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It may not be the greatest game ever...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: December 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

But it can be a lot of fun. The plot? Who cares what the plot is? For those of you who do, what happens (basically) is that Ash and his girlfriend Jenny (Assistant Manager, Arts and Crafts) return to the cabin in the woods, for Ash to face down his demons and perhaps find a cure for the nightmares plaguing him. Of course, that all goes to Hell in a handbasket when an old friend puts in an appearance and turns on the ol' tape player of demonic summoning spells. Result? A sylvan full of Deadites, Hellbillies, and other things that scream "I'll swallow your soul!" in the night.

The gameplay's your basic Resident Evil-styled survival horror deal: wander around, solve puzzles, kill the evil creatures. Of course, there's a slight twist - this time you get a chainsaw on one arm, and youe choice of axe or firearm in the other. Makes for some interesting methods of dispatching the (many) Deadites in the woods. Provided you keep your eyes open and pick up all the mushrooms you see, you're also not likely to run too low on health or fuel after you get past the Hellbillies' cabin.

Graphically speaking, this is excellent. Shadows and fog look about as realistic as I've ever seen them on a console video game, and the pre-rendered-yet-animated background (ala Fear Effect on the PlayStation) are still a cool effect. The character models are pretty good, and the enemies look suitably... er... Evil Dead-ish to get the job done. Bonus points for the designers who decided to include the dripping blood from the chainsaw. I'd just like you all to note that I'm talking about the Dreamcast version here, just in case this review finds its way over to the PlayStation section...

The control may not the be the most precise in the world, but - wonder of wonders - Resident Evil's control was never a strong point, either. The trick is in reading the manual once, I think. Once you get the hang of gutting and blasting the enemy hordes, however, the few inherent problems the game's engine has don't seem so... troubling. Besides, with a license like this, I'm willing to overlook some of the bugs in favor of the fun factor.

And it's a lot of fun. I found myself wanting to keep going, if only to find out what sort of things Ash (voiced by Bruce "The Man" Campbell) was going to say next. Besides, the notion of taking chainsaws to the undead is just inherently appealing, and it can be great stress relief. Especially because of all of the enemies that seem to exist in this game.

Which brings me to the one "major" flaw with the title - the monsters. They just keep coming. While it IS possible to clear an area of enemies, it takes a lot of patience, a lot of ammo, and a lot of health. Fortunately, ammunition is plentiful (you'll often get a new box of shells just after you've expended your last one blowing some Deadite scum away with your Boomstick), and if (as mentioned earlier in the review) you keep your eye on the lookout for brown mushrooms, health's not much of a problem, either.

The bottom line - is it any good? Sure. It's not on par with some of the uber-detailed and in-depth titles out there, but since it's not really intended to be one of those, it doesn't matter. It's fun to play (once you get used to it all), and it has a great license. So, in this gamer's opinion, this is one of those rare licensed titles that DOESN'T .... Of course, your results may vary.

Evil Dead: Hail to the King (Dreamcast)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: December 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game, if you are a fan of the trilogy. There are many problems with the game, but the overall atmosphere, graphics, and story make it a keeper. The biggest flaw is with the control. It is Resident Evil style, but totally lacks any intuition or stability. It is very, very clumsy. All in all, this doesn't destroy the game. It eventually gets easier to control Ash, but you'll never be fully satisfied with the control. This also makes fights very hard, but almost every monster killed leaves some sort of health power up. There is also a bit of slowdown whenever there is alot of chaos on screen(especially with the flying deadites). Oh yeah, it is very, very hard. But who ever thaught fighting the evil dwellers of hell would be easy. But on to the good points. The game is beautiful, if you find the whole horror thing beautiful. It is incredibly faithful to its source, and any fan of the trilogy will tell you that this is the most important aspect of the game. The atmosphere is down right creepy. Perfect. The graphics are sweet. The sound is straight up scary. Its the best sounding horror game since Silent Hill. I read an interview with Sam Raimi that said this game is intended to be a fourth insallment in the series. It is a total success there. If you are a fan of the movie, get the game. Just take note of the problems in the game. Are they game killers? No, not to me. But I love Evil Dead, and even a less than perfect game does me fine. If your are not a fan, you might want to rent. Without all the bells and whistles that make Evil Dead fans so happy, the game would probably stink. This was a total impulse buy for me. I didn't even know it had been released, I saw it, I bought it. I had read horrible reviews of the PS version, and I was expecting to really hate the game. I don't. I am really enjoying the experience. It is frustrating, hard, and sometimes annoying, but if you really, really love the films, check out the game.

