The House of the Dead III
Encyclopedia
The House of the Dead III is a 2002 light gun
arcade game
with a horror zombie-survival theme, and the third installment to the House of the Dead
series of video games, developed by Wow Entertainment
and Sega
. It was later ported
to the Xbox
in 2003, Microsoft Windows
in 2005, and the Wii
in 2008, in a compilation with The House of the Dead 2
. The game continues the story of the previous games and introduces new gameplay concepts such as story branching. The game's main protagonist is Lisa Rogan, daughter of Thomas Rogan, the first game's main character, and players control either Lisa or G. This game was the most violent entry in the series until the release of The House of the Dead: Overkill
.
s, allowing for similar speedy reloading. A reload is achieved by pumping the shotgun controller. While playing the game on Xbox, the light gun controller released by Madcatz may be used; however, the traditional "shoot off-screen" reload was reintroduced in the Wii version.
A branching storyline existed in the previous games, but was handled differently. In The House of the Dead III, the player is given options for navigating through the game prior to the start of most stages, ultimately going through the same areas with different results dependent on the order chosen.
Another important difference is the absence of civilians. Unlike the first two The House of the Dead games, in which players could rescue various people in peril, The House of the Dead III contains no extra personnel beyond those central to the plot. Instead, "Rescue Events" occur during each stage in which the player will need to rescue his or her partner from attacking zombies. An extra life is rewarded for each successful rescue. If all rescue events are successful, the players find crates in the room before the final boss that, when shot, drop a lot of bonuses and lives.
A new concept of the series comes in the form of a "Cancel" bar. In previous installments, the bosses' weak point would only need to be shot once to stun the attack. In this game, the bosses' weak point must be shot repeatedly to drain the "Cancel" bar and stop the attack.
Another major change to the gameplay comes in the form of a new rank and grade system. Players are now graded on how fast they dispose of the zombies, ranging from Excellent, Good, Faster, and Twin Shot, the last taking place if two zombies are killed with the same bullet. A letter grade is also given at the end of each stage, ranging from S, A, B, C, D and E. Completing the stage with an A rank will award the player with one bonus life, while an S rank will reward the player with two. A final grade is given at the end of the game, and depending on how many S ranks were received for each stage, the player may be given a "SS" rank as his or her final grade.
Extra lives and bonus points are also handled differently. In the previous arcade installments, nothing would happen if a player had all three lives and gained another. Now the player can have up to five lives at a time, and any additional lives are turned into bonus points. In the previous games, bonus points could also be gained by shooting hidden objects such as a golden frog, or coin. The House of the Dead III expands upon this, introducing a silver coin that can be shot repeatedly, a wind-up robot that must be shot several times, and a golden miniature version of recurring boss the Magician. Decaying zombies and weak points on stunned bosses can also be shot repeatedly for extra points.
On the Xbox
, PC, and Wii
versions, there is a "Time Attack" mode where the player's lives come in the form of a timer, starting at 45 seconds, showing a play style similar to Time Crisis
. Excellent, Good, Faster and Twin Shots give extra time, as do clocks in the background, successful rescue events and end-of-stage bonuses. Getting hit by a zombie subtracts 7 seconds, projectiles subtract 5, and bosses subtract 15. Stunning a boss grants the player 10 seconds. Every successful hit on the final boss also grants two seconds, and does not require a stun. The game cannot be continued if the timer reaches zero, and at the end of each game Dr. Curien gives his analysis of the player's performance. The player may also note the average distance at which they managed to hold back the undead in metres.
Notorious for his role in the creation of the original undead horde, Dr. Curien's motives are explored through flashbacks. Several years before the Curien Mansion case, in an effort to discover the cure to his son's seemingly terminal illness, he began researching the nature of life and death. Over time however, he got so wrapped up in his research that he planned on using it to change the future, and began to lose his mind. Living in the shadow of her well-known father, Lisa muses with G about how she is often the subject of comparisons between her father and herself as the two explore the facility, only to come into contact with undead creatures such as EFI's giant one-zombie security force Death
, who makes two appearances in the game, through the building entrance or parking area and then through the information systems department, a giant deformed sloth
known as The Fool
which had taken over the D.B.R Institute, and the EFI Genome Ward, and a mutant tendril-plant known as The Sun
that had taken over the building's biological laboratories and plants.
