Well it has been a while since I have reviewed something or even written something so I figured I would do a review about a video game that is based off of one of my Favorite movies. The Fistfull of Boomstick is a game based off of the the three Evil Dead movies (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, and Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness). Now I would go into detail about these movies but I think I will review the three of them at a later date (Yes I know you think but my King why are you reviewing the game that comes after the movies first....to that I say shut up and start juggling) so I am going to give you the condensed version. When someone reads the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead you dummy) out loud evil demons (Named Deadites) come out and start killing people and its up to Ash (Ashley) Williams who is played by my Favorite Actor Bruce Campbell to take them down. Well in this review I will look at six things Character, Weapons, Locations, Story, how it fits in with the movies, and then my over all opinion. So lets look at my giant fist full of BOOMSTICK.
Character: We have about four main character Mr. Williams the Black Smith, Eldrige, Trisha, and Ash Williams. I figured I would go least important to the most important so I can say a lot about Ash with out you having to sit through the rest of the characters after im done with him.
The Blacksmith: Now I know a character without a first name does not seem very important and for most characters like that you would be right, however Mr. Williams is pretty important in a level where you seem to find yourself in the past. Now im sure you have figured out that same last name+time travel=Great great great great great great great grandpa and well you would be right. The Blacksmith is family and just like Ash he know how to kill and unlike Ash he knows how to make weapons. Williams will do just that making two powerful time breaking weapons which i will discuss later. He is even used in the escape attempt of the main bad guy into the future. You know the drill Williams is captured and the bad guy threatens you saying if I kill the Blacksmith you will die as well. He is right by the way I died that way twice. However once you save the Blacksmith and leave into the time warping vortex he will go on and have kids and invent a second weapon from a piece of scrap metal you gave to him before you left.
Eldrige: Eldrige is one of those brainy types who think they are better then everyone else. He is the reason all this started in the first place and deserves to be slapped about a bit......which you thankfully get to do because he turns out to be power hungry, and becomes the main bad guy for most of the game. Eldrige starts out as a scientist and a historian who found the audio tapes of the man who found the Necronomicon (Will go into more detail in the movie reviews) and like and idiot played them while on a local occult TV show. This releases the evil Deadites on the city of Dearborn MI. Throughout the first few levels he allows you to do all the leg work to gather the things he needs to TAKE OVER THE WORLD (OF COURSE!!!) Once you get the last item he needs called the Kandarian Summoning Stone he hops into a vortex and is carried back in time. Eldrige spreads his evil throughout Dearborn in the Colonial times as well as the Civil War. However Ash finally catches up with him and fills him full of holes just so Eldrige can transform into a dragon like demon. Ash being Ash takes care of Eldrige while making fun of his new found ugly. This will be that last time we see Eldrige seeing as he has come down with a really bad case of deadness.
Trisha: I don't have much to say about Trisha she isn't very important until the end of. For most of the game she was just the attractive red head with a big pair of "eyes" who becomes the love interest. She is just the host of the Occult show Eldrige was on the beginning when all this started. However at the end of the game she turns out as power hungry as Eldrige as she turns out to be the Deadite Queen who you fight at the end of the game (It seems she has been beaten several times with a whole ugly tree.)
Ash: Well its time to talk about the best character in the whole game Ash Williams the main character played by the legend himself BRUCE CAMPBELL!!! Yes the king himself lends his voice to his old character which really makes the character likeable. If they would have had someone else voice Ash it would have not been as good of a game. As I said Ash is our main character for the game and in my opinion you will love being him. He is a rough tough Deadite exterminator. Ash has a sharp instincts and a smart mouth (The game has a wisecrack button) as Ash you get the sense that he has done this before. He has a cocky attitude and pure confidence as fire over your shoulder at a Deadite followed about a rather funny quip about how he can't find his ammo because its in your face. Most of his quips are pretty funny some of course are really corny. Some of my favorite quotes are "Boomstick: $199.99, Shells: 39.99, Zombies heads blowing off: priceless." "One day I'll leave my life of violence behind me. Until then, I'll enjoy my work. " "Hey buddy, what's on your mind? Oops, sorry - I forgot you need a head for that! " "Some people are born to use a chain saw. Me. Well I got one attached to me. " "We've secretly replaced this Deadite's brain with a chain saw blade. But be quiet. Let's see if he notices." Okay thats enough quotes. There are a lot more quotes then that and a lot of them are funny. Ash just makes a good hero or I guess anti hero or whatever all around he is just a well done character.
Weapons: Now this is going to be more of a list of items more then a description this will also involves the magic spells you will find throughout the game. So im gunna break this down the following way Melee, Normal Guns, Explosives, Arm Attachments, and Spells.
Melee: Shovel, Sickle, Sword, Leecher, and Exsanguinator (Which i sadly never found)
Normal Guns: Boomstick (Shot Gun), Pistol, and Hand Cannon (Old Fashioned Hand Gun)
Explosives: TNT, Molotov Cocktails, and Launcher (Which is like a rocket launcher that fires out the TNT and Cocktails)
Arm Attachments now i think i need to explain what this means. If you know the movies you know Ash only has one hand the other one has a chain saw attached to it which you can switch with other big weapons you get through out the game and here is the list.
