This wasn't the sequel we've been waiting for? Hardly anyone even played the first one? Oh... Well in that case, brilliant, for Dead Rising 2 is pretty much more of the same!
Game: Dead Rising 2
Reviewed platform: Playstation 3
Other platforms: Xbox 360, PC
Dead rising 2. You had me at motorbikes with chainsaws off the sides. For anyone that doesn't know, Dead rising 2 is a 3rd person action adventure romp with zombies. There are also some very unique mechanics to the game such as the "Use anything!" aspect of the combat, and the time management style of the main campaign. You'll be using Guitars, Paddles, and all sorts of objects, vehicles and contraptions to take down your fallen brethren, and you know what the best part is? It's bloody fun, and bloody... Bloody!
You are motorcyclist Chuck Greene. Chuckie has recently fallen into hard times what with the zombie outbreak and all, and consequently, his daughter was bitten by her own mother. Of course, you'll know all this if you've played the bargain prequel/demo thing that is Dead Rising 2: Case zero at the minuscule 400mp price point, but I digress. Chuck has entered into the TV series "Terror is Reality" which features a "token black guy" host, along with hundreds of zombies, a selection of men on chainsaw enabled motorbikes, and oodles and oodles of blood. So to cut a long story short, you help Chuck win the show and get the prize money with which he can buy his daughter some "Zombrex", a drug that can stave off her impending zombie infection. Unfortunately for Chuck, the shops close early because of an unscheduled outbreak of the zombies who were on tour with the show, most likely a union issue. You manage to reach a "safe room" from which the story really begins. The story from then on, is undoubtedly cheesy, what with every woman Chuck stands near coming on to him, I guess women were just drawn to a man in green wellington boots, a red one piece set of pajamas's and a blood stained Blanka mask. However, the story is satisfying enough, and includes some nice twists and turns to keep you interested.
The gameplay. OH, the gameplay. Anyone whose played the first Dead Rising will feel instantly at home with Dead Rising 2, as it has pretty much the same premise: Kill zombies. However, both games have nice campaign missions that need to be completed within a certain time frame before the next one is activated, and consequently, you're on the clock. Now, you'd think this would be annoying, but it gives the game an incredible feeling of structure and time management. The second time through I found myself thinking "right, if I go here now there's a woman I can save, and then I can head over to the sword shop for some weapons before taking out that psycho in the toilet." Which brings me to the next gameplay element. Bosses, or Psychos as they are referred to in-game, are people who have not coped well since the outbreak, and instead of looking to help humanity escape this disaster, have tied up people and stored them in cupboards and such. This is where Chuck must step in and save the day, and this is also the weakest part of the gameplay... Bosses simply have too much health when you are just starting out. As you can level up, the playing field get's fairer later on, however, I advise taking extreme caution with Psychos early on in the game. That said, meeting all the psychos is a joy as they all have different and disturbing traits that make them who they are: psychos. You can also wander around the mall and try on all the clothing the shops have to offer. This includes women's clothes and vampire masks... And you thought zombies were scary!
Now. The Zombies. They are more of a hinderence than an actual enemy, sure, they hurt, but they most likely won't be the cause of your death unless you're incredibly low on health when you enter a crowd. As I mentioned before, zombies can be beaten, or shot to death using hundreds of different items within the game world, you can even combine a fair amount using pre-assigned combo's to make cool contraptions like "the blitzkreig" which is a motorised wheelchair armed with machine guns that you can drive around in. It's brilliant. I should also mention that in Dead Rising 1, saving survivors was a pain as all the zombies would seem to focus squarely on them, however in Dead Rising 2 all attention is on you, which makes saving survivors a whole lot smoother and less frustrating.
The graphics and sound are average, there's nothing too special here, what with there being zombified moans and lift music most of the time, and obscure heavy rock on the bosses. In the graphics department however, it is impressive just how many zombies are on screen at once.
Overall Dead Rising 2 is a fantastically fun game. It's not in it for the high brow graphics or the quality soundtrack, but it provides great gameplay in shovels. For those that already played the first one I'd say you should definitely pick this one up, as it'll remind you just why you loved the first one. Of course if you didn't like the first one... Don't pick the second one up. If you've never played a Dead Rising game before, this is still a good one to start with, however I'd recommend trying case zero first.
I don't want to give a score based review, so I'll just end with a statement.
"If you are a fan of zombies and the culture that surrounds them, buy it. If not, take the prequel for a spin!"
Image credits: Techshout.com and Technabob.com respectively
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