The story of HOD is so incredibly generic, polar opposite of the gameplay. You are a boy, one day a dark presence invades your relatively carefree world and snatches your dog from your side, sucking him into an alternate dimension. In your, ahh, "ship" (you'll see) you pursue your furry friend into the dark unknown.

GRAPHICS: Well slap my furry @$$ and call me a graphics whore! While not as mind blowing as 2 years ago, when the game began development. The graphics are nonetheless beatufilly animated with CG integrated perfectly into the game. Though the boy you play competes with Brian from Quest 64 as the DORKIEST looking game character of '98.

SOUND: Excellent but forgettable sound track. Sound effects sickeningly real.

CONTROL: As with most games of this kind the control is jerky and has delay times before an action is performed. Especially frustrating because this game requires precise timing.

GAMEPLAY: If you've ever played Out of This World or its pseudo-sequel Flashback then you pretty much know what to expect, which is, ALOT of dying. The redundancy is broken up however by the characters many death scenes. Being devoured by a caveworm is actually pretty gratifying, now if only the same could happen to Brian...The game is of average length, so when u done, u wont be coming back...ever!

GRAPHICS: 9 SOUND: 8 CONTROL: 4 GAMEPLAY: 5 OVERALL: 6

Worth a rental for the weekend warrior, but otherwise save your money.

-Ragnarok the Red