The House of the Dead (series): Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''They've come for brains. You'll give them... bullets.''}}

{{quote| 1)# Zombies are being untidy and making an administrative burden of themselves.<br />

2)# Sharp-dressed agents of the AMS arrive and resolve to stop the crisis.<br />

3)# The villain will mention something about the threat of a Malthusian catastrophe (and the first game doesn't even bother with ''that'').<br />

4)# But it doesn't matter to the protagonists 'cause they're suffused with the strength to forge on, no matter what! Yeah! }}

{{quote| (However, if you still feel more intricate details are needed, [[The House of the Dead (series)/Recap|we've a page for that]].)}}

Known for its fast-paced shooting and [[Multiple Endings]], ''The House of the Dead'' is one of those games that many play, but few ever beat (at least not without a small fortune in coins, that is). The first two games (especially the second) were infamous for hilariously weak voice acting that left you thinking the voice actors must have been instructed to sound as bored as possible, as well as an extremely stilted-sounding translation.

If you want to play a shooter game which emphasizes horror and uses traditional zombies, then you are looking at the wrong game.''The House of the Dead'' goes in [[Our Zombies Are Different|the opposite direction]], just because [[Rule of Cool|it's cool]]. A great majority of the zombie population in these games either are fast, wield weapons, have supernatural powers, or are just very, very fat. Boss fights are a major example of these deviations, with boss creatures barely resembling "traditional" zombies at all, often taking the form of some freakish abomination.

None of this stops the series from being fun. [[Narm Charm|The sheer ridiculousness of the games]] makes for some amazing boss battles and fight scenes. Better yet, this was the precursor to ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' -: '''you can use precision shots to [[Gorn|dissect the zombies]] in any manner you please.''' Torso wounds become gaping bloody holes, but do limited damage. Shoot a zombie in the arm, the arm will be blown off, and its attacks will be weaker if it gets close enough to do damage. Shoot a zombie in the leg, the leg will be blown off, and it will crawl at you (quickly). Of course, [[Boom! Headshot!|headshot]]s are [[Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain|the best way to kill zombies]], but only a shot between the eyes is a [[One-Hit Kill]] -... zombies running at you with half their head blown off is common. Just don't stop here expecting a gripping story, nuanced characters, or some kind of social message.

The latest game in the series, the Wii-exclusive ''The House of the Dead: Overkill'', is a prequel that takes the unintentionally bad voice acting and runs with it, resulting in a B-movie grindhouse-style presentation. The game's mere existence could qualify as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for the series as a whole. An [[Updated Rerelease]], ''The House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut'', was later released for the [[Play StationPlayStation]] 3 with Move support.

Of course, this isn't all to the series. A beat 'em up side story game called ''Zombie Revenge'' was released on the arcade and Dreamcast. After that came ''The Typing of the Dead'', which is basically a re-release of HotD''The House of the Dead 2'', only now instead of bullets you [[Edutainment Game|kill with powered keyboards]], followed by a sequel, which rehashed HotD''The 3House of the Dead III'' ([[Audience-Alienating Premise|Looklook, don't knock until you've tried it, okay?]]). There was a ''The Pinball of the Dead'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]], and a rare ''The House of the Dead 4 Special'' arcade that serves as a continuation of the original 4th installment, this time the game being made into a motion ride of sorts with that switches between two screens as the zombies come after you. There's also ''The House of the Dead EX'', which goes the comical route and put you in the role of two runaway undead lovebirds as they face against adversaries who try to split them apart. Unlike the last games, this one is more of a mini-game compilation. And lastly, the ''[[Sega Superstars]]'' series features ''The House of the Dead'' cameos, the most prominent being the latest installment, ''Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing'', with three tracks taking place in the Curien Mansion and the aforementioned runaway undead lovebirds as playable racers.

So there you have it, 'till the fifth installmentinstalment.

=== {{tropelist|How could anyone do this? ===}}

* [[Achilles' Heel]]: All bosses (even monsters with supposedly "unknown" weaknesses) have these. Usually, some form of note would appear to highlight the weakness, although the exact nature of the clue varies from game to game: the first two HOTD''The House of the Dead'' games make use of research notes, while HOTD''The House of the Dead 4'' has a PDA scan. HOTD''The 3House of the Dead III'' doesn't even come up with an excuse for what's giving the heroes a hint.

