The Typing of the Dead

Download The Typing of the Dead and master the art of zombie-slaying through typing! Improve your typing skills, fight off waves of undead, and save the world in this unique and thrilling game. The faster you type, the better you survive – play now!
a game by Empire Software
Genre: Action
Platform: PC
Editor Rating: 8.5/10, based on 4 reviews, 3 reviews are shown
User Rating: 7.5/10 - 69 votes
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See also: Horror Games, Zombie Games, Typing Games
The Typing of the Dead
The Typing of the Dead
The Typing of the Dead

The Typing of the Dead is an outrageous and interesting take on House of the Dead II, an on-rails zombie shooter. Instead of blasting away decaying creatures with a pistol, you'll have to type out words and phrases that appear on your screen. Originally appearing as an arcade game and later ported to the PC, this fun remix of House of the Dead II is equal parts wacky and entertaining. Besides experiencing the main game, there are also several other modes to enjoy. Multiple difficulty levels and an assortment of unlockables keep you coming back time after time, and the unique gameplay is definitely worth checking out.

The main story in Typing of the Dead is similar to a B-rate movie. A few secret agents are investigating an outbreak of creatures, attempting to find a character named Goldman. The voice acting and story is campy and at times downright bad, but it adds a funny charm to the game's wacky nature. On your journey through the game, you'll go through six distinct chapters. Each chapter of the game is an on-rails shooter segment, where your movement is guided and you simply must defeat enemies as they appear. You'll explore a variety of locations, including city streets, experimental labs, and dank sewers. Each place is packed with disgusting and hideous creatures, such as zombies, massive slugs, and chainsaw-wielding psychos. Plot wise, Typing of the Dead may not be the greatest, but it's silly enough to be forgivable.

Luckily, you'll barely care about the plot, thanks to fun and unique gameplay. For the most part, Typing of the Dead is exactly the same as House of the Dead II. You'll blast through locations killing enemies, collecting various powerups while you attempt to avoid taking damage. Instead of shooting enemies, words will pop up over them, and you'll have to type the word as fast as possible. As the game continues, words and phrases become more complex, and things pick up pace. At times things can get quite intense, and at its best, Typing of the Dead is an awesome race against the clock (and your own typing abilities). The best part is, while you're enjoying the zombie-slaying action, you're simultaneously improving your typing abilities. After spending an hour or two playing, my general typing accuracy and speed felt much better.

Unfortunately, the six-chapter story mode is pretty brief. Even on normal difficulty, most skilled typers will be able to clear the game after an hour or so. Luckily, Typing of the Dead contains a handful of additional modes to try out. Besides the main Arcade mode, there is also Original mode. This is a slightly altered version of the main game, with some tweaks to powerups and scoring. You can also check out Drill mode, which is an assortment of fun typing exercises to improve your skills. You can also race against the clock against each of the game's bosses in Boss Rush mode. That's not all; if you complete the game with the right ranking, you'll unlock a few other fun modes as well.

Overall, Typing of the Dead is a unique version of a beloved arcade classic, and it improves upon the original game in some fun ways. The game is tongue-in-cheek, and celebrates its ridiculous nature. There is a good assortment of modes to try, and the core experience is fun enough that it's worth a try. If you haven't checked out Typing of the Dead, you should definitely give it a try!

Download The Typing of the Dead

PC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

Make no mistake about it, The Typing of the Dead is a freaking weird game. It is weird, but it is also awesome and it is by a mile the best typing tool/tutor or whatever you want to call it I have had the pleasure to play. Taking Sega’s hit arcade light gun shooter and then putting typing into the mix sounds like a strange idea, but it works far better than anyone could have ever imagined.

Don’t Come!

The story of the game is the same as it was in House of the Dead 2. That is because The Typing of the Dead is that game, but with a keyboard instead of a gun. You play as one of two agents who have been sent to Italy to find the missing agent G and you end up trying to put a stop to a zombie outbreak caused by a madman who wants to take over the Earth.

The game is well known for having horrendous voice acting, but it is the kind of voice acting that is so bad it is funny as hell and has a lot of charm to it. Most of the time you will end up skipping the cut scenes, but I think it has a nice B movie kind of charm to it.

Words Are Weapons

The gameplay of this is pretty fun. You have to type to kill the zombies instead of shooting them. The early part of the game will have zombies and monsters appear with just one small word, you type this before the box goes red and they die. It is as simple as that. As you progress through the game things get much tougher. As well as longer words, The Typing of the Dead will throw full phrases and questions that you must answer your way. The boss battles usually have a bit of a gimmick of their own too!

The gameplay is fun and it sounds easy, but even seasoned typists will struggle here. While as an actual video game this is a lot of fun. I do not doubt that this will make you a better typist. You have plenty of game modes with there being a straight port of the arcade game, an original mode, a boss rush, and a drill mode too. You even have multiple endings so playing through the game multiple times is a must.

That Is Not A Proton Pack!

The presentation of the game is great. It has the look of a Dreamcast game. I mean that in terms of the visuals and also because your main character has a Dreamcast on their back in the same way a Ghostbuster has a Proton pack. I found this hilarious and it helps add to the campy charm of the game. There is a decent variety to the locations you will blasting monsters in and overall, I like the whole style of the game.

