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I received this game from Amazon yesterday. Last night my buddy and I were playing this in co-op mode and it is really fun. I have heard all over ther internet about how the xbox version is far superior blah blah blah.....whatever, it's a great game and it's great on the PS3 as well. So far I haven't seen a single issue with this game for the PS3. Don't let someone's opinion of what they read from uncle Fred's obscure website deter you from buying this for the PS3. Form an opinion of your own from actually playing it on the PS3.
If you love smashing some zombie faces in then you will love this game. The only annoying thing is having to get the Zombrex to your daughter by a certain time but I guess you have to have a story in it too.
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I never usually review a game before completing it, but I will do it for this title. Why I hear you ask? well it's simple, really. This game is just too awesome not to talk about! Seriously if you are a fan of Zombie maiming then this is the game for you!
The premise:
You are Chuck Green contestant on the hit game show Terror Is Reality, where you slay thousands of zombies in a coliseum like setting for huge cash prizes. You are framed for a crime you did not commit, unleashing hordes of the undead upon the hapless residents of Fortune City. Chuck Green has 72 hours to clear his name and keep his infected daughter alive with daily doses of the controversial drug "Zombrex". The clock is ticking for Chuck Green, will he make it through the worst 72 hours of his life?
The good:
Literally hundreds of "Basic" weapons to maul and maim your undead adversaries. Everything is a weapon!
A whole host of upgradeable weapons that cause mucho devastation to those walking bags of rotting flesh.
Tongue in cheek story that provides a ton of laughs
Sandbox environment, go anywhere, do anything.
Many side quests and mini games like Slot machines, Weapon Creation, Drink Mixing and Strip Poker.
Graphics are pretty good for the massive amount of Zombies on screen at one time (Over 7,000!)
Awesome leveling system the more you kill the better you get at killing!
Great Animation, the zombies look and act like real zombies!
vehicles. Mow down Zombies with even more efficiency in these motorized death machines.
Lots of outfits to choose from, You can dress up as a skater dude or daisy duke, the options are endless!
Extreme Gore, Bathe in the blood of your adversaries!
The Bad:
Long Loading times when changing areas
A ton of escort missions, not really that bad because the A.I is ok. It just gets old after a while
Stuttering graphics/framerate due to the many monsters on screen at once.
Timed missions, must complete the missions in a set time or you miss out on the story mode until your next play through.
clumsy controls, many times I accidentally took a survivors weapon or had to run around something I wanted to pick up until the icon would appear.
Lack of DLC for PS3 users. Xbox 360 is getting all the exclusive stuff right now, pretty disappointing but I am sure that will change with time.
Conclusion:
If you love to slay zombies for hours on end then this is the game for you, the carnage you can cause is staggering! (Im talking flying limbs and zombies being cut clean in half). There is so much to see and do but sadly you are rushed through with these silly timed missions. On more than one occasion I would have loved to stay and investigate an area but had to hustle to the next chapter of the story. I understand why this feature was added it does add a sense of urgency to the overall game but it can be pretty irritating and intrusive. Luckily doing these missions are optional, if you miss out on a main story mission the the game "Ends" as in you can no longer participate in the story you can still play out the 72 hours however you like. This I find adds a ton of replayability to an already expansive game, this was a definite day one buy for me and it should be for anyone else who loves zombie slaying action! Add to that the expansive leveling system (There are 50 I beleive) and the online both competative and co-op (Which I have yet to dabble in) and this will be a game that will stay in your system for months to come.
The timed missions coupled with repetativness loses it one star, this is a game that is carried on one great Idea, kill tons of zombies however you like and it does a hell of a job in that department. 4/5 stars.
Buy Dead Rising 2 Now
Deadrising 2 is about two things, zombie killing and getting your daughter Zombrex so she doesn't wig out and turn into a zombie. There are other things thrown in like a game show and rescuing people but the real plot line is about finding out who framed you for letting the zombies loose and getting your daughter zombrex.
