Summary

On-rails shooters are a near-extinct genre in modern gaming — save a few niche indie games and spiritual successors. It’s easy to see why, with the advancement of technology providing a more blistering pace and free-form approach thatFPS fans have become accustomed to. For those old enough to remember the thrill of dropping coins into those old light gun arcade cabinets ofThe House of the DeadorTime Crisis, nostalgia persists.

Hence, the release ofThe House of the Dead 2remake in 2025. Ports and remasters have consistently kept TheHouse of the DeadIP alive for almost three decades, spawning several sequels, spin-offs, and an unfortunate Uwe Boll film adaptation. Like our younger selves, the series has had at least as many misses as hits in that time, butfor the zombie-slaying purists, these are the bestHouse of the Deadgames, ranked.

Calling Shotgun

Beginning with the caveat that, since the games havebeen ported multiple times, the critical reception has been somewhat mixed across versions. Most largely failed to live up to their arcade cabinet format.The House of the Dead 3is the first on this list to be bestowed with that unwanted honor.

The game puts the focus on shotguns, which offer a satisfying kickback and high damage, but a shallow ammo pool and long reload time. It adds an interesting layer of strategy to the rail shooter format, and choosing the right moments to reload is often the difference between success and failure.

6The Pinball Of The Dead

Action-Infused Pinball Tables

The Pinball of the Deadis technically one of the best-reviewed games in the series, a beneficiary of being a smallerGameBoy Advanceexclusive release. But, it simply does not deliver the experience one expects when looking for bullet-laden, B-movie zombie action.

It’s a pinball game, featuring three unique tables based onThe House of the Deadseries. Praised for its graphics at the time and a great recreation of thepinball experience on a handheld console; great for killing time — but not so much for killing undead.

High Octane, Low Scope

The House of the Dead 4marginally improves on its direct predecessor but suffers from a lot of the same issues, providing a rather bare-bones and competent shooter that lacksthe magic of the original titles. The world is somewhat toned down in search of realism, which delivers improved character models but lacks the bite and cartoonish violence typical of the series.

Players are armed with submachine guns this time around for a more frenzied, bullet-filled screen and equipped with a limited supply of grenades for clearing out large hordes when becoming overwhelmed. It does offer a nice risk-reward element to freshen up the combat.

Unrealized Potential

The House of the Dead 2

The Special Agents who were asslened to the original House of The Deadmission, thought they were successful in wiping out the evil that residedin secret laboratories and underground passages: however, they werewrong. Dead Wrong!In the first installment of House of The Dead, the situation was agrave one. However, with new hidden passages, giving the player theopportunity to alter the course of each game, House of the Dead 2 issure to create more excitement along with a deadlier outcome Unbeknownst to the Special Agents, Curies' scientist and experimentsescaped through hidden passages in the mension. The ifeless corpsesand mutilated spocimens terrerze the countryside while heading forthe targeted City,House of the Dead 2, debuting on Sega’s new, low cost. high performerce, Naomi Hardware Platform, guarantees excitement while the player travels through 6 new challenging levels, using a new light gun system to destroy new zombles, gruesome creatures, ghastly ghouls, and freaks of modern science, that are bigger stronger, and faster than ever.House of The Dead 2 Features:Sega’s new. low cost, high performance, Naomi Hardware PlatformA New light gun systemTwo player cooperative gameplaySix challenging leveis, featuring new zombles. creatures, and freaks of modern sciercoHidden passages which alter the course of each gameUnlimited continues for increased earnings

MegaPixel Studio’sThe House of the Dead: Remakewas underwhelming, with a clunky control scheme that failed to make full use of theNintendo Switch’smotion capabilities. With a little more polish, the upcoming sequel could easily elevateThe House of the Dead 2to a much higher spot in the series.

The game is so full of potential, with some excellent B-movie action, complete with awful voice acting that amplifies the best kitsch appeal of the series.The House of the Dead 2also features arguably the best level design in the series, with branching paths that add replayability based on players' choices in a given run.

It’s very difficult to rank the original because the critical response is all over the map, but as an overall average, it sits right here.The House of the Deadwasa groundbreaking light gun experience, but time has not been kind to this classic.

Add to that, it’s the most ported game in the series, counting all the remakes, and some of those, like the above-mentioned, fumbled the ball in terms of modernizing the experience for a new audience. The quarter-sapping game loop is as addictive as ever, but it’s is a little uneven and very brief, offering little return value beyond chasing high scores.

Modern Grindhouse Action

The House of the Dead: Overkill

BRUTAL… SHOCKING… UNREAL… AN ALL-NEW THRILL RIDE• SEE ZOMBIES WITH A TASTE FOR HUMAN FLESH!• PALE BEFORE THE INSANELY MAD SCIENTIST!• CHEER THE STRIPPER THAT TAKES ON EVIL!• UNCOVER THE HORRIFIC TRUTH BEHIND… THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD• TERRIFYING 2-PLAYER CO-OP ACTION• BLOOD-SPLATTERED MINI-GAMES FOR 2-4 PLAYERS

The House of the Dead: Overkillis the only entry that takes full advantage of modernizing the series, and it’s better for it. The game is a little too ‘edgy’ for its own good, determined to earn that mature rating, and it loses a bit of the series' character in that.

But with new camera controls, weapons, and a selection of grindhouse-style mini-campaigns based on popular horror films and archetypes, it delivers the most fun in the series to date. Sadly, a true sequel has yet to materialize, although an honorable mention toHouse of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn,the ‘5D’ arcade cabinet successor that was just a little too esoteric to make the cut.

1The Typing Of The Dead

Unconventional Masterpiece

Veritable proof thatThe House of the Dead 2can be considered the best in the series as this adaptation is the best-reviewed game in the series. For those unaware,The Typing of the DeadadaptsHouse of the Dead 2,replacing the traditional light gun with a keyboard, and players have to type out a word or sequence displayed on screen to deal damage.

Sounds like it shouldn’t work, but the novel approach to combat offers very satisfying feedback and is significantly more tense than the traditional format. As the difficulty ramps up, players try to type full sentences as fast as possible without messing up as an enemy approaches.The Typing of the Deadalsoleans in heavily to the schlocky appeal of the series, replacing the weapon models with a keyboard/backpack combo but changing nothing else in the story.