At last, Lisa is reunited with her father. After that, a man wearing glasses named Daniel Curien (as seen from the flashbacks at the beginning of every chapter) walks in from behind the doors that G threw open. He told Lisa, Thomas and G that Dr. Curien was his father and Thomas told the others that he saved his life. As G leads Rogan to safety, Lisa and Daniel Curien [who has been seemingly cured of his illness] set out to destroy The Wheel of Fate
, a metallic humanoid surrounded by a spiked wheel and the final legacy of Dr. Curien (which began around the same time as the Magician project in the first game
.) The genes of both the Magician and the Wheel of Fate, according to Curien, would change the future. After the scientist's death, he underwent a resurrection in the EFI research facility that would take nineteen years to complete. Daniel hacks the Wheel of Fate's programming, and together with Lisa, put it to rest once and for all as a sign of their readiness to confront the uncertain future.
At the game's conclusion, Ex-AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G are shown leaving the facility at night. Rogan thanks G for taking care of Lisa, but G denies it, saying that Lisa did a great job taking care of herself, and that she's starting to sound a lot like her father. One of four endings is then shown.
The game's standard ending shows Lisa and Daniel walking out. For a brief moment Daniel pauses to face the building and bid his father a final farewell, and swears he will not let his father's efforts go to waste. He also mentions that "If humans go down the wrong path again, I'll come back to this place." Afterward, he and Lisa leave the facility together.
In the game's second ending, Daniel begins to lose the will to move on, asking Lisa how he is supposed to live the rest of his life now that he has done what he has had to do. Despite (or maybe because of) the antidote that has cured his illness, a close up of Daniel's face (and an ominous change to the tone of his voice) reveals that he has become a zombie. Lisa screams in the background. It is uncertain what happens to her in this ending.
In the third ending, Lisa sees the car driving away, thinking that her father is leaving her and Daniel behind; however, Rogan and G are behind them, leaving Lisa and Daniel completely confused. It is then revealed that a zombie is driving away in it. Lisa begins to give chase after the stolen vehicle, yelling, "Hey! That's my car, you slimy bastards! Say your prayers!" We also see Daniel briefly going after Lisa.
In the fourth ending, a mysterious and unidentified man in a business suit, presumably Harry Harris from The House of the Dead 2
wanders through the laboratory where the final battle with the Wheel of Fate took place. On the floor, he finds one of the small glass vials containing the genes used as Daniel's antidote. Limping on his right leg, he picks up the vial and leaves, saying to himself, "It appears that he didn't understand its true purpose." and chuckling evilly. He makes a cameo in House of the Dead 4. The reason on why he is presumed to be Harry Harris by fans is due to the injury he sustained in the previous game.
Light gun
A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games.Modern screen-based light guns work by building a sensor into the gun itself, and the on-screen target emit light rather than the gun...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
with a horror zombie-survival theme, and the third installment to the House of the Dead
The House of the Dead (series)
The House of the Dead is a video game franchise published by Sega and created by in-house designer Atsushi Seimiya of AM1....
series of video games, developed by Wow Entertainment
Wow Entertainment
Sega Wow is a Sega video game company, which resulted from the merger of Wow Entertainment and Overworks.-Wow Entertainment:Wow Entertainment was an in-house Sega developer previously known as AM1...
and Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
. It was later ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
in 2003, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
in 2005, and the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
in 2008, in a compilation with The House of the Dead 2
The House of the Dead 2
The House of the Dead 2 is a light gun arcade game with a horror theme and the second game in the The House of the Dead series of video games, developed by Sega for video arcades in 1998 and later ported to the Dreamcast and Microsoft Windows, and also found on the Xbox as an unlockable bonus in...
. The game continues the story of the previous games and introduces new gameplay concepts such as story branching. The game's main protagonist is Lisa Rogan, daughter of Thomas Rogan, the first game's main character, and players control either Lisa or G. This game was the most violent entry in the series until the release of The House of the Dead: Overkill
The House of the Dead: Overkill
The House of the Dead: Overkill is a first-person rail shooter video game developed by Headstrong Games and published by Sega. It is the fifth game developed in the The House of the Dead series, a prequel to the original House of the Dead chronologically and the first in the series to be released...
.
