Kids, there is a zombie breakout coming: fact. It could happen any day now, and you have to be prepared.
Look at what happened to Chuck Greene, walking through the mall, minding his own business and BAM! Zombie apocalypse.
Science.
For crying out loud Capcom, another zombie game? You already have Resident Evil, is there place for another? Yes there is, according to Keijie Inafune the producer of Dead Rising 2.
He explains that in Resident Evil the zombies are something you fear. They are strong; one zombie alone can kill you. In Dead Rising the zombies are not something you fear, they are something you play with. The strength of the zombies lies in their numbers.
There are a lot of zombies in this game. Not even in the grandest Halo battles have I seen so many on-screen objects. The mall where Dead Rising 2 takes place is absolutely heaving with them, and the best thing to do is grab a baseball bat and dive in swinging.
Keep swinging and soon the place will be covered in blood and gore – definitely not a game for kids. Speaking of adult stuff, scattered through the game world are billboards with covers from Playboy magazine. Apparently, the Playboys featured in the game are now hot property on Ebay, with collectors trying to get their hands on those issues.
There is loads of fun to be had in Dead Rising 2. Grab some silly items from a toy store, like a dinosaur head and stick it on a zombie for a laugh. Nearly every item lying around in the game can be used as a weapon or an object to amuse yourself with.
Some items that you pick up can be combined to create even more devastating weapons. For example, duct tape two chainsaws to an oar and row through a sea of zombies.
But despite all the silly, fun things you can do, the game is still pretty intense. All the missions are on a strict timeline and if you fail to meet a deadline, the mission is over. Sure you can load an old saved game and try again but since the save slots are so limited it is easy to get yourself into a position where the mission is out of your grasp.
You are kept on the edge of your seat for most of the game, however, the nervous tension can soon turn into angry frustration. The save system in Dead Rising 2 is just terrible. You can’t save your game when you want to and there is no auto saving. When is the last time you played a game without auto saving? 1824? This is supposed to heighten the tension but it only amplifies the frustration.
And the loading screens…What is with the loading screens? You will spend an inordinate length of time waiting for them, and there are entire discussions online on how to do the missions with the least number of load screens.
Frustration continues online
The competitive online component and the zombies have something in common – they both are dead. To play, you have to wait for four players to show up. Waiting for a game to start can take very long or sometimes not happen at all.
They should have allowed games to start with less than four players. It would not be as much fun, but do you know what is less fun? Picking your nose while waiting for other players to show up.
Conclusion
Sure, with all the frustrations, Dead Rising 2 is not everybody’s cup of tea but the game is doing some phenomenal ground breaking stuff and I would not be surprised to see that clones will start appearing soon.
I don’t think this will win game of the year award but Dead Rising 2 will definitely develop a devoted and fanatical cult following. If you are a zombie fan you should have a copy of the game on your shelf already!
Discuss Dead Rising 2 in the forums.
Reviewed on Xbox 360.
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