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Get Dead 'n' Furious now

On Virgin's website.

Popping it's zombie-head in our shotgun sight today was Virgin Play, who dodged our boomstick-blasts to tell us that Dead 'n' Furious is available to buy from its website now.

It's identical to the version that's been out in the US since early march, and will cost you a fistful of Euro-bob, or EUR 34.99. What big fists you have!

Dead 'n' Furious is an on-rails shooter in a similar vein to arcade-classics House of the Dead and Time Crisis. We caught up with developer Dream On to find out just how hard it was to squash the experience onto DS.

Jibber jabber

How hard has it been to recreate the traditional arcade experience of House of the Dead and Time Crisis on DS?

First of all, we're fond of this kind of arcade game. We really thought it was possible to recreate the same atmosphere on the DS, largely thanks to the stylus.

Our first problem we faced was the reload system - obviously we couldn't ask players to touch outside of the screen to reload! So this idea of drag 'n' dropping bullets came along, and it satisfied us.

We also had the difficulty problem, as aiming on a TV screen with a lightgun is much more difficult than tapping on the DS touch-screen to kill enemies. So we decided to go for a 'prioritising' approach, where you determine the order you shoot rather concentrating on your aim. We think you will find this to be another kind of challenge, especially in later levels!

Then, we had to animate as many enemies on screen as we could to stick to arcade standards. We did this thanks to our 1337 Engine, which gives a maximum of six independent zombies plus the player's animated arms.

You've previously mentioned that there will be co-op support for a friend in the main campaign. What other multiplayer options can we expect?

In Dead 'n' Furious we wanted two co-operative players to replicate the mood of the arcade games. In a future sequel we may try to have some competitive gameplay, or mini-games.

How long is the single-player game, and what other features are included to increase the length and re-playability of the game?

It takes me, who knows the game well, approximatively 45 minutes to do the game from A-to-Z in normal mode.

I can assure you that first-timers will take much longer! Once you've finished it you can redo the game in Furious mode (featuring more agressive zombies), or even God mode (with all weapons unlocked right from the start).

Quit your jibber jabber!

Unfortunately it looks like Virgin Play has no plans to bring it to other systems, despite the obvious potential for a Wii port. Well, I thought it was obvious.

Head over to the Virgin Play website for more information.

Alternatively pop into our Dead 'n' Furious gallery for the latest screenshots.