In the world of Dead Rising, a zombie apocalypse is upon Fortune City, a city somewhere in Nevada. An activist organization known as CURE defends the rights of the living impaired. You play as Chuck Greene, who was once a famous motocross champion whose wife was killed by zombies a few years ago. He also has a daughter named Katey, who was bitten by a zombie a few years ago and risks turning into one, but with the daily medicinal treatment of Zombrex, the virus that plagued her mother is unable to spread to her.
Dead Rising 2
Developer: Capcom, Blue Castle
Price:$60.00
Platform(s): Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC (reviewed)
The story of Dead Rising 2 begins with Chuck participating in Terror is Reality, a competitive reality TV show where contestants aim to kill as many zombies as possible and in as many different and entertaining ways as they possibly can for money, sport and fame. After Chuck wins the prize money, he is trapped in an elevator backstage after an explosion. Â Chuck eventually learns that he is being framed for the zombie outbreak in Fortune City, and now has to find a way to clear his name. While you’ll mostly be spending your time hacking away at armies of zombies, you will also be managing your time to meet certain deadlines.
The deadlines in Dead Rising 2 may seem hard to meet at first or even a little overwhelming, but there are many different possibilities the game can play out, which you’ll discover in a subsequent play through. How would things have played out if I didn’t rescue that survivor, or I didn’t do this mission? It’s those little choices that increase the replay value and just makes you appreciate the deadlines you must meet and complete that much more.
Every deadline has a time it must be finished or else the task will disappear forever. You could effectively ignore all the story missions and just fool around and receive an ending that appropriately rewards you for your inadequacy, but it is much more fulfilling to multitask and complete all the story missions, optional tasks included.
If you were a fan of the first Dead Rising, the transition to this game is very easy and feels almost natural. Several of the problems players had with the first one have been addressed—such as the lack of save points, more save slots, and a slightly easier difficulty than its predecessor.
The leveling up aspect feels very similar to a role playing game. At first, Chuck moves very slowly, and can only do a jump kick, but eventually Chuck will have powerful moves in his arsenal and effectively becomes a one many army in a mall of thousands of zombies. You gain experience by killing zombies in creative ways and by rescuing survivors.
The difficult and optional boss battles have players facing off against the psychotic. These adversaries have succumbed to the effects of zombie infestation. They are indeed challenging and powerful and last but not least, fun to battle. Some of them are near impossible to beat the first play through until you reach a higher level, which is just another reason why replaying through the game is enjoyable—to crush those that were difficult the first time around.
While one of the main objectives of the game is to kill zombies, another important aspect of the game is to rescue survivors scattered around Fortune City. It can definitely be a chore to rescue survivors and take them to the safe house, as there is only way to the safe house that you must take every time. In short, the whole endeavor to save the scoured survivors can hinder your overall experience of the game simply because of the sheer repetition. They don’t even have enough added perks of rescuing them—save for the experience points which make Chuck stronger in the long run.
My favorite part of the game was arguably the weapon system. You can combine two random items together to make something even more powerful. For example, by combining a gem and a torch Chuck gets a fancy light saber. What’s so cool about the system is that the possibilities seem almost endless.
The game never takes itself too seriously. You can customize Chuck’s outfit to your liking, and there are many options to choose from. It was hard not to laugh during a dramatic scene when I’d see Chuck dressed up in a ridiculous outfit.
There are two aspects of multiplayer—a friend can team up with you and tag along through the story mode. This can be entertaining, provided that both of you have no problem staying within vicinity of each other during the whole ride. Unfortunately, while co-op multiplayer can be fun, the frame rate gets a bit more sluggish with another player along for the ride. The other multiplayer mode has four players take part in the Terror is Reality show and face off for cash which can be used in the story mode. This mode is generally fun, as even if you come in last, you have also won. Every player will walk away with some amount of money, be it a small or a large sum.
Problem is, if any player leaves, the game is over and no one gains a profit. This can lead to frustrating circumstances. There are moments where I would be doing very well and the guy in last place decides to leave, probably in spite that he is not doing too well. While this multiplayer component is a decent addition, the concept and the overall execution feels rather forgettable and uninspired.
The voice acting is decent at times but Dead Rising 2 suffers from a poorly written script and stereotypical characters. You have your loud and over the top reality TV show announcer, an angry activist and a slutty journalist. While most of the characters feel shallow and the plot would be virtually unchanged had they not existed, our protagonist, Chuck, was greatly portrayed as a sympathetic father figure, contrasting the abrasive leading man from Dead Rising 2’s predecessor, Frank West.
Continuing on the flaws, some of the character models can especially look blocky. The driving controls are also not that good. Animations look stiff, particularly on the non-playable characters.
The visuals of Dead Rising 2 aren’t exactly breathtaking. Regardless, they are presentable and get the job done. It’s completely understandable, as there are occasionally hundreds of zombies on screen at once. The game is frequently plagued by slowdowns and screen tears, and the controls don’t exactly feel all too responsive. Also, the load times are long and frequent.
There are six endings in Dead Rising 2—actually seven if you count the true ending. This game is just asking players to replay it through again. What’s better is that after completing the game the first time around, players can replay it from the beginning at the same level they were at after beating it the first time around.
In short, Dead Rising 2 delivers in the best way and the only way a video game should; entertainment. While it lacks polish, it is truly a fun and engaging experience and after finishing the story there’s a good chance you’ll want to visit Fortune City again.
The Final Word
If you’re into a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and you just want to have fun in more ways than one, Dead Rising 2 can do that for you.– MonsterVine Rating: Good – 4/5