** One of the best examples: Hierophant, a hideous frog thing whose chest bursts open every time it takes a breath for an easy potshot at its heart. It's one of the easiest boss battles in the series.

** Oh, yeah. And Lisa Rogan in 3''The House of the Dead III''.

** And Kate in ''The House of the Dead 4''.

* [[An Axe to Grind]]: In all the games, often in a cross position to force the player to blow off the head or shoot their guts until they keel over. ''Overkill'' just makes them more damaging (two points instead of one).

** Nigel and Sebastian in ''OVERKILLOverkill''.

* [[Badass Normal]]: All of the main protagonists. Lampshaded in OVERKILL''Overkill'' a ton.

* [[The Bechdel Test]]: All the games fail this, by having one female character ''per game''. ''Overkill'''s ending lampshades that the story is not a shining example of feminism.

* [[Big Bad]]: Dr. Roy Curien, then Caleb Goldman.

** And in one of ''The House of the Dead 4'''s endings, it's implied that {{spoiler|there's an even [[Bigger Bad]] at work; a mysterious limping man complains that "Goldman was too soft.". His appearance in ''The House of the Dead III'' and ''The House of the Dead 4'' have led to a fair amount of [[Wild Mass Guessing]], much of which involves a sequel to ''The House of the Dead 4''.}}.

** Also, Papa Caesar in ''Overkill''. {{spoiler|Sort of. He only ''appears'' to be the [[Big Bad]] for the five chapters (out of seven) of the story. He's later supplanted by Warden Darling.}} .

* [[Big Boo's Haunt]]: The mansion in the first game could be considered a more "mundane" version of this trope. There are lots of physical undead, but no ghosts or any other type of spirit. However, the Magician possesses psychic powers..

* [[Body Horror]]: Many of the enemies, especially Nigel and Sebastian (two twins horribly fused together) and the Lobber from ''Overkill''. And from the same game, {{spoiler|Varla Guns, after Warden Darling put his mother's brain ''in her head''... and apparently forgot to reattach the back of her cranium.}}.

** Kate Green has one with "How do you like my low fat, all lead diet?" {{spoiler|after dropping a huge clock on top of Temperance's head.}}.

* [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity]]: The manual for the Saturn port of ''HOTD1The House of the Dead 1'' made rather blatant references to G having "metallic"-tasting blood and behaving "mechanically", implying he was a robot or cyborg. Needless to say, this was never followed up on.

* [[Chainsaw Good]]: Ironically for a zombie work, this trope is put to use by the undead; most entries of the series have at least one type of zombie wielding a chainsaw with intent. Even the bosses get to have some fun, notably Strength and The Empress in ''The House of the Dead 2'' and ''The House of the Dead 4'', respectively.

** Justifiable, since ''Overkill'' had no arcade release and went straight to Wii, so no innocent ears can be corrupted.

*** On top of that, ''Overkill'' had been awarded the Guinness World Record for "most profanity in a video game"... [https://web.archive.org/web/20100124213717/http://gamers.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/160309_HOTD.aspx\]... until ''[[Mafia II]]'' came and dethroned it, although the [[Updated Rerelease]] may have taken back the title. By their measure, 189 swear words were uttered over three hours, averaging to roughly one f-bomb per minute. Do not play a drinking game with this video game unless you want alcohol poisoning.

*** It did. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1M5jU5SprU Someone personally counted] {{spoiler|370 of them. ''And that's not everything yet!''}}!

{{quote| '''G:''' "Care to dial down the swearing, Wash?"<br />

'''Isaac:''' "Fuck that, motherfucker!" }}

** G lampshades again when he notices that, of all the things they saw, the only thing Washington didn't call a "motherfucker" was {{spoiler|Warden Darling, who was a ''literal'' mother fucker}}.

** Also, the final levels of ''The House of the Dead 4'' take place in the same area, and play just like, the final levels of ''The House of the Dead 2''.

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Goldman appears to be one, but then turns out to be [[Gaia's Vengeance|much worse]].

* [[Shareware|Crippleware]]: The first game's demo was time-limited;: a big timer counted down from three minutes, and the game would quit once the timer reached zero. The hack-savvy player who used a memory location editor to freeze the timer would find out that the timer was the ''only'' thing crippling the game; with it out of the way, it was possible to play the game to the end.

