Touch the Dead, an Eidos-published
title, takes a lot of its cues from SEGA’s House of the Dead. Actually,
so much of House of the Dead’s elements appears within Touch the Dead that it’s
somewhat overwhelming. Let’s take a gander at what Touch the Dead has to offer
on the Nintendo DS.
The Nintendo DS, as a handheld, has
turned the corner and innovation is running thin. In the same spirit of Point
Black, a Namco-published title, Touch the Dead uses similar controls with
the stylus. Touch the Dead takes advantage of the touch screen to fire away at
the enemies, essentially replacing the light gun peripheral that would be
featured if this was in the arcades. The controls are, for the most part, solid.
Structured in vein of House of the
Dead, the game puts the player in the position to fight through a continuous
gauntlet of zombies in small hallways and passages. Working their way around the
levels, they’ll pick up ammo for their weapons to blast through countless
zombies. Thankfully, attacking any spot on the body of the zombie a few times
will take them down for the count, or else it definitely would be more
difficult.
Tactics that need to be taken into
account revolve around reloading at the right time and using the stylus with
precision. Reloading effectively will place players in a position to quickly
take out the hordes of zombies in an efficient time before more show up on the
scene. But reloading is easier said than done – players will have to grab the
ammunition from one side of the screen and drag it to the other to reload.
Afterwards, the avatar must perform the action of reloading the gun and then the
player will be all set to unleash his or her fury on the zombies. It’s
beneficial to find the time to reload before taking on those brainless zombies
that won’t stop to let you breathe.
Later on in the game, the guns will
end up with less ammunition available in the chamber. The D-Pad is used to
switch the weapons immediately to provide players with more options when the
ammo does indeed run out. Also, picking up weapon upgrades will increase the
power of the gun and most importantly, the reload speed.
What holds back Touch the Dead from
being a legitimate sleeper hit is the limited checkpoints. The developer needed
to take note that a majority of Nintendo DS players don’t sit down and play this
extensively for hours upon hours. Speaking for myself, I usually spend about 30
minutes max per session on my Nintendo DS. So, when I stress that the limited
checkpoints hold it back, it’s for the fact that players will get frustrated
when they only allotted themselves time to play one level. Touch the Dead
provides only one life to the player and when they die, its back to the start of
the level for them.
Touch the Dead is not a visual
presence in the video-game community. It provides the bare minimum to get by.
The environments lack any detail to make it stand out. Once the players put
about an hour in, they will have practically seen everything the game offers in
terms of environment. For the cutscenes, the developers used the real-time
engine and, boy, does it do a lot to harm the overall quality of the game. When
the cutscenes occur, the camera zooms in for a dramatic effect – though what
really happens is that cutscenes end up showing the weak graphical output with
ugly pixilated characters.
There aren’t too many first-person
shooters on the Nintendo DS, so Touch the Dead is an Ok choice if that’s your
preferred genre. The only high note about Touch the Dead is the controls, but
reloading will cause many players cheap deaths if they don’t pay close
attention.
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Review Scoring Details for Touch the Dead |
Gameplay: 5.9
Mediocre at best, the storyline and gameplay are all reminiscent of House of
the Dead. Personally, House of the Dead was so five minutes ago… or wait… so
nine years ago. Though, if you’re looking for a nostalgic take on video games,
Touch the Dead isn’t too shabby of an option.
Graphics: 5.0
On the positive side of things, the zombies show real-life damage with arms
missing and holes in their body.
Sound: 6.0
The audio is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is atrocious, but the sound effects
make up for it with realistic gun shots.
Difficulty: Easy / Medium
The checkpoints will hinder players from picking it up after a death late in
the level. Getting sent back to the start is always one of the worst feelings
players can receive from playing video games.
Concept: 7.0
Though stealing the concept of House of the Dead and putting it on the
Nintendo DS isn’t that original, I do – in fact – like the touch-screen
controls.
Multiplayer: 5.5
There is an option to play cooperatively, but I highly advise never even
trying it since it’s dreadful with only one viewpoint available for the both of
you.
Overall: 5.9
The replay value of Touch the Dead is limited. Players will either get
frustrated with the checkpoints or they’ll be able to sit down and finish this
in one day if they put focus their time in completing it. If you are a gamer
that only has 20 minute intervals for your Nintendo DS, avoid Touch the Dead
since it will send you in a frenzy when you die.
