Evil Dead Regeneration Review

Evil Dead Regeneration

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Cranky Pants Games

# of Players: 1

Category: Action

Release Dates

N Amer - 09/13/2005

Official Game Website

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Evil Dead Regeneration Review

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Bruce Campbell (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0132257/) has one of the greatest fan bases out there. Where as other movie actors have fought to keep themselves out of the B-movie basement, Bruce has embraced his seemingly inescapable sentence. And of all of Bruce's B movie characters, easily the one he is most famous for is Ash, the shotgun toting, chainsaw wielding, Housewares sectionhead at S-Mart (shop smart shop, S-Mart) who has been forced to do battle with the Army of the Undead, aka the Deadites. And for all the fans screaming for a fourth movie in the series, the best that has been done is games taking place in the Evil Dead universe. Which is where we are today...

In Evil Dead Regeneration, the game picks up after the second movie, but for some reason completely ignores the third movie involving time-travel to the 14th century. Instead, having been involved in what was later described as a massacre, Ash has been tossed into the Sunny Meadows Insane Asylum. There he tells the head Doctor, Dr. Reinhard about the Necronomicon (the book of the Dead) in an effort to help clear his name. But instead, the Doctor gets ahold of the Necronomicon and begins his own series of experiments. Given that the game starts out in an Insane Asylum with a Doctor who likes experimenting with the Dead, you can guess what happens next.

"Darn it, I just cleaned and oiled this chainsaw!"

Evil Dead Regeneration is a so-so entry in the action/horror genre. While the game comes at a steady pace and it's always cool hacking up zombies with a chainsaw, the game definitely has a "cheap" feel to it. Which is fitting since this game retails for $19.99. But even more so, being such a fan of the movies, I found myself a little bit cheated out of the whole thing. And the biggest reason is because of Bruce himself. You see, Bruce continues to do his voice acting for all Evil Dead games but I'm starting to think he is tiring of this shtick. He clearly is not into delivering his lines for this game and that really bogs down on the playing experience. I think these Evil Dead games have been fairly successful because the nitch players are all rabid fans of the movies and they want to be Bruce. But if Bruce isn't into being Bruce, or rather Ash, then I think the whole "experience" is lessened. I mean easily one of the best parts of anything involved with Bruce is the fact that he is a smart-aleck, self centered jerk who says very funny one-liners and other off the wall sayings. But again, even though the sayings were semi-funny, Bruce's delivery was sorely lacking.

What wasn't lacking was the action. As you play, Ash mixes it up with all sorts of nasty critters from the evil beyond. Only this time, he has a sidekick named Sam. Sam is a half human, half Deadite who has retained all of his human soul. Sam is also indestructible and you are encouraged to kick him into the direction of any oncoming enemy as he will instantly attack them. Also, for no other reason then it being fun, you can kick Sam into any number of horrible machines that will either grind, burn, slice or destroy him, with Sam instantly reappearing with nary a scratch. Also, in a twist you can mind swap with Sam, and run around those hard to access areas doing who-knows-what. And true fans of the series will note that Ash gets to be possessed and become very mean and nasty, like the second movie, briefly.

"When you learn to embrace your inner deadite, not only you, but those around you will feel that much more at peace."

Of course the game is rated M for mature gamers as the deaths on screen can be notoriously bloody. And some of the dialogue is of the risqué variety, but that comes with the territory if you know anything about the Evil Dead. The graphics are ample and even somewhat surprising as the programmers borrow from the movies' unique film perspectives and tricks. It's a hoot if your a fan, and even if you aren't, the visuals can be a bit fun. Ash, seems to have gotten younger as he now looks like he's had botox and all sorts of other skin beautifying treatments. Odd, I would have thought all that combat and looking into the face of pure evil would have aged him, but nope still looking like he's 22 years old.

Oh, and here's something of note, Ash is constantly spoken too about the goings on by the dead Professor Knowby who appears to him in his ghostly form. I found this to be somewhat odd since the only information Ash ever received from the long dead professor was the recording on his tape player.

This game has been kind of a bittersweet experience for me. On one hand, I really dig the whole Evil Dead universe and playing as Ash can really be a hoot with all that shotgunning and chainsawing. But on the other hand, the game suffers from silly finishing moves and phrases that are delivered poorly.

Reviewer's Scoring Details

Gameplay: 6.9

Controlling Ash is alright, but the camera does cause some confusion. Some of the finishing moves are borrowed from the movies, some are completely made up and look odd. I like the addition of Sam and some of the action sequences could be considered inspiring. But they are too few and far between.

Graphics: 7.4

Some nifty visuals are applied to the game and Sam is certainly an unhealthy looking specimen, but Bruce doesn't look right with his new youthful appearance. The monsters look pretty decent as do some of the levels and yes, you do venture outside of the Asylum.

Sound: 5.8

Bruce, I think your the tops, but your poor delivery of your lines drag this game down.

Difficulty: Medium

It's not too difficult for anyone who's done battle in the 3rd person perspective world. Even when surrounded by Deadites, Ash can and will whup up on some butt.

Concept: 6.7

An Evil Dead game? Why yes it is, and it doesn't even follow the continuity of the movie series.

Overall: 6.6

Ash is a great character and this is one of the better $19.99 games out there but without Bruce being on board the way he needs to be, the game is sorely lacking that special something.