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    Review/recommedation: The Typing of the Dead!

    • Started by DreymaR
    • 3 Replies:
    • Reputation: 210
    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,343

    The Typing of the Dead, or TotD for short, is a simply hilarious way to learn and train typing for Windows gaming enthusiasts. At the same time, I found that inbetween the laughs I actually progressed well. It's a conversion of the light-gun game House of the Dead 2 where you have to type words and phrases instead of aiming a light ray at the hordes of zombies shambling towards you on the screen. It's all done very tongue-in-cheek, as it should be. While the original games take themselves way too seriously and suffer from poor "Engrish", this game is just excellently (self-)ironic and the stiffness of the original fits in perfectly. Most of the weapons are even replaced with silly versions, so instead of a club a zombie might wield for instance a plunger! I still wouldn't recommend it for the smallest kids though.

       typing_of_the_dead.jpg
       Type fast! The alternative is gory death, muahahaaa!  :)

    The excellent vintage-game site Home of the Underdogs has a page (warning: Slow site, but functional) with a nice write-up as well as a Torrent of the full game! http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=4973 (I never used Torrent myself, and downloaded my copy before they started using that, so don't ask me how it works technically but I see people using Torrent a lot so it's probably time I got started too.) It runs well under my WinXP; I don't remember any problems at all and I've installed it on a few different machines.

    If Underdogs put out a full download like this, then to the best of my knowledge the game is no longer protected by copyright laws (aka "abandonware") so you won't be doing anything illegal. Underdogs is far from those "hacker" sites that put out illegal copies; if there are copyright issues they'll just link to the company instead. Although the site is a bit slow to navigate, I recommend looking around a bit and checking out their "Top Dogs" in particular, as there is much vintage game gold there and these people are true aficionados! I was surprised to find a full version of this game as it's not that old (2000) but at the same time it's based on an old game so I guess it grew old fast? It's still brilliant though!

    The game has a typing school that is quite good too. It is based on QWERTY of course, but if you don't mind the "home row" lesson taking place on all rows and suchlike it'll be fine. As a "locality" (Norway) user I had trouble getting the game to understand some special signs because AltGr won't work. I ended up making a layout install for the game, that allows me to type signs in a familiar "Norwegian" way but moves all necessary characters for the game to normal or shifted keys. This solution works perfectly. For US users it won't be necessary.

    One thing I really found useful is all the drills in TotD. If you don't want to embark on a lengthy zombie-purging mission you can just do some quick but fun exercises. These each focus on a single out of a bunch of aspects of typing, such as speed/accuracy/reaction (a bit more game-relevant maybe) etc. They're just excellent.

    The game has a huge range of difficulty adjustment available in all aspects, so it should fit everyone from the near-beginner to the near-master.

    Two thumbs way up! Agents of the AMS, report for duty!

    Last edited by DreymaR (09-Jun-2007 12:25:45)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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    • Reputation: 210
    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,343

    Update: Typing taken to the 3rd dimension!

    I have a new hobby to confess to: Stereovision! I have a couple of 3-D shutter glasses from eDimensional and an NVIDIA GeForce card from last year together with a decent Sony Trinitron monitor, and it all comes together to create some great fun!

       sparewireless.jpg
       https://edimensional.com/product_info.p … ucts_id=28

    Well, today I started up TotD again and found that it works well with true 3D. Well, heck - it works great! I'm having such fun with it now.

    Some games have shortcomings in the 3D environments that don't really show until you view them in stereo, since games aren't usually made for stereovision. But this one hasn't disappointed me yet, apart from a few easily overlookable flaws such as text floating above the scoring page.

    It's almost uncanny: Now the things I have to type keep advancing on me in space and then actually start to protrude from the screen towards me, adding to the tension and immersion. Wonderful.

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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    • Reputation: 0
    • From: NYC
    • Registered: 02-Feb-2007
    • Posts: 104

    I'm downloading this game too now...looking forward to playing it

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    • Reputation: 210
    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,343

    This game is very good for training my weaknesses while leading me into believing that I'm "only" playing!

    I've trained some boss battles tonight. Quickly found out that the Magician (second-to-last boss) gives me much trouble. Fighting him at intermediate or higher difficulty, you have to type phrases of medium length fairly fast without a single error. Then you have to type alternatingly longish phrases or four short but fast simultaneous ones. The no-errors-allowed-while-typing-fast part punishes me, and I keep trying that boss again and again because of the fun challenge.

       9._Magician_Screen.PNG
       "I've been waiting for this time to come."

    As a consolation, I slaughtered all the bosses before him fairly well. The chainsaw boss that has you type very long phrases that come together to tell a silly story most of the time, is my favourite. The reaction boss that asks you tricky multiple-choice questions is fun too, if less of an actual typing exercise maybe (you still use your typing there so it's useful).

    From experience I know that my skills will improve while I play this: I used it to improve my Dvorak skills before I switched to Colemak, and it helped me improve back then. I feel confident that this will push up my speed and accuracy in a fun and pleasing manner now too. Even more fun now that I have stereovision!  ;)

    Last edited by DreymaR (13-Jun-2007 00:13:46)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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