House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn Arcade

On December 6th, 2006, AMS agents Kate Green and Ryan Taylor are dispatched to Scarecrow Manor for an undercover investigation. At a dinner service, the manor's owner unleashes hordes of biologically-engineered creatures upon guests. While fighting to safety, Kate uses her PDA to call an unmanned helicopter, which crashes as the building collapses.

Escaping with no backup available, Kate and Ryan explore the manor. They battle the armored Chariot in the annex, the squid-like High Priestess in a laboratory, and the winged Hangedman after taking a path through the elevator lobby. Ryan worries that he will share the same fate as his older brother James, who died in a 2003 incident while partnered with Kate.

Kate explains that in 1880, an organization was formed by the ancestors of Dr. Curien, Caleb Goldman, and Thornheart, the manor's owner. This group was the catalyst for three previous bioterror incidents. Thornheart survived a fatal disease and began developing "Noah's Ark", a mysterious project.

Kate and Ryan confront Thornheart, who reveals that the purpose of "Noah's Ark" is to create "new life to be born in a new evolution". He releases Moon, a tree-like giant who is impervious to gunfire and constantly grows. When all seems hopeless, Ryan impales Moon's head with a metal rod, which kills the creature when struck by lightning. Kate tells Ryan she believes this was James himself intervening from the dead. With the threat neutralized, the agents leave Scarecrow Manor as the sun rises.

House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn is a rail shooter set from a first-person perspective. Players shoot and kill attacking enemies with a H&K MP7-like machine gun controller. Unlike previous games in the series, the guns now automatically reload once empty, though the standard "shake to reload" mechanic is still available.

Player health is measured by lives, which are red and blue flame icons; damage from an enemy or failing a certain sequence deducts one life. There are first-aid kits hidden in destructible background objects that restore one life. Performing well in a chapter (good accuracy, high headshot count, and other factors) yields bonus lives for high grades. Destroying parts of the environment may also reveal special items that award score bonuses.

The game is comprised of a prologue chapter, three middle chapters that can be selected in any order, and a final chapter once all have been completed. The Annex and Elevator Lobby stages have branching paths that are triggered either by player action (failing to shoot a drawbridge, as in Hangedman's chapter) or the number of lives remaining (the elevators in Chariot's chapter).

At any point in the game, creatures may overwhelm and push a player to the ground. The surrounding creatures must be killed within a time limit; otherwise, the player loses a life. Creatures may also target one individual partner, resulting in the other having to rescue them. Failure to do so in the time limit results in a life penalty, or in a multiplayer game, a life penalty to the downed player. This is a modified version of the mechanic used in The House of the Dead III.

The scoring system for the game has also been tweaked. The ranks are based on 5 categories: Score, Enemies killed, Critical Shots, Accuracy, and Events. A minimum of 4 "Perfect" ratings and 1 "Excellent" rating are required to receive an S rank on each stage. At the end of the game, the player's final rank will be calculated based on the ranks on every stage. The better the player performs, the higher their final rating will be. As with previous installments, the player's performance will determine the game's ending.

Throughout the game, there are secret score bonuses (indicated by a purple flash effect) if certain parts of the environment are shot.

Throughout the game, there are "Events" in which the player must shoot a target reticle on a creature or object within a short time. Completion of Events is recorded in the player's end-of-stage ranking. Events include:

Civilians: In three of the chapters (the prologue, Chariot's stage, and Hangedman's stage), party guests of the Scarecrow Mansion are being attacked by creatures; rescuing them counts as an Event "success", while allowing them to die fails the Event.
Civilians will not die if a player accidentally shoots them; instead, a giant X appears over their bodies with little other noticeable impact on gameplay.
Environmental Hazards: The most common Event. Players must shoot objects, such as chandeliers and explosive barrels, to kill creature hordes or avoid taking damage. If unsuccessful during horde-based Events, the player is forced to fight the remaining creatures alone.

Before each level, up to two limited-use items may be selected in addition to the default machine gun.


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