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First off, Let me say that I give this game a solid 4.5 stars, or 9/10. It'd be great if Amazon would come up with a more precise rating system.
If you're somebody who's never played Dead Rising, I think you may still find this review helpful in deciding whether to buy Dead Rising 2. If nothing else, check out sections 8 and 9.
If you've played the original Dead Rising and don't want to read a review this long, you should scroll down to parts 3, 8 and 9. Tabel of Contents
1. Introduction & Background
2. Overview & Story
3. The Save System
4. General Gameplay
5. Enemies, Weapons, & Combat
6. Graphics
7. Sound
8. Summary
9. Who Should Buy This Game? 1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND:It's been over four years since the original Dead Rising was released exclusively for Microsoft's then-less-than-year-old Xbox 360. It featured a wildly fun blend of improvised using, a vast and varied game world to explore, dozens of original characters, and plenty of over-the-top Japanese humor. Oh, and Zombies. Lots and lots of old school, dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks, slower-than-Rosie-O'Donnel-after-a-big-meal Zombies. And we found them as fun to kill as they found us delicious to eat.
All of these things served to make Dead Rising stand out from the pack, not just of games in general, but also the survival horror genre itself. I mean, what kind of game allows you to use a machine gun on your enemies one second, and the next, if you so choose, throw a giant stuffed teddy bear at them? What kind of game pits you against not only the undead, but enemies such as an opera singing clown, who twirls around with two chainsaws, or a 300 pound police woman, or a Rambo wannabe who runs a camping store? No doubt about it, Dead Rising is truly a modern classic. Unfortunately, for all of it's virtues, it had several very obvious and frustrating flaws.
Seeing as how many of the people reading this will be familiar with the original Dead Rising, I will make reference to it throughout this review, comparing the two games along the way, noting improvements and, in some cases, setbacks. 2. OVERVIEW & STORY.
I'm not a big fan of reviews that go deep into plots (they usually just end up spoiling the game, don't they?), so I'll only make a few remarks in that direction.
You don't have to look any further than the game's package to realize that you no longer play as photographer Frank West. Instead, you play as former Motocross champ Chuck Greene. It's been 5 years since the outbreak at Willamette, and the hordes of undead have been either killed or captured. But before the zombies were contained, Chuck's wife was killed, and his daughter, Katey, bitten. Fortunately, there exists a drug, Zombrex, that prevents a bitten person from turning into a zombie. Thing is, it's gotta be administered every 24 hours, or the transformation will take place.
As if Chuck didn't have enough to worry about, shortly after the opening of the game, a horde of zombies is intentionally released, and Chuck is framed for it. After the outbreak, our hero manages to get to a safe room (which plays the role the security room did in the first game), along with his daughter and a handful of other survivors. From there, Chuck must venture out into the mall in search of Zombrex for Katey, other survivors, and the person who framed him.
3. THE SAVE SYSTEM:
Let's get this question out of the way right off the bat. Anyone one who played the original Dead Rising knows what a joke its save system was. First of all, you were only allowed one save slot per storage device, so multiple games, safety saves, and experimentation were out of the picture. As if that weren't bad enough, you had to either go to the security room, or else find a bathroom in order to save your game. Problem was, bathrooms were few and far between. That's a pretty big deal when you're playing a game that runs on a sensitive and strict time limit. You'd very often find yourself doing the math on whether or not you had time to go save your game. I mean, let's say you take 10 minutes to find a save point, that could very well have meant that when you loaded up your game next, you found yourself with too little time to complete an objective, because finding the save point took too long. And if it happened to be a main story objective that you didn't have time to coplete, well then it sucked to be you, because that meant you had to start the game all over again if you wanted to finish the story. Or let's say you came across an unexpected boss battle on the way to a save point, and you got yourself killed -- that could mean hours and hours of gameplay lost. What a headache! Now, I have no objection to challenging games per se', but if a game is challenging, it should be by design, not by design *flaw*. But at the end of the day, having to deal with such an awful save system inside of such an awesome game was a little like being married to a beautiful woman -- only she sounded like Barry White. But I digress...
So, did Capcom fix this? I'd say yes, and no. Mostly Yes. You now have 3 save slots, and bathrooms are much, much more plentiful, generally being located in each area. This allows the kind of breathing room that makes this a more enjoyable game, without the kind of hangups that would turn off otherwise interested gamers. I'd prefer a save-anywhere system (and you probably would, too), but what Dead Rising 2 offers is definitely reasonable, not taking away from the game in any significant way. If the save system was you problem with Dead Rising, I think most reasonable gamers will be satisfied with the leeway given in this sequel.
(Just as an aside, remember what game saving used to be like? Remember the original Nintendo? Remember the fat neighbor kid getting up from the couch to get another Pepsi, and his walking across the living room being enough to send vibrations through floor that would freeze the game you just spent all Saturday on? Well, I do. And looking back, I'm pretty grateful for today's save systems in general!) 4. GENERAL GAMEPLAY:
Instead of reinventing the wheel with Dead Rising 2, Capcom took what they did right, and tried to fix what they did wrong. This would be annoying in some cases, but this game's formula is so original, fun, and addicting, that the similarities feel more like smart design choices than they do lazy cop outs. While the core of the game, location type, time-limited gameplay, and enemies are essentially the same, this a true sequel. So, what's the same and what's different?
First and most obvious, the location is brand new. Willamette is miles away. DR2 takes place in Fortune City, Nevada -- a Gambling mecca that was built over what used to be Las Vegas. The particular place you find yourself in is in fact another shopping center. Even though it's the same type of setting, it has a very different vibe to than Willamette, because of the different stores, objects, surrounding, and even music. In other words, it's no re-hash.
The objectives in Dead Rising 2 are very similar to original's. You have a person informing you of the locations of survivors in the shopping center, and you track them down and bring them back to the safe room. This is a much smoother process in this sequel. For one thing, in the first game, if you didn't have an HDTV, you were probably out of luck when it came to reading the text that informed you of mission updates and details. Capcom has fixed this; the text in DR2 is much larger, and contrasted against a much better background. Also, when it comes to actually escorting survivors, they are much more alert and competent when navigating through zombies and defending themselves. And, as for actually getting them into the safe room, instead of having to clear out an elevator full of zombies, get the survivors to enter the elevator, and then take them too a roof where they may or may not feel like jumping up to the platform where the duct was, you simply take them down a hall and down some stairs into a room where the duct is located. Much, much simpler.
Also, while action packed and often intense, this game is refreshing in that it doesn't take itself too seriously. For example, one of the unique things about the game world is that you can wear almost any clothing you find in the mall. Let me tell you, it's add a whole new dynamic to cutscenes when your guy is wearing short shorts and a teddy bear head!
5. ENEMIES, WEAPONS, & COMBAT:
Zombies.
The undead are obviously the most common enemy. They act and move like the idiots they are. One zombie is no threat, but face large numbers of them, and you've got your work cut out for ya.
Bosses.
In addition to zombies, Dead Rising 2 has some fantastic bosses, just as the first game did. I have to say, this is one of my favorite things to find in a game. I happen to be a huge fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, and I know at least part of that has to do with its varied and over the top boss battles. But whereas those bosses are usually very eccentric in a dramatic way, Dead Rising 2's bosses are very eccentric in a funny and silly way. When you beat them, the toughness of the fight isn't was sticks out in your mind, instead you find yourself thinking, "Man, that guy was CRAZY!" Anyway, if you have an eye for odd and strange details, I think you'll get a kick out of them, because they'll probably remind you of at...Read more›
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