THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2: Remake

The game is good. I own the original CD version, but the price is unfortunately too high. If the game is on sale, I'll definitely jump at it.

Faithful recreation of the original, beat-for-beat in the gameplay loop and scenes; it does not reinvent the wheel and that's exactly why I like it. The game is the same just with upgraded visuals, sharper audio, and in the case of this sequel the og soundtrack is an option. Not sure why all the reviews are dogpiling on this game. Things like the voice acting "has no charm" (which, if we're being honest, is nothing more than nostalgia rationilizing technology limitations of the time) is wrong, the voice acting is kept stilted and surreal but with more distinctive voices, and unlike those reviews who are going off sheer rosy-tinted memory, I actually have the original ports on Wii and play them quite often to this day, so I know most of the so-called "charm" is still there. The game launched with bugs, which I encountered during the demo, but I can confidently say they're non-existent now. Overall, the game delivers on the pure arcade loop: aim, shoot, reload, repeat. No grinding, no filler, just frantic action from start to finish.