Box Art
Game: Dead Rising 2
First Released: September 24, 2010, Xbox 360 and PS3
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Rated: M, for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes,
and Use of Alcohol
First Released: September 24, 2010, Xbox 360 and PS3
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Rated: M, for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes,
and Use of Alcohol
How I Came To Play This Game
This Tiger is a survivor
I didn't play this game right after I played the first one. I was going through a cycle of playing Dead Island, Dead Space, and Left 4 Dead 2 before I got to this one. After seeing the difficulty of the first Dead Rising game, I was a little scared that I might have to go through that again, but luckily, I was not disappointed. For this ended up to be one of the best games I've ever played.
Story
Antoine. a psychopath
Five years after the events of Dead Rising, former motocross champion Chuck Greene is in the fictional casino town of Fortune City, Nevada, to take part in Terror Is Reality, a controversial sports entertainment game show where contestants kill zombies for money and fame. Chuck needs the prize money to buy Zombrex (a daily medication that suppresses the zombification process) for his daughter Katey, who was bitten by her zombified mother during a previous outbreak in Las Vegas when she was only 4 years old. While backstage after the show, the show's supply of zombies is released; Chuck rescues Katey and makes his way to an emergency shelter, which is sealed after their arrival. Raymond Sullivan (the only security guard to reach the shelter alive) is initially reluctant to let the infected Katey in, but Chuck promises to keep her supplied with Zombrex until the military arrives in three days. Chuck needs to venture into the overrun city to find a dose of Zombrex, entering and exiting the shelter via an air duct. Another survivor, Stacey Forsythe (leader of the Nevada branch of zombie rights organization "Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality", which was in town to protest the treatment of the zombies by Terror is Reality) supplies him with a map and two-way radio; she promises to keep watch on the shelter's security monitors and direct Chuck to any other survivors or points of interest in the area. After returning with the first dose of Zombrex for Katey, a news report implicates Chuck as the cause of the Fortune City outbreak. Chuck tracks down the reporter, Rebecca Chang, at a nearby hotel, and offers her the story of a lifetime if she gives him a chance to prove his innocence and helps him determine who was really behind the outbreak. Following this, Chuck has three main objectives to complete: discover the origin of the Fortune City outbreak by following the "Case File" missions, rescue as many survivors as possible (either from zombies, or from the 'psychopath boss characters), and find enough doses of Zombrex to keep Katey alive until the military arrives. Chuck and Rebecca discover that Terror is Reality host Tyrone "TK" King is using the outbreak as cover to rob Fortune City's four main casinos. Chuck foils the robberies and prevents the host from escaping in his helicopter. TK is locked up in the shelter, and reveals that another organization responsible for the outbreak paid him to frame Chuck for it. Three days after the outbreak, the military arrives, but a green gas begins emanating from underground and causes zombies to mutate into a more powerful form. The convoy is unprepared to deal with the super-zombies, and is wiped out almost completely. A second military force would normally arrive 24 hours later, but media reports claim that the first convoy reached the shelter and found no survivors, so the city will be cleansed by firebombing at that time. The safe house is also sabotaged, and Chuck must quickly repair the door before too many zombies enter. Regardless of the player's actions, TK is bitten, and needs Zombrex to survive. Rebecca reveals the cause of the gas seems to be in the underground access tunnels, and Chuck finds a hidden facility where pharmaceutical company Phenotrans, the makers of Zombrex, is harvesting the zombies. The drug is manufactured from the queens of the genetically modified wasps that create zombies; the gas released by the Phenotrans facility is intended to increase the number of queens in a zombie horde. After killing the scientists in charge of the harvesting, Chuck recovers a satellite phone and a laptop from the facility and takes them to Rebecca as proof that Phenotrans orchestrated the outbreak in order to harvest more queens, while driving up demand for Zombrex. Just as Rebecca attempts to contact her news station and report the discovery, Sullivan shoots her dead. Sullivan is revealed as a Phenotrans operative; he was the one who let the Terror is Reality zombies out, and the one who sabotaged the shelter. He escapes with the phone and laptop, and Chuck follows him to a casino rooftop, where he plans to escape by skyhook after revealing that the Vegas and Fortune City outbreaks were necessary to keep a consistent supply of queens to make Zombrex, enraging Chuck as his wife was killed in the Vegas outbreak which led to Katey getting infected in the first place. After a fierce battle, Chuck handcuffs his harness to the rooftop, ripping Sullivan in half when the recovery aircraft catches the skyhook. Chuck contacts Rebecca's channel and offers to give them proof of Phenotrans' involvement in the Fortune City outbreak if they send helicopters to rescue the survivors. Chuck calls off the bombing. He arrives back at the shelter to find the civilians being evacuated, but Stacey and Katey are not among them. He searches the control room and finds Katey's backpack. The game then goes into "Overtime Mode". Chuck receives a radio transmission from TK, who has kidnapped Stacey and Katey; he tells Chuck to collect several items from around Fortune City and bring them to the Terror Is Reality arena by noon (10 hours away). Chuck does so, but is tasered on arrival by TK and wakes up suspended over a pit of zombies, alongside Katey and Stacey. Chuck frees himself and climbs up to the rafters, where he fights TK. After overpowering TK and throwing him to the zombies, Chuck frees the other two, and they leave the city hand-in-hand. A zombie then screams into the camera, giving the players one last scare. If the player fails to collect the items within the time limit or does not defeat TK in time, the two girls are lowered into the zombie pit and killed.
