This weeks review (and next week’s as well , I fear) is Evil Dead: Regeneration. Or, as I refer to it ” Evil Dead v. My Computer.”

It’ll go perfectly with your ‘Army of Darkness’ tv tray and Bruce Campbell pajamas

Few facts for those who are interested in a budget title solely because Bruce Campbell and Sam Rami are involved:

1) This game delivers exactly what you’d expect as a fan of the series. Campy fun, plenty gore, gallows humor, the actual voice work of Campbell & Rami. Low budget graphics.

2) The gameplay is a hybrid of previously successful models - but dumbed down

3) Be prepared for the possibility that the game will be a beast to get working porperly.

My third point here is actually what I’ll start with. I attempted an install & play of this game on three rigs - from low end (1.8 g Intel, 512 ram, 64 vram) - to my mid range (2700+ AMD, 2g pc 3200ram, 128 vram) - all with less than acceptable success. Across the board I experienced lockups, serious bogging down and audio anomolies on a frequent (after 5-15 minutes of play consistently) basis. I normally don’t evaluate a game so strongly on what could be a configuration/patching issue but the troubles I experienced were extreme in my opinion.

The fact is, this game is for budget title buyers interested because of the movie tie in and who are likely novice users with little patience for such problems . When you find out that the game will not repsond to ANY input (keyboard, mouse, gamepad, etc) the first time you fire it up…well, lets say its not a good sign. Turns out you cant use anything but the keyboard to navigate in the in game menus, or you’ll have to exit and restart, losing your game in the process (this is the official resolution on the support boards mind you). Consider all this and the fact this game comes on FOUR cds - I’m wondering whats packed in the other 3 & 1/2. To be fair- its probably all the cutscenes (which are enjoyable for their humor).

Due to the freak electrical storm over my apartment last evening (which might have been induced by the repeated mentioning of the Necronomicon), I was forced to abandon my attempts to get Evil Dead: Regeneration to work. I will post a full review next week - but for now here’s what I’ve seen (after updating drivers for every component in my rig as well as the bios).

Gameplay - As I mentioned earlier, the game (like many budget titles) is an amalgamation of various “higher class” titles out on the market. Its part Prince of Persia (puzzle solving plus hack & slash with finishing moves), part Suffering (weapon combos, dark linear storyline) and part Soldier of Fortune ( waves of enemies with simple AI). Oh, did I say “higher class”? Oops.

You have unlimited shotgun ammo and a chainsaw to start the game, adding additional weapons for more elaborate combos later on in the game. The most elaborate of these secondary weapons is a half-Deadite midget thats voiced by director Sam Rami that you pickup as your sidekick.

What’s an Evil Dead movie without a chainsaw?

The fighting is pretty simple - alternating left & right clicks with nothing more advanced than L-R-L. The finishing moves are satisfyingly gory & funny, and you’ll have plenty of chances to see them all with the number of enemies they throw at you. I’ve been told that you can use your sidekick late in the game to solve puzzles (as you can toss the little bugger around without hurting him or his feelings) - but I have yet to meet up with him.

Insert your ‘Ash Kicking’ jokes here….

Graphics: The game is $20, and a B-movie tie in - so I wasn’t surprised by the low res textures, jaggies or bad lip synching. The game looks like its a UT2003 mod, and sometimes I swear I’m playing Tactical Assault in a haunted funhouse.

Its almost like the dead have come to life…..640×480, low resolution life.

Sound: Voice acting, as always with Bruce and company, is spot on. I am a fan of Rami & Campbell - so I’m not exactly unbaised. But anyone buying this game is going to be a fan, so I’m not worried. Its got a mix of samples straight from Evil Dead 2, as well as newly recorded material made just for this game.

So far: I’m sure only fanboys would put as much time in as I have to get this game working, and to be honest…it may be worth it. What remains to be seen is if they can give me just enough new weapons, enemies and most importantly - new Campbell jokes - to make this otherwise average game a fitting tribute to the crappy movies that inspired it. I say “crappy” in a good way - I mean, I do own these movies after all…so maybe that says something about what I expect on a “production quality” level in my entertainment.

Stay Tuned for the final verdict.