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Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick
Ash is back for the Xbox and PS2 to kick some Deadite butt! Complete with tons of New Pictures! [By Sean Foster]
Posted by Kevin Smallwood on Sunday, December 15, 2002, at 10:39 PM - Previews - PlayStation 2, Xbox

This is a preview of Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick. But you see my gore-loving friends, I have a great love for the Evil Dead franchise. I have been a fan since the early eighties. I watched Evil Dead religiously as a young kid and know it line from line. I attended the Evil Dead II many times in the theatre and it quickly established Bruce Campbell to me as the coolest dude on the planet. I have tons and tons of Evil Dead memorabilia scattered around my house. Signed autographs from the cast of Evil Dead and from the man himself, Bruce Campbell. One of the highlights of my life was meeting the whole cast of Evil Dead. And to this day, I can tell you every line and every scene second by second from Evil Dead 1, 2 & 3. I am not a nut, I am a friggin die-hard fan of Splatter and Gore, and Evil Dead is one of the goriest movies ever made. So with this love I have for the Evil Dead, I give you this preview of what could be in my opinion one of the coolest game of 2003, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick.

THE BEGINNING:
I love horror and gore. Not the "Scream" crap that you see these days in theatres. I am talking about the golden days of horror, gore and splatter. The 80‘s, the days of George Romero‘s Dawn and Day of the Dead, Lucio Fulci Zombie, Tobe Hooper‘s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tom Savini‘s gruesome special FX, Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left, and a little known Director by the name of Peter Jackson made "Bad Taste", and the Director of the smash hit of 2002 film Spiderman was just getting his feet wet in the film industry.

Evil Dead was first realized back in the summer of 1979 by a man named Sam Raimi. Along with his friend Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell, the three managed to collect $375,000 to make a feature film titled "Book of the Dead". This film was the result of a little film they shot at Rob Tapert’s family farmhouse called "Within The Woods". The response they received from this short 32 minute film [that was shot for just $1,600] was overwhelming. It was the early eighties and horror, splatter and gore was enjoying a popular trend in theaters. Films like Dawn of the Dead, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the 13th were enjoying healthy box-office numbers. What better way to enter the market of feature films then to make a horror movie with tons of blood and gore.

They got the cast and crew together in Michigan and headed down to Morristown, Tennessee where they proceeded to film what would turn out to be one of the greatest horror/splatter movies of all time. The cast had to shovel cow crap, act in freezing temperatures, wear white contacts that felt like glass and covered mostly all of there eyeball, work for very little money and be far from home. After a extremely long shoot and a name change, The Evil Dead saw the light of day. After hitting it big in the UK, The Evil Dead became a instant classic in the US. Evil Dead II was released in 1985 and also became a classic, mixing gore and humor for the perfect mix. The third of the trilogy "Army of Darkness" was released in 1993. The movie was set in medieval times and lacked the blood and gore from the previous two films but had a mix of action and comedy that also made it a instant classic. It also put Bruce Campbell into icon status with his wit, humor and one-liners. While rumors have always been floating around, A fourth Evil Dead was never made, at least in film form. THQ had other plans to bring the fans a fourth installment.

EVIL DEAD: HAIL TO THE KING:
Everyone was screaming out to the videogame industry. The fans wanted a videogame based on Evil Dead. The only game that actually saw the light of day was "Evil Dead" from Palace Software. It was released for the Commodore 64 system. It was released in the UK only. The game was pretty bad and suffered from horrible "Atari" graphics. Thankfully in 2001 THQ announced that they had the rights to make a Evil Dead game. Being the huge Evil Dead fan I am, I was ecstatic that this game was in the making. The game was to be released for the Playstation, Sega Dreamcast and PC. It was faithful to the movie and actually had a really good storyline. Many critics called the game a Resident Evil rip-off and were disappointed in it. Personally I loved the game. I remember playing it until almost 3 am in the morning and beating it. I still own the Dreamcast version and play it very often.

