(In arcade, you can increase the number of your continues and lives.) Meanwhile, boss mode lets you practice taking on the game's boss monsters, and training mode sets you up in a number of point-blank-style puzzle/shooting levels, where you'll shoot a dozen creatures with only a limited number of bullets, save humans from zombie attacks, knock zombies off moving cars, and blast barrels within a time limit. Original is essentially the same, but in it you can set your bullets for extra damage or expand your clip, but you're locked into the basic options.

The arcade mode is the heart of the game, wherein you shoot zombie after zombie and confront boss after boss. The home version of HOTD2 also stacks up very well in terms of added value, with four different modes in all: arcade, original, boss, and training. The monsters and their environments are incredibly well modeled and textured, and your gunshots blast gory green holes through the zombies (which look fantastic when they get up close enough to take a bite out of you) and the other assorted nasties. While the graphics in the home version of the original HOTD fell far short of its coin-op cousin, the Dreamcast port of the second game is virtually identical to the arcade sequel and looks phenomenal. If that sounds like the plot for the first House of the Dead game that's because, well, the evil is back! In it, you're part of a government agency in charge of stopping the machinations of the nefarious and incredibly monotone Goldman, a suit-wearing evil mastermind intent on wiping out the human race with his monster hordes for reasons that never really quite make sense - or have to, for that matter. The often-used phrase 'Virtua Cop meets Resident Evil' doesn't quite do Sega's zombie-blasting arcade gun-game series justice, but it's certainly close enough to give you the general idea of what the House of the Dead series is all about.

Game the house of the dead 2