If Evil Dead: Regeneration was a film, it would definitely follow suit with the B-movie qualities of the franchise by the same name. I’m a huge fan of the series, but it hurts me to see poor texture quality, including very noticeably bad seams where the face meets the neck on both main characters.

However, the audio of Regeneration takes center stage. Once again, Bruce Campbell lends his one-of-a-kind voice talent to bring his Ash character back to life. At his side is the voice of Ted Raimi, who also does a wonderful job with the sidekick character, Sam.

Ash is back, and fighting a whole new set of Deadites! THQ and Cranky Pants Games combine to bring you the third Evil Dead game to hit your PS2. Evil Dead: Regeneration crashes onto your home theatre with the same old (great) wit that only Bruce Campbell can bring. This time, however, Ash has a sidekick named Sam to help him dispel the spirits of the woods. The twist is that Sam, himself, is a Deadite.

On the journey to cleaning out the forest, Ash and Sam team up in what becomes a funny, yet practical way. Since Sam is not only a ghost, but also a “little” fellow, Ash tends to use and abuse him in any way possible. Namely, Ash can kick Sam at enemies, where the Halfling sidekick can then destroy other Deadites, or at the least help immobilize them temporarily, allowing Ash to bring in his arsenal of weaponry to finish them once and for all.

The actual gameplay behind Evil Dead: Regeneration lies in a pure hack ‘n’ slash mentality. Sure, there are some simple puzzle-esque elements, but the majority of the time you’ll be whackin’ off body parts with Ash’s chainsaw or blowing them away with our hero’s “boomstick.” As you injure enemies, they will emit a green mist of fog. It is at this time you have to finish them off with a special move before they reenergize and attack again.

You’ll also be able to take control of Sam throughout the game at certain spots, allowing you to crawl into small spaces and open up doors that will allow Ash to pass, or to perform other elementary tasks that our hero is too good for. After completing these tasks, your soul will be once again within Ash and you’ll be ready to whoop some she-bitch ass. Hail to the King, baby!

Since Regeneration is all about hacking up Deadites, the difficulty lies more in either the type of enemy and figuring out how to combat it the first time you encounter it, or in the sheer number of enemies on-screen at one time. Sometimes you’ll be shot at with “spirit balls” from off-screen, for example, and that can sometimes get frustrating. But the key is to just keep moving to avoid such issues. And as if you were watching a movie, our hero’s finishing moves are performed without interference from the surrounding Deadites. From a gameplay standpoint, this is maybe not the greatest thing, but looking at it as a playable chapter in the Evil Dead saga, it works well.

The controls offered up in Evil Dead: Regeneration are very basic, as they are with most hack ‘n’ slash titles. While you will use a lot of different buttons on your journey, you could basically button-mash your way to victory if you wanted to. Combinations can be performed between the jump, chainsaw, and shotgun buttons as well. And executing a finishing move is as easy as getting relatively close to a dying Deadite and pressing the Triangle button. The type of execution is determined by the position of both Ash and the enemy.

While fans of the movies surely will purchase Evil Dead: Regeneration, casual fans and those who have yet to experience the insanity of the movies may want to rent this one first. The basic gameplay is nothing new, and the graphical content really could use a makeover. But overall, Regeneration is a worthy side story to the franchise.