Temperance

Multiple universes
(Main series and Spin-offs)

Temperance - Type-0483
HOD4
Basic information
Featured in	The House of the Dead 4 Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX
Encounters	HOD4 Chapter 5
Weapon	Fat body, brass knuckle
Protection	Fat body
Weak point
Temperance's weakpoint is its head.

This is just great... It's absorbing our attacks!

James Taylor

Type-0483, codenamed "Temperance" (テンパランス, Tenparansu), was an obese tattooed behemoth. It is the fourth boss in The House of the Dead 4.

Temperance attempts to crush, punch, and bite its prey. The creature's body is invulnerable to gunfire; its head -- its weak point -- must be shot to stall any attack.

History

Main article: The House of the Dead 4

Temperance was one of several creatures unleashed by the late Caleb Goldman, the financier of Dr. Curien's research, in a posthumous 2003 outbreak. Veteran AMS agent James Taylor and newcomer Kate Green investigated the outbreak. In the process, they discovered a plot to launch nuclear missiles worldwide.

Taking the subway to the zombie-infested streets, the agents were ambushed by Temperance. Upon realizing that the creature's body was absorbing their bullets, James and Kate lured it to the top of a clock tower; there, they dropped a giant clock face on Temperance's head, killing the creature.

Appearance

Temperance is an giant obese humanoid with sharp teeth, glowing-red eyes, and tattoos. It wears stretch pants, shoes, and a single fingerless glove ridden with spikes. 

In combat, Temperance's gelatinous fat protects it from damage. When pursuing the players in the city streets, it attempts to belly flop or roll into them. Later, when they traverse a clock tower, Temperance stalks them through windows in an attempt to punch them. 

The behemoth can only be killed by blunt trauma; ultimately, Temperance's fight culminates with players dropping a massive clock face on its head. 

Other appearances

Temperance makes a cameo appearance in the third chapter of Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX, in the Zombie Bowling mini-game. Players shoot a bowling ball to move and steer it towards pins; Temperance will appear behind the pins and swallow the ball.

Gameplay

Overview

Unlike the previous three bosses in The House of the Dead 4, Temperance has three unique properties: its health bar cannot be depleted; most of its attack phases will not restart if the player fails to stop them; and the encounter is a hybrid between a boss fight and a normal level, with players ascending a creature-filled clock tower to defeat Temperance in a final quick time event. The creature itself uses roll attacks and the environment to make shooting its weak point (its head) difficult.

Phases

1. After standing briefly, Temperance will stomp after the player as the camera moves backward; after 4 steps, the creature will belly flop the player.
2. Temperance repeats the previous phase, but without standing briefly prior to moving.
3. Temperance curls up into a ball and rolls forwards, stopping two times in the middle of the attack. After two stops, it will continue rolling and damage the player.
4. Temperance repeats the previous phase, but rolls backwards.
5. In the clock tower, after battling hordes of creatures on the first floor, the player ascends to the second. Temperance's face appears through the windows, popping in and out of frame. After enough seconds pass, Temperance will punch the player.
6. Temperance repeats the previous phase.
7. After defeating another creature horde on the top floor, the player approaches a lever as Temperance appears. Shaking the gun within a short time frame will initiate the lever and drop a clock face on Temperance, killing the creature; failure to do so results in Temperance biting the player, and restarting the phase.

Strategies

• Grenades are helpful to stop Temperance's rolling attack, particularly the second variant in which it rolls backwards.

Development

Temperance was designed by Nobuto Iwao, as with the rest of The House of the Dead 4's bosses. Inspired by its namesake cardinal virtue, which concerns self-restraint and sobriety, the development team arrived at Temperance's overweight appearance from the idea that an unrestricted diet would cause obesity. As part of their efforts to make each boss encounter unique, Temperance makes "full use" of the game's force feedback system.

Trivia

• Temperance is the third boss in the series (after Strength and Justice) to share a name with a cardinal virtue.
• Temperance is the first boss in the House of the Dead series that cannot be damaged by firearms or grenades (quite fitting, as the cardinal virtue of Temperance implies a lot of endurance). This was followed by High Priestess and Moon, both from House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn.

Gallery

Official Art

Screenshots

Temperance's weak point as shown on the PDA

Temperance moments before its death.