EVIL DEAD: FISTFUL OF BOOMSTICK:
While I was in Baltimore I attended the Horrorfind Convention. It featured Bruce Campbell and I had a chance to sit down for a few seconds with him. He told me that THQ was not ready to give up and that another Evil Dead game was in the works. A few months later THQ finally announced that a second Evil Dead game was in fact in the works. Instead of working from the previous game engine used in Evil Dead: Hail to the King, VIS interactive is developing the game and they are using the very cool "State of Emergency" game engine. The game itself [State of Emergency] left much to be desired but the game engine is pretty damn awesome. The Evil Dead world should fit in perfectly with the engine and give it a arcade feel to gamers.

Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick takes place where Evil Dead: Hail to the King left off. Ash returns to modern times to find that the Evil Dead has taken over the town of Dearborn. It’s time for Ash to break out his trusty chainsaw hand and beat down some of the undead. Ash goes around and cuts and hacks his way through each level. Tons, and I mean TONS of Deadites appear on screen at once. Somewhere along the lines of 50 Deadites can now be on screen at once. Now that my friend is a beautiful thing. It really gives the effect to the game that the whole damn town is now the Evil Dead and you are basically on your own.

And this game goes back to its roots from the original Evil Dead. This game has a ton of blood and gore. Body parts and blood fly across the screen. Ash can still use a weapon in each hand. This time around he can use magic as well. Once again THQ has recruited the coolest dude on the planet, Bruce Campbell, to supply the voice of Ash. Judging from the state of the game so far, it appears that the developers are taking great measures to keeping the feel of the Evil Dead movies intact. From the sound of the Evil Force to Ash himself, its true to the films. The game also looks great. It does have a different graphic look from the first game, but it works well with the new game engine. The Deadites look a lot better as well then in the previous game. This time around you have dead cops, females, big men in wife beater shirts and butt cracks hanging out, etc. All of the undead just for you to hack and slash to pieces.

GAME INFO:
Developed with the full support of creators Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick allows players to assume the role of Ash, the chainsaw-armed hero from the Evil Dead trilogy. Players will fend off hordes of Deadites with several weapons including the shovel, gatling gun, shotgun and chainsaw. Massive game environments include all new Evil Dead locations as players attempt to save the town of Dearborn from the influence of the Necromonicon ex Mortis – the Book of the Dead. Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick mixes the comedy and fun of a campy horror movie with intense combat missions for the most complete Evil Dead game yet.

GAME FEATURES:
- Ash voice-over provided by Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead trilogy
- True to the film gameplay: action, gore, suspense, and traditional campy Campbell comedy
- A number of classic Evil Dead weapons to choose from: the shovel, chainsaw-arm and plenty of boomsticks. Wield a weapon in each hand
- Magic abilities: Ash is able to cast a number of spells this time around increasing his power and range of attacks
- Hordes of enemies and Deadites to slaughter. More than 50 enemies can appear onscreen at one time
- Full dismemberment of enemies
- All new Evil Dead environments based on the town of Dearborn in a number of different time periods including colonial, Civil War era and present day
- Gripping story-line continues the ongoing saga of Ash and the Necronomicon ex Mortis

I absolutely cannot wait for this game. Every time I see those pictures from THQ of Ash kicking some Deadite ass and splattering blood and body parts all over the screen, it gets my blood racing. I am so ready to dive into this game and deal out some swift and deadly justice to the Evil Dead. This game should be fast paced and it should take the "State of Emergency" engine to a whole new level. I eagerly anticipate this game from THQ for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PS2 systems. It will be released in March 2003 and have a retail price of $49.99. This game should be a great title and it will be sure to thirst the hunger of Evil Dead fans like myself, at least until a fourth film is finally made. Come on Sam, you know you want to make it!

from Evil Dead: Fistf... (PlayStation 2)