Evil Dead: Regeneration
I became a fan of the Evil Dead films
around age 15, when the films were so obscure my parents had to buy
used tapes from a Canadian video store to get me them for Christmas. By
the time I got to college, the films had already gone from cult to
legendary status, and by the time I'd graduated from college, there were
not only a half-dozen different special DVD editions of the three
films, but action figures, comics, and a videogame.
To be fair, there was actually a videogame even before Evil Dead 2; there was a 1984 Evil Dead game made for the Commodore 64. But the first post-ED boom game was Evil Dead: Hail to the King, released for the Playstation in 2000. It was a survival horror game a la Resident Evil, which probably wasn’t the best genre for a game based on Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness. The game tanked, despite a decent ad campaign featuring Bruce Campbell. The next attempt, in 2003, was a rip-off of the game State of Emergency, and the game was little more than running around killing monsters.
I never actually played either of those games. I played a little of Hail to the King but quickly realized it wasn't any fun. I had more or less given up on the idea of an Evil Deadgame until my good friend Kain of Deadites.net hooked me up with a copy of Evil Dead: Regeneration. Looking at the box, the concept seemed interesting: a semi-sequel to Evil Dead 2 that takes off from the end of that film, pretending that the whole trip-to-1300/Army of Darkness never happened.
In the game's storyline, Ash (voiced by Campbell) has been committed to a
mental institution run by Dr. Reinhard (prolific voice actor Jim Ward),
a mad scientist-type, complete with thick German accent, who seems
quite fascinated by Ash's copy of theNecronomicon.
Reinhard predictably reads the book aloud and blah blah blah demons are
unleashed on Earth and start possessing innocent people. Now only the
one-handed but well-armed Ash stands between humanity and demonic
armageddon.
Actually, that's not quite true. Ash has a little help in the form of
Sam (no doubt named after Sam Raimi), a pint-sized Deadite who still has
his soul and is basically a good guy - albeit one who can die time and
again and come back to life.
What I loved about Evil Dead: Regeneration was the way it took concepts from Evil Dead 2 and incorporated them perfectly into the game's mechanics as well as the storyline. For instance, in ED2 Ash is twice turned into a Deadite himself, though both times he manages to return to his humanhood. In Regeneration,
when the player has killed enough Deadites and filled a special meter,
Ash can "hulk out" into Deadite Ash, complete with super-strength and a
heavy metal soundtrack, for a brief time. While not necessarily in line
with the Evil Dead mythos, it's a creative use of the film's story and just one of a number of fun game mechanics.
Another fun aspect - and the one that won me over - is Sam. Sam's
greatest gift is that he can be killed repeatedly and always returns to
life. Therefore, you can punt him into just about anything; bonfires,
monsters' mouths, pits, and so forth, and he'll always come back to you.
In fact, you'll need to do things like shoot him, set him on fire, and
boot him down monster gullets in order to beat the game. You can also
kick him onto lesser monsters and he’ll pull their heads off while
you're dealing with the big bads.
As I mentioned, there are also some cool references to Evil Dead 2's storyline. One odd moment in ED2 occurs
when the dead Professor Raymond Knowby appears as a ghost (in cheap
clown-white make-up) to give some advice. It's an interesting scene that
provides some exposition but ultimately leaves you wondering: what the
hell happened to Knowby and why is he a ghost now? That question doesn't
actually get answered inRegeneration, but Knowby does appear several times to explain the storyline to dimwit Ash and provide advice when needed.
Also, the infamous "rotten pumpkin" monster from the end of ED2 reappears here in a somewhat different role.
Regeneration doesn't
offer absolutely state-of-the-art graphics, but they're still quite
good, especially the facial expressions on Sam and Ash (even if Ash
looks a little bit like a berserk Woody from Toy Story).
The audio, however, is a different story. Campbell is firing on all
cylinders as Ash, but what really makes the game is the banter between
Ash and the mini-Deadite Sam, who is voiced by Ted Raimi (Sam's brother,
who played Joxer on Xena) with a thick Brooklyn accent and a tough-guy attitude. Some of the one-liners between the two of them are priceless:
Ash: Hey Napoleon, open that gate for me and make it snappy.
Sam: I don't know who you think you are, but I demand respect!
Ash: Oh, you want respect? Stop complaining to my crotch!
Sam: OOOOH! You just made a big mistake, buddy. You've messed with the wrong midget! I'll shove my boot so far up your ass, you'll need a shoehorn to swallow!
Ash: Well, even your temper's short!
The rest of the sound effects, from the Deadite screams to the boom of Ash's boomstick, are also well done and quite clear.
But how's the action? Predictably, it's really fun. In addition to his
classic chainsaw-and-shotgun combination, Ash gains a number of
secondary weapons through the storyline, including a grappling gun and a
flamethrower for his "mechanical" hand, and a new gun: the bomb-lance, a
whaling weapon that was essentially a kind of 19th Century missile
launcher.
One last thing I should mention is, for lack of a better term, the
"direction" of the game. I don't know how much this occurred in the
previous games, but the designers made an effort to mimic Raimi's
distinctive manic style from ED2,
right down to the crazy, comicbook-style camera angles and Three
Stooges-esque comedy. The result feels more cinematic than some movies.
Evil Dead: Regeneration isnt
perfect. It's not exactly a complex or thought-provoking gaming
experience. It’s also a little short and a bit too easy; using the
grappling gun-and-shotgun combination, you can destroy almost any enemy
in five seconds.
Download Link 2
Crack 1
Crack 2
Crack 3
Crack 4
Crack 5
