While at times frustrating, Dead Rising 2 proves to be an addictive game with a great sense of style.
There really is no other way to classify it really, because there isn't just a "survival" genre. Dead Rising 2 isn't really scary, and it wasn't meant to be anyway. This game is mainly meant to be a mix between seriousness and complete ridiculousness. The overall theme stays in tact through the game, and starts edging towards seriousness at the end of the game, where all the plot twists and dilemmas come to a close, in a rather good way might I add.
Dead Rising 2 is a game revolving around our main protagonist by the name of Chuck Greene, who is having quite a rough time at the moment. Chuck has lost his wife to the zombie outbreak, and his daughter Katie is also turning, so Chuck has to worry about having enough Zombrex (a drug that repels the disease). As if things weren't bad enough, Chuck is framed for another zombie outbreak in a large mall known as Paradise City after completing a round of a game show called T.I.R (Terror is Reality). Now Chuck and his daughter are trapped inside the mall, with Chuck only having 3 days before the military arrives to prove he is innocent and had nothing to do with the outbreak, while managing Katie's disease.
Chuck's story is a formidable one that tells a great tale with a cast of likable characters. What makes it an impressive scenario is that this game has a great atmosphere and a nice sense of style as well. And thanks to what seems like a very confined environment with little hope there is of getting out alive, it gives off a nice sense of urgency that compels the story. It plays out in a serious monotone that makes you feel sorry for all that Chuck has to deal with, but with as much style as this game has, you will feel a lot of different emotions while playing this game.
The main quest in Dead Rising 2 follows a series of quests that Chuck must get to and complete on a timer. This overall timer goes for three days inside this tight environment inside the mall. During the main quest you have the option of partaking in side quests spread all over the mall. These quests mainly consist of rescuing survivors or taking down psycho-paths that are causing trouble, and in some cases, both at the same time. It's vital that you try to complete as many of these as you can so you can open up possible combo cards (which we will get to later) and to give you PP.
The overall structure of the game is non-linear and in most cases, realistic. What might give people some frustrations are the scarce save points inside the mall, which are bathrooms. In some cases I went into a part of the mall where a random psycho appeared and killed me while I was unprepared and I had to go back to where I last saved, which was a very long time ago. This is a very annoying design choice, and it forces you to do the same things over and over again until you get it right, only to be faced by a trial that has even less save points.
And that's where my biggest beef in Dead Rising 2 shows up. The games design is very confusing, and resorts to cheap deaths as it's main source of difficulty. Psychopaths in this game are ridiculously hard to kill, and it's all because of the cheapness in the games so called "difficulty".
However, this problem is sometimes overcome with the RPG mechanics in this game. PP acts as an experience system that, if you get enough of it, will level up Chuck. With each level that you get, Chuck will get an assortment of upgrades such as higher health, increased storage space, new skills, and more importantly, combo cards. To replace the camera system from the first game, Dead Rising 2 has this new mechanic that allows you to combine items that you find around the mall, into more powerful weapons that also give you PP. It's a neat system that rewards creativity and encourages doing side quests for PP so you can get more of these cards to use. It all connects to create a very fun game that's rewarding, and shows a great amount of polish in how things work out in the game.
The skills you obtain can also be very helpful. For example, the Jump Kick lets you kick a single zombie while in the air. This might not sound helpful, considering how many zombies there are, but I found it to be incredibly useful when trying to control the crowd of zombies, or trying to move to different areas. Increasing your storage space and health also help substantially when the difficulty ramps up, which gives you all the more reason to complete these side quests to get more PP. It's a clever way to progress your game, and makes you have variety in how you trudge along in the main quest, which I definitely appreciate.
The series's traditional "everything is a weapon" system is back and proves to be ever so useful, thanks to the addition of the combo cards. Some items in the game may seem useless, but it'll only seem like that. Each item will have a use in this game, whether it be from combo cards out combining foods and drinks for health items from the blenders. The larger items will mostly be used to take down large crowds of zombies to get through easier, and they're usually plentiful with in the mall. Need less to say, you will always have something on hand to use, with some being useful, and others being unnecessary, like an actual mall. Which brings me to where I'd like to point out that this game is pretty realistic as far as environments and physics go, which greatly affect how you use and carry your items.
The mall is quite big in the game, so that means that Chuck has to move great distances from point A to B, while fending off zombies. Controls in Dead Rising 2 are kinda stiff and at times, unresponsive. Weapons you have also tend to deteriorate very quickly, so that means you will have to switch weapons often. At times, this gets annoying, but it also keeps you from being overpowered, which levels out the power you have as Chuck. Rescued survivors also help you out when you rescue them, which gives you help getting across the hordes of zombies in the mall. It really is a fun game to play, but there isn't much depth to the combat, and the AI isn't too impressive (although it is an improvement from the first). Overall, you will enjoy killing thousands of zombies while going through the main storyline.
There's also a cooperative mode that lets you play with one other person to help you complete your quests. It works well enough, but at times it disconnected me for no reason, but this didn't happen too often. It makes it all the more funner to go through the games varied missions and psychos. Another cool thing is that you can share combo cards with people you have joined you game, so it encourages even more creativity when playing online.
In addition to the 2 player cooperative mode, there is also the T.I.R (Terror is Reality) events that you can compete in online. These matches are varied, and they also give you money for your single player campaign. Which brings me to my next point. Dead Rising 2 links all of the play modes together in what seems like a seamless transition between modes. Each mode contributes to the save data (which you can have 3 of now) that you select to add benefits while going through the story. It's an impressive feat, especially when the online components run rather smoothly. It's a shame that you are only allowed two players for each cooperative round you go through. But none the less, online in Dead Rising 2 gives even more replay value to what was an already beefy game.
As for how this game looks, it ranges from average to good. What makes the game stand out though is how much style is put into it. Chuck can select many costumes, with most of them being completely ridiculous. What makes Dead Rising 2 drag so much in it's presentation is it's long loading times. Each time you move to a new area, you are confronted with a very long wait to get to the new area, and it wears pretty fast when you're constantly on the move. The character models are decent, and the voice acting is pretty good. Their is also a good amount of humor from the dialouge of the survivors. It shows that even during a zombie apocalypse, comedy can amount to a fun time.
The sounds you will hear in the game mainly consist of typical mall music and some hard rock/techno tracks you will hear during boss fights (that you would swear are a perfect fit for the Canadian based Blue Castle Games). Weapon effects are comedic, and also pretty good. The main voice-acting is hit or miss with the survivors you find being a definite miss. Chuck and all the main characters sound good, and that's pretty much what you're going to listen to most of the time. There are a few frame-rate issues here and there when there are just too many zombies on screen, so the obvious solution to that would be, you know, killing them.
Overall, Dead Rising 2 is a great game. There are design choices that might leave you scratching your head, and the loading times and simple combat could off-put some people, but it's still a very good survival-horror game with tons of replay value for perfectionists and online lovers. I'd recommend this game for the 360 if you have one, mainly because of the DLC on the system that the PS3 doesn't have, but both are pretty much the same game.
Review by Cal Burkhart