Touch the Dead... Weird name, right? This game is an on-rails shooter that plays a lot like House of the Dead, which as mentioned before, is one of my all time favorite games. It obviously doesn't support a light gun, and instead takes advantage of the touch screen. You shoot by using the stylus to tap your zombie attackers, and reload by dragging a clip across the screen to your gun.
It's actually a lot more challenging than it sounds, and gets chaotic when you are being attacked by multiple enemies of different types. Some just shamble up to you and take a swing, while others are can be more aggressive. There are huge zombies that deal a bit more damage, and even some that will toss there heads at you. You are forced to decide which ones to attack first, as tapping and reloading takes more time than you would think, and you have to be quick to dispatch of them in the right order lest you have your face eaten.
The story is kind of meh, but the atmosphere did keep me intrigued. The main character, Rob Steiner, not to be confused with Rob Schneider of Deuce Bigalow fame, is sitting in a prison cell when his cell door suddenly opens up. Like any sane criminal would, he decides to cheese it on out of there. He is greeted by a bunch of empty cells and a few prison guards that have a hankering for brains. The game does a good job of maintaining a creepy feel, as the place feels totally deserted, and just when you start to get comfortable a maggot ridden corpse jumps at the screen.
The graphics are reminiscent of the blocky stuff that we used to see on the Sega Saturn, but they don't make the game unplayable by any means. If you are a graphics whore then it would probably be pretty bothersome, but otherwise it doesn't take away from an overall fun game.
In the end, I had a blast with this game. It gets very challenging as it goes on and I honestly had a hard time putting it down, even after dying a few times. The game is a bit short overall, but its perfect for a portable console like the DS. There are enough secrets and hidden power-ups to keep someone interested for a while. This one is definitely worth checking out, especially if you are a House of the Dead fan.
