Touch the Dead
Score: 70% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Eidos Interactive Developer: Dread On Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Shooter
Graphics & Sound: Touch the Dead. The title alone is enough to generate all manner of necrophilia jokes and other assumptions about what the game is about, or at least that was the case when it arrived in the mail. Beyond the name, however, Touch the Dead is a unique offering on the DS; it takes the system's touch-based controls and fits them into an on-rails shooter that you would typically expect to see in an arcade. Although the unique approach produces a great first impression, it doesn't take long before you realize the game is coyote ugly. Touch the Dead is an ugly game - and I don't mean because you are fighting a near limitless horde of zombies and other undead abominations. If the DS has any failings, it is that its 3D capabilities aren't the best. Still, some developers have managed to really push the system's limits while others, like Touch the Dead, simply do an okay job. Touch the Dead's environments are bland and sterile. Zombies fare a little better, though it becomes really hard to tell what you are shooting at - especially later on when every shot counts. When you do hit a spot you are treated to a body part flying off, though sometimes the animations can be deceiving. When hit with a near head shot, the zombie's head jerks back. Given the grainy quality of the visuals, it looks like you scored a headshot and the head grew back, only that's not what is really happening, turning your glee into panic. Nothing stands out about sound. You have gunfire noises, groans of zombies and appropriate music. While you are likely to hear these every so often, it is easy to tune it all out during the game.
Gameplay: Touch the Dead (which as far as I can tell bears no relation to Sega's light gun series) follows the clichéd premise that you are a man who was put in jail for a crime you didn't commit. While serving your time, things go nuts and the prison becomes overrun by zombies. You are one of the few survivors, so you arm up and try to make your way out of the prison. Once again, the gameplay concept behind the game is good, if only because it is different. Off the top of my head, the only other game I can think that tried a similar approach was Point Blank. However, that attempt didn't end well and neither does Touch the Dead. Gameplay is easy to pick up; you are guided through the prison's winding halls as zombies try to attack in groups. Each group begins far away and slowly lumbers towards you, giving you time to shoot as many as you can before they reach you, causing damage. You being with only a handgun and unlock new guns as the game rolls on. All you have to do to shoot is tap the location you are aiming at. You want to score as many headshots as you can since that is the only sure way to quickly take zombies down (though there is that animation problem, which makes this a tad harder than you think). You can also go aim for other body parts, though the only other effective area are legs, which slow down the zombie's movement. Reloading requires dragging clips from a spot on the screen into your gun. The method works, is generally responsive and even adds a bit of panic as you rush to reload before enemies get too close. When only facing a few zombies it works flawlessly - though that only lasts as long as the first three levels. After that, zombies come at you in such large groups and so fast that it becomes unfairly difficult to have to shoot and reload. Human reflexes can only go so fast.
Difficulty: Touch the Dead is a challenge for sure. First, you have to deal with the reload mechanic which adds a sense of panic to the game. Sometimes that panic will leave you with a smile of fun satisfaction; other times you'll find yourself cursing up a storm. Checkpoints are scarce and only show up between segments in each chapter. If you die, you go right back to the beginning of the section with the health you had when you first reached that section, so there are few opportunities for a "cheap" boost in health and there is always a chance you can end up in a very bad spot, forcing a restart. Like any light gun game, Touch the Dead was made for multiple replays of levels. Enemies, health and ammo are all in the same spots and you follow the same on-rails path, so your success is dictated in large part to how well you can memorize paths and patterns. Of course, this style of play won't appeal to everyone and the balance is off in portions of the game, but for those who enjoy a challenge, you will find it here.
Game Mechanics: Overall, the touch screen response is good, at least during less hectic times. When you have multiple zombies on screen, you may need to tap twice to get a response, or at least it feels that way since some shots never feel like they have much impact. Dragging ammo into the gun's chamber can also suffer from a little bit of lag, or at least really picky detection. It is easy to drag the bullets over to the chamber only to have them not load since it wasn't in the right spot - so you really have to watch what you are doing, a difficult task when you are facing a group of zombies. Ammo never seems to be much of a problem, though in the event you do run out, your handgun has infinite ammo. In addition to finding new weapons, which are selected by pressing the appropriate direction on the D-pad, you can also find gun upgrades. These increase damage or, even more useful, speed up reload times. Touch the Dead isn't flawless, though it does have a place in the DS's library and gives developers another genre to refine on the system. The only major thing that will keep players out is the difficulty level. Touch the Dead is not an impossible shooter, though it is difficult. Still, if hard is something you look for in games, or you find yourself dumping quarters into light gun games, Touch the Dead is worth a look.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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