House of the Dead III

In The House of the Dead III, the player is given options for navigating through the game prior to the start of most stages, ultimately going through the same areas with different results dependent on the order chosen.Another important difference is the absence of civilians. Unlike the first two The House of the Dead games, in which players could rescue various people in peril, The House of the Dead III contains no extra personnel beyond those central to the plot (one way of interpreting this is that all personnel in the building became Infected and subsequently became Zombies). Instead, "Rescue Events" occur during each stage in which the player will need to rescue their partner from attacking zombies. An extra life is rewarded for each successful rescue.A new concept of the series comes in the form of a "Cancel" bar. In previous installments, the bosses` weak point would only need to be shot once to stun the attack. In this game, the bosses` weak point must be shot repeatedly to drain the "Cancel" bar and stop the attack.Another major change to the gameplay comes in the form of a new rank and grade system. Players are now graded on how fast they dispose of the zombies, ranging from Excellent, Good, FASTER, and Twin Shot, the last taking place if two zombies are killed with the same bullet. A letter grade is also given at the end of each stage, ranging from S, A, B, C, D and E. Completing the stage with an A rank will award the player with one bonus life, while an S rank will reward the player with two. A final grade is given at the end of the game, and depending on how many S ranks were received for each stage, the player may be given a "SS" rank as their final grade.