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Evil Dead Regeneration Review: Is It Worth Buying?

Evil Dead: Regeneration Cover

Evil Dead Regeneration Review: Is It Worth Buying?

Evil Dead: Regeneration is certainly the best of the trilogy but there are a few skeletons in the ointment. The game was published by THQ for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in 2005 as a hack and slash video game based on the original series. Read on to find out if this game is worth the time and investment. Evil Dead: Regeneration takes place in an alternate reality where the Army of Dead never happened, portraying what would happen if Ash never got sent back in time.

Evil Dead: Regeneration Storyline 

A promotional image for Dead By Daylight's Ash vs Evil Dead.
Ash finding his way through the dark in anticipation of the undead.

©Behaviour Interactive

The game has an all-new storyline but don’t worry, things still begin at the cabin which is under attack by a crew of deadites that Ash is able to slaughter. Evil Dead: Regeneration follows Ash, the lone survivor of a camp discovering the Necronomicon, the wholly evil book of the dead. Thought to have murdered his companions, Ash is arrested, convicted of the crime, and sentenced to Sunny Meadows, an institute for the criminally insane, but not for long. Ash’s peaceful stay is about to end — thanks to the perverted experiments of his very own psychiatrist, Dr. Reinhard. 

Hell-bent on using science to harness the Necronomicon’s powers, the mad doctor unleashes the book’s all-powerful Evil on the world, releasing a new slew of deadites, monsters and spirits, twisting reality into a hellish strudel and leaving mankind with that not-so-fresh apocalyptic feeling. As horrendous as this premise may sound, Ash is still able to maintain his sense of humor.

Ash is able to attach a number of different weapons to the stump of his right arm including a flamethrower, harpoon and the classic chainsaw. With a shotgun in his left hand, you have the ultimate Evil Dead combo which is useful for most of the game, but it’s nice to harpoon the deadites and other monsters and reel them in for a nice blast to the head with the shotgun.

New Additions to the Series

Ash close up Evil Dead
With Sam, Ash does not have to fight the undead battle alone.

Sam is a new addition to the series. He’s a mutated deadite that is only a few feet tall. The interesting thing is that he’s the main partner and while he’s capable of getting killed, he regenerates instantly making him useful for a variety of situations. Players can kick him into dangerous situations to test the waters. Throw him at an enemy and at times he will rip the head off of them while other times he’ll get his assed handed to him. He can be used to solve puzzles and even possess him to access areas that are too small for Ash. He’s a good addition to the series and gives Ash someone to verbally spar with. There is lots of dialogue and it’s very well acted. Players are bound to laugh out loud at many irreverent situations.

Evil Dead: Regeneration Lackluster Graphics but Good Dialogue

Necro Symbol Screenshot
Necronomicon symbol.

The graphics are blocky and low res, there is clipping right through walls, the enemy performs the same attacks over and over and never gets more challenging and Ash himself is hard to control when jumping from platform to platform. None of these issues are enough to ruin the game individually but when they are added up it’s like sitting in the middle of a bee farm. The dialog and voiceovers are the best features of the game. The developers acknowledge this by offering, as an unlockable, a behind-the-scenes documentary of Mr. Campbell performed his voice overs for the game.

Finishing moves add a nice gory and violent touch. When an enemy is on his last leg, he will turn a shade of green whereupon players get in close and administer the coup de grace – often involving some method of head removal. Ash also has a rage meter that builds up as he gathers floating orbs from dead enemies. Once engaged, Ash transforms into a super-powerful demon that has more powerful attacks and faster moves.

Final Thoughts

The Evil Dead series is a perfect example of bad but funny movies. That doesn’t quite work the same way for video games. A bad game is a bad game. In order to make a game that appears bad but is actually good requires tremendous production techniques and a huge budget, something that none of the Evil Dead games have. The game explores a “what if…” continuation from Evil Dead 2, one of the most unhinged films from famed director Sam Raimi. At the very least you should rent this game for the laughs if nothing else. 

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