Dead Rising Review - Zombies, Psychopaths and Gore, Oh My!
Quick Summary
Pros:
* Zombies, Zombies, Zombies
* Almost everything is a Weapon
* Huge Mall with Great Store Diversity
Cons:
* Poor Control Scheme
* Bad Survivor AI
About Dead Rising
Available Platforms Xbox 360
Genre Action/Adventure
ESRB Rating M for Mature
Release Date August 8, 2006
Publisher/Developer Capcom/Capcom
Story: 8 / 10
In Dead Rising, you play the part of Frank West, an investigatory photojournalist, whose search for a big story brings you to the town of Willamette. It doesn't take long for Frank to realize that something really strange is going on, so where better to get off the helicopter and search than the local shopping mall! The mall is not only filled with zombies, but also survivors. As time progresses, Frank finds out that not all of the survivors want to be saved. In fact, some have lost their minds and are out to kill anyone in their path. With three days until his helicopter arrives, Frank must get to the bottom of the zombie outbreak, while saving as many of the good survivors and killing as many of the psychopaths as possible.
Gameplay: 5 / 10
The setup of Dead Rising is a bit old school, there is a timer. You will have 72 "Dead Rising" hours to save people and get to the bottom of the story. I say "Dead Rising" hours, because they're not real hours. These hours are much shorter. I thought this was an extremely moronic choice for a game that revolves around exploration. Some people claim they enjoy the added suspense, but I feel it just keeps the player from doing things they want to.
The experience system in the game hinges on Prestige Points. Frank gets more PP for taking pictures of zombies and bosses. This will allow him to level up and gain more health, better speed and better attacks. As I mentioned before though, you are on a tight schedule, so gaining PP and completing your tasks can often be more frustrating than strategic. Did I mention Frank runs like he has a stick up his behind? It too is very annoying and makes rescue missions and boss battles rough.
View article images hereThe team over at Capcom made sure that there were tons of zombies and tons of weapons to kill the zombies. While they exceeded expectations in this department, they failed in introducing a control scheme that gets the two to meet in the middle. The mechanics for melee are passable and you can usually attack the zombies you want to, but driving and shooting are abysmal. Each time you want to shoot a gun, you have to completely stop, find the target/crosshair, and then shoot your target. Since your boss style opponents don't have to do this, you are at a huge disadvantage! It makes boss battles less than enjoyable and it makes you look for exploits to defeat bosses instead of just playing well enough to beat them.
Sadly, this is the department, where Dead Rising could have easily excelled since most of these things have been done well for years in other games, but it came up way short.
Graphics: 7 / 10
Graphically, Dead Rising is mediocre. The character models are very similar to what I come to expect from Capcom, overly smooth and cartoony. It is impressive how many zombies the game can render on the screen at once. The zombies actually look a decent amount more realistic than the actual characters, but this can be hindered by too many of the same zombie being present at once. At almost anytime in the game you can count about five hard-hat or police zombies walking around.
The locations and stores look good and there is a diverse color palate in the game, but textures are almost nowhere to be found. Similar to the problem with character models, everything looks smooth and cartoony. Since it is a zombie game in a shopping mall, this is less of an issue but more realistic graphics would have been welcome.
Sound: 8 / 10
Capcom did a wonderful job with the music and sound effects in Dead Rising! Most psychopath battles have great music that set the tone for the enemy you're up against. This is really something considering the amount of crazies you will take on. With so many weapons and items in the game, the sound effects are key and Capcom followed through. The effects used for all the weapons, especially when they are used killing zombies, are spectacular.
The voice work is mediocre, but it is what you expect from a game that revolves around killing zombies in a shopping mall. The only bad thing about the voice work is the places where it is lacking. The majority of the time you will have to read extremely small text instead of actually hearing characters talk. This is not only annoying, but even hard to read at all. It would seem to make more sense for Capcom to just pay the voice actors to record all of the dialogue instead of just certain parts. Unfortunately, since they didn't, you must read the tiny text.
Challenge/Replay Value: 6 / 10
Dead Rising is challenging but most of the time, it is more frustrating than challenging. The awful AI and the poor controls will make a difficult game, one you are reluctant to revisit. You keep your experience when you go onto a second playthrough, so you will certainly have a leg up if you decide to revisit Willamette. There are also a number of different endings, though I watched them all on YouTube and none is anything really special.
Overall, Dead Rising is a great idea and has great presentation, but poor controls and terrible AI keep the game from being as polished as it has to be. The game is so cheap now that if you want it you might as well purchase it, although I would probably wait until Dead Rising 2 hits stores in a few months.
Overall Score: 6 / 10
Dead Rising Review - Zombies, Psychopaths and Gore, Oh My!
By: gamepodunk
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review: Indiana Jones Has Arrived inFAMOUS Review - Shockingly imPRESSIVE Twin Strollers And Which To Buy Some Unique Safety Features Of A Stroller Review: SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation -- This SEALs Gone AWOL Rice Cooker - Get The Right One! An Objective Review Of "The Secret" Saving money for people who buy used breakers Virtual DJ 6.1 - review Book Budget Hotels In Rishikesh Dish Tv For Pc Review NYC apartments and your budget Sell Dvds Chicago And Make Some Extra Money