House of the Dead 3

Sega's zombie-blasting light gun series makes its Xbox debut with the exclusive release of The House of the Dead III. Taking place 20 years after the events in the second game, this third title has Lisa Rogan and Agent G investigating the disappearance of Lisa's father, who vanished while searching an abandoned industrial depot two weeks earlier. As before, the on-rails action involves blasting wave upon wave of undead abominations from a first-person viewpoint. For the first time in the series, an auto-reloading shotgun is the weapon of choice, which eliminates the need to shoot offscreen in order to reload. Instead, players must wait a few seconds as their character's onscreen hand automatically replenishes the shells by loading them into the barrel. Gone are the hapless innocents of past games in the series, replaced instead by the character's partner, who must occasionally be saved from precarious situations. These predicaments generally involve groups of zombies swarming around the partner. Quickly shooting them down will earn players bonus lives, but failed attempts are not punished. A separate Time Attack mode offers a slight variation on the basic formula. Eliminating zombies in this mode adds additional seconds to a time limit, while taking damage depletes it. Fans of the series will be pleased to note the Dreamcast version of The House of the Dead 2 can also be unlocked for play, which comes with an additional set of bonus modes. A trailer for The House of the Dead movie is included as well. The game can either be played with a third-party light gun or the Xbox controller, and two-player simultaneous action is supported on the same screen. ~ Gavin Frankle, All Game Guide