The House of the Dead 4

The House of the Dead 4 is a horror-themed light gun shooter arcade game and the fourth installment of the House of the Dead video game series, developed by Sega. The game takes place between the events of The House of the Dead 2 and The House of the Dead III, and introduced several new gameplay concepts. Players can control characters James Taylor, from The House of the Dead 2 (on the left side), or Kate Green, a new character to the series (on the right side). The game was followed by House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn.

The House of the Dead 4 is the first game to run on the Sega Lindbergh arcade system board.

Player characters are equipped with submachine guns in this game, as opposed to semiautomatic pistols in the first two or shotguns in the third. The gun will fire in fully automatic mode as long as the trigger is depressed, and can be reloaded by shaking it or pointing away from the screen. Players can also find and throw grenades to destroy large numbers of enemies at once. Additional grenades can be earned by completing certain tasks or by shooting crates. At some points in the game, players are required to shake the gun vigorously in order to escape certain situations.

The game features branching paths. Most of the paths lead to the same point in the game's story. As with The House of the Dead III, there is an end-of-stage bonus where players can receive extra lives depending on headshot level combo, accuracy, and score. Another returning factor is the presence of the "Cancel" bar.

The game runs on a critical shots counter where the player is encouraged to shoot the enemy's weak points rather than spraying ammo at the enemy. It starts off as Good, Excellent, Amazing and then Perfect. Getting hit, or killing an enemy not by the weak point resets the counter.

The most common enemies have three attacks: a "normal attack", a "grab," and a "push". The foremost inflicts one point of damage, while the second forces a shaking sequence that, if successful, pushes back attackers for easier disposal, but if unsuccessful, will result in the player being bitten or the player's character being knocked down and vulnerable. Multiple zombies may also pile on top of both players in an attempt to stomp on them (or kick them while they're down).

There are also a number of secrets in the game. Different hidden treasures, such as coins and golden shapes, which increase the player's score, as well as "lives", etc. can be found by interacting with the game's environments. The bonus-life system departs from the previous games, where life is gained by saving hostages; the loss of these events are substituted with an increase of extra-life pickups in the environment. There are also "treasure rooms" that can be accessed using different techniques (such as shooting a certain spot or throwing a grenade in a certain area), which contain multiple items that can be obtained at once within a limited time.