* [[Critical Existence Failure]]: Nearly every single boss and every single ''protagonist''. Taken to extremes in ''Overkill'', as the character doesn't even yell out in pain when he gets hit (aside from the first boss battle, in which Washington will curse about how nasty getting hit with a severed leg is). Taken to less of an extent in ''The House of the Dead 4'', since the characters tend to gripe when their health is low.

* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: Zobiko in ''The House of the Dead EX'' is a Cute Zombie Girl. And a ''protagonist.''.

* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Sophie Richards in the first game. Also, you will find those (either civilians or your partner) who will need rescue throughout your mission. Saving them nets you a life bonus most of the time. Subverted in ''The House of the Dead III'', in which it's your partner that you rescue, and even then, they're only in trouble for a few seconds, retreating back to you regardless of whether you succeed or fail. On top of that, Thomas Rogan is the one in distress, and it's his [[Action Girl]] daughter to the rescue (along with his old AMS buddy, G). Avoided outright in ''The House of the Dead 4'', in which there's nobody to rescue. And finally, Varla Guns... twice.

** In the first few stages of ''Overkill'', fat zombies are the earliest kind of [[Giant Mook]], taking a few more body shots than normal enemies. The manual explains that a mutant's health is directly proportionate to its mass. They're also fast. Same thing goes for the first few games. Oddly enough, along with health, they were ''faster'', too (though nothing a [[Boom! Headshot!|headshot]] won't fix, though they're at an odd, hard-to-hit angle in the second installment). In ''Overkill'', G theorizes that bulkier mutants (specifically, the mutant football players that only show up in "Carny") are faster due to the mutant compound altering their metabolism. It's as good an explanation as any, really.

* [[Deconstruction]]: Parodied in ''Overkill'', of zombie movies in general. For example, in the ending, G and Isaac wonder what the underlying metaphor of this game was, with G suggesting "love isn't always right" and Isaac calling it a "damning indictment of contemporary feminism", pointing out that there are few other interpretations to "two dick-wielding cop cliches" {{spoiler|taking down a "[[Justified Trope|hundred-foot]] birthing mother"}}. For another, during The Fetid Waters, Isaac asks G why they're immune to whatever it is that's creating all the [[Not Using the Zed Word|mutants]] and nobody else is. {{spoiler|They aren't; the compound has a short life-span and, as they weren't exposed to the initial dosing, they simply haven't been infected - G because he only got into town afterward, Isaac because he was at his mom's.}}.

* [[The Determinator]]: [[Carry a Big Stick|Death]] in 3''The House of the Dead III''. He will suddenly pop out of the ground and keep running after you for the first and second levels before finally dying.

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: The Hanged Man from the first game. Twice. {{spoiler|Also Caleb Goldman in ''The House of the Dead 2.}}''.

** Sophie in the original game gets kidnapped by the Hangedman, and is axed by the Chariot just before you fight him as the first boss, driving Rogan to seek revenge. {{spoiler|This can be subverted [[Multiple Endings|if you're good enough at the game]].}}.

* [[Dual Boss]]: Judgement is composed by a small imp, Zeal ([[Call Back|who resembles a tiny Hangedman]]) and Kuarl, [[Fluffy the Terrible|a giant, axe wielding suit of armor]]. Also, the Lovers are a couple of mutated tarantulas.

* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Candi from the [[Play Station 3]] version of ''Overkill''.

* [[Dynamic Difficulty]]:* Playing with a second player makes the games MUCH harder. So if you don't want to die twice as often, don't play with a second player unless said player is just as competent as you.

** Also, the better you play in a stage, the faster the boss will be. It's not very clear how it works, because sometimes he'll slow down when you fail to survive an attack. (Itit's most notable with the Magician, whose movement aura is a different color based on whether it's in "easy" or "hard" mode).)

{{quote| '''G:''' Tasteful ride.<br />

'''Isaac:''' Don't disrespect my wheels! She's my pride and joy.<br />

''(Isaac's pride and joy then explodes for no reason)''<br />

'''G:''' ''([[Beat]])'' Mm, we'll take my car.<ref>And then his car explodes at the end of the next chapter as well.</ref> }}

* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] says this about ''The House of the Dead: Overkill.''.

