Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evildead_fistfullofboomstick_4774.jpg

The second licensed Evil Dead video game from 2003 for the Play Station 2 and Xbox, developed by VIS Entertainment and published by THQ.

After the Necronomicon is read aloud in a local television program, Deadites are running amok in the small town of Dearborn, Michigan. It's once again up to Ash (Bruce Campbell) to fix things up by killing every sorry-ass deadite in his way and even travelling through time.

The game is based on the game engine of State of Emergency, with very similar gameplay. Essentially it's a free-roaming beat-em-up with 360 degree aiming gunplay.

This game has the examples of:

  • And the Adventure Continues: At the end, it's revealed that Ash is in feudal Japan after having botched the sealing spell after beating Trisha. The Evil then starts possessing the palace guards, leaving Ash to fight his way out.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Averted when Ash travels back in time to the 17th century, meets his colonial-era ancestor, and explains how he's the man's descendant from the future and came back to fight a time-traveling army of demons. His ancestor immediately agrees to help, and when Ash skeptically remarks that he seems to be accepting the situation a little too easily, his ancestor responds that after a night of fighting demons from another dimension, he's ready to believe anything.
  • Artistic License – History: Confederate troops never came anywhere near Michigan during the Civil War.
  • Arm Cannon: In the museum, Ash finds a fluid cannon for his stump that coats enemies in gasoline, allowing them to be set on fire with one shot; it gets upgraded into a flamethrower during the colonial era. During the Civil War era, Ash also gets a Gatling gun to strap to his stump.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: It turns out Trisha is the Deadite Queen, and the final boss. Small hints throughout the game seem to suggest that she was possessed by evil the whole time, or at least for most of the game, rather than just at the end.
  • Bus Crash: The intro movie establishes that Jenny from Evil Dead: Hail to the King died at some point in the 10 years between Hail to the King and Fistful of Boomstick, though dialogue suggests it happened fairly recently. The cherry on the cake is that she died in a bus crash.
  • Chainsaw Good: Ash's trusty melee weapon, which must be collected from a lumberyard. Late in the game, he gets an upgraded one with extended guide bar and diamond-tipped cutting chain.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Ash has hots for Trisha, and he isn't hiding it.
    Trisha: Oh, Ash. How can I ever thank you?
    Ash: Well. Have you ever seen a little movie called Deep Throat?
    Trisha: Ash, really.
    Ash: What can I say? I'm a man. It gets lonely being humanity's savior again and again.
  • Crazy-Prepared: At the end of the intro, it's revealed that Ash just happened to have brought his trusty boomstick to the bar with him... which he promptly uses on the bartender when he is possessed.
  • Demonic Possession: Deadites are once again possessing humans. This time around, Ash can possess them too with a right spell, complete with the famous Raimi-cam.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: The story starts with Ash drinking in a bar due to the death of Jenny from Evil Dead: Hail to the King.
  • Enemy Mine: In The American Civil War era of Dearborn, Ash must convince the two opposing sides to unite their forces against the Deadite threat.
  • Feed It a Bomb: How you beat the final boss.
  • Genre Shift: The story is in continuity with Hail to the King, but plays nothing like it, being a third-person action game instead of a classic Resident Evil-style Survival Horror.
  • How We Got Here: The game is a recounting of events that Ash tells to an Asian man.
  • Identical Grandson: Ash's colonial blacksmith and Civil War colonel ancestors look and act just like him.
  • Idle Animation: There's a standard idle animations like Ash twirling his gun around, but if left in one spot for an extended period of time, the camera would actually zoom in and swing around to face Ash head on, eliciting a "Um.... Hellooooo?" from our hero.
  • Incredibly Durable Enemies: The enemies in the penultimate level, unless you use the flamethrower on them.
  • It's Quiet… Too Quiet:
    Ash: [It's quiet.] The "what the hell happens next" kind of quiet.
  • The Joy of X: The subtitle of the game is modelled after A Fistful of Dollars.
  • Mythology Gag: One of Ash's taunts is "Ever read A Farewell to Arms? Well I wrote it", which is reference to a visual gag in Evil Dead 2.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Both Dr. Eldridge and Trisha Pettywood. Dr. Eldridge pretends to be an Absent-Minded Professor who's way out of his depth in studying the Necronomicon, while Trisha pretends to be a flirty, air-headed TV presenter. They're actually trying to use the Kandarian summoning stone to Take Over the World.
  • One-Winged Angel: Nathaniel Payne, Dr. Eldridge, and Trisha all transform into monsters before you fight them.
  • Running Gag: No matter what timeline Ash is in, Dearborn's local preacher ends up dying.
  • Shout-Out:
    Ash: Boomstick: $199.99, Shells: 39.99, Zombies heads blowing off: priceless.
  • Shovel Strike: The very first melee weapon Ash acquires.
  • Silver Has Mystic Powers: Upon the reawakening of the deadites, several vortices materialize in Dearborn, and Ash must close them with bars of silver.
  • Stripperiffic: For some reason the Deadite hordes include spell-casting pale-skinned women wearing black latex bondage gear.
  • Taunt Button: Pressing the designated taunt button gives one of the several recorded taunts and pre asskicking one liners.
  • Tennis Boss: Nathaniel Payne, the boss of the museum, can only be defeated by deflecting his fireballs back at him with a shovel.
  • Video Game Flamethrowers Suck: Nicely averted with this one. It has good range and is incredibly strong. The only drawback is the limited ammo count.
  • Who Dares?: Ash discovers that Nathaniel Payne isn't exactly human anymore.
    Ash: Uh... Hello? Anyone home?... I'm looking for a Nathaniel Payne... Nathaniel Payne? It's about the Kandarian summoning stone. You see, I need to borrow it for a while. Look, I'll bring it right back, ok?
    Payne: Who dares to disturb my rest?
    Ash: Whoa... uh, hey if this is a bad time I can come back.
    Payne: No, this is the perfect time... for you to die!
    Ash: Aw, crap.


 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Dearborn PD

The Dearborn Police obstruct Ash under the assumption that they've isolated their Deadite invasion to a stip-club, willfully ignorant of the deadites running rampant in the streets.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (2 votes)

Example of:

Main / PoliceAreUseless

Media sources:

Report