The House of the Dead 4

 PlayStation 3
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Apr 17, 2012
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 31
  3. Negative: 3 out of 31

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  1. ArkonBlade
    May 9, 2012
    9
    More Rail shooters for the PS3 and more reason to use your PS Move if you have one. its a fast paced rail shooter with zombies rushing you 4-12 at a time and its lots of fun especially with a PS Move. The graphics look great the voice acting is cheesey like it should be (wish it was more like (HOTD OverKill) and best of all its at the nice price of just $10 . The game is very short likeMore Rail shooters for the PS3 and more reason to use your PS Move if you have one. its a fast paced rail shooter with zombies rushing you 4-12 at a time and its lots of fun especially with a PS Move. The graphics look great the voice acting is cheesey like it should be (wish it was more like (HOTD OverKill) and best of all its at the nice price of just $10 . The game is very short like about 25 min long and you also have SP mode which is like a new story mode which will about double that but its alot of fun running through again trying to beat your score or others online . I've always had a love for theese games since back in the arcade and since we have never been drowning in them they are always still fun to play . i Hope sega keeps bringing some more of that HOTD fun to the PS3 for us hopefully though in a bigger game like Overkill but if this is what we have to settle for i will still be happy with it.… Expand
  2. RUST
    May 10, 2012
    8
    Hands up if you spent too much of your childhood feeding pound coins into a House of the Dead arcade game! Yeah, that's what I thought. House of the Dead Overkill was the appetiser, the thrilling first course that left me hanging for more. Now House of the Dead 4 is the garnish full course, shorter on laughs but more than capable of elevating your blood pressure; in that good kind of way.Hands up if you spent too much of your childhood feeding pound coins into a House of the Dead arcade game! Yeah, that's what I thought. House of the Dead Overkill was the appetiser, the thrilling first course that left me hanging for more. Now House of the Dead 4 is the garnish full course, shorter on laughs but more than capable of elevating your blood pressure; in that good kind of way. If you are a fan of rail shooters you can't miss this. You just can't, as no self respecting fan of the genre would dare to miss this opportunity. If you aren't a fan of rail shooters, and under the age of fifteen, then I dare say the charm of this title might be lost on you. It's not the only reason you should be buying the Playstation Move, there are other games for that moniker, but it is one of the best reasons to have one. It might be lacking the real crunch of the original but it is the House of the Dead's most compelling case for purchase in recent memory. I loved it, and so should you.… Expand
  3. Natino64
    Apr 21, 2012
    10
    Finally, the game is released on console. I have HoTD 2 & 3 for wii, and have spent countless hours playing them, and with friends it's brilliant fun. I bought PS move today just for this game, and brought a friend over. It was super fun trying to beat the hardest difficulty and just generally trying to get the best endings etc. I have very nostalgic memories of playing this at the arcadeFinally, the game is released on console. I have HoTD 2 & 3 for wii, and have spent countless hours playing them, and with friends it's brilliant fun. I bought PS move today just for this game, and brought a friend over. It was super fun trying to beat the hardest difficulty and just generally trying to get the best endings etc. I have very nostalgic memories of playing this at the arcade while on holiday with others, and in one session we would pour more than 10 quid into the arcade machine. The fact that I can get this for £7 was just too good a deal to turn down, as I'll be playing this for years to come when friends come over. It's a really good game to have when you have lots of friends coming over, as it's very accessible. Overall, if your a fan of the series, or just played it and enjoyed it before; get it, it's very good value and the game has tons of re playability. If you've never heard of or played the series before, get it if you genuinely think you'll enjoy it, but for the most of those who don't really have any interest in HotD, you're better just leaving it. I'm giving it a 10 as for a fan of the series, it's great to see it come to console and £7 for hundreds of wasted credits is great value!… Expand
  4. Bluerocket
    Apr 27, 2012
    10
    House of the Dead has always been one of my favorite arcade shooters and House of the Dead 4 is certainly welcome on ps3 with the move. I love how the move works with this game especially with the sharpshooter or any gun attachment.
  5. EarthAngel
    May 11, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is the **** and I'll tell you why. It's great because Sega could have slapped it onto a disc with their other HotD port of part III and charged us $50 or more for it. They didn't do that. Sega put this up for download on PSN and charged us $10 for it. It's been 10 years since the release of HotD III in arcades nationwide and since then the arcade scene has dwindled into obscurity, so when this title was released barely anybody save for those lucky few ever got to play it. House of the Dead is a beloved series for many, myself included, and I cannot begin to describe to you how saddened I was at the prospect of never being able to complete the series. This download changes that and then some, because this download also includes the even rarer House of the Dead 4 Special.

    It's great because the Move calibration is dead on accurate, and playing it how it was meant to be played with the Sharpshooter attachment is a cathartic experience. It's top tier because Rail Shooters are a genre in and of themselves, NOT related to FPS's like Call of Duty, despite what some so called gaming 'journalists' would have you believe. You simply cannot score a game based on examples from a completely different genre.

