The Typing of the Dead

Date Acquired: 9-3-2010

Date Completed: 9-9.2010

Thoughts: This is a game I've wanted to play for YEARS. I never bought it on the dreamcast because I was a college student and buying a keyboard for exactly one game was stupid. I couldn't afford that. A few years later I learned that a PC version existed and tried to track that down but failed (I should have used the internet, but it was still relatively new at that point, I checked gamestops and gave up)

It doesn't really make any sense why this game has disappeared. Sega LOVES to shove remakes of their older games or quasi-sequals down our throats, and while many of them are dubious fits at best (Jet Grind Radio on the GBA?) A Steam release of Typing of the dead is a gigantic no-brainer. So of course Sega screws up an obvious decision as only Sega can. They are out of the console market for a reason folks, and it ain't their great business sense. I get the feeling this game would have an audience if Sega would just release it. While I was playing, my roomate came out of his room to get ready for work and immediately said 'is that typing of the dead? How'd you get that? I've been looking for that forever'. So that's 2/2 in my apartment alone. You're sitting on a goldmine Trebec! Er, Sega.

I won't bore you with the details of how I acquired it. The important thing is that I finally did and got to play it. And it is awesome! The graphics are no great shakes by today's standards of course, but I loved them. This game is a great throwback to the House of the dead series (obviously). What's cool is that the further along in the game I got the more rewards and unlockables I opened up. Such as starting with 5 lives instead of 3, or getting up to 9 continues. What I really like is the boss battles. The first one is just standard type the word before he hits you fare, but later fights get more creative. My favorite involves a 3 headed hydra. You are asked a question and then you must type the answer from the three choices below the hydra heads. It forces you to stop and think about the question, read the 3 possible choices and then furiously type the answer. There are all kinds of neat touches in the game. When you are fighting 3 zombies at once, you have to try to figure out which is the closest to you and type it's word. If you hear a whooshing noise, it means an axe or knife is being thrown through the air at you. You have to finish the word you are typing and then type the single letter associated with the object being thrown, then move onto the next zombie. I also loved the fact that my character walks around the whole game with a dreamcast strapped to his back, with a giant duracel battery on top of it, and a keyboard in front of him. The voice acting and story are god-awful. Just hideous. But you get the impression that that's intentional, a B-movie sort of vibe there. It certainly didn't keep me from enjoying the game.

I wish this game was compatible with Windows 7. I tried installing it on my laptop and it won't run. That's a shame, this would be a great portable option for me. I'll just have to play it on my desktop when I get the urge. The main game didn't take me long, but there are some other modes I can try out, and I certainly don't mind playing through the main game a few times. I actually acquired this game with the idea that I could put this on the computers of the girl I am dating. She's a teacher, and has a couple of computers (that I need to fix so she can use) and I thought I should load some educational games on there. I have no idea if Typing of the dead is sixth grader appropriate. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all. The 'blood' is green zombie goo, there's no swearing or even any real sexual inuendo in the words you type (although feel free to read in a little, but it's nothing glaring that a sixth grader will pick up). It's likely that Nicole will tell me that she can't put this in the classroom, at least one parent will find out about it and flip out. But I'll play it in front of her and let her be the judge. I still have where in the world is carmen san diego to install for them...