Incredibly fun gameplay, Decent storyline. despite this it can be incredibly tedious.
Now apparently this game has nothing to do with George A. Romero's Dawn of the dead? Well I'll take their word for it.
The gameplay itself in terms of the feel and going through the game is incredible I mean, you grab various weapons found in various stores and you beat the absolute hell out of lifeless zombies crawling through the depths of the Mall... Of course thats going to be fun.
What it doesn't tell you is all the while you're trying to take photo's that are actually worth a respectable amount of PP, Save innocents from being devoured, fending off Psychopaths and getting to the appropriate places for quests and cut scenes all in a 72 hour period. With all the zombies you're surrounded by this makes it one difficult task.
If you're a perfectionist be warned that you have your work cut out for you. Getting every photo op scoop, Saving everyone, and Getting to where you're going on time is just not possible, especially in your first time finishing the game.
Another fun little aspect is your ability to play dress up in various stores around the mall you can try on, and wear the clothes you find which also is carried onto a new game if you die.
If you die, you have the ability to restart the game with all the experience you lost the first time around, which is nice, due to the outstanding difficulty.
The Psychopaths are actually various survivors you can find in the manual but they're not as helpless as the sorry folks that you're saving. and in one case, not to spoil anything, the Psychopaths re-spawn.
I find Dead Rising to be an incredible game and its definitely a hit and a must have for any owner of the 360. But be warned its not all trotting around and slaying zombies. Theres actual a goal in there amongst it all.