Dead Rising 2

Dead Rising 2 (Capcom)

Having finally got round to playing it I'm actually a little confused with it. In the meantime I have a new dilema. Medal of Honour was initially next on my list of games to buy until I played the Castlevania demo. Now I make the difficult choice of which to buy. The only game I know for certain that I'm getting and absolutely cannot wait for this month... is STAR WARS The Force Unleashed 2. Here's my review of Dead Rising 2.

Story
Set after Dead Rising 1, DR2 has a new protagonist named Chuck Greene who is a contestant on a reality zombie game show called Terror is Reality where players mow down zombies on a motor bike kitted out with chainsaws to earn big bucks. It's all fun and games until someone releases the zombie horde into Fortune City and frames Chuck. Now he must clear his name and survive until help arrives. Besides creating a blood bath against zombies, Chuck also comes across dramatic pyschos which gives the player some mild drama and a conspiracy to uncover.

TIR (Terror is Reality) contestants.

Design
In Dead Rising 2 you have 72 hours (3 days) until the military arrive. In that time you participate in rescue missions, fighting pyschos, finding Zombrex (A chemical to keep the zombie virus at bay in those who have not yet turned) for Chuck's daughter Katey and getting to the bottom of who framed you. Not to mention slaughter hundreds if not thousands of zombies. Rescuing survivors seems easier than the games predecessor due to the fact you can give weapons to them to defend themselves. Although their A.I is questionable as sometimes they attack you amongst the crowd of the undead. Pyscho battles are a challenge for players because their health drains slower than a snail and Chucks drains a few bars after a simple hit from them. This gets a bit easier as you level up and your health, strength and attacks are upgraded. The most thrilling missions are the Case Files (Story missions) to uncover the truth about the outbreak. They are also the strictest due to a time limit to do them in and if you fail one then you fail the rest. When this happens or alternatively when you die you have the option to restart the story (with your current stats, money and experience points intact), continue playing until the military arrive or load a save game. The last one I found to be particularly annoying due to forgetting to save my game often and when I fail having to start back many missions ago. This was also a dilema in Capcom's other zombie franchise: Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3. The whole "Try, Try Again" thing can be off-putting but luckily they added extra save slots for those last minute rescues. Also to make things easier there is a drop in co-op setting where you and a friend can revive each other when you're downed. Although you're both limited to the same area. You can also play cometetitively online in the Terror is Reality multiplayer game. There are 9 different game types and all reward cash which can be transferred over to story mode if you're running low.

Team up with a friend.

Gameplay
Like the previous installment where you run around a shopping mall using anything you can find to bash zombies heads in until the weapon breaks, Dead Rising 2 follows the same ingredient except it's based in a shopping mall mixed with casinos (Like an alternative Vegas). There's not a lot you need to conquer when it comes to using weapons. You can hit with a weapon, throw one and even ride some. The controls are actually quite chunky and you notice this when you are fighting the faster, well equipped pyschos. Using weapons of the gun variety is more of use when used against human enemies with guns. Your bullets are limited to the gun because you can't pick up clips to reload. Using them against psychos isn't worth the stress. Their life drains quicker if you bash them with a melee weapon rather than shooting them. A new feature to the franchise is the ability to combine weapons. You can take certain weapons to a Maintenance Room and combine them using duct tape to make stronger and more powerful weapons that when used give you a bonus amount of Prestige Points enabling you to level up quicker. You can either stumble across these combinations randomly or by finding Combo Cards from survivors, defeated psychos or simply scattered around Fortune City. Although if you stumble across a combination you get less PP for using them. There are over 30 bizarre combo weapons to use. It's an easy enough game to play if you remember to save often and create methods of attacking psychos.

Combo Cards

Presentation
Wherever you go there will be a great deal of zombies on screen. And no matter how many you destroy, more will come very soon. The quantity of undead in a single zone is large. To a point where it feels real. However the quality compared to the quantity is not so good. For instance if you eat an item of food to regain health it's always the same unconvincing motion and noises of 'nomming'. In game characters have no voice dialogue and there are plenty of loading screens. I found Dead Rising 2 is practically Dead Rising 1 with some small improvements such as extra save slots, weapon combinations and co-op. But that is all they are; small improvements. Which is kind of a shame for a game that was 4 years in the making. Overall I found DR2 fun. But sometimes I found it stressful which lead to my confusion on whether or not I like it or love it. Some cut scenes make the game seem serious yet when you have to accomplish stupid things to convince survivors to follow you to the Safe House (Like playing Poker in the middle of a zombie filled Casino), the seriousness fails. The Combo Cards add a lot of fun to the gameplay. I really enjoy using a Laser Sword that is very similar to a Lightsaber. Changing into different outfits can make the game more comical too. For example watch Chuck dressed as Elvis beat down zombies with a guitar always brings a smile to my face. But I prefere the Ninja costume over the rest! When you play co-op you can really have a laugh with a friend as you both take down the animated corpses by an means necessary.

Unfortunately there are only 2 Katana swords in the game. Once broken they can never be refound.

Having nearly Platinumed Dead Rising 2 (My 30th!) I can say that if there was a third installment, I'd hope there was a demo I could taste first. I liked Dead Rising 1 and thought 2 would be to my liking too. And it was... sorta. Let's just say it won't be making it into my top ten games of 2010. I give it 7/10.

By selecting it from your inventory you can have 4 possible colours. Red, Blue, Green and Purple.