When it comes to killing zombies, no one knows it better than Capcom, the makers of Resident Evil. Unlike Resident Evil, Dead Rising is an action game, with zombies that are much easier to kill but travel in great numbers. So if you ever dreamt of slaughtering thousands of zombies in a mall using everything from plotted plants and frying pans to baseball bats and assault rifles, Dead Rising is all that and a whole lot more. The game has thousands of brainless zombies to mutilate, hundreds of usable items, completely over-the-top gore and is by far one of the most imaginative horror games ever created on Capcom.
You play as Frank West, a freelance photojournalist who has been to a lot of war zones around the world. However none of that has prepared him for what he sees in a small town of Willamette, Colorado. After being tipped off about the unfolding events, Frank charters a helicopter and flies into town to get images that could take his career sky-high. What he does find is a town overflowing with zombies desecrating everything around them. After being a witness to a scene in which a woman is thrown over the side of a building, Frank instructs the pilot to drop him off on the roof of a local shopping mall. It will take the game 72 game hours for him to figure out what is actually going on before his pilot returns to pick him up. So it's up to you to find the truth, save as many survivors as possible and get back to the chopper to catch your ride home.
Make sure you gather Prestige Points (PP) when you start up, because Frank's run is as slow as a snail. Leveling up will not only give Frank more speed but also increase his attack damage, throwing distance and melee attack power, helping him to survive. Taking pictures can be a good hobby and you can also level up through Prestige Points by taking interests shots. After having taken a picture you'll be graded on the number of faces in it and the type of shot taken, be it brutal image of a human being torn apart, a dramatic shot like the reunion of the two survivors on the roof at the beginning of the game, or an erotic shot, such as pictures of some of the female character's assets. However, you tend to get so drawn into the zombie-killing parts of the game that you forget to take many pictures.
Skills can also be gained by reading books that teach you everything from combat to driving a vehicle.
Another way to earn experience is by accepting missions. Throughout the course of the game, Otis the janitor will call you every 30 seconds – at least that's what it felt like – to give you updates about what is happening in various areas of the mall. The updates Otis offers give Frank many advantages, such as being able to dodge large groups of his undead friends. By finding survivors and returning them to a secure room, Frank earns experience and levels up faster rather than exclusively sticking to the story missions.
Once you have found and convinced your survivor(s) to follow you, you have a few additional commands at your disposal. You can have Frank command any followers to pick up speed, or you can command them to head to a specific place. You can also equip a few survivors with pistols, axes and just about anything that you can get you bloody hands on. The game includes a large array of murderous tools and Frank can use dozens of objects as weapons against the swarm of zombies. The sports shop will give you stuff like baseball bats and golf clubs, the hardware store offers sickles and chainsaws, and you'll find a variety of firearms at the gun shop. Every item has its own style of attack. While you can smash a zombie using a sledgehammer, you'll also find that a guitar not only has a space-clearing 360-degrees arc, but also hits multiple victims in its path.
The most unique aspect of Dead Rising is the missions. Each part of the main story is broken down into cases that need to be solved. Since all the case files are connected, failing to complete them will hinder your progress and the trail might just go cold. Making your way through the game is a little tougher than it sounds; largely due to the fact that the game has a frustrating save system and time-based gameplay that will require players to replay large portions of the game repeatedly. You are only allowed to save one game at a time, as any save will overwrite the previous one.
The overall sound effects in Dead Rising are truly disgusting in the best possible way. The sound of each weapon is created to perfection and some cut through the zombie with an amazing gushing sound. Every weapon makes a totally different sound and each one sounds exactly right…this is what I loved most about this game.
Dead Rising is not meant for everyone, as it includes tons of violence and gore, but the endless number of possibilities in this game makes it a wonderful addition to almost every Xbox 360 owner's library. While the three-day system, annoying single save, and the need to repeatedly escort helpless people through large hordes of brainless zombies do bring this game down a notch, Capcom makes up for it with great graphics, zombies, its crazy sense of humor and the sheer number ways to have fun playing the game. Dead Rising has its flaws, but it's still an excellent game!