Frustruating addiction.
There was no concealing it, and definitely no attempt to, Dead Rising 2 is about as literal of a sequel as one can get. It's the same mechanics, the same layout, and the same premise, but with different story and characters.
I thought I had seen it all in the gaming world; Conker, First- person shooters in a different galaxy, Noby Noby Boy, but when I found myself in an Evil Knievel outfit riding a "sliceycle" whilst wielding a light saber, my view of the possible changed. Dead Rising 2 takes the ups of the first one and improves them on quite the large scale, mainly combination weapons and an overall more free feel, but it brought along with it many defects and downs that the first one held, and couldn't manage to shake.
The unforgivable time crunches for the missions from the original have their return, and it's still just as frustrating as ever. This sequel grants a slightly better time allowance, granting you the ability to force and push your way through all the mission simultaneously, but who in their right mind would want to go through that? This is where the game inevitably fails, the incentive and rewarding experience to power your way through the time crunching missions, and frustrating addiction that ensues.
The one feature of this game that you'll find yourself cursing over (and believe me, you'll be cursing up a storm,) is the game play mechanics. Dead Rising 2 leaves the straightforward difficulty floating in the wind, and brings forth a whole new combination weapon, the insanely frustrating mechanics. More often than not, you'll find yourself in boss fights where you're actually fighting against the battle mechanics themselves. Chuck Greene is un-responsive, and has a slower reaction time than a town drunkard. Hell, the game play in Noby Noby Boy has more of a flow and connection than this frustrating mess. All in all, the battles feel horribly un-balanced, and you'll find yourself losing the battle between yourself and the game mechanics instead of the actual boss fights.
The multiplayer is an interesting and well deserved edition to the franchise, allotting the players massive amounts of cash per go, and has a very high incentive for those looking for some quick (and slightly easy) cash, but for those looking for some lasting and non-repetitive fun will look elsewhere. The games get old fast, and with the online additions of Halo:Reach and Medal of Honor, this game is seriously overlooked, and rightfully so. There's not much of a reason to sit through the long loading screens and game searches if you're looking for some action, because I can tell you right now, odds are steep against you finding a single one.
Dead Rising had quite the original story, and was worth playing through for the multiple endings, but where the original succeeded, the sequel fails on all fronts. The story is embarrassingly linear and very predictable. Besides the one or two exceptionally small twists, the story is very straightforward, and leaves no room for imagination or guessing, leaving the free roam zombie massacring feature to be the only true turn-on for zombie and third person action games alike.
Overall Dead Rising 2 delivers in the areas it's supposed to; keeping fans of zombies and nonsensical action occupied. However, for everyone else looking for a groundbreaking and genre defining game with responsive game play and highly addictive and involving story need to look elsewhere, because behind these buckets of blood lie disappointment, and one continuing series that just won't turn.