So what is fun about this game? Killing zombies with all the combo weapons you make! You can combine nails with a bat to make a devastating weapon, combine a bucket with power drills, and on and on. Pretty much anything can be used to kill zombies from a beach umbrella, to a protestors sign, to a wheelchair...it's pretty much almost anything. While the zombie killing is fun sometimes when you are in missions and you don't have a mode of transportation (car, bike, etc.) it seems to take forever to get to where you need to go and dodging zombies gets a little boring. You can't just walk and kill all the zombies as that would take a looooong time for you to get where you are going.
The story is interesting and the game has somewhat of a grand theft auto feel at times as you are going on "missions". The online multiplayer is actually more fun to me than the single player game. You hook up with three other people to compete on the gameshow in a set of zombie challenges. Sometimes it's sniping zombies, sometimes it zomboning (crushing zombies on a zamboni then spewing their blood into a target) or it is plowing through zombies using chainsaws on a motorcycle. These games are a blast to play with others and you can cash in your winnings to use the money in the single player game...which can really help. The co-op play is a lot of fun as well since having a partner makes for all kinds of fun zombie slaying.
The only downsides here are that sometimes the zombie killing or running to destinations can be a little monotinous. The story won't win any academy awards but it serves it's purpose. Overall a fun game but not as good as the best PS3 titles that are similar (i.e. uncharted 2, infamous, etc.). If you don't own an xbox 360 and have never played this game I think it would be a fun purchase for most people. The multiplayer along makes it a blast in my opinion.
Read Best Reviews of Dead Rising 2 Here
When I first saw footage of Dead Rising 2, I immediately noticed it looked identical to the first game in nearly every way, except that you didn't get to take pictures anymore. That was a key feature in the first game, and was actually a lot of fun. Now a few years later, ps3 owners have a chance to try out a Dead Rising game for the first time. Is it worth the wait? Well, it depends on what kind of gameplay you like. If you like straight up action, hack 'n slash or shoot 'em ups, Dead Rising 2 might not be for you. If you like to plan things out and are big on time management, you'll probably have a better time with DR2 than other people. Oddly enough, I'm not in either one of those categories, but I went into this one with a clean slate, and found myself not having a whole lot of fun. Maybe it's because I'm sick of zombies, the current overused game/movie enemy, but I thought I'd be having a bit more fun than I ended up having here.
This time around, you play as Chuck, a motorcyclist who's stuck in a mall with his daughter Katey, who was bitten by a zombie. She hasn't turned into one yet because Chuck's been giving her Zombrex, a drug that fights the infection, but when you start the game, you're all out. You main objective is to run around the mall and other nearby locations, looking for Zombrex, which needs to be given to Katey at a precise time (never before the time frame either), otherwise she's gone. Later as the story progresses (and this is an early story point in the first 30 minutes, so I'm not really spoiling anything), it turns out that the military is on their way to the mall. If they find Katey in her condition, they'll take her away. So now Chuck needs to start fixing up his motorcycle in order to escape. While out and about, you'll find other survivors who you can help save, and you can even have a friend join in for some good drop in/drop out co-op gameplay, which is a HUGE help in getting missions done, and provides a distraction from the seemingly millions of zombies you'll be taking out.
That's one thing the game definitely does rightoverwhelms you with zombies. There aren't just a couple hundred in the mall, no, there are tons. Check out the trophy list for DR2 and you'll see that you only get bronze trophies for taking out huge numbers, which takes a while to do. Most of the zombies aren't that tough, and can be taken out with a few hits of your standard melee weapons, but it's the sheer numbers that'll get to you. I found myself dying a few times as soon as I entered the first section of the mall. Chuck's inventory is fairly small at first too, and since you need item slots to hold everything, even healing items, it's a good idea to carry two food/drink items with you whenever you can. As you go through the game, you'll be able to carry more, but it takes time. Leveling up is done via PP, which is earned as you kill zombies, usually with powerful attacks or with customized weapons. This is another good thing about DR2the number of customizable weapons, and how creative they are. You want a chainsaw on each end of a boat paddle? You got it. Machine guns on the arm rests of a wheelchair? Check. Drill spear? Bingo. Finally, while the story isn't anything special, I did like the father/daughter aspect, where Chuck's top priority is Katey's safety, and showing how much he cares for her. Even in the opening cutscene, someone brings up 'your next of kin' and Chuck tells him, with a bit of attitude, that she has a name.
