Evil Dead: Hail To The King

Written by Tom Clare in PSOne Game Reviews, Tuesday 11 May, 2004

Released: 2001
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Survival-Horror
Platform: PSOne

There was a curious spurt of game releases just after the turn of the millennium that were based on fairly old films - Robocop and The Italian Job are a couple that spring to mind, and also this - Evil Dead: Hail To the King, a survival-horror game based around the hit B-Movie horror series of the eighties.

Being partially based on a film and with character, weaponry and enemy blueprints already in-part drawn up thanks to the movies, you'd expect Heavy Iron Studios (the developers) to turn their attentions to the quality of the game playing experience. That was my theory anyway, but it appears the developers pressed the self-destruct button on the project - it clearly hasn't been tested and there are elements of the experience so questionable that you'll feel they must have known it was going to make things worse, which is just bizarre.

Before I delve into its many flaws, I'd better explain the plot. Simple stuff really - Ash returns to the log-cabin in the woods where all his original misfortune took place, and unsurprisingly things go pear-shaped for the poor bloke. On top of being placed at the centre of one of the most horrendous PSOne games in living memory, Ash's girlfriend has been swiped by monsters, leaving him to collect pages from the book of Necronomicon so as to send the evil beasties back to...wherever they usually live, so that normality can return.

Why is so bad then? Oh lord, where to start... Okay, rule number one of a survival-horror game is NEVER employ respawning enemies when there is a finite and really quite limited supply of ammo to be gathered - it's a remarkably elementary mistake for a survival-horror game to commit (and one that similarly scuttled Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare). Ash can obtain a pistol, shotgun and chainsaw, but whilst the ammunition supplies won't last forever, the steady stream of enemies most definitely will - and that just isn't fair. Worse still, many enemies are nigh-on impossible to avoid as every area, including the very narrow paths, are littered with 'deadites'. The collision-detection is so bad that you can't always evade enemies as you'll get snagged on them, even when not standing particularly close! You kill a mutant, and before you know it, another one takes its place - its infuriating stuff at times.

Not sounding too good, is it? Enemy replication is only the start of Evil Dead's woes. The combat system is very poor. It works in the old you-hit-the-baddie and the-baddie-hits-you style of thuggery which basically means you are likely to win your confrontations but at the loss of some health. This returns me to the problem of enemies re-animating time after time - you can't maintain your health forever and soon you get in to real problems if you hang around. Unlike Resident Evil or Silent Hill, you don't have an aim assist feature for your weaponry and this makes enemies, particularly bosses, a nightmare to fight. For example, at one stage you have to kill a massive spider with tall, thin legs and you are never quite sure if your pistol is actually doing it any harm.

Frustratingly, Evil Dead: HTTK's save system involves having to find certain items and then save points to record your progress. Most games allow you to save an unlimited amount of times or at least provide you with enough to get started with, but you'll only be able to save two or three times in the first few hours play here. You'll run into a heck of a lot of danger, and die plenty of times, and if you haven't managed to save game in awhile, it's very bad news.

There are a few mildly positive things to mention though - the graphics are fairly okay, mimicking the classic static-backgrounds of its many forefathers in the horror genre. They are a little unclear and misty at times though there is plenty of detail on offer and the animation is good, even if the character movement is jerky. The FMV clips are the high point of the package - Ash's confrontations and quips provide a bit of relief from the frankly painful action and seem to be one of the few sections of the game carried off with any true style and professionalism. Backgrounds and locations are fairly well-realised but as it is predominately set in the woods, the environments are rather samey and confusing. Sound is also adequate, the highlight being the ability to make Ash come out with a small variety of classic quips, the preferred one being 'Groovy!'.

There is at least the foundation for some basic puzzles and key finding antics within, but the game mechanics as a whole are so underwhelming that you won't get any enjoyment from them whatsoever. The adventure spans two discs, though you'd have to be mad to persevere that far in. If however you value your sanity, then perhaps it's best you don't play this at all. I know it is tempting to give it a try just to see if it really is this bad, but to be honest, I'm quite proud to have survived a few days with it...

It doesn't take long to discover how unbelievably inept Evil Dead: Hail To The King is. If you are looking for a good horror game then look elsewhere and you won't have to be that picky to find something twice as good as this twaddle. Horrifying for all the wrong reasons.

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