Ah, light gun games. Formerly major attractions at arcades, these virtual shooting galleries milked away loads of quarters from enthusiasts seeking to satisfy their trigger-happy fingers. Blasting away at enemies onscreen with the plastic replica guns, mechanically feeding quarters to the cabinet upon dying, and walking away from the machine with aching hands - this was what the arcade experience was all about. These games involved shooting at everything from dinosaurs to terrorists and oh yes, zombies. The House of the Dead series by Sega is one of the most beloved light gun franchises ever created. In fact, one of my fondest gaming memories of all time is teaming up with my brother for a game of House of the Dead 2 during a visit to Japan. Our incredible adventure to conquer that pesky Goldman cost us almost $15 US and drew a crowd of onlookers who watched behind us as we frantically mashed the triggers. Applause rang out as the final cutscene played and we returned our trusty handguns to their holders on the arcade cabinet.

Alas, the glory days are over as the arcade industry slowly fades away. As if to remind us of this sad passing, the latest in the HotD series, House of the Dead 3, which skipped the customary arcade debut and was released directly to the XBox. The third installment furthers the storyline and continues the zombie blasting madness, but it includes some very significant changes to the tried-and-true gameplay.

Not many people play shooters expecting high-caliber stories, but fans of the series will be delighted with flashback cinemas that add to the history of the prior two games. The story takes place twenty years after the Curien Mansion Incident in HotD2 with Thomas Rogan, who has disappeared while investigating a laboratory infested with the undead. Daughter Lisa Rogan and her partner Agent G set out to rescue Lisa's father with shotguns in hand, and so the fun begins.

Anybody who has ever played a light gun game before will feel right at home with House of the Dead 3. There are no hassles with controlling characters or navigating the levels; all you have to do is aim the crosshair on the screen and when a zombie jumps at you, shoot it down. Simple as that. However, new to the series is the auto-reloading shotgun. Gone are the overzealous announcer urging you to "Reload! Reload!" and the clicks as the gun attempts to fire an empty chamber. Instead, upon firing all six shells in the shotgun, the game will automatically reload the weapon. Shooter purists will be up in arms about this dramatic modification because there's a certain quaint charm about having to shoot off-screen to reload that has been fundamental to practically all light gun games. I rather liked the change though as I could concentrate more on the action and no longer had to worry about staring down a zombie swipe as my gun clicked empty.

House of the Dead 3 is definitely much easier than its predecessors because of this new feature. The weapon of choice being a shotgun in itself also makes the game lose some of its challenge. Every shotgun blast results in a spread effect that can hit multiple enemies if they are grouped together. However, this advantage is balanced by the tremendous onslaughts of zombies that rush at you continuously. There is rarely a pause in the action as the monsters lie in wait for you at every corner. And what a colorful cast of baddies we have here! Classics such as the ordinary jean-clad undead and chainsaw-wielding maniacs make a return along with fresh monsters such as bats and fat guys with beer bellies. All of them rush at you while you hold them off with constant shotgun blasts and rip their bodies apart. Blowing chunks of decaying flesh off their bodies never gets old; it is tremendous fun. At the end of each of the six levels comes a duel with a brilliant boss character. These battles are very enjoyable and feature creative gameplay. My favorite boss was "The Fool", a huge sloth-like monstrosity with nasty teeth that attacks you while you're inside his chain-link feeding cage. He walks around on the walls, and you have to shoot his feet to knock him off. When he gets aggravated and shakes the cage, he knocks loose corpses that were originally intended to be his supper. The bodies crash down towards you and smother you if you don't succeed in shooting them away. Intrigued?

The branching level system in House of the Dead 2 is back, well kind of. Previosly, how well you were playing would determine where you proceeded next in the game. Saving civilians from the grasp of zombies would direct you towards an alternate route. However, although there are moments when your partner gets into tricky situations and you'll have to bail them out, innocents are nonexistent in this game. The much-touted alternate paths in HotD3 consist simply of choosing the order in which you'll be playing the middle levels. The sequence you choose alters the approach through each level slightly, but I was hoping for a system that was more variable.

The graphics of the game are, in a word, stunning. It certainly is one of the best looking games on the Xbox. All of the zombies look realistic and have colorful, detailed textures. Some of the enemies have a very nice shimmering reflective quality about their skin. The location specific damage allows you to blow off their heads or arms and even to put grapefruit-sized holes in their torsos. The backgrounds are visible through these holes as blood oozes out of their wounds and chunks of their flesh fly all around the screen. Fantastic. The game runs at a fluid pace and never has any slowdown. Overall the visuals are very polished. A notable observation is that the shotgun appears onscreen, which makes the game look almost like a FPS.

The audio is somewhat limited. What more can you expect besides groans from the zombies and sharp blasts from the shotgun as you plow them down? Background music is present, but it's nothing that you will be humming after you've finished playing the game. The voice acting in the cinemas is surprisingly more refined than the comical dialogue in House of the Dead 2. However, it sounds a bit stiff at times, and lacks the personality of HotD2 that has fueled countless jokes.

The two main issues that have always plagued light gun games on home consoles are added costs of buying a light gun to maximize the value from the game and the length of the experience. House of the Dead 3 manages to solve one of these difficulties. For the first time ever, playing with a controller is comfortable and fluid. The crosshair is very accurate and quick. Although the speed of the target is adjustable, its default speed is flawless. It's a wonder that it took so long for developers to finally get the controller settings right. There are several guns on the market for those who are willing to spend extra and get the most out of the game. Surely that would be the way to have the closest experience of having an arcade inside the home. But the game is perfectly playable with just the controller.

Regrettably, the other problem still exists. The main mode of the game took me literally half an hour to complete. I could have finished my dinner in the time it took to beat the entire game. Sega has added some bonus features to attempt to bring up the longevity. There is Time Attack in which you play through the game with a restricted time limit. This puts a more frenetic pace on the action as you'll have to extend the time by shooting the zombies and avoiding getting hit. The main bonus, however, is House of the Dead 2 in full. This is a direct port from the Dreamcast version and includes all the modes: Original, Training, Time Attack and Boss Mode. But when I say direct port, I mean it. Graphics seem shoddy compared to the brilliance of HotD3, and the same god-awful control scheme that made the DC game unbearable to play still exists. You'll definitely wish you had a light gun for this game. I don't mind the graphics so much, but there is no excuse for not incorporating the superb controls of the third episode. It's simply a very lazy port. However, including one of the prequels is a thoughtful addition for those that never have played it. Too bad the original House of the Dead wasn't included as well; to have the entire series on one disc would have been awesome. The last bonus is a long feature of the new House of the Dead movie. Personally, I don't care very much for the movie, but it might interest some out there.

It is difficult to give House of the Dead 3 a final score. You can't blame the light gun genre for its short gameplay because it does exactly what it promises to give: a quick, action-packed arcade fix. And House of the Dead 3 delivers this in spades. The experience while it lasts is exciting and enjoyable, and it does everything right. Ultimately the quality of the replay value will depend on the individual. I have completed the game seven times now, the seventh time being just as fun for me as the first. Blasting zombies apart is simply incredible fun, and it doesn't get old. Some may justify playing through the game over again to improve accuracy and strive for a better time, but I was perfectly content running through it for no other reason than to indulge myself to shooter nirvana. All light gun fans should have this game already, but for everybody else, it comes highly recommended as a rental at the very least and a purchase with a price drop. Even if you do eventually get tired of the game, every now and then you'll be tempted to pick it up and give it another go. Its pick-up and play brilliance defines House of the Dead 3 as the perfection the dying shooter genre has reached.