| The Typing of the Dead | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | WOW Entertainment, Smilebit |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Rikiya Nakagawa & Shun Arai (Producers) Masamitsu Shiino (Director) |
| Composer(s) | Tetsuya Kawauchi |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Dreamcast, Windows, PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
Dreamcast
Windows
PlayStation 2
|
| Genre(s) | Action, Education |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) ELSPA: 15+ |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM (Windows) GD-ROM (Dreamcast) |
| System requirements
Windows Version |
|
The Typing of the Dead (original Japanese title ザ・タイピング・オブ・ザ・デッド) is an arcade game (later ported to the Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2), released in 1999 based on The House of the Dead 2. While the latter is a standard light gun shooter, Typing replaces the gun with the keyboard.
While the game is an educational game, as it requires players to enhance their typing skills to be successful, it has been praised by critics primarily for its comedic content.
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The Typing of the Dead has been described variously as a remake or mod of the original House of the Dead 2. Like the original, Typing of the Dead is styled as a first-person rail shooter game, but substitutes shooting zombies and other enemies with typing out words or phrases to kill them. When enemies appear, they are accompanied by a box showing a word, sentence or phrase which must be typed to neutralize the enemy. The length, and complexity, of the phrases increase during the game's progression.[1][2] Other features retained include the challenges of saving survivors, which will alter the path the player character will take to his final destination, and the secrets/bonus items hidden throughout the game.[3]
All levels contain specific challenge areas, where the player is required to kill a certain number of zombies in limited time, and are ended with a boss battle using some sort of alteration of usual gameplay (e.g. a long phrase, typing the correct answer to a question etc.)[2] The console ports have two modes, "Original" and "Arcade," for the main storyline, as well as "Tutorial," "Drill," and "Boss" modes for additional typing training.[4] Other changes are mostly superficial, including replacing the weapons wielded by zombies with harmless items and equipping the AMS agents with keyboards attached to backpack Dreamcasts with oversized batteries (even on the PC version), and one of the bosses, The Tower, has three heads instead of five heads.[4]
The plot of the game follows that of House of the Dead 2 almost completely.[4] The story begins on February 26, 2000, where another zombie outbreak has occurred and several AMS agents have been dispatched to investigate. The player can control two characters, James and Gary, who are first sent to find the original game's "G" before being tasked with restoring order.[5][6] Responsibility for the outbreaks is soon traced to "Goldman," a banking tycoon and scientist who is attempting to end human control of the earth.[7][8] Much of the game revolves around destroying Goldman's creations, concluding with the final boss of "the Emperor." There are three possible humorous ending sequences, dependent on how the final questions asked to defeat the Emperor were answered.[9]
Explosion Ending- After the character defeats the Emperor, he runs up to Goldman just to see him committing suicide by falling off the building. As he lands onto the ground, an explosion can be seen before the game ends. In order to achieve this ending, one must type out honest answers when he is asked a question in the boss fight.
Bungee Ending- This scene is also similar to the first one, but as Goldman falls halfway, a bungee string can be seen attached to his leg. The scene plays backwards as Goldman can be seen standing back at where he was, giving out a laugh. In order to achieve this ending, one must type out honest and untruthful/strange answers when he is asked the questions in the boss fight.
Superman Ending- This scene is similar to the first one, but as Goldman bids farewell to the narrator, he raises his hands up as he rises to the sky. In order to achieve this ending, one must type out untruthful answers when he is asked a question in the boss fight.
Like the usual game-play, one must type out the whole credits and will be rewarded with a dancing zombie breaking open from a test tube. In order to have all zombies broken free, he must type out everything without any mistake. The scene will then cut to various angles of the dancing zombies.
The Typing of the Dead was first released for arcades in Japan in 1999 with a special arcade cabinet equipped with dual QWERTY keyboards.[2][10] The game was one of the first developments by Smilebit, a developer team from Sega which had recently spun off as a new company.[11]
The first home console release was made for the Japanese Dreamcast market on March 30, 2000. The North American release was made the following year in January.[12] A PC port was produced by Empire Interactive, and released in September 2001.[13]
The most recent port of the game was for the PlayStation 2, titled The Typing of the Dead: Zombie Panic. This version was released exclusively in Japan in late December 2004, and was packaged with a USB keyboard. The game was mostly unchanged, disappointing observers hoping for an update of the graphics, although the Dreamcast backpacks were replaced with PS2 backpacks and new "minigames" were incorporated into the main story.[14][15]
The game was made available on GameTap in October 2007.[16]
A sequel game, The Typing of the Dead II, was released in arcades in 2007. This version was a revision of The House of the Dead III, and has only been released in Japan as of 2008.[17][18] Sega has also announced production of English of the Dead, another revision of House of the Dead 2 for the Nintendo DS, designed as a language-learning game.[19]
A revised PC version of the game, The Typing of the Dead: Featuring Minna no Shuushoku Katsudou Nikki, features a 'Job Hunting' mode designed to help people find jobs.[20]
On September 27, 2010, ScrewAttack released a fangame of The Typing of the Dead, titled Texting of the Bread, for iOS. It involves a girl, voiced by Corey Pettit, fighting zombified gingerbread men with milk.
Overall, The Typing of the Dead was well received by critics as being an enjoyable game. Reviewers appreciated the absurdist humor that the game's format created, especially in the unusual phrases the game generates during later levels.[1][2][3] The sub-par voice acting of the original House of the Dead 2 was also considered to add to this aspect of the game.[1][21][22]
One area of the game which was generally criticized, to varying degrees, was the quality of the graphics, which had not been updated from the original House of the Dead 2 's arcade version.[21][23] PC World was so unimpressed with the game's premise they listed it as a runner up on a "Top Ten Worst Games" list.[24]
Game Informer has named the game the weirdest game of all time.[25]
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