Pros And Cons
Story
TK and Goons
All of the things I said in the first game's review apply here, but new themes are added. Zombrex is introduced as a medicine that can prevent people from turning into zombies for 24 hours a shot, and the ingredients have to come from somewhere. It's interesting to figure out the dark truth behind the company making the drug.
Characters
Chuck and Katey
Chuck is very different than Frank. Unlike Frank, Chuck is in great shape, and is more believable to be able to defend the people he cares about. Unlike Frank who was in it for himself, Chuck was here for his family. His daughter was the only thing left in his life he cared about, so he was willing to risk anything to get her the Zombrex she needed. When he was framed for the starting the outbreak, that put his daughters safety at risk. He couldn't trust anyone but himself to be able to care for his daughter's needs. That is the force that drives him to succeed.
Gameplay
Combo Weapons
The gameplay is the same as it was in the first game, but it is vastly improved. All of the problems from the first game are addressed. The controls are much more fluent in how your able to cancel out animations with new ones, and it doesn't matter where you are standing. The game is not as difficult. Psychopaths are easier to fight, you take less damage, and your given more time to finish case files and scoops. The A.I. for the survivors has also been improved. They now follow you more closely so they don't get lost or hung up on things, and they are more capable of defending themselves from the zombies. Anything you can imagine can be used as a weapon, and there are far more different objects than the first game had. Most importantly though, are the zombies. They got it EXACTLY right this time. The zombies act and behave just the way they are supposed to. Just because you go near them doesn't necessarily mean they will grab you, you can brush through crowds without much trouble, and they can no longer do that running thing like they could in the first one. At night time they are still stronger, but it only increases their damage slightly and their likelihood to grab you in close proximity. They did take them a bit to far though with the introduction of the Gas Zombies. However, they still don't run at you, and they are still just as easy to kill. This game introduces combo weapons. Basically, you combine certain objects together to make stronger weapons. Like the choice of regular weapons, some are more believable than others, while others are jokes. Another feature this game introduced was the co-op mode. Two players would both play as Chuck and go through the game together. This makes it even easier to beat the game, and a lot more fun. However, my internet connection has never been very good, and I think it keeps me from joining other people's games. Luckily, I did get it to work once, so me and my brother were able to nab the achievements associated with co-op.
Graphics
Look at all the zombies!
The graphics of Dead Rising 2 are a huge improvement from the first game, and really show what the Xbox 360 could do. When I first played, I was surprised that the graphics in-game looked the same as they did in the cutscenes. The number of zombies that can be seen on screen has been increased to an whopping 7000! That is impressive! Like the first game, the graphics are bright and colorful, and reflect the comical nature of the series. They seem to have up scaled the explicit content compared to the first one, but they still don't go overboard.
Music
The music in Dead Rising 2 follows the same format of the original. Modern mall music while going around the stores, and band music while fighting the psychopaths. However, the band music in this game isn't as memorable as the ones from the first game. The orchestral music steals the show here. Sometimes it sounds like smooth jazz, while other times there's just a catchy beat. Sometimes the mall music from the first game plays, and it's always a pleasant surprise when it does.
Releases
Dead rising 2 was originally released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on September 24, 2010. Then it was ported to PC on September 28, 2010. Two follow-up games have been released to expand upon it's story, exclusive for Xbox 360. The first was Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, released on August 31, 2010. This scenario depicted Chuck and his daughter Katey, in their escape from the Las Vegas outbreak. The second one was Dead Rising 2: Case West released on September 15, 2010, where both Frank and Chuck team up to investigate a facility where there might be a possible cure for the zombie epidemic, and to prove Chuck's innocence.
Remake
On October 11, 2011, a remake of the game was released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.. Titled Dead Rising 2: Off The Record, it was a re-imagining of the game where Frank was the hero instead of Chuck. The game is mostly the same as the original version, The gameplay and graphics are identical. However, they put in some twists to the story that come as a surprise to people who played the original. The game has some exclusive combo cards, survivors, and psychopaths. The photography mechanic from the first game is brought back. I find this version to be a bit better than the original since I have no trouble playing the co-op mode. I also like the fact that the second player plays a Chuck while you play as Frank during co-op.
My Rating
I give this game a 10/10. This game fixed all of the problems from it's predecessor, and turned the series into one of the best of the zombies genre.