Kitchen knife - $14.99; Stuffed animal - $7.50; Soccer ball - $10; 100 other ways to abuse the undead - pricele...$60.
Despite the military and media warnings, freelance journalist Frank West has hired a helicopter pilot to fly him into the now chaotic Willamette city and land on the roof of the mall. Once he is in, he will have 72 hours (around 6 hours in real-time) to fight, rescue, and ultimately uncover the crucial breaking news story behind the emerging undead.
With over 50,000 zombified Willamette residents now converging on the mall’s location, Frank will soon discover that he isn’t the only person biting off way more than he can chew.
If the premise to the X-Box 360’s new smash hit “Dead Rising” sounds familiar, that’s because it probably is. Horror movie buffs will recognize the concept of the game from George A Romero’s 1978 zombie flick “Dawn of the Dead” in which survivors also are boarded up in the local city mall from an invading zombie population. Nevertheless, despite how similar or borrowed the plot may seem, watching the concept and actually playing the concept are quite the separate experiences.
Once the game begins, players are forced to find and utilize any weapons, makeshift items, or food products from the numerous stores or areas in the mall. Of course whatever store gamers venture into will decide the types of items in it. Tool shops will produce interesting weapon possibilities like hedge clippers and chainsaws to fend off the invading zombie horde with, while grocery stores are a great place to stock up on health boosting food items.
While making sure Frank survives the three days is obviously the biggest priority of “Dead Rising,” there are quite a few other activities to pass the time with. The principal activity is completing the main quest line and discovering the truth behind the zombie outbreak. However if gamers get bored or have time in between missions, saving other survivors, fighting dangerous psychopaths that have cracked under the pressure, or taking pictures with Frank’s camera adds great depth to the occasionally monotonous gameplay.
One of the greatest parts about “Dead Rising” is the role-playing element of building up Frank West’s character through experience points. Frank is able to level up by doing any of the various activities or missions and in turn will potentially grant Frank more health boxes, item space, attack and speed power, or even brand new hand-to-hand zombie crushing moves.
The best part is that at the end of the first play through, gamers will be able to carry over their stats onto another play through, making the game all the more easier to unlock harder to reach activities and items. A maximum level of 50 is possible, but it should take the average gamer at least a handful of run-throughs to reach it.
“Dead Rising” may sound like the perfect game, but a lot of imperfections hold it back from being a must buy. The biggest issue with the game is the microscopic in-game text that is required to read if one wishes to progress in the main quest line. The creators of “Dead Rising” have gone on record to say that this game was meant to be played on a High Definition television, but even they may have a tough time deciphering the almost illegible text. Other nitpicks include a poor save system, frustrating civilian AI, and a lack of co-op or multiplayer, but for every one thing is does wrong, it corrects it by doing three things right.
With some spectacular visuals, great sound effects and voice acting, and an all-around genius premise, “Dead Rising” is an undeniable guilty pleasure for all X-Box 360 owners. With a quick, fun and addictive single-player, the game exudes an almost reminiscently arcade feeling and will keep gamers pleasantly content for days.