Evil Dead: Hail To the King (PS)

The player takes on the role of Ash, the 'hero' from the films. Bruce Campbell even returns to do the voice of Ash. He can be heard during the intro, the cutscenes or by hitting triangle while playing the game. Doing so will make Ash spout one of his famously cheesey one-liners. I heard this was supposed to effect how enemies behave, but if it does, I can't say I noticed it myself.

Unfortunately, although the enemies certainly look much like the evil deadites from the films, they are mainly quite bland and unremarkable. They are also very difficult to kill thanks to sluggish controls, which are similar in style to those found in 'Resident Evil'. That in itself isn't the problem, but the button configuration (for the PSone version at least, which is the version I played), is really odd - even if you're used to 'Resident Evil' or 'Alone in the Dark - The New Nightmare.'

Ash can hold two weapons at once; his chainsaw in one hand, and a firearm in the other, be it a pistol, 'boom-stick' or rifle. Unfortunately, this doesn't really help much, as the lack of a quick-turn feature means that you can sometimes spend precious seconds being mauled while you turn slowly round to actually face your foe! It does not take very long at all for the fingers and thumb to start hurting due to the strange controls.

The graphics themselves aren't too bad. The same system is used as is found in the the first three 'Resident Evil' games. An endless series of static camera angles, through which the polygonal characters and enemies move. Although this system is quite good for horror games, I don't think that any game based upon the Evil Dead films should have used this system. A system much more like that found in 'Silent Hill' would have been preferable in my opinion, allowing for more fluid camera movements and maybe even allowing the 'force through the woods' sequences that are so famous in the Evil Dead films, to be used mid-game. A 'Silent Hill' Style camera style would certainly have been more in keeping with the seemingly ever-moving camera-style that director Sam Raimi used in the films.

Going back to the control method briefly, a method similar to that found in 'Silent Hill' wound have gone down much better as well, even if it means only having one weapon at a time.

So - good points? Well, the game developers obviously knew their 'Evil Dead'! The tie-ins with the film are spot on as far as I can tell. This is more evident on disc one, where the action is set in and around the infamous cabin in the woods from the first two films. Its actually pretty cool to be able to walk around a legendary film location! You'll also need to pay a couple of brief visits to the now collapsed bridge! On disc 2, the action moves back in time and shifts location, where the game is able to move away from the film references a little. Evil Dead fans should appreciate the accurate continuity with the films.

If the Evil Dead fans have the balls to go through the entire game, some nice surprises will be revealed for their efforts... However, they should be warned that these surprises are event and plot based surprises, not 'second time round, extra weapon or infinite ammo'-style surprises. I'm warning you now, you don't get squat for completing the game, except a rather too brief end-of-game sequence.

The music is quite impressive throughout the game, though the same can not really be said for the sound effects. I thought it was a shame that the distinctive moaning wind effect used frequently in the first two films, was not used at least for the first half of the game while it is still in the woods.

I am a fan of the Evil Dead films and games such as 'Resident Evil', so this should have been a perfect blend of the two. Unfortunately, the control method and the resultant crushing difficulty level, mean that this game was a wasted opportunity. Evil Dead fans may still want to buy it for the faithful references and continuity, as well as the Bruce Campbell voice-acting. People who are simply craving another horror game might want to wait for something better though, especially if they are not that bothered about the Evil Dead films.

I for one, will now have to wait for the next Evil Dead game, which at the moment, seems to be going by the name of 'Evil Dead - A Fistful of Boomstick'. You can probably find out more about this game elsewhere. Hopefully, this will succeed where 'Evil Dead - Hail to the King', has unfortunately failed.