If there's one thing you'd think the Wii would be drowning in by now, it's ports and compilations of old light gun games. Oddly, this has not yet happened, but in years to come we may look back and mark House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return's release as the day it all started.

The House of the Dead games have been arcade staples for over ten years now, and this retro two-pack compiles the two most popular installments in the series. House of the Dead 2 is probably the best-known, as it was in just about every arcade, movie theatre, and pizza parlor in the country circa 1998. House of the Dead 3 is a more recent and better-looking outing, and holds up substantially better than its predecessor.

I've been waiting for you...friends

Both games are not actually the real arcade editions. They're the PC versions released several years ago, although most players won't be able to tell the difference. House of the Dead 2 features regular arcade play along with an item-driven Original Mode. Numerous branching paths offer decent replayability, and the game is still pretty difficult. The famously terrible voice acting is intact, and listening to it closely reveals that it was likely done entirely by computer. Evidently the original theories were true: Nobody could be that bad at voice acting.

House of the Dead 3 is mostly dead-on, but very busy sequences can suffer from frame rate hits and the lighting seems downgraded from the version on the Xbox. The visuals hold up much better than HotD2's, and lack the awful low-res textures that make some of the scenes in that game so hard to watch today.

While all of HotD2's features have appeared in previous versions of the game, HotD3 has gained Extreme Mode. This solo-only mode ratchets up the difficulty and adds a "defense move." With precise timing, the defense move can be used to repel encroaching enemies or block an incoming attack. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles pulled this off better, and Extreme Mode feels rudimentary in comparison. The seeds of something are there, but nothing quite comes to fruition.

Time they made a move

The Wii remote functions beautifully as a light gun substitute. With or without the Wii Zapper attachment, playing both House of the Dead games is a pleasure thanks to how accurate the remote is. Sections that were routinely difficult with light guns on previous home systems are a snap on the Wii. Hopefully the release of House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return will herald the arrival of Time Crisis, Point Blank, and Virtua Cop compilations on the Wii.

Nostalgia is pretty much required for full enjoyment here, but the bargain price makes this a worthy purchase for anyone who enjoyed the original arcade games. While both games show their age and are over very quickly, shooting gallery games are somewhat timeless in their simplicity. They're solid examples of the genre, and shooting zombies in the head is really its own reward.

Review by: Matt Keil