Played during the Backloggd’s Game of the Week (12th Sep. – 18th Sep., 2023).
Often described as one of the best games for improving typing skills, The Typing of the Dead takes its cue from existing software, while adding a fresh twist with its rail shooter heritage and quirky humour. Although typing software has been available to the general public since the early 1980s, its form has always been fairly rigid, often using the figure of a real-life teacher – Mavis Beacon became a familiar figure in schools and among American children in the 1990s. Those aimed at a more childish audience certainly made use of well-known mascots, such as Typing is a Ball, Charlie Brown (1985), or claimed to be adventure games, such as Granny's Garden (1983). A decade later, The Typing of the Dead was a seriously addictive title that took full advantage of its arcade nature.
While the title starts off in an almost academic manner with its Training Mode, which teaches the home position to promote effective touch-typing, the game leans immediately towards the silly approach of The House of the Dead 2's (1998) script, with the voice acting as ridiculous as ever and a gothic horror that hardly takes itself seriously with the Dreamcast and keyboard equipment of the characters. The first words the player encounters are quite simple and short, but the difficulty increases until the zombies have to be felled with idioms that are about twenty characters long. The expressions chosen are reminiscent of the Phrases in Wheel of Fortune (1975) and add to the absurd atmosphere of the title. Their juxtaposition – for example, 'It's only a job', 'Surgical knife' and 'Hard luck woman' – also mimics the puns in the Japanese version, which constantly plays with homophonic kanji: for example, 愛だは for the 間は locution.
The Typing of the Dead proves to be a particularly well-honed title that is hard not to like. The difficulty curve is very accessible, but offers a real challenge on the highest difficulties, testing accuracy, reflexes and endurance – which the player can further pursue in the Drill Mode. It is a shame, however, that the selection of expressions, apart from those using special characters, is primarily a matter of translating the absurdity of Japanese puns rather than a genuine attempt to improve performance on certain parts of the keyboard: the game does identify the keys with which the player has the most difficulty, but there is no dedicated mode to improve specific areas such as using a single hand or words typed only on the upper row. Nevertheless, The Typing of the Dead is an effective, charming game that delivers exactly what its concept suggests.
Often described as one of the best games for improving typing skills, The Typing of the Dead takes its cue from existing software, while adding a fresh twist with its rail shooter heritage and quirky humour. Although typing software has been available to the general public since the early 1980s, its form has always been fairly rigid, often using the figure of a real-life teacher – Mavis Beacon became a familiar figure in schools and among American children in the 1990s. Those aimed at a more childish audience certainly made use of well-known mascots, such as Typing is a Ball, Charlie Brown (1985), or claimed to be adventure games, such as Granny's Garden (1983). A decade later, The Typing of the Dead was a seriously addictive title that took full advantage of its arcade nature.
While the title starts off in an almost academic manner with its Training Mode, which teaches the home position to promote effective touch-typing, the game leans immediately towards the silly approach of The House of the Dead 2's (1998) script, with the voice acting as ridiculous as ever and a gothic horror that hardly takes itself seriously with the Dreamcast and keyboard equipment of the characters. The first words the player encounters are quite simple and short, but the difficulty increases until the zombies have to be felled with idioms that are about twenty characters long. The expressions chosen are reminiscent of the Phrases in Wheel of Fortune (1975) and add to the absurd atmosphere of the title. Their juxtaposition – for example, 'It's only a job', 'Surgical knife' and 'Hard luck woman' – also mimics the puns in the Japanese version, which constantly plays with homophonic kanji: for example, 愛だは for the 間は locution.
The Typing of the Dead proves to be a particularly well-honed title that is hard not to like. The difficulty curve is very accessible, but offers a real challenge on the highest difficulties, testing accuracy, reflexes and endurance – which the player can further pursue in the Drill Mode. It is a shame, however, that the selection of expressions, apart from those using special characters, is primarily a matter of translating the absurdity of Japanese puns rather than a genuine attempt to improve performance on certain parts of the keyboard: the game does identify the keys with which the player has the most difficulty, but there is no dedicated mode to improve specific areas such as using a single hand or words typed only on the upper row. Nevertheless, The Typing of the Dead is an effective, charming game that delivers exactly what its concept suggests.