Gameplay
The House of the Dead III departs from the original games in many ways: the most obvious being weaponry. The former is immediately apparent upon playing the Xbox version. The shotgun used in the game no longer requires the traditional "point off-screen" reload, but rather reloads automatically. Reloading still takes time, but happens without prompt as soon as the gun needs it. The arcade version differs here, because there is the presence of light gunLight gun
A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games.Modern screen-based light guns work by building a sensor into the gun itself, and the on-screen target emit light rather than the gun...
s, allowing for similar speedy reloading. A reload is achieved by pumping the shotgun controller. While playing the game on Xbox, the light gun controller released by Madcatz may be used; however, the traditional "shoot off-screen" reload was reintroduced in the Wii version.
A branching storyline existed in the previous games, but was handled differently. In The House of the Dead III, the player is given options for navigating through the game prior to the start of most stages, ultimately going through the same areas with different results dependent on the order chosen.
Another important difference is the absence of civilians. Unlike the first two The House of the Dead games, in which players could rescue various people in peril, The House of the Dead III contains no extra personnel beyond those central to the plot. Instead, "Rescue Events" occur during each stage in which the player will need to rescue his or her partner from attacking zombies. An extra life is rewarded for each successful rescue. If all rescue events are successful, the players find crates in the room before the final boss that, when shot, drop a lot of bonuses and lives.
A new concept of the series comes in the form of a "Cancel" bar. In previous installments, the bosses' weak point would only need to be shot once to stun the attack. In this game, the bosses' weak point must be shot repeatedly to drain the "Cancel" bar and stop the attack.
Another major change to the gameplay comes in the form of a new rank and grade system. Players are now graded on how fast they dispose of the zombies, ranging from Excellent, Good, Faster, and Twin Shot, the last taking place if two zombies are killed with the same bullet. A letter grade is also given at the end of each stage, ranging from S, A, B, C, D and E. Completing the stage with an A rank will award the player with one bonus life, while an S rank will reward the player with two. A final grade is given at the end of the game, and depending on how many S ranks were received for each stage, the player may be given a "SS" rank as his or her final grade.
Extra lives and bonus points are also handled differently. In the previous arcade installments, nothing would happen if a player had all three lives and gained another. Now the player can have up to five lives at a time, and any additional lives are turned into bonus points. In the previous games, bonus points could also be gained by shooting hidden objects such as a golden frog, or coin. The House of the Dead III expands upon this, introducing a silver coin that can be shot repeatedly, a wind-up robot that must be shot several times, and a golden miniature version of recurring boss the Magician. Decaying zombies and weak points on stunned bosses can also be shot repeatedly for extra points.
On the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, PC, and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
versions, there is a "Time Attack" mode where the player's lives come in the form of a timer, starting at 45 seconds, showing a play style similar to Time Crisis
Time Crisis
Time Crisis is a light gun shooter arcade game produced by Namco in 1995 and released in early 1996. It was later ported for the PlayStation in 1997, bundled with the G-Con 45 controller.-Gameplay:...
. Excellent, Good, Faster and Twin Shots give extra time, as do clocks in the background, successful rescue events and end-of-stage bonuses. Getting hit by a zombie subtracts 7 seconds, projectiles subtract 5, and bosses subtract 15. Stunning a boss grants the player 10 seconds. Every successful hit on the final boss also grants two seconds, and does not require a stun. The game cannot be continued if the timer reaches zero, and at the end of each game Dr. Curien gives his analysis of the player's performance. The player may also note the average distance at which they managed to hold back the undead in metres.
Story
Set in the post-apocalyptic year of 2019, civilization has long since collapsed. Ex-AMS and Ex-captain agent Thomas Rogan and his team of highly trained commandos (including his assistant young captain Dan Taylor) investigate the EFI Research Facility, which may be linked to the world collapse. Thomas' 19-year-old daughter, Lisa, and Rogan's former partner, G, travel there two weeks later with shotguns in hand after contact with him is mysteriously lost.Notorious for his role in the creation of the original undead horde, Dr. Curien's motives are explored through flashbacks. Several years before the Curien Mansion case, in an effort to discover the cure to his son's seemingly terminal illness, he began researching the nature of life and death. Over time however, he got so wrapped up in his research that he planned on using it to change the future, and began to lose his mind. Living in the shadow of her well-known father, Lisa muses with G about how she is often the subject of comparisons between her father and herself as the two explore the facility, only to come into contact with undead creatures such as EFI's giant one-zombie security force Death
Death (Tarot card)
Death is the thirteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks.It is used in Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games as well as in divination.-Description:...
