Released only a couple of months after its arcade counterpart, the DC version of The House of The Dead 2 (HotD2) is nothing short of incredible, true to the arcade in every aspect. The strong point of this gun game is definitely its stunning visuals which showcase some of the DC's awesome power. Imagine horrifying zombies popping up everywhere in incredibly detailed backgrounds in high-res and at 60fps, and then imagine blowing their brains out and shooting holes through their stomachs; does it get any better than this?

As far as gameplay goes its pretty much the same as the first HotD: you shoot all the zombies on the screen, "shoot outside the screen" to reload, try to save innocent civilians and shoot props in the background such as barrels to find hidden bonuses. Although on paper this all seems pretty simple, its actually very challenging, and even in Very Easy with 5 life pieces and 9 continues the game is still very hard to finish. You really need to save as many civilians as possible as they often reward you with a life piece and once you have completed a chapter depending on how many total civilians were saved you may receive additional life pieces.

Many people don't really like to purchase gun games for their home systems because they are usually pretty short and have very limited replay value. Fortunately, that's not the case of HotD2. HotD2 takes about 45-60 minutes to finish, which for a gun game is pretty long (anything longer would get boring and be a huge strain on the shooting arm). But what makes HotD2 so much better than other gun games is that there are so many different paths you can take and that adds a lot of replay value to the title. The alternate paths are often triggered by saving certain civilians or shooting certain props and they may alter the story a bit as well. In the end, to see everything HotD2 has to offer it will require many hours.

Now for what I feel is the game's weak point: the sound. Sure the music is fine, the zombie grunts are nice and the gunshots are good, but those are not the main problem. The problem is that Sega decided to include lots of voice acting, probably to make the experience better, unfortunately it has the reverse effect due to the fact that the actors can't act worth a damn. Not only do they speak in a really monotonous voice showing no involvement what so ever, but they place HUGE spaces in the middle of sentences which really makes the performance a horror for the ears (I wouldn't be surprised if the voice "actors" were just staff from the development offices). Sentences such as "We're meeting.....G.....over.....there." or "It's been a while,.....hasn't it.......my friends from the AMS.......it's me.......Goldman." - really make you wanna hit the mute button on your TV. So although HotD2's voice acting is definitely a worthy challenger to the champ of horrid acting known as Deep Fear, the rest of the sound is very decent.

At one point many believed that the original HotD would be hidden inside of the DC version of HotD2. Unfortunately Sega recently revealed that although this was planned it didn't happen for deadline purposes. But don't worry, Sega made up for this by adding some nice DC only extra features. These include Original Mode, Training Mode and Boss Mode. The Original Mode is basically the same as the Arcade Mode except with added items such as power ups and new weapons. The Training mode consists of 10 levels that put your speed and accuracy to test. Levels range from shooting a certain number of zombies with a limited supply of bullets to maintaining a coin in mid-air by shooting it repeatedly for a length of time. If you complete each Training level 5 times you will receive the no-reload option as a reward. As for the Boss Mode, you choose which boss to fight and then you fight it (I recommend practicing a lot on the Training and Boss Modes before you play the Arcade mode or bosses such as Magician will eat you alive).

Finally, we couldn't review a gun game without talking about the gun now could we. When i first saw pictures of the DC gun, I was a bit skeptical, it looked very weird and very small, but when I actually got my hands on it, I was quite surprised. First off the gun is way bigger than it looks, then its shape is actually pretty cool and distributes the weight evenly. The gun also has a VMS slot to save your game or you can insert a Puru-Puru pack for some vibration as you play. As for the accuracy, the DC gun is quite accurate although I still recommend going into the Options menu and adjusting it to your personal liking for the best accuracy possible. The last thing I'll mention about the DC gun is that the trigger has some pretty sharp edges that can really blister your trigger finger if you play a lot, but fortunately after about 2 weeks of intensive play you should develop a callous that will protect you from such blisters :) Oh, and for those of you players using the control pad, don't hit the trigger too hard, I've heard many people say that they broke their right trigger button with HotD2, so be gentle.

In conclusion, HotD2 is one fantastic game that displays some of the best DC visuals seen to date. The only things I didn't like were the horrendous voice acting and the extreme difficulty. An unlimited continues option and a hidden version HotD1 would have been a welcome sight, but this title is still incredible, and who knows, come this September when the game hits US shelves, these features could well become a reality.

· · · Gemini