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Dead Rising 2 PS3 Review - www.impulsegamer.com -

Gameplay 8.5
Graphics 8.8
Sound 8.7
Value 8.6
Distributor: THQ
Classification:
MA15+
Review Date:
October 2010
Reviewer:
Tyrone Williams

8.6


Dead Rising 2

For such a hideously disfigured premise, the world has embraced zombies with open arms. Yes my dead readers… err dear readers, we love zombies and once again THQ have returned us to the wonderful universe of Dead Rising. In Dead Rising 2, players take control of Chuck Greene, hero extraordinaire and closest psychopath because he does enjoy a zombie bashing or two. Unfortunately for Chuck, his daughter was bitten by a zonbie but thankfully, a drug called Zombrex was available that retards the zombie process, provided they continue to take the drug.

In order to save his daughter, Chuck was forced to sign up for a strange game show called Terror is Reality in order to win the funds needs for his daughter but not everything goes according to plan. And here we are again, in Fortune City, a Las Vegas type city that has become overrun with zombies and our hero is straight in the middle of it all, being accused of unleashing the undead into the city.

Your job is simple, keep searching for medication for your daughter, kill an unlimited number of zombies using any means possible and clear your name. Want some politics as well? You’ve got it because the pro-zombie organisation called CURE are the ones responsible for sectioning off the zombies until a “cure” is found and those infected can be reversed. That's the beauty of Dead Rising 2, the great back story that not only pays homage to the original but progresses on the ideas.

The game contains quite a few zombie clichés such as the sexy reporter or the Heavy Metal Man that can use their instruments to dispatch zombies... just think of any zombie movie and you'll see that person here, whether as a supporting cast member for Chuck or as a zombie. Okay, so we’ve established a rather cool story and an interesting protagonist named Chuck Greene but what about the number one factor in a game… the gameplay?

This game is deliciously entertaining as you are literally thrown into every Zombie movie created as you hack, shoot, bash, maim, drive, insert a hundred more Zombie takedowns of your choice to survive in this zombie infested city. As you’re killing these zombies, Chuck has access to a wardrobe that would make a woman blush that includes serious items of clothes such as uniforms to something Daisy Duke would wear and even a Borat mankini that although looks disturbing is truly a Champaign comedy moment.

To the game itself, Dead Rising 2 is an open world game, however there are a variety of objectives and missions that need to be achieved and to make things challenging, there is a clock counting down. So as your juggling to ensure that your daughter has her Zombrex medication or you need to perform task A and B, it does become quite challenging at times and the best part of the game is that there are a variety of different ways of finishing this game. This opens the game up for several more plays in order to see the different cutscenes.

For gameplay, Dead Rising 2 is a presented in a third person format but combat plays an integral part of the title. You can virtually use just about anything in the game to dispatch your zombie attackers such as sledgehammers, bins or proper weapons like shot guns. Another cool aspect of the combat engine in Dead Rising 2 is that you can link certain items together to create new weapons and this is a fun part of the game, trying to think of ridiculous weapons to kill the undead. For example, a blower that knives attached to it. Then you have vehicles which is another fun way of disposing these undead creatures.

Another key to combat are combo cards which are rewarded to the player by completing a set number of tasks such as rescuing the living or killing zombie bosses. In turn these cards are used to “power-up” your weapons and create some over the top takedowns. Levelling plays another role in the game and by completing objectives and killing zombies, this helps to “power-up” Chuck and by the end of the game, you could easily be considered a superhero. Levelling also helps unlock various new fighting techniques as well, which in turn inspires the gamer to continue playing because you always know you’ll be nicely rewarded with something, whether new statistics or some cool new zombie takedown.

The control system on the PS3 is well mapped and both novice and experts of the Dead Rising universe should have no issues in picking up the controller and start playing. The only annoying aspect of the control system is when you get too close to a zombie and sometimes you have to struggle with the controller to get away but if you think about zombie law from movies, this is rather accurate… it’s just a little frustrating. To compliment the single-player, Dead Rising 2 contains a fun co-op mode that actually makes the gameplay a little easy due to combined strategy and a game based on the Terror is Reality that is quite reminiscent of Running Man but there are zombies here as opposed to prisoners. The cool thing about playing this mode is that any cash earned here can be used for Chuck in the main game.

Graphically, Dead Rising 2 is a very good looking game and even though it’s overly populated by zombies, the frame rate remains quite constant. Apparently the number of zombies displayed on screen at once is tens time more than the original. On FULL HD, the graphics are extremely detailed and the characters look quite very realistic. The backgrounds of Dead Rising 2 look a little clean but other things make up for this lack of dirtiness like the special effects and lighting. One issue with the graphics are the load times which is probably due to the amount of zombies on screen at once which is a little annoying. The cutscenes however are fun as is the soundtrack and more particular the over the top voice acting that is oozing with clichés and euphemisms. Your co-stars in the game are fantastic with some great one-liners and then you have all the grunts and screams of the zombies that sounds phenomenal through a surround sound system.  

This is what gaming should be about sometimes, a mindless and fun destructive experience as you dispatch zombie after zombie. Thankfully the story enhances the overall gameplay that features a plethora of genres from comedy to horror and even romance. The main character in Dead Rising 2, Chuck Greene is quite a likeable fellow, so it's easy for the player to relate to this man forced to fend for himself in order to save his daughter. Great stuff!





 

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