If You Play This for a While, You'll Start Feeling a Lot Like a Zombie

By AARON CURTISS

April 13, 2000 12 AM PT

“Zombie Revenge” for Sega Dreamcast is aptly named. But probably not for the reasons designers wanted. Playing it, I fell into a zombified state of boredom.

The game, which derives from a popular coin-operated machine, follows a team of buffed-out secret agents as they attempt to liberate a town crawling with zombies. Sound familiar? It should. It’s the story line of every title in the “Resident Evil” franchise as well as both installments of “House of the Dead.”

Unlike those games, however, “Zombie Revenge” offers little in the way of suspense or excitement. The “Resident Evil” games drip with cinematic creepiness and the “House of the Dead” series boasts unmatched firepower. But “Zombie Revenge” borrows too much--and too little--from those games and it plays like a digital Frankenstein.

Players begin the game in a city overrun by zombies. Seems the government had been experimenting with reanimation to create an army of undead soldiers. But of course something went wrong--terribly wrong--and the zombies have taken over.

From a “Resident Evil”-style third-person perspective, players move through different parts of town, blasting the walking corpses a la “House of the Dead.” “Zombie Revenge” demands very little thought to achieve its simple objective: Kill zombies. Players can use their bare fists or a pistol or a machine gun or a shotgun or--my personal favorite--a giant drill that turns zombies into giant, puss-oozing doughnuts.

Because this was originally an arcade game, each level is broken down into smaller objectives. A timer forces players to move quickly from boss to boss. Along the way, nicely rendered cinematic sequences help to fill in the few gaps that remain in the story.

Mostly, though, the sequences do little more than showcase the physical attributes of the various agents and the people they encounter. For instance, a large-chested woman in a low-cut dress has a floppy disk critical to the mission. But before she hands it over, she stretches her arms widely. Players learn more about the designers’ idea of feminine perfection than perhaps they care to know.

Graphically, the game is a beauty. Even with the screen crowded with zombies, characters move smoothly and independently. It’s quite a challenge to finish off one zombie while six others crowd in from behind. And one sequence atop a speeding train creates such a strong sense of movement that I had to keep my eyes focused on a small section of screen to prevent feeling dizzy.

All that aside, “Zombie Revenge” is not that challenging. It’s a mindless way to kill an afternoon, but it lacks any sort of long-term playability. If a friend has a copy, ask to borrow it. Or rent it for a weekend. But there’s not $50 worth of play in “Zombie Revenge.”

“Die Hard Trilogy2”

This being a family newspaper, I’m not allowed to write all of the words in Bruce Willis’ famous phrase from “Die Hard.” You know, the one that begins “Yippee-ki-yay.” Sadly, I found myself muttering the second half of that phrase all too often as I played “Die Hard Trilogy 2,” the not-so-great sequel to an early PlayStation title that was not so great to begin with.

The gimmick driving the “Die Hard Trilogy” series is that it offers three distinct styles of play. Over the course of “Die Hard Trilogy 2” players alternate among third-person shooting action a la “Tomb Raider,” first-person target practice a la “Virtual Cop” and high-speed in-your-face driving a la “Need for Speed.”

Cool concept. The problem is that “Die Hard Trilogy 2” pulls off none of those genres very well. It was my complaint with the first installment and the problem remains. Rather than focus on making a single style of play excellent, designers settle for making three styles of play mediocre.

The game begins in a brand new prison, run by a buddy of New York cop John McClane. A voice actor does a decent job of making the digital McClane sound like Bruce Willis. Anyway, turns out the prison houses an international terrorist. Naturally, everything turns sour and McClane finds himself in the middle of a jailbreak disguised as a prison riot.

The third-person adventure and shooting sequences are not entirely bad. The levels are big and complex and crawling with bad guys. McClane moves relatively smoothly. But an annoying feature makes the mode not all that tough to beat. As players walk next to a wall, it becomes semi-transparent. It’s not unusual--and in many games the device helps players move through a level by hinting that they haven’t explored everything. But in “Die Hard Trilogy 2,” the semi-transparent walls also reveal precisely where enemies are hiding--making them short work.

In the first-person sharpshooter mode, though, “Die Hard Trilogy 2” dies hard. Target games such as “Virtual Cop” or “House of the Dead” rely on quick reflexes and a good aim. The only way to play them is with a light gun. And while it is possible to play “Die Hard Trilogy 2” with a light gun, it isn’t easy. Doing so requires switching between controllers. For those without a light gun, the game plods along as players try to target with their standard controller.

Finally, the driving mode is as tedious as the third “Die Hard” movie. The scenery is nothing special. The cars drive well enough, but without any particular panache. And the courses are pretty vanilla.

Players looking for a good time are better off saving their money and buying three separate titles than wasting their cash on a game that does a third-rate job on three genres.

Aaron Curtiss is participating in a Times management training program, where he currently serves as assistant to the senior vice president of advertising. He has no financial dealings with the companies he covers. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.

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ESSENTIALS

Zombie Revenge

* Platform: Sega Dreamcast

* Publisher: Sega

* ESRB* rating: Mature

* Price: $49.99

* Bottom line: Boring

Die Hard Trilogy 2

* Platform: Sony PlayStation

* Publisher: Fox Interactive

* ESRB rating: Mature