, who makes two appearances in the game, through the building entrance or parking area and then through the information systems department, a giant deformed sloth
Sloth
Sloths are the six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae , part of the order Pilosa and therefore related to armadillos and anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.They are arboreal residents of the jungles of Central and South...
known as The Fool
The Fool (Tarot card)
The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered...
which had taken over the D.B.R Institute, and the EFI Genome Ward, and a mutant tendril-plant known as The Sun
The Sun (Tarot card)
The Sun is a trump card in the tarot deck. Tarot trumps are often called Major Arcana by tarot card readers.-Rider-Waite symbolism:A. E. Waite suggested that this card is associated with attained knowledge. An infant rides a white horse under the anthropomorphized sun, with sunflowers in the...
that had taken over the building's biological laboratories and plants.
At last, Lisa is reunited with her father. After that, a man wearing glasses named Daniel Curien (as seen from the flashbacks at the beginning of every chapter) walks in from behind the doors that G threw open. He told Lisa, Thomas and G that Dr. Curien was his father and Thomas told the others that he saved his life. As G leads Rogan to safety, Lisa and Daniel Curien [who has been seemingly cured of his illness] set out to destroy The Wheel of Fate
Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card)
Wheel of Fortune is the tenth trump or Major Arcana card in most Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Description:To the right is the Wheel Of Fortune card from the A. E. Waite tarot deck. A. E...
, a metallic humanoid surrounded by a spiked wheel and the final legacy of Dr. Curien (which began around the same time as the Magician project in the first game
The House of the Dead (video game)
The House of the Dead is a first-person, light gun arcade game developed in 1996 and released in 1997 by Sega.Players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and "G" in their efforts to combat the products of the dangerous, inhumane experiments of Dr. Curien, a madman.-Gameplay:The House of the Dead...
.) The genes of both the Magician and the Wheel of Fate, according to Curien, would change the future. After the scientist's death, he underwent a resurrection in the EFI research facility that would take nineteen years to complete. Daniel hacks the Wheel of Fate's programming, and together with Lisa, put it to rest once and for all as a sign of their readiness to confront the uncertain future.
At the game's conclusion, Ex-AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G are shown leaving the facility at night. Rogan thanks G for taking care of Lisa, but G denies it, saying that Lisa did a great job taking care of herself, and that she's starting to sound a lot like her father. One of four endings is then shown.
The game's standard ending shows Lisa and Daniel walking out. For a brief moment Daniel pauses to face the building and bid his father a final farewell, and swears he will not let his father's efforts go to waste. He also mentions that "If humans go down the wrong path again, I'll come back to this place." Afterward, he and Lisa leave the facility together.
In the game's second ending, Daniel begins to lose the will to move on, asking Lisa how he is supposed to live the rest of his life now that he has done what he has had to do. Despite (or maybe because of) the antidote that has cured his illness, a close up of Daniel's face (and an ominous change to the tone of his voice) reveals that he has become a zombie. Lisa screams in the background. It is uncertain what happens to her in this ending.
In the third ending, Lisa sees the car driving away, thinking that her father is leaving her and Daniel behind; however, Rogan and G are behind them, leaving Lisa and Daniel completely confused. It is then revealed that a zombie is driving away in it. Lisa begins to give chase after the stolen vehicle, yelling, "Hey! That's my car, you slimy bastards! Say your prayers!" We also see Daniel briefly going after Lisa.
In the fourth ending, a mysterious and unidentified man in a business suit, presumably Harry Harris from The House of the Dead 2
The House of the Dead 2
The House of the Dead 2 is a light gun arcade game with a horror theme and the second game in the The House of the Dead series of video games, developed by Sega for video arcades in 1998 and later ported to the Dreamcast and Microsoft Windows, and also found on the Xbox as an unlockable bonus in...
wanders through the laboratory where the final battle with the Wheel of Fate took place. On the floor, he finds one of the small glass vials containing the genes used as Daniel's antidote. Limping on his right leg, he picks up the vial and leaves, saying to himself, "It appears that he didn't understand its true purpose." and chuckling evilly. He makes a cameo in House of the Dead 4. The reason on why he is presumed to be Harry Harris by fans is due to the injury he sustained in the previous game.