house of the dead 3 is basically more or less my favourite in the series, it and 2 are perfect games both and i honestly couldn't pick a favourite between them, 2's perfect OST and funny VA work and 3's spooky vibes and better story it's not easy, there's a lot both do right. 3 plays nearly flawlessly, the addition of a shotgun rather than the first two games pistols was a fun change and made you feel more powerful, the arcade version especially since it was HEAVY because it was basically an entire shotgun, complete with pump action reloading, you even still shoot super fast, as unrealistic as that may be. it even changes up some of the formula of the levels themselves with you having to protect your partner instead of survivors, while i did prefer the survivors because it worked as a fun way of working different routes into the game and gave 2 a lot more replayability than future games, this method works even better in actual co-op as it's really fun to try and help your partner and it can make for an even more intense situation! 3 still does have the different routes though, but they work much differently to how they did previously, while the older games had more fluid changing routes, 3 just depends on a single route change at the beginning and then switching up depending on level order, it does still feel fluid as your characters get in and out of elevators to the different locals and the levels do look very different, sometimes taking you to different parts of a level or going through it in reverse, but it doesnt quite have the variety of 2's, the bosses are all solid though, one does repeat but he's a solid pusuer type boss and the others are fun, but i do think the sloth boss is unfair, it's just too hard to hit! the enemy variety is great too , you get all the ones from 2 like the slime guys and axe guys and the lil ninjas but you also get some duke nukem looking strongmen now and a buzzsaw guy replacing the chainsaw guy. the levels are all great though, you have labs, offices and a nice desert segment outdoors, they all feel the scariest the series would ever get too, the plant covered lab and the offices with the sloth boss are downright scary and some areas of the game are so dark the game even gives you a flashlight, it's spooky! and it gives it a feel that's all its own versus the more campy tone of the earlier and even later games, it's got a distinct look too, it looks amazing for 2002 and it had a very sega feeling to it because of the boards it ran on, very reminiciant of the OG XBOX games sega did around then, just has that vibe to it..

the tone also ties more into the story, it feels more pronounced than most rail shooters, it's actually good too, a passing of the torch from the old HOTD cast to a new generation and even dr curians son has a role here, it's sweet and despite not having many scenes together lisa and her dad have a cute relationship, the game almost feels like a ps2 era survival horror game in that way, a little like resi mainly, dumb optimistic writing with bio-horror and a fun-dark tone with some spooky environs and so many one-liners, it's exactly the kind of writing you want in a game like this, heartfelt and a little silly and very well-meaning. it really gives the last level a lot of punch for me too, when the remix of the games theme kicks in and lisa and danial have that final rush to the final boss i kind of tear up most times i go through this, it's so hype. the music is all amazing, a whole soundtrack of classics, there's nothing quite as outwardly iconic as the magician theme but some tracks like prelude and wheel of fate 2/2 really own,eriko sakurai did an amazing job on this ost, check it out if you can it's honestly one of sega's best, she's done a ton of great stuff too like PS2 altered beast, touch my katamari (my fav katamari) and a few tales of games.

it's short too, you can easily finish it in an hour at most, but this one does have fantastic replayability, like i said earlier there's multiple routes to do and they all differ, there's even a few endings including a joke one and some are difficult to get and in later ports you have a time attack mode that can be very difficult to finish, it doesn't have the replayability of 2's original mode but i find it more replayable than 4 at least. there's a ton of ways to play it too, if you can track down an original machine please do, but if you can't then its not a big deal as every console port is great, the original xbox one was the first i played and it has an unlockable port of 2 even! the wii version is honestly even better since you don't need the light gun and it also has 2 included on it, but it's not needed to unlock here. there's also a ps3 port that supports the PS move which is how i played it for this, it's a great port, easily the best looking but sadly it's both digital only and doesn't have 2 included, so it's the hardest one to reccomend here, but if it's your main option then still go for it! the game was actually directed by takashi oda, who was the primary series director for all of the mainline games except overkill and he also did work on things like ps2 altered beast and really cool sonic all stars racing series, he's cool! the team behind it (wow entertainment) also did a ton of great work ranging from other games in the series, some stuff on resident evil 6, SEGA GT, a personal favourite of mine vampire night and dynamite deka!. the series would go on to have a few games after this too, the amazing HOTD4 and its special edition varient in 2006, the pretty good but my least fav HOTD overkill and its ps3 directors cut and the really good HOTD scarlet dawn released into arcades a few years back, there was also a remake of 1 by forever entertainment, it's about as good as you'd expect from forever, as in, not very.