Dead Rising 2
Review
Thousands of zombies to whack off
by Chris Davis
reviewed on X360
I’ve Covered Wars Ya Know (cntd)
It is also worth noting that the game, like Dead Rising, has multiple endings based on how you progress through the game. Players who go the distance and make certain decisions will unlock Overtime mode. Overtime mode plays out in a similar manner to that of Dead Rising’s in which you are pretty much alone and have to accomplish certain objective to unlock the best ending for the game. Despite it being the ‘true’ ending to the game the end results are pretty much anti-climatic. You beat the final boss and walk into the (zombie-filled) sunset without any resolution to many of the questions that come up later in the game. These questions will most likely be answered in the upcoming Case West epilogue but it would have been nice to have some closure, especially for those who will not be able to purchase this piece of downloadable content.
Zombies Man, They Creep Me Out
Perhaps because there is not much competition to breed innovation with, Dead Rising 2 is more of a refinement of the original formula than a reinterpretation. Luckily the pacing of the game is far more generous this time around and allows you to accomplish far more between cases than before.
One of the staple events of the case system is the mandatory event that occurs every morning at 7:00am. With Chuck’s daughter Katey being infected, she requires a daily dose of Zombrex in order to prevent her from changing from a cute seven-year-old Mega Man addict to a shambling not-so-cute brain eater. Zombrex is something that is not at all easy to come by: you can buy some at a pawnshop located in many parts of Fortune City but the price increases by the day and it ends up being more cost effective to find it on your own. Some psychopaths and survivors you come across will have some but if you want to go the distance and earn the best possible ending it helps to go explore and find more.
While I don’t rightly understand why it is that some people go crazy in the Dead Rising series, Dead Rising 2’s selection of psychopaths is a nice complement to the original game’s collection. Many of these are supplements to the villains from Frank West’s adventure, such as Dead Rising 2’s version of the chainsaw juggling clown Adam with child mascot Slappy whose weapons are just as ridiculous. There are plenty that are completely original such as the bizarre wife-seeking Randy and the praise-seeking cannibal Chef Antoine. Many of these psychos can be completely skipped if desired and some can actually join you as a survivor if you meet certain conditions. While preparing for some of these fights are a must, thanks to the game’s save system, the eventual defeat of psychos is assured.
The survivors in Fortune City are probably one of the greatest improvements made in Dead Rising 2. While certain survivors were easy rescues in Dead Rising, the majority of them ended up being one of the hardest exercises to do as not only was the AI intent on not following Frank or his instructions they were also prone to simply being too dumb to be allowed to live in a zombie apocalypse. Luckily this time around the AI has been dramatically improved. Not only will the survivors fight alongside you in a competent manner, but they will actually follow you and do what you demand of them. This makes it possible to actually rescue multiple survivors across the map, something that was nigh impossible in the first game. Thank you Blue Castle for getting this right.
Frank West’s story in Dead Rising was that of a reporter discovering a zombie outbreak and living to tell about it. As such, photography was a big part of the game’s original formula. While Chuck doesn’t have that ability, what he does do well is kill zombies in creative ways. Replacing the photography aspect of the game are combo weapons which offer increasingly more creative means by which to dispatch the undead horde. Though the premise of being able to combine two ordinary objects to create an instrument of bloody death seems at first to be a kind of lousy way to replace such a popular game mechanic but it certainly grows on you. With fifty different weapons you can create and utilize, the combo weapons system is certainly a fun mechanic, though not without its problems. The durability of these weapons is questionable and they usually only last long enough to give you a taste of their abilities before they get destroyed. Certain staples to try out are the Paddlesaw (kayak paddle with a chainsaw), the Defiler (fire axe plus a sledgehammer), and the Heliblade (toy helicopter with a bowie knife).
8.5
fun score
Pros
Great improvement of the ideas of the original
Cons
Some graphical quirks, not as innovative as it could have been
