When digging an early grave is a great idea

THE massive success of Spider-Man the movie probably put paid to any lingering hopes that Sam Rami could be tempted back to make a fourth instalment in the Evil Dead series.

So the next best thing has to be an Evil Dead video game, especially if it uses the likeness of the film's main character Ash (Bruce Campbell) and uses the actor's own voice in-game.

Campbell, who had a minor role in Spider-Man, worked closely with the game's producers. He offered suggestions on the dialogue and even advised on the type of weapons his character should carry.

Unlike the first game in this series, A Fistful of Broomsticks is an out-and-out beat'em up that uses the power beneath the hoods of Xbox and PS2 to put far more bad guys (deadites) on screen than was possible in its predecessor.

Despite his brushes with the supernatural (and time travel) our hero Ash has returned to his hum-drum existence back home in America.

But, as this is an Evil Dead plot, things soon go pear-shaped when he discovers that the deadites have discovered a way to follow him - turning up en mass in downtown California. Once again it's time to pick up a shotgun and a chainsaw to do battle with the undead and stop them taking over the world.

The new weapons are very cool - on the first level your character uncovers a shovel that's good for more than digging an early grave. When you run out of shotgun cartridges and the bad guys are closing in it makes an excellent way of beating the deadites back to the spirit world.

There's a substantial recoil felt through the game pad when you discharge your gun and it buzzes happily if Ash switches to the chainsaw.

Each of these weapons can be up-graded, with better, more destructive, ammunition and even explosives. Later on, Ash gets his hands on some serious weaponry including a flame-thrower, a missile launcher and, best of all, a device that sucks the bad blood out of any Deadites within reach.

Ash can also cast spells that give his character more strength or render the baddies somehow impotent.

Following the plot of Army of Darkness, Ash also travels through time doing battle during the American War of Independence and in an alternate universe far more spooky than anything Sam Rami ever managed to dream up.

Ash has to complete in-game missions before he can move on to the next locale. These are easily called up via an on-screen menu; targets that have been achieved are crossed out so you always know what's still to be done.

If you aren't a massive Evil Dead fan and don't want to play through the narrative there's also an arcade option which simply pitches you directly into the mayhem.

The soundtrack is suitably creepy and the one-liners vary from hilarious to hideously annoying.

It's amazing how The Evil Dead has gone from object of revulsion in the early 1980s (remember it was condemned as a video nasty and the subject of several obscenity prosecutions in 1982) to cult movie franchise by 2003. Heck, the original has even screened on late night Channel Four and the BBFC recently passed it totally uncut - something even that original "nasty" version couldn't claim to be.

This game is unlikely to attract the same kind of controversy. Sure, A Fistful of Broomsticks is violent but all the mayhem is so over-the-top that the proceedings feel more like a Tom & Jerry cartoon than I Spit On Your Grave.

Fans of the films will find plenty to enjoy here.

Published: 27/06/2003