Hail to the King, baby!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game! The graphics aren't something to get super excited about, but its great fun! The people complaining that the game was too hard just aren't good at the game. They give you plenty of health and ammo in the game. The only problem was that it was fairly short. I beat the game in 2 days. The reason: I couldn't stop playing it. Bruce Campbell was great in the films and delivers again. This was great and will keep me busy for a long time. I was hoping it'd be longer, but hey, you can't get everything. If you're an Evil Dead fan and a Resident Evil fan then I highly recommend this to you.

Not the worst game in the world, but certainly not the best

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I heard about an Evil Dead video game, I didn't know what to think. Well, the game isn't real bad, but its not good at all either. First off, the characters are blocky and the animation stiff, the graphics look more 32 bit than 128 bit. Not to mention the constantly respawning enemies, they're good for a scare, but they keep the game frustrating, and the controls could have been done a lot better. However, here is where Evil Dead fans can rejoice: the great Bruce Campbell offers his voice bringing Ash to life, plus so much attention to detail has been paid to the environments; the cabin is straight out of Evil Dead 2, and the midevil stages look directly copied from Army of Darkness. All in all, this game could have been an all time classic if the controls and gameplay would have gotten as much attention as the detail of the game did, Evil Dead fans will have to play it either way, but those who don't like the Evil Dead universe won't dig the game.

Lets be honest with ourselves...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: January 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I know its hard to accept, but this game reeks. Its just a bad game. I wanted to love it. I really really really wanted to love it because I am a HUGE fan of the Evil Dead series and an even bigger fan of Bruce Campbell, but this game is just so bad that it isnt worth the torment of sitting through. I was willing to overlook almost any flaw, but there are just too many in all the wrong places.

I will list the positives just so you know Im being fair: 1. Good graphics, atmosphere, etc (at least on the DC) 2. Great idea (Evil Dead deserves a video game) 3. Great camera work (though copied from Resident Evil, it works and is the only way that would fit the theme) 4. Inovative controls (makes good use of all of Ash's weaponry)

All of these are good things but are totally destroyed by the mistakes of the game makers. No, it isnt old school gameplay, its just bad (this is from someone who stills plays NES regularly). The enemies get a million cheap hits, the game play is boring and repetitive, the bad guys respawn like frickin roaches, and frankly (and I hate to say it) Bruce's little quips and taunts are just so unemotional and flat that they got old in a matter of minutes... this from someone who considers Bruce a comic genius - hell, even the intro to Jack of All Trades makes me laugh.

I know it sounds harsh, but the people saying its good just dont want to admit that one of our most intensely anticipated games is a bomb. Its time to let go. If it wasnt based on Evil Dead, no one would like it at all. This is a bad game based on a great film license. We should be used to that by now. While they paid alot of attention to asthetic details, they forgot to make a game that's even remotely fun.

Bottom line: great idea; horrible game.

Don't "swallow this".

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: December 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have to admit, I was pretty excited that an evil dead video game was to be released. I also thought a "resident evil" format would also be a good way to present the game. Nope. Where is Capcom when you need them? I couldn't play this game much longer than 10 minutes before I threw it down in disgust. The idea is great, but it just wasn't pulled off properly. The play control is seriously bad, the voice overs just get annoying, and the over all feel of the game isn't what it could have been. The funny thing is, I thought since they had so many delays in its release that it would be really great and polished. Wrong again. Not enough redeeming qualities. Evil dead was a great "B" movie! This doesn't even rate as a "C" game.

Best Movie to Game Translation Ever

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The man, the myth, the legend : Bruce Campbell. In a video game. It's a fanboys dream. His voice has appeared in some playstation classics such as Broken Helix and Pitfall 3D, but never in his much immitated role as Ash from the Evil Dead movies. So this game is a godsend, right ?

Well, not entirely. THQ has surely shown it's love for the series of movies. Overall, if it's in the movies, it's in the game. Everything from the dead girlfriend to the disembodied hand are covered in it. THQ knew that as long as the fans got what they wanted to see, they would buy it. They even went so far as to add a one-liner button so you could hear Bruce Campbell's funny catchphrases as many times as you want.

