THQ's first attempt at cashing in on Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy, Hail to the King for the PlayStation and Dreamcast was an abysmal failure, criticized for not only being horrible from a game play perspective but also for coming up short in personality, something that made the movies so successful. Instead of bowing to the harsh criticism THQ decided to take another double-barreled attempt at creating a game that would do the films justice, and so, armed with a new game engine and Bruce Campbell doing voice work, THQ's newest Evil Dead incarnation, A Fistful of Boomstick (AFOB) blasted its way onto retail shelves at the bargain price of $20, but does this pricing decision reflect a steal or a bad game that can't run with the top titles in the industry? The answer's a little of both.

AFOB continues the adventures of Ash, the down-on-his-luck college student who finds himself in a war against an army of demons brought forth from the recitation of the Necronomicon's pages. This time the book of the dead has been recited in a television studio in Dearborn and Ash, who knows he's the only one who can stop the creatures, revs up his chainsaw and charges into battle.

AFOB feels and looks similar to State of Emergency (SOE), a title released for the PS2 that can push well over fifty characters on screen at once without a drop in frame rate, and like SOE Evil Dead is a mindless slasher/shooter with tons of blood and pointless objectives to complete. The player assumes the role of Ash and sets about Dearborn to accomplish missions. The town is crawling with evil beings running about trying to kill and possess the various townsfolk. Graphically the game is admirable and the action smoothly moves along but the visuals are low budget. When characters speak their mouths do not move and the detail on the town as well as the character models isn't very high but acceptable. The music is forgettable and so is much of the dialog except for Ash who is voiced by Bruce Campbell. While slaughtering the armies of the dead Ash spits out witty and often humorous lines that make killing a bunch of deadites fun. In fact, whenever you want to hear Ash say something you can tap the Triangle button, although his few lines quickly become repetitive.

While most of the objectives in AFOB aren't annoying the layout of the environments are. Some routes to various locales make no sense. For instance, after blowing up part of a mall to a nightclub Ash is instructed to gain entry through a back entrance. The club's natural back door doesn't work, which left me running around Dearborn without a clue for at least an hour. However, little did I know in order to reach the "true" back entrance I had to take a detour out of my way past a park and through an alley. Not only was I shaking my head at the poor design I was in total shock that the developers considered this an acceptable idea, and furthermore that the player would actually figure it out with ease.

Even with the horrendous level design I had fun with AFOB because of the combat. Ash picks up many weapons along the way such as flamethrowers, a shot gun, shovels, a chain gun, a diamond tipped chainsaw and other horrible devices that cause limbs and blood to fly about in various directions. The game, much like the movies is a gore tour-de-force and certainly deserves its "M" rating. With each swipe of the chainsaw the blood sprays in the appropriate direction and there are plenty of deadites to slaughter. To add another dimension to combat Ash can use spells by collecting several scrolls scattered throughout the game, one of my favorites being the "possess deadite spell." However, the more deadites that fill the screen the more annoying and cheap the game becomes. Enemies overwhelmed me and took unfair shots at Ash. I found myself on the run and low on health kits more times than not. I thought I'd fix this by consistently saving my progress but you can't do this without finding save tokens, an idea that is certainly becoming less practical in a day where a lot of games feature a "save any time" option.

Evil Dead isn't a long game but there are several features that'll hopefully breathe a little more life into it once you've completed the main game. Arcade pits you against deadites in various scenarios that must be completed within a time limit. There is also an art gallery and a making of the game video featuring Campbell, although the lip sync is horrible.

AFOB doesn't push the envelope in any category but it still manages to be a fun little game despite its quirks. It captures the humor and gore from the movies it intends to emulate and Bruce Campbell's vocal contribution provides that all-important element of personality. However, it's not an A game, appropriate, since the movies it's based off of aren't of the highest caliber. There are frustrations that get in the way, but at its bargain price, it's the perfect edition to a horror movie connoisseur's Evil Dead collection.