    Even compared to other light gun shooters HotD 4 excels. Some of the recent complaints leveled at the series are uninformed and idiotic at best. How could you deduct points for bad voice acting when the point of the series is to come off like a B zombie flick? It does come off as a B zombie flick because that was it's intention, and it succeeds with flying colors.

    The music in this game is pulse pounding and intense. It keeps you bouncing and swinging your gun around like your life depended on it. You'll clutch on to that pump action scared to lose a single second reloading. The pacing of the firefights builds evenly and with perfect tension. The graphics are gorgeous, especially for a game that was created 6 years ago. The scoring is addictive. The zombies are disgusting. The bosses are intimidating. The secrets are plentiful. The set pieces are epic. The events are tragic and those badly acted B movie cut scenes convey a perfect sense of dread and despair. Did I mention that now when you get good at the game you can play Ranking mode to place on national leaderboards? That's like being in the arcade, except now you are competing against everyone in the world. How cool is that?

    House of the Dead 4 is the sequel to House of the Dead 2 everybody wanted, and for a measly $10 I can't see any reason not to rate this game a perfect 10. Get it.    … Expand
  6. Eraz
    Jul 5, 2012
    9
    House of the Dead 4 was a game I used to spend loads of time playing at the Arcade and got really good at it, when I heard this was coming out a few years after the unit was sold, I was so happy, since I would finally be able to experience this game as much as I wanted in the comfort of my own home without little children running past and the noise of other machines close to it blurringHouse of the Dead 4 was a game I used to spend loads of time playing at the Arcade and got really good at it, when I heard this was coming out a few years after the unit was sold, I was so happy, since I would finally be able to experience this game as much as I wanted in the comfort of my own home without little children running past and the noise of other machines close to it blurring out the voices. This game is strange in the storyline, as it fits between the second and third games as opposed to going further on. It features James, from the second game, and a new protagonist called Kate for the two players. The story is pretty bland, stop the bad guy and save the day sort of stuff, but in these sorts of "Lightgun" games, I don't really mind a mediocre story. The mechanics for the move controller like shaking to get zombies off or close valves feels frantic and is quite fun while going through the game, which feels a little easier than the Arcade version guns in some areas although some of those were really difficult anyway and most likely designed to make you lose lives. The bosses of the game are all really well designed and the graphics are very good in this port, and the cutscenes in the Arcade which looked shakey have all been corrected and made to look great. This version of the game also includes the spin off game "House of the Dead 4 Special", which I never had a chance to play myself but always wondered what it was like, which I feel was very dissapointing compared to the main story, although for an extra ten to fifteen minutes of the game I can't really hold much against it. The game is most fun with a partner, as just having fun with a friend is easily worth the price of the game and it works out a lot cheaper than spending money to finish it at an Arcade, especially if both players have a Move remote. In conclusion, the game is near perfect for what it is, and that is an enjoyable On the Rails experience where you just blast zombies in a number of different environments with a friend.… Expand
  7. jaydee_28
    Apr 1, 2013
    8
    I just bought this game online via Playstation Network for just a small price. Finished the game with Very Easy difficulty just to go through the graphics. Overall it's a very nice game, reliving all the memories when I first played the original House of the Dead on my 266MHz Celeron PC.

    This game has a lot of zombies seriously compared to previous games. Story is average, happened    I just bought this game online via Playstation Network for just a small price. Finished the game with Very Easy difficulty just to go through the graphics. Overall it's a very nice game, reliving all the memories when I first played the original House of the Dead on my 266MHz Celeron PC.

    This game has a lot of zombies seriously compared to previous games. Story is average, happened before the HOTD3. HOTD2 has the best story line as for my opinion. Lots of familiar zombies returned such as the little worms which are present since the original HOTD.

    I was surprised they included HOTD4 Special as a bonus when you finished the game. Kate now plays alongside G after James was killed I believe James is not killed, he will return in the future installment as a mutated monster (old same story like Resident Evil 3 ).

    Overall the graphics are great on PS3. FPS are fast even more than a dozen zombies roams around. Zombies and the environment are very detailed but a little bit outdated since this was originally released 2005. Music and sound effects are average because almost all are reused from the previous games.

    This game is recommended for all gamers especially for those addicted to Plants vs Zombies.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

85
#85 Best PS3 Game of 2012
68
#68 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Games Master UK
    Jun 25, 2012
    83
    Plenty of fast, bloody carnage. [Aug 2012, p.79]
  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jun 18, 2012
    50
    Go for last year's Overkill for your undead shooting needs. [July 2012, p.115]
  3. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Jun 12, 2012
    70
    If you've been looking for an excuse to dust off your Move controller, this is it. [June 2012, p80]
See all critic reviews »