* [[Fire-Forged Friends]]: ''Overkill'' begins with Isaac sucker-punching G. Later in the game, after [[Running Gag|multiple others have]] [[One-Letter Name|asked G to just answer the damn question]], Isaac crows [[Badass Boast|"the 'G' stands for 'genocide', motherfucker!"]]. Isn't that sweet?

* [[Fire, Ice, Lightning]]: The [[Final Boss|final bosses]] of the first, third, and fourth games;: [[Playing with Fire|The Magician manipulates fire]], [[Shock and Awe|The Wheel of Fate manipulates lightning]], and [[An Ice Person|The World manipulates ice]]. (Thethe final boss of the second game is a metamorphic.).

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Candi which she explains that she was taught "don't have anything nice to say don't say nothing at all"." She took it literally as she swaps the word "nothing" for expletives.

* [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]: {{spoiler|Magician's re-appearance}} in ''The House of the Dead 2'' has this written all over it.

* [[Giant Spider]]: The Lovers are two huge tarantulas (a small male one atop a larger female). Also the Hermit in ''The House of the Dead 1''.

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: HotD''The House of the Dead 4'' employs a heavy retcon to give Caleb "[[Narm|loyfe cycle]]" Goldman a lot more menace; the start of each chapter flashes back to the events of HOTD''The House of the Dead 2'', showing Goldman quietly seething behind his desk about how mankind's arrogance and greed will doom the entire planet. The final level reveals he's actually been speaking to James Taylor and Gary Stewart, who have him at gunpoint.

** The Wheel of Fate {{spoiler|aka a resurrected Dr. Curien}}, the final boss of HOTD''The 3House of the Dead III'', attempts to give one of these, only to be silenced by a volley of shotgun blasts.

** In HOTD''The House of the Dead 2'', the revived Magician gives one to James and Gary before the fight starts, again followed by their [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] speech after they beat the crap out of this [[Humanoid Abomination]].

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|James blows himself up along with Pandora's Box at the climax of 4's story, but did he really need to?}}? May overlap somewhat with [[Stupid Sacrifice]].

* [[Hockey Mask and Chainsaw]]: Strength, of [[HOTD''The House of the Dead 2]]''.

* [[Hostage Spirit Link]]: In ''The House of the Dead 1'' and ''The House of the Dead 2'', shooting a civilian takes off one life. ''Overkill'' doesn't deduct health, but points. Averted in ''The House of the Dead III'', where shooting your partner in a rescue scene does nothing. ''The House of the Dead 4'' has no one for you to rescue.

* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]: The belief of [[HOTD''The House of the Dead 2]]'''s [[Big Bad]] and his motive for bringing about a [[Zombie Apocalypse]].

* [[In the Blood]]: In ''The House Ofof Thethe Dead 3III'', Daniel struggles with this, but gets over it after [[It Makes Sense in Context|blowing up the zombie-android resurrection of his father]].

* [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Gun]]: In ''Overkill'', it's Isaac's favorite guns, the {{spoiler|Gwendolyn}}. It has the power of the automatic shotgun, the range of the handgun, and it has ''INFINITE AMMO''. Slightly mitigated by the fact that it doesn't have the crowd control of the shotgun, but why would you need it anyway? To get it, one must clear the "Classic Mode" where you're only allowed to use the default AMS Magnum.

* [[Just Before the End]]: ''The House of the Dead 4''.

* [[Kevlard]]:* Temperance (a morbidly obese zombie) from ''The House Ofof Thethe Dead 4''. Even though you could actually stop him from attacking you by shooting his head, it was impossible to do any real damage to him via your bullets. You had to drop a clock on his head to beat him.

** The ''Overkill'' manual suggests that a zombie can take damage proportional to its body fat.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Papa Caesar is introduced as a bastard from the beginning, but the way he treats Jasper (who is almost totally paralyzed) is downright assholish. He whacks him in the face with his cane and warns him that continuing to insult him will jeopardize his sister Varla's safety before calling him a "fucking cabbage.".

* [[Kill'Em All]]: Allegedly, {{spoiler|Goldman's [[Zombie Apocalypse]] plot}} in ''The House of the Dead 2'' and ''The House of the Dead 4'' is a subversion of this.