Alright, it sounds like the game's fine based on that, right? So why give it 2 stars overall? The gameplay is too slow for my tastes, especially in the beginning. Yes, I know your speed gets better as you progress through the game, but there's just no excuse for Chuck to be moving as slow as he does in the first part of the game. I kept trying to figure out if there was a run/sprint action by holding a button down, because his normal run sure doesn't move much faster than say, Kratos walking in God of War 3. A big garbage can hits pretty fast, but some smaller weapons take a while to swing, and the recovery time is horrible. Chuck's movements could've also used some polish, and I was never positive when I'd be able to evade an attack by jumping over a zombie. Evading would've helped the game big time, and is almost standard in most action game these days, but the right thumbstick is set to moving the camera (something you'll be doing a lot of). Also there'll be times when so many items are available for Chuck to grab, that you'll have to be in -just the right spotin order to get the one you want. Positioning him just right can take a few seconds, and most of the time you won't be wanting to waste time just to get a tomahawk instead of vinyl records when there are 20 zombies 5 feet away. And like I said earlier, time management is very important. There are a good number of times when multiple missions will be open at once, or you'll have a chance to help a survivor before finishing the main mission. An example that comes to mind immediately is when I had Zombrex for Katey, then found another person who was infected and needed Zombrex as well. I could either leave him for dead, or give him the Zombrex, then try to find more for Katey or get enough money to buy some at the pawn shop. Guess what happened to him? Yeah, he was toast. If there was enough time to help him, I would've, but with the time limit on giving Katey her medicine, you just can't afford to help people sometimes. Add to this some frequent loading screens (even after a quick 30 second cutscene) and bathrooms, the game's take on save points, that are usually very far away from one another, and you have a game that is often challenging but not in a good or fun way. And for what it's worth, the visuals look pretty dated too, almost like this could've been done 3 years ago.
If you haven't played a Dead Rising game before, I'd recommend renting DR2 before spending money on it at the current price. Good voice acting, a good main character, smart customization in the weapons, and truly making you feel like it's a zombie apocalypse are all some big selling points to me. But the cons build up to the point where the game frustrated me too much to care about giving it a second play through.
Want Dead Rising 2 Discount?
+ PROS:
+ Hundreds of weapons to use and several to create
+ VAST amounts of zombies to kill almost 10x more onscreen than the 1st game
+ Lots of hidden items clothing, weapons, combo cards
+ 2 Multiplayer modes: Game campaign and Terror Is Reality
+ 3 save slots
CONS:
Load times (up to 20 seconds in some cases)
No picture taking like the first Dead Rising
Co-op is a little clumsy
Errors in Terror Is Reality multiplayer
Extra save slots and improved survivor AI make the game too easy for veterans of Dead Rising 1
PLOT:
It's been 5 years since the Willamette disaster, and you are playing the role of Chuck Greene, a former motorcycle champion who ends up in Fortune City with his daughter Katey. A zombie outbreak occurs, and it's up to Chuck to keep his daughter safe, clear his name, and escape the city within 3 days.
GAMEPLAY:
From the beginning, Chuck starts off with the basics, his hands and feet. As you wander around the mall, it's clear that weapons will be needed. It doesn't matter if it's a bow & arrow, a golf club, a gumball machine, a lawnmower, a picture frame, or a bottle of ketchup....if Chuck can pick it up, chances are he can use it as a weapon. Zombies are pretty much EVERYWHERE, and when 7pm rolls around, it's not a good time to be without a Super B.F.G. because the zombies take an extra dose of the crazy.
Killing zombies earns character Prestige Points, which in turn levels up inventory slots, strength, hit points, offensive and defensive capabilities. Frank West may have earned PP by taking pictures of zombies, but Chuck Greene earns his PP by creating the most insane weaponry and using them on zombies.
Chuck has a series of case files to complete over the course of 3 days and during this time he can choose to try and save random survivors throughout the city, attempt to defeat psychopaths who have lost their minds due to the zombie outbreak, and try to find the life-giving Zombrex medicine that his daughter needs every day to survive. Or, he can choose to do nothing more than wander from store to store trying on clothes or gambling in the casinos.
