The World

"I am the ultimate being. There is no hope. My hammer of death shall rain down upon you."

- The World

The World (Type β) was a monstrous giant insect-like being that was Goldman's true masterpiece and it is the final boss of The House of the Dead 4. This creaure had the time to mature and grow stronger, unlike the Emperor, who was released supposedly prematurely. It was hidden in the courtyard in front of the Goldman Building, emerging once the agents stopped the launch of the nuclear missiles. In addition, it had three forms (though only the first two were fought), advancing to the next after each defeat.

The World had mastery over ice, or cryokinesis, which also advanced through each form, like being able to create a giant ice hatchet and summon ice dragons.

Aside from being Goldman's ultimate creation, the World may actually be the strongest boss of all, being able to get back up again after being defeated twice. Ultimately, the World was finally destroyed only after James Taylor sacrificed himself by setting his PDA on self-destruct and throwing himself with it at the abomination as it was advancing into its third form. It is unknown if it has more than three forms, but it is likely that it would just keep on reviving itself unless it was completely destroyed.

The World First Form - Type Beta Edit
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +            [ THE WORLD  Type Beta ]           + +      WEAK POINT:      The heart               + +      NO DAMAGE:       Anywhere else           + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Very important: never use grenade here, it will never reach The World's heart FIRST ATTACK - The World charges a glowing fist and hurls an ice shockwave toward you. You can shoot the ice pillars as quickly as you can. If the pillar reaches you, shake your gun to break free from the ice prison or you'll take damage. As long as you destroy his pillars or quickly break free as soon as possible, you have nothing to worry about this attack.
 * Unknown to the PDA, the weak spot is the HEART, exposed from the slit at the center of its chest (Like the Hierophant's beating heart enclosed by metallic skin).

SECOND ATTACK - The World charges both glowing fists and hurls two ice shockwaves toward you. Shoot down the ice pillars as quickly as you can. If the pillars reaches you, shake your gun to break free from the ice prison or you'll take damage. Again, as long as you destroy his pillars or quickly break free as soon as possible, you have nothing to worry about this attack.

THIRD ATTACK - The World creates a huge ice hatchet on its hands. Shoot the axe continuously to destroy it before it materializes completely in its hands. Once the axe is formed, the World raises it and hacks for bone-shattering damage.

FINAL ATTACK - Imitating the Magician again, the World sends 4 ice flowers to the sky, which unite into a single more durable blossom that dives down to you. Each flower takes a clip full of shots to destroy (30 rounds). Destroy each as quickly as possible. The huge flower is more durable and takes more shots to destroy.

For this battle, the World won't pose much of a threat. When you've played the game a few times, you can hardly lose a life for this battle alone. Throughout the battle, the World will use the first three attacks alternately. Once it has lost about 60% BOSS LIFE, he'll start Attack 4. Shoot the heart whenever it's possible (while creating the ice flowers from below) and destroy these flowers. Repeat this process until he dies. Note that every time you destroy the World's icy creations, you damage it as well, so try to stop each of his attacks to damage him as fast as possible. Wait, don't leave the gun on the machine yet! The game has not ended yet... take a deep breath, and face...

The World Second Form - Type Gamma Edit
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +            [ THE WORLD Type Gamma ]           + +      WEAK POINT:      The heart               + +      NO DAMAGE:       Anywhere else           + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The creature has assumed a more human form, its wings having formed tendrils on his back. He's now glowing a faint bloody red by re-amassing all his lost energy from the heart (those blood-like rays) which immortalizes him for a second time. Still, shoot his heart. The creature in this form is harder to deal with this time.

FIRST ATTACK - The World charges a glowing fist and sends a spiraling ice dragon towards you. Shoot the Frost Dragon's head to destroy it before it bites your arse off. Real dangerous. While shooting, execute a outward spinning motion with the gun, like you're drawing a spiral on-screen whilst firing the SMG on the head like mad. With (a lot of) luck, you can do it.

SECOND ATTACK - The World charges two glowing fists and sends two spiraling ice dragons BEHIND you. Shoot the Frost Dragons' heads to destroy them before they take off a life from you. This is a little bit easier than one Dragon alone, since the heads move in a predictable pattern before spinning their way to you. You can easily destroy them before they even approach. (The building's columns prove annoying for they'll block the shots intended for the Dragon behind it!)

THIRD ATTACK - The World charges a glowing fist and alternately hurls a spiraling ice dragon from each fist. The dragons dive in from a left-right-left-right OR right-left right-left alternating pattern. About three to five bullets can already smash a dragon, but you have to contend from six to eight of them. These dragons move very fast to compensate their fragile structure. HINT: Two lightning streaks will flash when the World begins this attack.

FINAL ATTACK - Again, like the Magician, the World creates a huge Frost Dragon that rockets up the sky in a spiraling manner, and spins its way down to bite you. Still, the Dragon's head is the weak point. The best moment to damage and destroy the Dragon is on its way down, about the time its head is very open to gunfire. Yeah, once you destroy it, you'll have a nice shower of ice shards as the World summons another Dragon to the sky for you to destroy, again...

As expected, the World is much harder this time around, but a few times of fighting him will give you an advantage to learn his attacks. Throughout the battle, the World will use the first three attacks alternately. Once it has lost about 60% BOSS LIFE, he'll start Attack 4. Shoot the heart whenever it's possible (while he creates the dragons from below) and destroy all the dragons he sends. Rinse and repeat until he dies. Again note that every time you destroy the World's icy creations, you damage him as well, so try to stop each attack to damage him as fast as possible.

Trivia

 * The final bosses of the first four games appear to embody primal forces of nature; the Magician uses fire, the Emperor uses metamorphosis, the Wheel of Fate uses electricity, and the World uses ice.
 * The 3rd Form can be fought in The House of the Dead EX only, also served as the game's Final Boss.
 * The World's type number is also a Greek letter similar to that of the Emperor as they are both creations of Goldman
 * Like the past final bosses, the World is part of the Tarot Deck; it represents the completion of a journey. This also may symbolize the culimnation of the conflict that the protagonists struggle with in the series. Also, the World is considered the strongest card in the Tarot Deck, reflecting just how strong the boss truly is.
 * The World's design might be based on Dante's depiction of Satan in the Divine Comedy, which shows the devil with three heads, multiple eyes, six wings, and frozen up to his waist in the lake Cocytus. The three heads of satan might be alluded to in either the three faces of the triangular Pandora's Box, or in the three forms that The World takes, as in Dante's text the three heads are said to be be colored black, vermillion, and yellowish-white. Similarly, the antennae on the World's head could pass for horns, and the fact that The Star is the boss that comes before it may be an allusion to the fact that each of the three books in the divine comedy ends with the word 'stars'.