If you’ve ever set foot in an amusement arcade or bowling alley, chances are you’ve come across one of the four House of the Dead titles. With it’s simple gameplay mechanic (shooting zombies on a big screen using a plastic gun) anyone can jump right in and grasp the concept. Every instalment offered a graphics boost and some new grotesque environments and enemies to tackle pleasing fans of shooters and the series alike. But we now take a step back to retread old ground in the form of the second and third titles thanks to the Wii.

Now while both are the same in terms of how you go about playing, there are differences between the two games. Obviously not so much that you’ll feel like you aren’t playing House of the Dead, but rather small changes that will make it feel a little more fresh and unique.

House of the Dead 2 will see you and a friend if you wish battling through wave upon wave of evil zombies using just a handgun. Headshots and accurate firing are key to survival. Remembering back to the last time I saw this game it was on the Dreamcast and I have to say there has been no change whatsoever in how it looks. A lazy port at best.

House of the Dead 3 uses shotguns rather than the typical handgun seen in the previous two games and this can makes things a little easier since the blast radius is larger meaning you don’t need to be so accurate. Obviously as mentioned before there is a graphical boost and a new chapter in the storyline of the series but with a light gun game are we going to actually care? No. A new feature in the Wii version is the “Extreme mode” which sounds more fun than it is. Playing the main mode again you are given a smaller shot radius, harder enemies and a melee attack which can help you take out multiple enemies at once. It seems like a lame add on rather than a well thought out idea.

Each have little extras like a mode that allows you to give yourself advantages such as a bigger bullet chamber and also boss modes that times you on how fast you finish an end of level battle. A selection of options that I have to admit tried once and never went back.

Taking the role of one of two lead characters you will have to fight your way through five or six chapters each ending in a boss battle before you reach the end credits screen. With shotgun or handgun at your disposal you must shoot your way through zombies who wield chainsaws, axes and other dangerous weapons. Along the way you encounter the Curien Mansion, deserted streets and the central organisation where all this mayhem originated from.

Both games can be finished in less than a couple of hours and unlike Ghost Squad there is little incentive to go through each experience again. While Sega’s Ghost Squad port had various missions to complete nothing here changes at all so there won’t be any surprises through repeated play. And while shooting the heads and limbs off zombies is fun that is all you do. Other shooters try and mix things up by throwing in some other gameplay elements to keep you on your toes. House of the Dead on the other hand sticks with the formula of shooting almost anything that moves and nothing more. Another thing is that both games do tend to feel very primitive compared to recent efforts like say Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. The environments feel less alive with barely anything interactive and no real sense of fear or tension is conveyed over the course of the titles lifespan. They are both fun games, just not extremely fun games.

Sticking true to the arcade feel, continues are limited to only four when you start. Every time you play though the amount of lives and continues increases by one making it easier for those of you who struggled first time around. This can be changed in the options. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when both games are as hard as they are here (even on normal) it would have been appreciated to have more lives and retries from the start.

A plus is that both titles are two player modes and this is where the game is at its best. Playing with a friend through the main game heightens the experience and is always makes it worth pulling this shooter from your game shelf for a quick spin when someone is over. It is also extremely satisfying to use the zapper as a gun and firing a zombies’ arm or leg off feels oh so sweet.

For what you’re getting, thirty pounds for House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return is too much. I do enjoy the series and loved both games in the arcade but the serious lack of anything new or signs of improvement makes this feel worryingly like a lazy Wii cash-in. Instead of simply porting old franchises over Sega should focus on re-creating them from the ground up. How about House of the Dead 5?