I know that The Typing of the Dead is an odd game to talk about, but I have still even after all these years never found a person who has played this game that did not have a lot of fun with it. This may sound crazy, but I would play this over the standard House of the Dead 2 any day. This is a fun video game, but as a typing tool, it is also fantastic and will 100 percent make you a more efficient typist. Plus, if we do ever end up in a zombie apocalypse that requires typing skills to survive you will be fine!

9

Final Score

Pros:

  • The game is really fun
  • The voice acting is so bad and cringy that it is awesome
  • Wearing a Dreamcast on your back is cool
  • The game will help you become a better typist
  • It has a ton of game modes

Cons:

  • Some might find the bad voice acting more annoying than charming
  • I do wish they did House of the Dead 3 and 4 in this style too!

Overview

After the events of House of the Dead, you once again must put a stop to those who would dabble with forces that man was never meant to meddle with. You figured that the goals the insidious Dr. Curien was trying to accomplish died with him. It seems, though, that the creatures he had created have risen again to consume all of humanity. With any luck you’ll be able to put a stop to this new adversary known to you only as Goldman. To make things more complicated you must leave behind your trusty firearm and instead arm yourself with only a simple keyboard. What can possibly be done with just an everyday keyboard? If you fancy yourself an adequate typist, you’ll be able to type those flesh eating zombies hurtling back to whatever hell they crawled out of.

The Typing of the Dead, while it does have some extra options, is essentially a re-release of -House of the Dead 2 with a challenging and different spin on the combat method.

Gameplay, Controls, Interface

Not everyone has spectacular typing skills -- to aid in overcoming this problem I suggest that you take a shot at the tutorial on the main menu screen so that you can become more confident with your keyboard. I even decided that it would be a sensible idea to go through the entire lessons available so that I wouldn’t receive such a beating when I started the game. During the tutorial there is an image of a keyboard at the top of your screen that shows what keys you are pushing during the lessons. Don’t sell yourself short by breezing through the lessons as fast as you can in order to get to the action. Even after I had a go at the tutorial I still had problems dealing with all the opposition. Take your time and become familiar with the keys before you move on.

As soon as you have gotten all you are going to get out of the tutorial, you should move on to the drills. You may scoff at the idea that you may need to speed up your response time but I must say it pays off. Don’t rush through the drills until you feel comfortable with the score you have gotten. Drills will help increase your skills as a typist so that you won’t become frustrated with the difficulty of the game. Even after you decide that you wish to move on to the next section you can still may want to come back to the drills later to improve your skills.

Once you get past all the training nonsense, you have a chance to show the zombies what you’ve got. At this point you have a couple of decisions to make on the direction you want to go. Now, usually you have to just jump right into the game, fighting through whatever the threat is, then finally arriving at the big boss where the two of you attempt to destroy one another. Well, now you can have the satisfaction of tossing away the plot and just mutilating the bosses. Not to say the plot isn’t a barrel of laughs, but who wouldn’t like to get down to the main fights and whooping the bosses before they know what hit them? It sounds good enough, but I found that the boss fights are quite difficult -- especially for one who hasn’t become familiar with typing combat. Since the combat might frustrate you to no end if you haven't built up your skills, I believe that going through the scenario first proves to be more enjoyable in the long run.

So how does one take out the zombies throughout the game? All you have got to do is to type out the letters that appear whenever a zombie begins to approach you. The difficulty of the words or phrases that appear on each opponent is dependent on how far you have progressed in the game. This can become quite complicated later on in the game, since some of the words that pop up can really boggle the mind. Another difficulty you will encounter during the course of the game is that it may take a couple precious seconds for the words to appear, which may determine whether you live or die. As long as you keep a sharp wit you should be able to blast through everything in your path.

Graphics

I’ve got to admit that I’m a fan of violence, which is probably why I loved playing this game. You’ve not only got a dozen different zombies to set your sights on but you also get to watch them lose limbs with every shot from your keyboard. On top of that, each zombie has different ways that it can be taken out, depending on how far you’ve progressed in the game. With every shot you can laugh to yourself, as the zombie has to watch itself become nothing more than a bloody stump. Keep in mind though that you have to be quick or you’ll end up on the menu.

Audio

What can be said other than "make the hurting stop!" Usually I don’t mind listening to music when I play a horror game but only if it fits the mood. Anything other than what belongs in a game full of gunshots and screams of terror, well, just toss it in the garbage and wait for something more fitting. Also I would’ve appreciated if the characters had put more feeling into what they were saying during the course of the game. Not that it does fit the classic corny dialogue of most zombie flicks, but it almost goes too far. You’ll be better served switching off the sound immediately and putting on your headphones with some good mood music playing, instead.

System Requirements

Windows 95/98/Me, P2 233Mhz, 660MB hard disk, 64MB RAM, 8MB Direct 3D compatible video card, Microsoft compatible keyboard and mouse.

Bottom Line

What can one expect out of the game? You’ve got to have some skill at typing to get very far, and on the plus side it does provide a detailed tutorial on how to become an accomplished typist. It has an interesting plot with lots of wandering around shooting off the limbs of the walking dead. However, you shouldn’t expect too much out of the dialogue or the background music. If you are the type of person who loves a challenge, and the horror genre of videogames, then you should go purchase a copy for yourself.

Snapshots and Media

PC Screenshots

See Also

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