Cast your mind back about twenty years. It was an era where zombie films were huge, the two most successful being George A. Romero's trilogy of the dead and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. The fundamental difference between the two was the approach, whilst Romero opted for a serious zombie film, Raimi was much more tongue in cheek.

Resident Evil was influenced by the trilogy of the dead whilst Evil Dead appeared on the PSONE. Now Evil Dead returns to the gaming world once more in the form of Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick. The game stars Bruce Campbell as Ash contains an array of weapons and is one of the goriest games to grace any console. After the limited success of the first title it will be interesting to see Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick can succeed where the original did not.

GRAPHICS

Although Evil Dead doesn't boast the greatest graphics for a horror game it is one of the bloodiest. Dismembered limbs scatter across the screen as Ash disposes of deadites in a variety of ways. Heads can be cleanly removed using a shotgun or pistol whereas the chainsaw can remove everything in sight with one bloody swing. Evil Dead can best be compared with the likes of Bloodrayne and Blood Omen in terms of gameplay. The graphics are not of the same standard as Silent Hill or Resident Evil as they are done in a more cartoon manner. This is appropriate to the slapstick manner of the Evil Dead films. Despite graphics being a little jagged there are a great more enemies displayed on screen than in Resident Evil. Whereas Resident Evil will typically display a maximum of four zombies on screen at a time Evil Dead can see as many as twenty deadites chasing after Ash. As luck would have it if Ash ignores deadites and runs into different areas then the amount of deadites advancing will increase. Remember the crimson heads on Resident Evil? They had outstanding pace and were almost as fast as the character themselves. Every deadite is as fast as this on Evil Dead! Essentially what this means is graphics are average but blood and action is exceptional. Cut scenes are more or less the same visually with subtitles for those hard of hearing but occasionally FMV's kick in. FMV's are spectacular and show Ash at his very best! Gamers may be disappointed with the graphics on first inspection but take into account the number of deadites on screen and it will be easy for gamers to understand why the graphics had to suffer slightly.

15/20

SOUND

Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick sees Bruce Campbell voice Ash. For fans of the Evil Dead films this will be very welcome after his brilliant performances in the films. Campbell has a few phrases that serve as taunts to enemies. Campbell voices all Ash' cut scene and FMV lines as the storyline progresses. Sadly there are only a few taunts available meaning gamer's soon grow tired of the taunts as Campbell keeps repeating himself. To compliment this there is an appropriately eerie soundtrack and the usual gunshots, monster growls and blood squelching. The sound is essentially standard so don't expect a fully orchestral Resident Evil soundtrack!

14/20

GAMEPLAY

This is a fast paced slash 'em up. Gamers frantically decimate deadites using anything from a common spade to a shotgun to the mighty flamethrower. In addition to the frantic action there are also cut scenes that help advance the storyline. The storyline is fairly similar to that of the films and take place in the modern world, the 1600's and the civil war. At one stage Ash travels back in time to find one of his ancestors, needless to say if he does not save his ancestor Ash will die. It is not all about dissecting deadites for there are also puzzle elements. Puzzles are never particularly taxing and usually consist of obtaining items or finding appropriate keys to unlock doors. This means that the game doesn't have much depth and can be taken at face value, the advantage of this is that there aren't many tasks that detract from the excitement of hoarding off the undead!

In addition to the main story mode gamers may also play an arcade mode. Levels in arcade mode are unlocked only after they have been completed in the main mode. Arcade mode sees gamers take on various challenges where they will be presented with a time and grade after completing the challenge. The challenges are essentially fairly similar; gamers must kill all deadites in the areas in the fastest possible time with certain weapons. The difficulty in the challenge varies in the weapon the player has for the challenge, obviously if the gamer has a shotgun with explosive rounds the challenge is fairly straightforward, however a mere spade may make the challenge that little bit harder!

The thought of simply killing deadites for an entire game may seem a little repetitive. Thankfully gamers can also use spells with various effects. Spells are fairly similar to those seen in Eternal Darkness as gamers can become deadites, gain extra strength, electrocute enemies with a lightning bolt and even cast a shower of fire to kill all enemies nearby!

Essentially Evil Dead is an enjoyable deadite killing affair, with a decent storyline, spells, and a few item collecting tasks. It just seems to lack that extra bit of spice to make the game really special although it is certainly an improvement on the pitiful first game.

17/25

LIFESPAN

The main mode spans over six levels with three boss fights. Although this does not take too much time to complete first time through the challenges on arcade mode will keep gamers busy for a while, particularly the more difficult tasks. There is also an extras screen including artwork, credits and a bonus video that sees Bruce Campbell talk about the game and his excitement to be working on another Evil Dead project. As with the arcade levels the artwork is unlocked a level at a time, meaning the only way to view the artwork is to complete the entire game. All this may be well and good but there is one other "extra" that adds a lot of life to the game and this is the inclusion of Evil Dead 2 with the game. This is undoubtedly a classic zombie film and will bring back memories to fans of the film and show newcomers exactly why Evil Dead 2 was rated so highly back in 1987.

19/25

ORIGINALITY

There is certainly little in the form of originality in Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick. Instead gamers are treated to familiar zombie shooting action. The inclusion of spells is a little different to your average horror game but bearing in mind it has been seen on Eternal Darkness it is hardly innovative! The sheer amount of deadites on screen works in Evil Dead's favour and the unrealistic graphics remind gamers that Evil Dead is the only comedy horror game available. The only other original aspect to Evil Dead is the inclusion of a film with a game which has never been seen before!

5/10

OVERALL

Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick is a blood soaked fun filled experience. It does not set new boundaries and is never going to be a game of the year but it will prove entertaining while it lasts. At a reasonable £29.99 and the inclusion of Evil Dead 2 (retail price of at least £9.99 separately) this is definitely worth a look. It is by no stretch of the imagination in the same league as Resident Evil but is a much more comical game with its own merits. Those even considering checking out this game rent it, Evil Dead fans purchase, and those looking for a game of the same magnitude as Resi look elsewhere.

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