Easily one of the top railshooter titles on it's system (it's only competition being Sin&Punishment) and one of the best options outside of the arcade period. House of the Dead as a series is ultra-fast, I know of no more intense series in the genre with constant, merciless, assaults coming from everywhere and requiring both strong accuracy and lightning reflexes. Monstrously difficult, even by the standards of other arcade railshooters, but tightly designed and balanced.

Featuring a great style that combines hilariously corny dialogue, highly stylized zombies with blood and dismemberment, as well as a wide variety of other monsters: killer leaches that jump out at you from the water, armored assassins that jump around like leeches, or a giant sloth that swings around wildly, many of these encounters require very different approaches than the average zombie, although there's plenty of variety even with the zombies. It's filled with cool memorial in great locations moments like fighting a chainsaw wielding giant in the ruins of coliseum or wading through the waters of a canal while sea-wood drenched zombies pop out.

All this is put together with a great pacing and a soundtrack that will get your heart racing; the Magician's theme being everyone's favorite.

This port features a bonus mode aimed at weaker players were players are allowed to upgrade some of their stats before the level, getting things like extra ammo, more damage, or more lives. The upgrades are semi-random with better ones being given for getting further into the game before game overing which provides extra incentives.