Chuck Greene, former motocross champion and a sincere father has arrived in Fortune City, in all its glitz and glamour to participate in a very controversial television show known as Terror Is Reality, based on the extensive slaughter of zombies. Chuck arrives with his daughter Katey and shortly after the show ends an explosion occurs causing a zombie outbreak in the area. Adding to that, Chuck is framed for the outbreak based on a fake video released by the local news channel. He now has three days to prove himself innocent before the military arrives for evacuation.
Chuck is escorted to a safe house where he meets up with other survivors of the outbreak including Stacey Forsythe, leader of the zombie activist group CURE (Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality) who teams up with Chuck and helps him in his quest to prove his innocence. Stacey monitors the surveillance cameras installed all over Fortune City and informs Chuck of the survivor locations as well as reminders of important events via a transceiver.
Three days in a place swarming with zombies and psychopaths on a mission to prove himself innocent, Chuck finds survivors and Zombrex for his infected daughter, he is clearly a character you can sympathise and connect with. Katey was infected in an attack in Las Vegas, the same location where she lost her mother and thus requires Zombrex every 24 hours which keeps her from being turned into a zombie. Zombrex can be found scattered throughout Fortune City or it can be bought from pawn shops set up by looters at various locations. Survivors and psychopaths also provide Zombrex but with some money in your pocket the best bet when going hunting for Zombrex will be pawn shops.
Starting off, Chuck’s pacing might feel a bit slow but as you kill zombies, psychopaths, escort survivors and carry out various other tasks you are rewarded with Prestige Points (PP) which increase Chuck’s level. Levelling up results in a variety of rewards and bonuses such as increased attack, speed, inventory, health and special attacks. As you explore Fortune City you will realize that gaining PP is fairly easy. The easiest way of earning PP and levelling up is escorting survivors or bringing Katey unique gifts such as marbles, teddy bears, stick ponies or any other such toys. Chuck levels up quickly and you can see notable changes right off the bat.
Survivors can be found all over Fortune City and are one hell of a colourful bunch. They are only available at specific locations on specific days. As soon as a survivor is available Stacey notifies Chuck in the form of a message, consisting of the location and a little background of the survivor. While some survivors simply join up others have various requirements which Chuck needs to fulfil in order for them to start following and I must say some requirements are rather … unusual. Survivors are reasonably skilled fighters and put up quite a bit of fight before going down. Escorting them safely back to the safe house rewards in a large amount of PP sometimes accompanied by a dose of zombrex or a hefty sum of money.
The environments in Dead Rising 2 are highly interactable and almost everything Chuck wields can be used as a weapon. Starting from the most basic of weapons like baseball bats, axes, sledge hammers to lawn mowers, drills and chainsaws, every weapon delivers a substantial amount of gore and slaughter. However along with these basic weapons Chuck can also build combo weapons with greater durability and extra PP earned upon each strike. Discovering combo weapons gives you a “Scratch Card” which carries the formula of the combo weapon created. “Combo Cards” on the other hand - which are earned by rescuing survivors, killing psychopaths and levelling up, double the PP earned while using that weapon. So drill ‘em, mow ‘em or electrocute ‘em, the combo weapons’ system is awesome and graciously satisfying. However, some combo weapons can be a bit too practical omitting a need of experimentation and creativity.
The 7000+ zombies on screen do not prove to be much of a threat as they are rather slow and Chuck can easily sidestep them. The real challenge the game provides are the psychopath battles. Psychopaths are survivors of the outbreak but the chaos of their surroundings has left them traumatized and rendered them into dangerous killers. They are usually well-armed with a certain pattern to their behaviour. These battles require a good amount of strategizing so it’s advisable to always come prepared with a decent weapon and some food . However the environments are highly interactable and these battles compel you to take full advantage of the items available in the area. I did feel that fighting battle after battle of boss fights exhibited poorly designed levels but it was just the way it was meant to be and it is what you would call a highly satisfying experience. The game does not feature auto-save which can irritate some gamers because if you have made some heavy progress and not saved in a while you will have to start all over from the last save point in case you died, which you will because Dead Rising is based around the trial-and-error sort of gameplay.
The gameplay however does have some pretty lacking mechanics. First off, the ranged weapons were quite useless and I found the guns to be the least fascinating of weapons in the game. Melee weapons on the other hand proved to be very powerful but sometimes a tad bit too slow often resulting in a zombie sneaking up behind you because you were a bit too busy mashing buttons and couldn’t stop Chuck from swinging his weapon in a particular direction. Both speed and attack are developed as you progress but these things can be irritating and ruin the experience. As well as that, the large amount of things to interact with in the environment makes it quite irritating when you pick up the wrong object at the wrong time just to find out that you dropped an essential weapon and got grappled by a zombie.
Graphically speaking the environments carry a lot of detail and colour but it still doesn’t display the mainstream game quality. Characters are usually well-designed and nicely animated yet the game has some serious frame rate issues especially in the outdoors. This can be justified considering the number of units on screen at a time by which I mean that the zombies can sometimes scale upto several thousands. Complicating matters, the game tends to present many load screens, every time you enter a new area - since Fortune City is an enormous region this will happen quite often, before and even after cutscenes. Loading screens last only a few seconds but plagues the continuity of the game for many. This can be quite a bit of issue while playing the game online because during the online co-op session it requires both players to be present at the doors while entering a new area or else you will have to go through a load screen just to enter back into the area to be greeted by another load screen.
The multiplayer has two modes, a drop-in/drop-out co-op mode and a competitive mode. The co-op mode doubles the Chuck and doubles the fun. Psychopaths can be easily tackled and if you’re really into achievement hunting, you must definitely play the online co-op. The versus mode is called Terror is Reality which is pretty much the same competition you came across in the single-player campaign.
Regardless of all the issues, Dead Rising 2 has a huge replayability factor. If whenever you die or feel under-levelled the game allows you to restart and all your stats including money will be carried over. However survivors saved, zombies and psychopaths killed will be reset. The game was developed by the Canadian studio Blue Castle who successfully managed to capture the essence of the original game and delivered a solid game. The game is not every gamer’s cup of tea and can prove to be more of a love it or hate it situation as the game was designed for gamers of a particular mindset. In the end the flaws are balanced when you look at the overall package the game offers – interesting storyline, entertaining gameplay, the fun and the satisfaction. It can be frustrating but its addictive and its one of those games where you will never willingly put down the controller.
Value/Worth: 9
The game has huge replayability value combined with a solid storyline and an entertaining gameplay. It’s not a game where you’re supposed to take a serious approach. It provides the tools and leaves the rest on the gamer’s creativity to carve his own experience.
Graphics: 7
Frame-rate drops accompanied by badly pixelated shadows give the game quite a dated look. This was the game’s biggest breaking point.
Sound: 7
Probably the most deprived part of the game. Lack of voice-acting and some really bad sound effects make the game feel very unconvincing.
Gameplay: 8.5
The combat mechanics might be a bit clunky but the game brings forth a ton of ideas to the table with its vast variety of weapons and oddly motivated psychopaths, this was one addictive and satisfying experience.
Overall: 7.5
This is a game which requires the player to harbour a particular attitude in order to be fully impressed by this piece. It has its flaws and it doesn’t hide them but where it excels, it makes it exceptional.
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