HOW MANY ZOMBIES?
"More zombies than you can shake a stick at" seems to be putting it mildly. The first Dead Rising boasted 800 zombies on screen, but Dead Rising 2 boasts an upgrade to 7,000 zombies on screen. The crowds of zombies are definitely creepy, especially when you don't know which ones will be making a lunge for your face until they're on top of you. Sometimes there are frame rate dips if too much is happening on screen (such as...driving over a pack of zombies with an SUV?)
MULTIPLAYER:
A player can choose to complete the storyline with an online partner. This makes defeating psychopaths a lot easier than standard 1:1 fighting, and all case files must be completed in co-op to earn one of the game's trophies. A special shout-out to PSN player "PandaCidal", whose assistance was invaluable to me!
The second online gameplay mode is called Terror Is Reality. 4 players compete in 4 random events (there are 9 total) which feel like a combination of American Gladiators and Mortal Kombat. The only goal is to kill as many zombies as humanly possible within the allotted time in each event, and by session's end, you take your prize earnings and cash out to one of your game saves. Your character needs $50,000 to complete a game mission? No problem! Just do an online session of TIR and cash that out to your game save and the money's all there.
TROPHIES:
There's a LOT of busy work in getting all the trophies for Dead Rising 2. There are easy ones such as getting 5,000 zombie kills or mixing a drink, but for the more dedicated players there are a lot of time consuming ones like spray painting all the Zombrex posters, trying on every type of clothing, gathering all gifts for Katey or using every possible melee weapon against a zombie.
A good group of trophies, but not easy for casual gamers to complete. Some of these are missable during playthroughs unless you use a strategy guide.
CONS:
Firstly, the load times.....it has to be said, these load times are RIDICULOUS. Going through a door or moving from one part of the mall to another can take up to 20 seconds with each load. When you fight a psychopath, there's a cutscene...then a loading screen...then you fight...then there's a closing cutscene...and yet ANOTHER loading screen. If the gameplay designers were trying to achieve a frenetic pace with zombie killing, the load times killed this pacing deader than Latin.
Fans of the first game really miss Frank West and his camera. I can understand why, because that's what made the first game fun...getting pictures of zombies in horror, drama, or erotic poses (to name a few). It's a bitter pill to swallow, because I miss Frank West too.
I have trouble finding partners in co-op mode. Dead Rising 2 gives the option to join someone else but it only gives the option to join a friend, or join a random player at some random point in their gaming campaign. I don't have the option to "Host" an online session and get linked to a player like Resident Evil 5 (which I feel has a superior multiplayer menu).
I have noticed a few errors with Terror Is Reality. Sometimes during the Ramsterball game, players start in the game zone instead of above it. Other times I have noticed the targeting doesn't work and it's impossible to know who is "it". Sometimes players can glitch and get trapped on the walls in the Zomboni game.
Finally, the save slots. One of the things that made the first Dead Rising so hard and so challenging was having only one save slot. This left no margin of error and would require another run-through if something was missed. The survivors in Dead Rising 1 had a nasty habit of walking into packs of zombies, making trips back to the safehouse very difficult as the game progressed.
In Dead Rising 2, the characters are much better at avoiding zombies and can even use weapons, if they accept them from you. With 3 save slots and the improved AI, Dead Rising 2 is more forgiving...but some folks do miss that challenge.
FINAL VERDICT:
Even with all the aforementioned items, I really enjoyed Dead Rising 2. This gets 4 stars from me because I'm masochistic like that. My main goals are hacking up zombies like I've got a hunting license, collecting difficult trophies and playing some short, goofy and blood-soaked online gaming sessions. If you like the same things, then I think you'll get a kick out of Dead Rising 2.
Now if you get frustrated with weapons that break (and all of them eventually do), long load times and time-limit missions, you might want to give this game a pass. I'd recommend at least a rental...Once you combine a vacuum cleaner with saw blades and see the damage you can wreak, you might like it enough to buy it.
If nothing else, you'll learn how important duct tape will be when the zombie apocalypse arrives.
