Evil Dead: Hail to The King Review

Back in 1982, Sam Raimi's classic 'Evil Dead' series left a lasting impression and soon became very popular. Now, almost twenty years later, people will get a chance to play the delightful Ash played by the famous Bruce Campbell. Alas, my fellow fans, no matter how much you loved the movies, I'm afraid I'll have to advise against playing this game. If you are really a true fan then you'll be thrilled to know that Bruce himself gave the voice-over to the lead character. Nonetheless, I regret to say that if you decide to immerse yourself deeper into the heart of this game, it will come as huge disappointment. Briefly, Evil Dead: Hail to The King represents one of the countless games that were inspired by Hollywood hit movies and, as expected, were ruined because of hasty design and programming.

The storyline remains true to the film scenario and is presumably taking place some time after the Army of Darkness (Evil Dead 3). In its basics, the story of the 'Evil Dead' couldn't be more simple: there's an enigmatic ancient book called the 'Necronomicon des Mortes' which, if opened, will unleash tons of evil demons and heaps of disgusting creatures. In the first part of the story the main character, Ash, managed somehow to reverse the spell and destroy all of the existing monsters. In the shuffle, he lost his arm. Anyways, the plot continues through this game; and the evil is released once again, leaving you as the only one who has the guts to stand up to it (surprise, surprise). One of your central tasks from the start is to bring back the torn out pages of the Necronomicon book, so that you can undo the terrible incantation, which allowed the monsters to roam around freely. Sadly, your new sweetheart, Jenny, had disappeared, so you'll also need to rescue her from the clutches of the demons.

Drawbacks are evident from the very beginning. Once you 'survive' the extremely cough INTENSE introduction sequence, you'll be shocked when you see how awful the main character looks. In addition, you'll find that once you start completing your quests, there is not a thing that would contribute to unfolding the plot. Many gamers will not only be discouraged because of the character's appearance and the badly designed plot, but also by some major gameplay setbacks. For instance, once you begin chopping your way through masses of evil minions, you will immediately notice that one specific type of monster will keep attacking you endlessly, no matter how many of them you've sliced, and it is quite annoying to have to fight a million opponents that look exactly the same. The lack of plot development and such repetitive and unimaginative enemies can really ruin it for ya right off the bat.

Opponents that respawn in certain locations (almost constantly) will attack you, not allowing you to pass without killing them. Your character will frequently run out of pistol and shotgun ammo, and sometimes, your chainsaw won't have the necessary amount of fuel, which means you'll need to slice the monsters armed only with a rusty, and pretty puny axe. Now this takes up a lot of your time, patience, and it will soon become very dreary. In contrast, there will be a few bosses in certain sections that kind of brake the monotony. Sadly, this won't last long, cause after you've iced the tougher enemies the game goes back to being crappy and boring once more. After all, how much fun is it to encounter endless quantities of identical ugly-looking skeletons (for fifty times in a row) that dance around and kick you in a Bruce Lee fashion? Believe me, it looks really stupid.

By the way, anybody remember Resident Evil? Well, the recollection was evoked by the almost identical inventory and the method that's used for combining items in order to gain ammo or health. Moreover, some weapons are alike - the pistol, shotgun, and so on.