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Yuck!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: July 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I really, really tried to like this game but...

Play control is God-awful. The two handed weapon system would be cool if it had ANY accuracy what-so-ever. Even the simple process of opening a door becomes tedious. Walk up to the door, hit O, nothing happens. Walk up to the same door at a different angle, press O, still nothing. Repeat about 5 times until success...and all the while constantly respawning Deadites are pounding on you. That is of course if you can find any doors aside from those in the cabin. You may just give up after wandering aimlessly around the woods for two hours without any hints of where you should be and what you should be doing. The annoying camera angles and mundane backgrounds don't help...often times there will be a path or item right in front of you and you can't even see it!! Ash's taunts are neat at first, but how many times can you hear even Bruce Cambell say "Yo" and "Come get some" over a two hour period before it gets irratating. 200? 300? Go play...

What's wrong with you people?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: February 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well, I understand why you gave this game an average of 3/5 stars, but I don't think this way: I love this game!
I know the gameplay is bad sometimes. You get stuck close to an enemy so it hits you, and you have to wait a little bit to get out of there... There are lots of enemies, much more than a game should have (just imagine how boring Resident Evil would be if zombies just kept popping out of the ground in every single room).. But, even with all those bad things, this game still rules.

First of all, there is Bruce Campbell. He, friends, makes this game worth playing with his awesome voice acting, full of hilarious lines. Then, the graphics. The graphics are awesome! See, in Resident Evil, all scenaries are static, no movement. Here at Hail to the King, trees move, the fog moves.. I mean, every single room has movement, so the graphics are way best than average PSOne games. The CGs are awesome, one of the best you can find on PSOne, and Ash looks fine too. There are good varieties of enemies, good variety of scenarios (including fan's favorite ones like the Cabin, the Bridge...) the bosses are cool and the game, even though difficult, is totally possible to beat without GameShark if you train a little.
I think this is a must-buy for anyone who owns a PSOne and likes Mature games. I can already see all those non-helpful votes you'll give me, but I'll still love this game. And you'll too, if you give it a chance. It could've been better? Yes, obviously... But it's still a very good game and it stays true to the series.

Zero suspense, & uninspired, repetative game-play...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, this game isn't scary. The creators have gone for humor, not fear, and I suppose it is funny in parts, but the fear factor that drove the movie is lost.

An inappropriate, silly, and muddled movie introduces the game (hey don't get me wrong, the movies are the best part of Evil Dead, but again, there's zero fear)

The plot unwinds thus - your girlfriend is taken by evil forces, and you are armed with a chainsaw and set out to find her. Ridiculously, apparitions (the same ones) pop up all the time. You need to fight them with the chainsaw, but you only have enough fuel at a time to kill two or three. I repeat (and I don't know if I was doing something wrong, but I couldn't find a way to choose a simpler kind of game play) you can't proceed one step in this particular game universe without being set upon by at least one apparition, and you have to mash the keys furiously to dispose of it. It's boring in the extreme, not to mention RSI-inducing.

I don't mind the graphics, even though they are basic they would have sufficed if the game-play was there (I loved Silent Hill and Resident Evil, for example) But this is a comedy game, not a horror movie game. You wince at the lameness of some of the dialogue. You can't go exploring, because there is no single second of the game where you aren't fighting those stupid apparitions. You can't walk up a road listening in fear for what is out there, because what is out there is already attacking you, is always the same, and as soon as one apparition dies, another takes it's place. The game doesn't give you even one second to take in your surroundings, it's full on fight, fight, fight from the moment you take your first step (not even givng you time to learn the controls) Speaking of controls, they are bad, so get used to it.

If not for these flaws, I would have finished playing the game. But as it was, I gave up on it about half way through.
This is comedy of the "keystones cops" variety. This is not "Survival Horror" there are no moments in the game which are unsettling or in the least bit scary. Even if you are a fan of the movies, as I am, I wouldn't recommend this game. It just sours the memory of a truly inspired movie.

Final words, this game lacks depth, contains dull and uninspiring game-play, and is an insult to the intelligence, to the movie, and to game lovers everywhere. Could have been good, but wasn't. Too bad.

Sometimes the Dead should be buried

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 16
Date: December 12, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Sometimes a movie based game comes along and is enjoyable because it reminds you of the fun you had seeing that film, others make you just wish were watching the film instead. This game falls into the category of the latter. It is just barely playable suggesting that it needed either more time to fine tune or an almost total overhaul. Visually, the game is inconsistant. The back grounds are rendered and look reminiscent of the film only minus the creepiness. Appearance-wise, the characters are decent but feel too low res and outdated, especially in front of the rendered backdrops. Still the graphics don't give the player the gut tightening thrill they should. The game play is similar to Resident Evil, not the series, but the first game. It reaches to the Playstation's past for a game engine. The enemies are too difficult to kill in conjuction with Ash's attacking "skills", being ineffective hacks, slashs, and pooly aimed gun shots. They regenerate ad frustratum. The story is rehashed from the plots of the film trilogy. From the beginning it just seems thrown together. The voice acting held promise as it features the star of the Evil Dead movies, Bruce Campbell. But unfortunately even that is ruined by a half-hearted delivery. The game is just not what I expected. The concept sounded good a year ago, but the final product isn't enjoyable. Don't get burned on this one like I did.

Not mediocre, bad.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 24
Date: December 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The sad thing about this game isn't that it's a failed attempt at one of my dreams (a quality game based on the Evil Dead franchise), but the fact that this miserable excuse for a game seals the fate of the franchise's future in video games forever. If this had been just average, then someone else might have given the Evil Dead series a shot further down the line (a first person shooter is how I always envisioned the game), but now it will be considered poison by publishers, and that's not right.

