The dead rise again, and it is glorious...
Having recently finished a first play through of Dead Rising 2 I can honestly say it was everything I expected and loads more.
The game takes place in a fictional Vegas style Nevada location known as Fortune City. You play as Chuck Greene, former motorcross champion and currently a contender on the hit Terror is Reality show. Just so he can scrape enough money to keep his daughter Katey supplied in Zombrex, a drug used to halt the zombie infection process for a short duration. Needless to say the once cannon fodder zombies of TIR get loose and Chuck is blamed for the event. So now he has 72 hours to clear his name while caring for his daughter and dealing with the shambling hordes just outside the city safe house.
Anyone familiar with the first Dead Rising will notice the controls and style of the game remain unchanged. Anything and everything is a weapon to aid in fighting off the endless flow of undead. Chuck's primary talent is utilizing work benches scattered around to combine mundane items into vicious killing weapons. This is a high point for the game as there are dozens of combinations to discover. So much so that it's quite the challenge just trying to create them all in a single run. Also each combination feels unique and I never felt like one item was just a mimic of another only with a different look. All this plus they're a blast to use over and over again.
Dead Rising 2 also has some of the fat trimmed from the first game, which will be a welcome change for returning players. The survivor AI is ages better and they can actually handle themselves quite well. Where the first game had survivors feeling like a real burden to escort.
Story wise it's nothing grand but works well to advance Chuck's journey, calling back to important parts of the first game and perhaps introducing concepts for a third game.
I will say that those who didn't enjoy the first Dead Rising probably won't enjoy this game. While clear efforts have been made to improve upon what the first game introduced, the staple mechanics and gameplay that turned many off remain in tact.
My only real gripe is in a couple spots. The first being times where I felt the in game time limits were a tad chocking not freeing enough to really explore the world, which is a big part of the game. Also, and I won't spoil it and this is more a complaint about games in general, I hate when tasks are thrown out of nowhere to rely completely on luck. One such moment happens in DR2 and it had me frustrated quickly. I'm not a fan of luck challenges that pop out among every other moment that is determined on skill.
All in all I was very excited for this game and my personal hype was rewarded. All that I loved from the first game is back better then before and they even threw in an online competitive feature that is surprisingly well done and almost addictive in its entertainment. Thus I'm left with a game that has a ton of replay value so it's money well spent in my book..