Arm Attachments: Chain Saw, Spray Pump, Flame Thrower (Made by the Blacksmith in Colonial Dearborn), Gatling Gun (Also made by the Blacksmith after you leave Colonial Dearborn), and the Diamond Chain Saw.
Magic Spells: Extra Strength, Lightning, Stun, Possess Deadite, Possess Dog, Summon Dog, Rain of Fire, Possess Guardian, Possess Slavelord, Seismic Wave, Possess Warrior, and Dispel Runic Lock,
With all the weapons and the Spells you have plenty of ways to squash all the Deadites that try to get into your way.
Locations: This game only has about five completely different locations in the game.
#1) Dearborn: This is the town you start in just a normal ordinary town with like five or six strip clubs. The town itself has nothing special to it but has some key places like the Church, The Lumber Yard, Kitten's Strip Club, The University, and the KLA2 TV station.
#2) The Museum: This place is cool you have a four exhibits to visit Civil War, Colonial, Egyptian, Ice age/Volcanic Earth, bossa Basement, and an Underground Temple....which is where you you will face your first Boss Nathaniel Payne who owns the museum and built the temple. He has turned into a giant monster who will treat you to an easy but fun battle.
#3) Colonial Dearborn: Well this is the first place you go after going back in time and well it feels like your in an older place but it does still feel like your in Dearborn. It sadly doesn't make you feel like you have gone back in time but it does look the part. This is where you meet the Blacksmith however that is really the only thing of interest that is here. So lets go forward in time.
#4) Civil War Dearborn: This place looks and feels like it is seeing war. Building have been destroyed there are holes in the ground and you can find both the Union forces and Confederate Forces in town. Here Eldrige and the Deadites have locked themselves in a fort that you must attack. One man can't take on a whole army on his own however so you will need the help of both the Union and the Confederates to break in. Here is where you will finally face Eldrige and wipe the Ugly off of his face before jumping back to the present but forgetting the Kandarian Summoning Stone back in the fort.
#5) Evil Dearborn: Well you came home to what you thought would be a Dearborn back to normal however it is very much in ruins. It seems while in your absence the Deadites have taken over the town and have even been enslaving the people. This place is a Hell on Earth both in looks and difficulty. there is nothing about this place that is easy when it comes to the enemies. The main Deadites you fight called the Deadite Warrior take four shotgun shells to kill them. This is a place where the town is destroyed and most of the level is underground. It looks scary and it feels scary the enemies are tough and your best bet is to run which isn't hard the enemies are either slow or easy to lose. This place is also where you fight the Trisha the Deadite Queen.
Okay next up is the story which won't take me long. I have already mentioned parts of it so let me just break it down in and make it simple. The passages of the Necronomicon are played on television. The dead rise from the grave and people start being possessed and killing others. Ash starts kicking butt and not caring about names. You go to the Museum to get the Kandarian Summoning Stone. Eldrige uses it to go back in time and use its powers to control the Deadites to take over the world. You follow him to the past before killing him during the civil war. You go back to the present to Evil Dearborn where you must free the human slaves and find three keys to extend a bridge that you will need to enter the Queens Room. Now all you have to do is kill the pile of ugly that once was a hot red head. The you did it game over yay!!! Now if you want me to give you more detail on it then I shall kindly say SHUT UP!!!
So now is the part i have been looking forward to how well does it match up with the movies. The answer to that is perfectly it feels just like im playing out an Evil Dead movie I would say I'm playing out Evil Dead 4 but apparently there was a game before this that was basically Evil Dead 4 just in the form of a bad game. This Movie makes me feel like im Ash im cool i know what im doing and I will shoot you in the face if you become a Deadite. The dialog is just like it would be in a movie the characters are just what they would be like in a movie. Just everything would fit into the movie it just works. Having Bruce Campbell playing Ash in this game is the only way this could have worked.
Finally I have my Overview. Over all this game is good if your a fan of Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell. If you are not a fan of either Evil Dead or Bruce Campbell then you will just find this game as an average Survival Horror game. The game is far from perfect either way but it is a lot of fun. The Boss Fights are really easy but fun like using your shovel to hit Paynes rock blasts back at him or lobbing TNT into Deadite Queen Trisha's Mouth. However the difficulty level is rather high through out. Even when you have enemies that are easily killed you have a lot of them. There are plenty of times when you will have a large group of Deadites to fight at once and with Shot Guns and Chain saws that isn't exactly easy. However the game is never annoyingly hard until you get to Evil Dearborn. Graphics are in about the middle of the road for a PS2 game. I have seen worse but I have seen much better. The Game Play is good with the only real problem is the camera can be a bit annoying. The controls work really well (Even though I don't care for the PS2 controller). Over all I would give this game a solid B which fits it perfectly. This isn't a game that was meant for greatness it was just meant to be a nice present for the fans of the Evil Dead and well that exactly what it is. If you like the Evil Dead movies you will like this game, If you like Bruce Campbell you will like this game, if you are just looking for a survival horror game to pass the time check this game out, however if your not any of these things then this game might not be for you.
Obviously this is just one person who decided to spend his time writing this review when he could be out enjoying life or some dribble like that. In my opinion if I could have easily bought this game and been very happy with it. So tune in next time when I get the motivation to write another review. Like I said I will review the Evil Dead movies sometime in the future until then I will write about whatever the heck I feel like.....until then good bye and I love you.