What's the problem? Where to start? Now, I am as big an Evil Dead fan as you'll find, and Bruce Campbell is a very talented actor, but Bruce just doesn't sound into the flow of things. Now, don't get me wrong, he is THE saving grace, if there is any. The sound is really the only high point of this wretched lesson in pain. The infamous re-spawning is worse than it sounds, if you can believe that. It's not like you kill the monsters in this area, leave, and come back later to find that they've come back to life, oh no. They re-spawn AS SOON AS YOU KILL THEM. It's as frustrating as it sounds. That's just the worst aspect, there are plenty more problems involved here, but you can hear of those elsewhere.

All in all, rent it if you're obsessed with the Evil Dead franchise, you could even do worse in the survival horror genre (Countdown: Vampires, anyone?). Plus, it has one funny commercial working for it, and that's worth...oh...an eighth of a star?

Reeeaaal ugly. One for the toilet.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

What a great concept they had. And what a shoddy pile of junk the resultant game turned out to be. Evil Dead: Hail to the King held my attention for precisely 10 minutes before the novelty wore off and I was left with nothing except a great sadness, knowing I had spent my hard-earned cash on one of the worst games ever to grace the Playstation.

The game gets an F on all fronts. Its main drawing card was that it got Bruce Campbell involved to do voice work and help with concept, but the fact is, there isn't nearly enough variety in the wisecracks, comic situations and Ash's activities. There's nothing here that hasn't been done infinitely better in the Evil Dead movies. The computerized graphical representations of the Evil Dead characters are just pathetic (check out that pale graphic imitation of the title sequence of Army of Darkness). And though Bruce Campbell is still one of the most delightfully hammy comic presences out there, after about an hour of hearing him repeat the same half-dozen one-liners every half minute, you're bound to get bored.

This would be okay if the game had been well designed in terms of action, aesthetics, and feel. Noooo. As with so many other games with a strong license/franchise behind it, Evil Dead: Hail to the King abuses this license, using it to attempt to cover up atrocious design. First, the control scheme. It's bad enough that this game features the single worst use of "camera angles" I've ever seen (move over, Fighting Force 2), but why, oh why would they force a first-person-view control scheme onto a third-person-perspective game? Imagine having to play Double Dragon using the controls for Medal of Honor, and you get the ludicrous nature of Evil Dead's controls. And oh yes, the camera angles -- what makes the designers think it's a good idea to fix the camera on top of a tree looking down on Ash when you're trying to fight the undead? And even while fighting, if you move past the edge of the screen, the action stops so that the game can load a new, closer "angle", which completely kills the flow of the action. Then again, there isn't much in the action anyway -- swing your chainsaw and hope for a hit, twist and turn and mash those buttons. And there are so many enemies, all of whom react in pretty much the same way, that it becomes excessive monotony before long. The fact that the enemies "respawn" simply adds to the boredom. The only plus? Some of the environments look tolerably like the movie. If only you weren't forced to look from those weird eyesores they call "camera angles". This is the worst case of game programmers trying to be filmmakers I've seen yet.

All this adds up to an experience akin to waiting in a doctor's office for your turn with no magazines and the heat turned up to the max. I don't care when I kill an enemy, I don't care when I find a page out of the Necronomicon, and I don't care when I get slaughtered. The apathy this game gives me is even worse than an ultra-tough game that hangs me out to dry. Stick with the movies; one minute of Evil Dead 2 contains more action, fun and engagement than an hour spent with this sewer rat of a game.

Ash in his worst adventure yet

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

All of the movies were excellent films but the game is somewhat lacking. The story is good, Bruce Cambell's voice overs are great. The gameplay is ok.The graphics and sound are pretty good. But there is no 360 turns and auto aim which are necessities in survival horor games. The enemy design is good, and the game is decently long. But all the enemies regenerate which is annoying and sometimes frusterating, sometimes your not given good enough direction on where to go. It's a decent game and a must have for huge Evil Dead fans. But I was just a tad bit dissapointed.

Oh my, what fun!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: December 25, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've been a fan of the ED series since the first movie and this game is a dream (nightmare?) come true. Okay, first off, yes, the Deadites come at you alot. But hey, they're Deadites; they don't know when to stop. But the rest of the game more than makes up for it. It has the creepy elements of the movies and, along with the great VO by Bruce, it really captures the feeling of them. The graphics are great and in my humble opinion, this game outshines RE (or any other survival horror clone) by a long shot. The gameplay is more original and the plot only serves to further the ED storyline. All in all, a great game and a must have for any true ED fan. Groovy

Great Movie - TERRIBLE game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: February 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is awful. The animated intro is the best part of the game and you don't actually play during that part. The enemies are confusing and the ammo/weapons ratio are low.

Many times it's confusing where you need to be, and where to go. I would recommend you rent this title from a local video store before EVER buying it. Try it first and if you like it, then buy it, but I'm a big fan of Sam Raimi, Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell and I think this game is garbage.

The Best Game that has EVER been made or will be

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 22
Date: December 11, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game brings to life the best movie series in the history of film. Evil Dead and its two subsequent films were monumentus occasions in the art of film making. Now with the films selling better that ever THQ finally brings every fan what they have waited for and deserve; Evil Dead: Hail to the king. Even the title brings chills. Set in the cabin Ash has returned again, for what reason? Well who cares that was never important in the movies why should it be here? With all of you favorite deadites present, along with a gran assortment of new ones. EDHTTK will keep you on the edge of your seat form beginning to end. If there is one! The frosting on the cake is that Ash himself is given life by nono othere that Bruce Campbell himself. If you were to ever want one game this should be it, and hey dont forget, "Shop smart, Shop S-mart"

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