Evil Dead: Regeneration

I'm a huge fan of the Evil Dead movies, but I'd never got around to playing the games, mostly due to the fact that I used to be more of a Gamecube kind of guy. So when I finally did get a PS2, this was the first game I bought, and I loved it. Nobody is cooler than Bruce Campbell as Ash, throwing one liners and bad jokes like they were confetti. His newly added sidekick is somewhat amusing, but gets annoying fast. The gameplay is very repetitive, but still pretty fun. The bosses aren't very hard, but they look awesome and have some cool attacks. The ending left me disappointed, but to avoid spoilers I wont go into why. Overall it's a pretty fun game. It has it's flaws, but fun and not too challenging.

Alright first off if you have seen and liked any of the movie trilogy these games are a must. This is the third game that THQ came out with and it is pretty sweet. The game retails for about $19.95 and has playing capability on X-box, PS2 etc. You Got That!? The game, although rather short, is still butt loads of fun to play. It has all the deadite killing, chainsaw swinging action of the movies but you control Ash. As usual Ash has great one liners, and so does his half deadite half human sidekick Sam. Although the aray of weapons is not as great as the previous titles, there is more along the lines of combos with the chainsaws and boomstick. The graphics are pretty sweet, and the game play is great. It's fun to see how many ways you can just sever limbs off of the deadites. Also the story that goes along with it isn't bad. And the short clips are pretty funny. Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart.

OK first things first,this game is not the greatest game ever released.It will never win awards for graphics storyline or gameplay.It's really just another devil may cry clone yet even with all these stacked against the game it's still brilliant. Yes it may sound like a contradiction but this game really is fun to play.It may be repetitive and unoriginal but what sets this apart from most games of a similar nature is of course,Mr Bruce Campbell.Hell one of the only reasons that most people would have bought this game would have been to see Ash once again slice and dice whilst delivering the most cheesily entertaining one liners imaginable. Is this game worth 50 quid?No far from it,but if you pick this baby up second hand your in for a treat.The extras featuring campbell alone make this game worth buying

In most ways this third game based on the "Evil Dead" saga works better than the second one, 2003's "Fistful of Boomstick". It has much more variety (I loved the previous film, but come on just being in the town of Dearbourne the whole game did seem a tad repetitive), the controls are a tad more intuitive, the bosses tougher (not by much, but the bosses in "FOB" WERE insanely easy) and the inclusion of Ted Raimi as Sam a deadite midget on the side of good that you can torture unmercifully is a stroke of genius. But, on the other hand, there was the ending (don't worry, I won't spoil it), but suffice it to say, for those of you that saw the ultra-cool ending of "Fistful of Boomstick" that the ending to this one (which granted would suck regardless if you beat the previous game or not) was all the more bad. In "FOB" the ending made you feel like you accomplished something, I just didn't get that feeling when I beat this one. And that shaded my viewing of the entire game somewhat. But "Regeneration" is still a very worthy game to be added to the Evil Dead mythos. Plus you can't go wrong at a price tag of merely 20 bucks. I really can't wait for the Evil Dead games for the next generation consoles (360, PS3)

My Grade: B

Decent game, but there's way too many things keeping this game from greatness:

• The combat is clunky. No flow. Combos don't really matter as the best strategy is to constantly strafe and shoot if you want to avoid being hit.
• Also the balance is off. For example, I didn't find the Evil Ash mode especially useful until the final boss. Fun mode, but an inessential mechanic unfortunately.
• And blocking doesn't work well. The response is slow and blocking doesn't block most enemy attacks later in the game.
• Overall combat is repetitive and not satisfying.

• 3D platforming was still lousy in this 6th generation of gaming, and Regeneration is no exception.

• The little helper dude Sam was annoying. I understand that was the point, but intent does not wash a negative experience. And when in possessed mode, his music is very grating.

• The cutscenes and story are whatever, as they don't add anything of great interest to the Evil Dead lore. Even Ash's attitude and one-liners seem tame here, compared to the source material, the films.

I'll take a Suda51 game in this department any day. In fact Suda51 should make an Evil Dead game. THAT would be great. Similar games like DMC or Bayonetta... those are also better experiences than what Regenerations offers. I would recommend many other 3D shoot-melee-combo-y games over this title.

• The game is on the short side, can easily be beaten in under 10 hours. I didn't mind however; I was glad when the game ended. Getting through it ultimately felt like a chore, rather than a fun experience.

• - - The graphics are fine. The sound is fine. I appreciate that this game was made and the devs obviously cared. But Regneration lacks the fine-tuning of a great game. Evil Dead: Regeneration is a product of its time. Kinda cool but lacks depth, and the combat isn't satisfying and varied enough to invite replays.

One playthrough was enough. I'm sure there's gamers replaying this now with their nostalgia goggles on. That's fine. I'm playing this for the first (and only) time in 2020. My only nostalgia is for the Evil Dead films, so I was very unbiased--but hopeful--going into this game.

Glad I played it. Kinda neat. Nothing great or particularly memorable however. After two 3D Evil Dead games, I expected more. But the devs didn't seem to learn enough from those previous attempts. What's sadder is that this is apparently the best game of the three. YIKES.

Underwhelming. And yet, the Evil-Deadness of it all and Bruce Campbell's V.O. elevate Regeneration to slightly better than average. Far from being a bad game, I'm still left with the feeling that this was another missed opportunity to honor the Evil Dead property. Those films deserve a great game, and I'm worried we'll never get one.