gemini://gem.lizsugar.me/2024/02/26/typing-of-the-dead-overkill.gmi

I ADORE the original Typing of the Dead. House of the Dead 2 (which Typing is based on) is just goofy as hell. Typing takes that, turns it from a light gun game into a Teaches Typing game, and then builds on that goofiness with a WEIRD dictionary of words, phrases, sentences, and even question and answer segments. Typing of the Dead Overkill adapts House of the Dead Overkill which came out in the mid-aughts. I did play the shooter version on my friend's Wii in college and was left disappointed. Here as well, I am disappointed.

It should be known that I totally skipped all of the skippable story sequences. Just mash escape until I can start typing again. The shooter version of this game is mid-aughts "edgy" and it's obnoxious. I don't _think_ it's particularly bigoted, though I do question the 90s-esque representation of the main Black character that gets paired up with G. And the representations of some side-main characters that are professional sex workers. There's story elements presented during gameplay anyway, so I feel like I got an understanding of the characters just the same. It wasn't particularly enjoyable.

Let's talk typing next, since that's what this game is About. The main meat of the gameplay is moving through levels and whenever a ~~zombie~~ mutant appears, you're presented with a word or phrase to type. Once you successfully type it, the mutant is dead. If you take too long, the mutant can get a hit in on you. Make a typo or get hit and you risk your combo. Finish a word without (too many) issues to increase your combo and earn more points to place higher on the scoreboard. Pretty standard, carried over perfectly from the first Typing of the Dead, and this part of the game feels fantastic, perfect. The dictionary is still pretty silly at times, and now, through Steam Workshop, you can download custom user-made dictionaries (or make your own by going into the dictionary directory and just throwing words into a file). These range from genre words to a list of all titles published for the Nintendo Entertainment System, to, predictably... words from fascist trump's speeches... 😒 Gamers have a problem with so readily accepting and celebrating fascism.

Speaking of "genre words," the first Typing had "power ups" and special items you could pick up that would affect the words you received. Some were called "genre words" which gave you a bunch of words from the same, uh, genre. Say it gave you entirely a medical theme one time. Another time it might give you entirely a farming theme. It was really neat and switched things up. Other modifiers gave you words that alliterated, etc. These are entirely absent in Typing Overkill. It's kind of a bummer. Further, many bosses gave you stories in their typing challenges, and one boss offered a question-and-answer kinda deal. It was all pretty silly and made replaying the first game a ton of fun to see just what the game would tell you this time. In all my twenty years of playing the original Typing of the Dead, I have not seen many major repeats at all. The bosses in Overkill feel a bit more bland in that regard. There's less character in the challenges they present you.

Moving through a level feels weird. It feels like a lot of scenes should have more enemies but don't. In fact, often there are a lot of ~~zombies~~ mutants throughout the scene, just chilling, and they don't actually attack you. Your characters even look at them as you pass them by. It's jarring. Every enemy that appeared in the original was shootable/typable. And I have to wonder if you can shoot these untypable mutants in the shooter version (which **is** actually bundled in the Steam release of Typing of the Dead Overkill, but good lord I have no desire to play a lightgun game on a tablet PC). Did they tone down the mutant count for the typing version? The first Typing of the Dead was a near perfect translation of House of the Dead, to my knowledge. The flow felt a lot smoother and more deliberate and the pacing was good. So I'm just left confused by the way Overkill handles it.

When I said in the intro that the original Typing was a Teaches Typing game, I meant it. Outside of the arcade mode and the story mode (both of which run through all six chapters and I truly cannot find a difference between them except maybe for scoring), there's a boss rush mode and then trials mode. Trials mode is fantastic because it has several typing tutorials. You practice small words, home row positioning, single key targets, timing, accuracy, etc. It's a full and proper typing tutor. It's fantastic. This is _entirely_ missing from Overkill, which only has three minigames that do not focus on typing drills.

The environments are a lot more varied than the first game, which is highly welcome. But every character is annoying as hell in that "the developers are trying too hard to capture the accidental awkward goofiness of the earlier games" way. It would have been more enjoyable if they played the story seriously to be honest. One thing Overkill has over the first is collectables. Each level has a few types of collectables, and you have to hit the Tab key to collect them when you see them. They unlock things and give you a bit more reason to replay the game. There is nothing like this in the first Typing of the Dead.

One final difference: In Typing Overkill the characters use guns. In Typing the characters have Dreamcasts and big batteries strapped to their back, while hanging in front of them from a harness is a Dreamcast keyboard. In game, in universe, they are actually typing to kill the zombies. It's silly, and it's worth watching the cutscenes just for that. That Overkill doesn't do anything similar is honestly really disappointing and makes it feel like the devs didn't care to make that little silly change, or more realistically they weren't given the time and budget to make that silly little change. This is, by no means, a deal breaker, but I think it's really exemplifies the silliness of the first game.

I guess in short, if you want a ~~zombie~~ mutant shooting typing game, absolutely pick up Typing of the Dead Overkill. It does the typing portion very well and going through the campaign is still fun even if the story and characterization is awkward and painful. And if you can, check out the original Typing of the Dead too, which is maybe available in an arcade near you, and also on Dreamcast, Windows, and PlayStation 2.