Review by: Tuxxer

Rating: 8 out of 10

I know what you're thinking. Not another review for a game based on a movie. Another movie by Sam Raimi, no less. Ah well. Evil Dead has the distinction of being one of the greatest cult-classic horror films in the last thirty years. A distinction owed in no small part to Bruce Campbell, playing and providing the voice for the character of Ash Williams.

For those of you unfamiliar with the flick (shame on both of you), Ash is a one-handed convenience store employee, forever doomed to battle the forces of darkness known as Deadites; with an ego as big as his chin. In the game, a sequel of sorts to Army of Darkness, an unsuspecting pair of hosts for the TV show Mysteries of the Occult unleash the living dead once more by playing over the airwaves a recording of a scripture from the Necronomicon. Hell literally breaks loose as zombies wreak havoc on the smutty little town of Dearborn.

The game begins like any number of 3rd-Person shooters, you are virtually weaponless and have a number of items on your to-do list. Literally, Ash has a to-do list. What would Ash's fist be without a boomstick? The top-of-the-line Shotgun is your first weapon; although you can quickly pick up a shovel, service revolver, and the ever popular, ever-useful chainsaw.

While there aren't attack combo's, there are plenty of ways to kill the walking dead. One that's plenty cool is to get a Deadite stuck on your chainsaw and watching them flail around on the end of it like a stuck pig. The bodies do tend to pile up, except for the ones that get hacked limb from limb; they disappear pretty quickly. Fun times.

There's plenty to do, and plenty to see it done in. You travel all over Dearborn, in various time-zones, meaning different historical eras. The blueprints of the town don't really change, the church never moves, nor does the graveyard, but the terrain elsewhere varies. It's easy to get lost, but fortunately there aren't any dead ends. Evil Dead ends.

Traveling through time from vortex to vortex, only two things remain the same. You, and the opportunity to kill things that are already dead. The bad guys get stronger as you progress, but fortunately so do your weapons. Nothing like picking up a gattling gun with incendiary bullets in the 17th century. Sure. I have to give note for the music. The background tunes are somewhat creepy, especially in Colonial Dearborn. The violins add a quality that just make it good and freaky.

The flavor of the movies is not lost here. The witty one-liners used while wasting Deadites, the sudden threat of countless hordes and evil, and one of my personal favorites; Ash Williams' complete incompetence with magic. You quickly pick up a spell book, with almost conspicuously convenient spells to use. Using the spells takes pressing certain buttons in the right order. If you don't, Ash pulls a Klaatu Verata Ni*COUGH* and gets zapped by the book for his trouble. You get thrown on your ass, which can leave you vulnerable for Deadite attacks.

As for the villains; at first you only have to deal with the average run of the mill zombie-like people. As the levels progress however, the Deadites grow in number, and begin appearing from vortexes straight from what must presumably be a very bad place. They don't look like humans, dead or otherwise. They're skinny little bastards with knives and other sharp pointy things, so Ash has to be more careful about his attacks. Sadly, the more plentiful grunt baddies are more of a challenge than the actual so-called bosses. The bosses are Ÿber-demons with a limited variety of attacks. Staying alive while melting out less-bloody punishment is easy once you figure out their patterns.

Still; I have to say the game is pretty darn good. You have a wide variety of weapons, with plenty of ammo to choose from as well, with witty dialogue through out. Definitely worth a look if you're a fan of the movies. I might even buy it some day, when I've got the spare cash. I give Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick a groovy 8.5 outta 10.

*BONUS* Find the trademark car that has appeared in virtually every Sam Raimi movie. It's not hard.

You can pick up this game for XBox or PS2 from Amazon.com

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