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Goldman:''' "I do not wish to kill all humans. I only wish to revert to them to their natural state."}}}}

* [[Knight Templar]]: {{spoiler|Goldman. He wanted to protect nature. Okay. But did he have to go as far as <s>killing off the human race</s> "reverting them to their natural state"?}}?

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: In the last scene of ''Overkill'', the characters pick apart almost every single trope that was used in the game (and the [[Exploitation Film]] genre), including Washington's [[Sir Swearsalot|excessive cursing]] and the fact that {{spoiler|the only (decent) female character [[Disposable Woman|has absolutely no impact on the plot and ends up as a brain in a jar]]}}).

* [[Large Ham]]: The Narrator in ''Overkill''.

{{quote| '''Narrator''':" '''GGGOOOOREEGAAAAASMM!!"}}

* [[Lemony Narrator]]: The narrator in ''The House of the Dead: Overkill''.

* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: Roy Curien in regards to his son, and Warden Darling in regards to {{spoiler|his mother}}.

{{quote| '''Caesar:''' As you well know, Isaac, I enjoy pain. It's like a [[Trademark Favorite Food|good Chinese dinner]], you know, with the sweet and the sour. Expanding on that analogy, I will smile with delight ([[Captain Obvious|that's the sweet]]) as you ''scream for your fucking life'' ([[Captain Obvious|of course, that's the sour]]). ''*hits the [[Big Red Button]]*'' [[Stealth Pun|Ci]][[Bilingual Bonus|ao]]!}}

* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: In every game, but intentionally taken to ridiculous extremes in ''Overkill''. Also subverted in the same game with bosses: normal mutants will blow up into gooey pools of blood and flesh, but the bosses (even those who seem quite prone to explode into pus like the Lobber and {{spoiler|Mother}}) simply fall down.

* [[Mook Chivalry]]: Some zombies will wait until you kill the largest threat (like axe-wielding zeds or barrel-throwing fatties). Only one zombie can typically be in attacking range at once, so it's possible to disable one, quickly reload, then finish it off with the rest of the new clip used for the ones behinbehind ditit.

* [[More Dakka]]: ''The House of the Dead 4'''s default weapon is a machine pistol.

* [[Nintendo Hard]]:* By far one of the most difficult [[Light Gun Game|Light Gun Games]]s around. Many a player has witnessed the second game's continue screen no less than 10 times in a single run.

** Subverted in the Director's Cut of the Playstation 3 version where they reveal {{spoiler|that they did find the miniguns and fought Mother by destroying pillars}}. It was definitely a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* [[Not Using the Z Word]]: "They're mutants!"

{{quote| '''Isaac:''' I hate those motherfuckin' zombies! <br />

'''G:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|"Mutants. How many times to I have to tell you to ''not use the Z word?''"]] }}

* [[Oh Crap]]: Wonderfully and suddenly averted (from the player's perspective) at least once in ''Overkill'': during the boss intro of ''Jailhouse Judgement'', {{spoiler|Warden Darling unveils two super-size reanimated convicts, explaining that they'd had many violent and horrific crimes to their credit before being electrocuted. They approach Agent G and Isaac, about to [[Hopeless Boss Fight|messily tear into the cops one-on-one...]] ...and then Brutus sucker-punches and head-stomps his partner, leaving only one boss for the player to defeat!}}!

* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: Goldman. His boss creations fit more, though.

** Isaac walks right through that open door when he once calls his partner "Agent Gwendolyn", and later on in ''Overkill'', he is quoted as saying "The G stands for 'Genocide', Motherfucker!". See [[Fire-Forged Friends]] above for the touching endcap to this [[Running Gag]].

* [[One-Winged Angel]]: Wheel of Fate/Curien in HOTD''The 3House of the Dead III''.

** The Emperor of HOTD''The House of the Dead 2'' and The World in HOTD''The House of the Dead 4''.

{{quote| '''Agent G''': "Mutants. How many times do I have to tell you [[Not Using the Z Word|not to use the Z-word?]]"'}}

* [[Post Modernism]]: In the ending of ''Overkill'', the characters discuss the symbolism of their adventure, a [[Mythology Gag]] regarding the fact that zombie media often has some sort of symbolism regarding culture, politics, or some such.

* [[Raising the Steaks]]: This series has undead fauna all over the place: bats, owls, spiders, sloths, leeches, crows. The first game even featured ''winged zombie dobermans''.

