| Game Review - Dead Rising |
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| Written by Nathan Harl | |
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One of the most enjoyable things about this time of year is the large amount of excellent games that are released. In preparing for the Christmas season, game developers seem to release a lot of hit titles in the August--November stretch. The game being spotlighted in this week’s game review, released two weeks ago, has already become a cult hit. It’s pulling together thousands of gamers together to one common goal: killing as many zombies as you possibly can, using a host of different weapons. Dead Rising, Capcom’s latest release for the Xbox 360, definitely has no shortage when it comes to the zombie department, but what’s really amazing is the amount of fun and entertainment that is produced alongside. Capcom is definitely not new to the Survival-Horror genre, having repeated success with their Resident Evil series for the past several years. In Dead Rising, it appears that Capcom attempted to put as many typical elements of survival-horror, both from video game and movie examples, all into one package. In almost all respects they succeeded, producing a game that is great for both survival-horror fans and casual gamers. The premise for Dead Rising is a simple one. You take the role of Frank West, a freelance photojournalist who has obtained a lead of a large scale riot in Willamette, Colarado and decides to go to the town to get the scoop. However, after he enters the town he soon finds out that this town is going through something much more sinister than a riot. After taking some pictures around the town, Frank’s helicopter is attacked by a squad of army helicopters, forcing him to jump onto the roof of the city mall. He is in effect stranded at the mall, with his only comfort being the knowledge that his pilot will come back to pick him up in exactly three days. Frank soon finds out that he is not alone in the mall, which is inhabited by other survivors….. and thousands upon thousands of zombies. The goal of this game is to survive for three days in the mall, while at the same time getting to the bottom of what started the whole zombie incident. The good news is that the game gives you an enormous amount of weapons to deal with the thousands of zombies the game pits you against. Almost every item in the mall can be used as a weapon. These include traditional items such as baseball bats, handguns, lead pipes, 2x4’s, and chainsaws to much more untraditional weapons like bowling balls, giant stuffed teddy bears, cash registers, and even electric guitars. In all, there are around 200 weapons to choose from, and since each of them has a different attack style, this adds a lot of depth to the game. The game progresses through *cases* and *scoops*. Cases involve the main storyline of the game, and going through each case gets you that much closer to the truth of what caused the zombie incident. Scoops, on the other hand, are various side quests that involve either helping rescue other survivors in the mall or killing a variety of sub-bosses. These scoops are given to you by Janitor Otis through a transceiver you carry with you through the game. The bad part of this is that Otis will often call you about a scoop at the most inopportune times, such as when you’re right in the middle of a huge pile of zombies, and this can get annoying. Capcom was very wise in not giving players the opportunity to attack Otis….because it is almost guaranteed that any person who plays this game will feel the need to attack the poor old guy. As far as the scoop sidequests go, my personal favorite part of them is the large amount of sub-bosses. This is rather a creative addition to the game in that all of the sub-bosses are human, and it shows a aspect of surviving under harsh circumstances that most zombie movies haven’t shown. These sub-bosses range from a redneck gunstore owner who shoots anyone trying to get into his store to a homicidal clown who has gone crazy after not having any children to entertain due to the zombies. While some of these bosses can be fairly hard-- and I’ve seen a lot of gamers whining about them on the internet-- I personally think they are a great addition to the game and add a lot of depth. To further increase the replay value of the game, Capcom added the ability to take pictures throughout the game as well as an RPG’ish aspect of leveling. You get prestige points, Dead Rising’s form of experience points, from taking pictures of particular events ranging from dramatic to gory scenes in the mall. Prestige points are also obtained from killing zombies, rescuing survivors, and killing sub-bosses. You level-up after obtaining a certain amount of prestige points, and each level gain gives you a bonus to your attack power, speed, item stock, and health as well as new fighting skills. Even better, if you end up dying in the game, the game gives you the option of starting over from the beginning with your existing level, which makes the next run-through that much easier. Trust me, you’ll end up using this option quite a bit, especially in the beginning. As for motivation to get through the game, there are two extra unlockable game modes that can be obtained. Dead Rising’s graphics are nothing too spectacular, with the only good aspect being the large number of zombies that can be on the screen at any particular time with no slowdown of the 360 system. The cut-scenes look great, but not as great as most other current 360 games. I personally don’t think this is too big of a drawback however, since this game is more about the gameplay than graphics. Overall, Dead Rising is a truly great game that I think all gamers needs to at least try. The main storyline is not too incredibly long, so you can easily rent the game and get most of what it has to offer. However, this game is literally so much fun that I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be tempted to buy it after renting. |
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