"You ever seen a little movie called Deep Throat?”

Evil Dead, for those that have been living under a rock (what's that like, anyway?), is a trilogy of survival horror films crafted by the severely gifted director Sam Raimi that thrilled and entertained audiences with its blend of horror, fantasy and lots upon lots of action. The story begins when Ashley (or Ash, as he prefers), played by our favourite Bruce Campbell, and a group of friends take a vacation to a cabin in the creepiest woods this side of The Blair Witch Project. Book-made-of-human-flesh, evil spirit possessions and much violence later, Ash emerges triumphant (give or take a limb). From there on, over the course of the trilogy, Ash battles the forces of the undead (present and medieval-past accounted for) armed with a rustic but creative arsenal of weapons and his all-too-self-aware wise-guy attitude that is as charming as it is hilarious.

This successful film trilogy, however, made an atrocious debut on consoles and PCs as a myriad of technical and gameplay issues, as well as an uninspired script that even the amazing voice talents of Bruce Campbell could not vitalize, plagued Evil Dead: Hail to the King. It was, therefore, with quite well-deserved skepticism that I subjected A Fistful of Boomstick to a complete physical. And the result, well Mr. Boomstick, would you like the good news or the bad news first?

"Isn't that overkill?”

"No, I'd say that's just enough kill.”

A Fistful of Boomstick is as fun as it is repetitive. The game is a straight-forward third-person shooter with adventure puzzles (find Gizmo A to activate Doodad B) weaved into the mildly interesting if a tad obvious story. Needless to say, our unwitting hero Ash finds himself in a heck of a mess when the townsfolk of Dearborn start to smell like the dead and crave the gray matter. Ash is determined to get to the bottom of this in order to do some violence to the culprit behind the mass zombification.

The game itself is broken down into six chapters, each requiring no more than 2 hours to complete with no replay value whatsoever. But what's there is brimming with plenty of zombie violence and demon boss battles. You will lead Ash on a hunt across town, and an occasional time-stream to battle evil with a pleasing bunch of weapons. These include a double-barrel shotgun (with multiple ammo types to cater for every occasion), a pistol, a shovel, some dynamite, the return of the chainsaw, and some more exotic types like a sickle and a spray pump. Ash can also learn a variety of spells from notes scattered around town to aid him, these range from several possession spells (that can be used in battle as well as to solve puzzles), a summon spell to bring forth a loyal undead dog, and others of a combat nature.

The controls of this game are commendable, as everything feels natural after a short while. And this is no simple feat, as Ash wields two weapons simultaneously and can cast spells in the heat of battles with the intuitively mapped control scheme. The same cannot be said for the camera, which hangs several feet behind and slightly above Ash, and can be rotated with the right thumbstick. It is just not fast enough to keep up with the action, and even with the "snap camera behind Ash” button, players will still occasionally be groped by unseen assailants. Aside from this minor gripe, the action is frantic as endless hordes of zombies will come at you from all directions while you run and gun your way across town.

"That can't be your face... did your neck throw up?”

The graphics of A Fistful of Boomstick are located smack bang in regrettable territory. The environments are blocky and rather bland. There is very little to distinguish one street from another, and if not for the rather small locations, would have become frustrating mazes of sameness. None of the Deadites look any good and all consist of a disgraceful polygon count. Ash definitely looks the best, but that is probably because he is alive as opposed to being undead and pissed off, and he does not even look particularly good. In short, the graphics looks awful, even by Playstation 2 standards.

Character animations, in stark contrast to the blocky models, are actually quite decent throughout the game. During non-interactive scenes, Ash gestures convincingly with his arms as do some of the other characters. Enemies limp, crawl and gallop toward your character believably as well. And some amusing little touches are present as well, as Ash will sometimes kick the head off a crawling zombie on the ground. But sadly, the decent animation is overshadowed by the appalling graphics.

"The ‘what the hell happens next' kind of quiet.”

A Fistful of Boomstick features the original voice of Mr. Bruce Campbell who is no stranger to voicing video games, with several other titles under his belt. Campbell gives an amazing performance that is almost in itself worth the price tag (albeit a cheap one of under $50) alone. He truly gives the game a unique character and endearment that makes repetitive hacking and slashing almost worthwhile. Other characters, while nowhere near as memorable, all deliver their lines with enough conviction.

Generally speaking, the sounds of this game are nothing special. The deadites groan and mumble while making their way toward you, but the sounds neither terrify nor are they funny. The score is monotonous, and abruptly cuts to a slightly more frantic version during battles. Overall, it all feels a little too quiet and sparse with the often amusing dialogues its sole saving grace.