* [[Revenge]]: Rogan and Isaac's driving motives in the first game and ''Overkill'', respectively. The second chapter of ''The House of the Dead'', after Sophie's death, is titled "Revenge.".

* [[Revolvers Are Just Better]]: ''Overkill'' lets you buy a [[Hand Cannon]] that comes with its Firepower maxed out, which equates to everything that isn't a boss dying in one shot. A tad subverted -: you need to be '''really fucking accurate''' with it. The automatic shotgun is better at chaining combos and ammo capacity.

* [[Scenery Gorn]]: Kate and James get a ''[[Sarcasm Mode|very nice]]'' view of {{spoiler|the ruined city}} at the end of ''The House of the Dead 4'''s fourth chapter.

* [[Sequel Hook]]: The ending of ''Overkill'' establishes that, at the very least, Bayou is not even ''close'' to mutant-free. And the poster for the last level says "They're just getting started." .

{{quote| '''Caesar:''' You know of Clement Darling, yes, the cretin prison warden? It was he who originally discovered the mutant compound in a secret lab beneath his prison. Clement's ambitions are small minded, Isaac. But he has '''friends''', powerful friends. {{spoiler|(Curien and Goldman, if you haven't guessed it yet.)}}}}

*** There's also one bit where you [[Resident Evil 0Zero|fight through a zombie-infested train and fight a giant insect as a boss.]].

* [[Something Completely Different]]: ''The House Ofof Thethe Dead EX''. You have light guns, but that's about as far as the similarity goes. It's not only lighter and softer, but is filled with childish cutscenes which are mostly 2D anime/manga style stills, toned down violence, and aside from that, there's the genre change from rail shooter to minigames.

{{quote| '''Washington:''' Frankly, Casanova, I'd be more worried about reading the last 24 hours as a damning fucking indictment of contemporary feminism.<br />

'''G:''' Beg your pardon?<br />

'''Washington:''' I just think two dick-wielding cop cliches {{spoiler|taking down a hundred-foot birthing mother}} is a statement fairly limited in its interpretations. }}

* [[Tarot Motifs]]:* Every boss in games ''The House of the Dead 1'' through ''The House of the Dead 4'' is [[Theme Naming|named after a tarot card of the Major Arcana]]. As of the fourth game, only three Tarot cards have not had their names used: the Devil, the Moon, and the High Priestess. The bosses in ''OVERKILL'' don't follow this pattern -- but they weren't developed by Curien or Goldman.

* [[Tomato Surprise]]: {{spoiler|In EX, Zobiko, the female zombie protagonist, is actually the mad scientist's wife.}}.

* [[Transformation Trauma]]: The bad endings have {{spoiler|Goldman or a character close to the protagonists}} turn into a zombie, who is usually promptly shot off screen. Jasper turns himself into the first boss of ''Overkill'' by injecting himself with the virus (given that he starts the game as a quadriplegic, his status as a boss is justified by his new [[Psychic Powers]]).

* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: ''The House of the Dead III'' is set in the year 2019; the first two games were simply set in [[Next Sunday ADA.D.]]. Confusing matters is the fact that the fourth game takes place in the year 2003 and was released in 2005, and that ''Overkill'' takes place in ''1991'' and was released in ''2009''.

* [[Warmup Boss]]: Each game has one boss with a relatively easy weak point and predictable movements to start you off, and often has the basic types of zombie before that. Ironically, in ''Overkill'', Jasper is one of the bosses that takes the longest to take care of when first fighting him, due to the player's basic pistol not being as rapid-fire or strong as the other weapons and taking forever to knock away his debris forcefield.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]:* Goldman believes his actions are for the good of the planet and will save the human race from itself.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]:* Where did Kate Green go after ''The House of the Dead 4''? It's explained in the [[Special Edition]] game, where she teams up with G immediately after the events of that game.

* [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him]]?: Averted in ''Overkill''. As soon as {{spoiler|Clement}} reveals himself as the [[Big Bad]], Isaac Washington immediately shoots him... only to discover {{spoiler|that there's a pane of bulletproof glass between them.}}.

* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: Duh. Much more egregious in ''The House of the Dead 3III'' -: the world was overrun with zeds. And in ''Overkill'', well, [[Not Using the Z Word|they're mutants]].

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[[Category:The House of the Dead (series)Sega]]