade and all that, if you want.

BT: But you’ve got minigames for the casual players too?


N: Yeah, there are three of them and they’re all for up to four players. There’s a target-based minigame, a civilian-saving minigame where you have to protect someone while the escape from the infested prison.

G: That one’s great, yeah. It’s like an arena and you have to protect them from the hordes of zombies that pour in, with each crowd colour-coded to each player.

N: Yep, then there’s the final mode which is more of a survival mode. The zombies just keep coming and you have to just try and keep them back as best you can. There’s drop-in co-op for the Story Mode too, if people want more multiplayer. That’s great because the game detects the other player and increases the zombies straightaway.

BT: Well, you mentioned the prison level and I know there’s a carnival and hospital level too, but why did you choose those locations? Where do you get your ideas for the zombie designs and so on? I noticed the hospital level was filled with undead nurses in a kind of Silent Hill-esque way...

J: Those are heavily inspired by the B-movies. The carnival was a great one especially because it started off as a cutesy county fair and as we worked with it we went down a different route inspired by classic freakshows and the old Carnivale TV series. The swamps are inspired by The Creature from The Black Lagoon too.

BT: Just as long as there isn’t a generic ice level.

N: Maybe in the sequel. Let me just write that down...