| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 3 | 8.60 |
| Overall | 8.60 |
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The first Dead Rising was one of the biggest starts of the early 360 days. I was able to play it and I enjoyed it as a sort of open world brawler with zombies. That was many years ago, I figured a sequel will be vastly different but Dead Rising 2 is practically the same game with some tweaks. The formula proves that it is fun enough to sustain another full title and the improvements make the adventure that much more enjoyable. A fake Las Vegas becomes the location of Dead Rising 2, so expect to see loads casinos and lots of lights on the strip. Sin city brings with it many interesting locations and characters which to me made the world more enjoyable. I did notice however how similar the map is to the first game. For some reason you are still mostly in a mall, which has a large outside central park, this time its "the strip" but it feels just like the park of the first game. There are underground tunnels that you can drive through. There is a section in the southern part of the map that is under construction just like the last game. The food court is practically in the same spot. So while some mall sections became casinos it all feels the same as DR1. The structure has not changed one bit at all. Your character has three days to find out what cause the outbreak and during that time you will have to save many survivors and complete the story missions. The in game clock is the same, it never stops, if you don't reach a survivor in time they die. This mechanic keeps the game as tense but also made me feel like I had to be constantly running from point A to point B. A lot of the game felt like a big escort mission, I rarely had the time to stop and enjoy the carnage you may cause. At the same time without that constant pressure of time I probably would see this as a direction less game, so it works out in the end. The controls are mostly identical to the first game. Don't expect superb tight controls for gunplay or great melee combat, basically you press attack to bash a zombie with whatever you are holding. Your character levels up as he saves survivors and kills zombies, sometimes you learn new moves such as a leg sweep or a haymaker, I found these new melee moves to be pointless as its never a good alternative to carrying a weapon. Gunplay feels slightly better but still a mere afterthought. The largest addition to the gameplay is the combo cards which allow you to combine two objects to make a new weapon. There are some really fantastic weapons to be made but finding the items and making them sometimes is more trouble than its worth. You must bring the two items to a workbench in a maintenance room which are scattered throughout. It can be a pain if you really want to try a specific item out as you must search all over for it, but as you play you will naturally come across the items needed. I loved every time I found the right two items near one of the rooms, its like finding a killer gift. Most of the time you will be running around trying to save survivors and fight psychopaths. Escorting survivors is far easier this time as they don't act like idiots and get themselves in deadly situations. They will follow you extremely well and as long as you keep moving they will survive. Managing who to go after next and when to fight the bosses to me was the best part of the game, when I choose wrong I had some narrow escapes where I completed a required story seconds before it expired. The psychopaths are a mixed bag, some are really annoying fights, some actually seemed to have some thought put into them. Early on you will be outmatched but as the game goes on they get easier cause of your leveling up. These bosses aren't up to the usual Capcom standards but they are necessary to break up the usual action. The much talked about save system from the first game is mostly fixed by adding three save slots. Now if you get stuck you can reload an old save, screw ups aren't as permanent as they once were. Fans of checkpoints will be pissed as there aren't any, if you die you load from your last save which is always at a restroom. Many boss fights dont have saves near them so dying and replaying leads you to have to backtrack which is annoying, very annoying. It doesn't help that loading is pain, every new area needs to load, cutscenes load, and with bosses they usually have a series of load screens just to get to them. I played through the story once, saw the best ending and did the extra overtime section. I did not save all survivors nor did I fight all psychopaths, like the first its a game that begs to be played multiple times. The story took me a good 10 hours which moves at a great pace. I enjoyed the story and characters far more in this game than the first, maybe its the whole he has a daughter angle which makes the situation seem more dire. There is full story co-op which I did not try out. I did play the online versus mode called Terror is Reality which is a made up game show. The online mode makes it seem like you are taking part in a PPV event complete with intros and a host. You and four other players play random games, like a twisted zombie version of American Gladiators. Challanges range from killing zombies with a giant hamster wheel to having to toss zombies onto a platform with a moose head. You play three of these games and the winners gain points for the standings. The final event is always slicecycles, killing zombies on a mortorcyle with blades. You earn money in these events which can be used in the main story. Its fun for an hour or so, a nice diversion. Obviously the sequel looks better than the first game but it wont be winning any awards for graphics. Most of the power is spent filling the screen with hundreds of zombies at once, it does so with no slow down which is impressive. The music is mostly of the background variety and only in certain action moments do you get generic rock music to play, nothing memorable. Dead Rising remains a game where I find that the premise of the game is so much fun that it covers up most of the issues. The series is still incredibly unique and killing thousands of zombies in hilarious fashion is flat out fun. I wish the sequel tried to do more with the formula but Capcom played safe and the result is another fun zombie killing romp that fans of the original will love. |
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Posted by Dvader Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:03:14
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travo (8m)
That is how I felt about the original Dead Rising.