House of the Dead: Overkill HandCannon - the best Wii lightgun yet?
First things first: House of the Dead Overkill is almost certainly the best on-rails shooter on Wii, and you should go out and buy it immediately. I’m not ready to review it just yet as I’m only three levels in, but I’m confident enough to say it topples Ghost Squad from its throne, despite being a little slower and easier (which some might see as a bonus, anyway).
But I digress: I’m really here to talk about the HandCannon which I picked up from my local gaming retailer for £14.99. It’s a lot of money for what’s essentially nothing more than a plastic shell, but if you’re after a copy of the game as well, some stores are offering deals which make the guns a little cheaper. Or you can get them online for around a tenner. Bargain!
And a bargain it is, because this weighty beast is one of the most satisfying lightguns ever. With the remote slotted in, it’s a pretty hefty number, but it feels incredibly satisfying to hold and shoot. The puny of arm might whine that it hurts after a long play session, but that’s a good thing - it means you won’t complete the two-to-three hour story mode in one sitting. (There’s plenty of replay value; don’t worry if that seems a little short.)
With a comfortable grip, a really cool design, and a chunky solidity to the shell (as well as a clever way of attaching the nunchuk, ensuring compatibility with other Wii shooters) it’s a cracking piece of hardware, and makes Overkill even more enjoyable. If you’ve not got a lightgun, or you’ve only got the Wii Zapper, then this is well worth the investment. Buy two, even - once you unlock dual-wielding mode, you can really make those mutants “suffer like G did”.
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February 14th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Chris - couldn’t help leaving comments in three cracking little articles ! I realIy do like this site for wii / ds news - well done as always.
I looked at HOTDO yesterday and couldn’t help but feel that, together with a couple of hand cannons, its all a bit pricey ! I’ll definitely pick it up eventually, probably second hand, (being a meanie !). Its just that I didn’t pay that much by comparison for Ghost Squad etc. I do think that if they’d marketed the game at more of a ‘bargain’ price it would have sold like hot cakes, together with the overpriced bits of plastic; I wonder whether you think it really is value for money, however good a game it is.
(Spotted ‘Disaster Day of Chrisis’ on Amazon for around £16-0 now; so that’ll have to tide me over for a while instead.)
February 14th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Thanks for the comments, closer.
And yes, it’s quite a short game, so it might be best to hold on until it’s available at a lower price.
Disaster’s well worth £16 - you’ll get at the very least 12 hours of enjoyment out of that, and it’s got excellent replay value.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
It’s no good - at 7:00 pm tonight I weakend and laid out for the game and two guns ! - my excuses were that I had enough on a reward card to pick up the two guns for ‘nothing’ and I’d got a good price for a private sale of professor layton on friday which pretty much paid for the game. That and I found they’d opened a Game up inside the large Waterstones I just happened to call in at on the outskirts of Leeds on the way back from a valentines day day out with the missus- fate, temptation - sometimes it doesn’t take much !
February 14th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I’ve used both the perfect shot and hand cannon for Overkill and much prefer the latter. I like the hand cannon’s weighty fee and the longer barrel makes it easier to hold with two hands.