The first half of the game covers the first two movies. Ash takes a trip back to the hut to see if all he had been through was just a dream. It doesn't take long until a turn of events causes the tape with the reading of the necronomicon to be played and the dead rise again. Starting with Ash's trademark chainsaw arm and an axe in the other, you set off to stop the evil again. The second half of the game takes place after you are transported back to the medieval age to wreak a little more havok on the plans of the undead. It even ends with a famous twist like the previous Sam Raimi movies.

The gameplay really takes the game away from the mainstream gamers and leaves this to only the fans of the movies. Overall, it's just the control scheme from the earlier Resident Evil games, except the difficulty is unreasonably high. You can tote two weapons, one on each hand, and do some creative combos - all 3 of them , really. Upgrades to the chainsaw are aquired a few times during the game, even turning it into a hacksaw. But, the difficult part is that whenever you are in a fight, 90% of the time it's a hand to hand brawl, so you are always guaranteed to get bashed. You are constantly using health packs after every fight. And the creatures are constantly respawning, so even though the health packs are in great quantity, fighting a monster more than twice ends up sucking up inventory and health.

Overall, this game is great for fans of the movie, but gamers just looking for a good resident evil clone should just keep looking.

Truly awful; don't waste your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: March 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

As a Bruce Campbell fan and long-time game player, I'd like to say that this game is TERRIBLE! Within the first two minutes I knew that I had wasted my money.

The controls for Ash are awkward and the gameplay is clumsy. The graphics are uninspired. I found the music and sound to be lacking.

As a whole, this game was amateurish and extremely boring. I threw down my controller in disgust after 15 minutes, failing to have found any redeeming qualities. I am disappointed Bruce lent his name to such a stinker.

"Hail To The King Baby"

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: May 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you like the Evil Dead series and survival horror RPGs, than you will probably enjoy this vid game. The first part of the game, this is after the beginning cut scenes and the rummaging around the creepy cabin, I found was getting increasingly annoying. There are just so many deadites to battle against, and they all look alike. The best strategy is to run around them if you can help it and get the items you need to get to the next part of the game. Only battle and kill deadites if you need to increase health and get more ammo for your pistol. It's harder to get away from the skeletons, because they usually run after you. It's best to use your chainsaw on them. Chainsaw fuel is limited, but you can gather the red mushrooms that appear on the road and convert them to fuel. The gray mushrooms, when converted, can be used to restore health. After the first part of roaming around in the woods battling or running away from an endless amount of deadites, the game gets more interesting and fun. After he gathers five Necronomican pages, roughly translated...the Book Of The Dead pages, Ash is hurled back in time to the Middle ages where he has to battle the evil Ash, who is now more powerful than he was in the movie "Army Of Darkness". I took away one star mainly for the beginning part, but everything else, especially Bruce Campbell was awesome. This game I believe is part 4 of The Evil Dead series. Get this game...Hail to the king baby!

Evil Dead IV

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: December 25, 2000
Author: Amazon User

THQ adapts Sam Raimi franchise into a Resident Evil Dead kind of morph. The Dreamcast graphics are very pleasant especially compared to the grainy playstation version. The opening sequence plays like an new installment in the series. Bonus with Bruce Campbell voice acting, Double Bonus. What the game lacks in control and camera angle issues it more than makes up for with excellent music, game cinematography, and voice acting all three of which are rare in any game of any genre. The bulk of the game is battle against 20 different deadites. You can use a chainsaw but you must supply gas there is a nice little tweak that can make the killing easier but I won't ruin it for you. You can use an axe, a boomstick, a pistol, or rifle. They shoot fairly accurately and you must provide ammo for them from random sources. The combat can be easy once you figure out the jump back and the the combat commands not too complex basically hack and slash. In fact this game a distinct rpg air to it. Limited save points old text adventure style writing (cool) and powerups think rpg light in Evil Dead world. For the film buffs the cabin is reproduced faithully. Fans of the Sam R. should pick this up on principle. The mechanics of the game can be frustrating mainly the camera which has set angles depending on where you stand in the landscape which jumps from screen to screen like Resident Evil. Not much else to say except its lots of fun. Five stars because I want more games like this its ambitious and while the controls and camera could use alot of work its very playable and entertaing. I consider myself a jaded gamer and I jumped more than once. GROOVY period..

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