I wrote this review a while back, and did so when I was twelve years old. I've always been a passionate gamer, and for some reason Dead Rising will always stick out in my head. I wholeheartedly believed that the game was just flat out was terrible at first. It was evident that the time I spent on that particular game stated otherwise though. Years down the road I figured I should revisit after a particular comment I made criticizing gamers en mass for their poor choice of words in comments.
Let us move on to the actual review. Dead Rising was the first game I had played which was vibrant, dark, contained a tad bit of social commentary (via parody), and had a survival aspect to it. It wasn't trying to terrify you, and it wasn't trying to lull you into a colorful smorgasbord of pretty colors and whacky antics. This game mixed together quite a few archetypes in games that I had not previously seen. While I originally was frustrated with sloppy controls and mechanics, like most newer capcom games, I was able to truly immerse myself within the experience of the game. Not quite the game's story itself was what immersed me, but I am frustrated currently with every single game being "dark, gritty, realistic, post-processing fests". It was a game which had treated itself as a game. Sure it had a story, but if that wasn't your thing, then no worries! The game had taken itself seriously enough to be able to make fun of itself, and create a sandbox game that focused on making itself an enjoyable gaming experience, rather than blockade itself with heavy story restrictions. Chainsaw gymnist clown? Sure!
Taking photos to generate experience led to a wonderful dynamic within the game. At times you were worried you were taking a picture of someone who was about to be eaten by a hoard of zombies, and you would actually make these pixelated non-characterized people within the game matter just enough to feel compelled and rewarded to save them, but at the same time you want to take a picture of that person so that you will be that much closer to be able to German suplex a zombie.
The survival aspect was not as tense as most games as it was just a sense of exploration and satisfaction that awaited the player. However, it did create tense moments where your creativity would be put to the test to continue your survival within the game. I remember, seven years later, when my character woke up within the cult room be-midst myself being used as a sacrifice for some reason. All of my items were removed and I couldn't seem to find anything to fight the mass of more difficult enemies than mindless zombies.
In my opinion, this game is superb for the reasons in which both the original Duke Nukem, and Final Fantasy games were superb. All these games create with all their mechanics: interesting, unique, memorable gaming moments within itself.
Voice acting was fine, with some good VA, and some bad minor VA.
Audio was satisfying, but repetitive.
Graphics were good for the time.
UI was kind of clunky.
This sentence wraps it up.