Dead Rising 2

Surrounded by the undead Horde with three strangers depending on your help, you look down at your watch and discover that Katey will need Zombrex in 20 minutes. The only problem is that you don’t have any at the moment. What will you do?

After four years of waiting, Dead Rising 2 is finally here. Our small taste of the action in Case Zero was great, but now it’s time for the main course. 

Since the main portion of the story takes 72 hours (about 6 hours real-time), you’ll still have to pick and choose which optional missions to go after, but this method like with the original is great since it adds replayability, prolonged even more than the first game with the addition of online co-op and Terror is Reality multiplayer.

Campaign

 The overview of the story has been out there since the announcement of Dead Rising 2, so I can talk a bit about that without giving any main details away. Katey still needs Zombrex, but since Case Zero the medicine has advanced to cover 24 hours a day, instead of 12. This gives Chuck more time to find the medicine, and to cover the costs he partakes in Terror is Reality, a game show involving killing zombies in many humorous ways which is highly disapproved of by CURE, the PETA for Zombies basically. Things happen later on that causes an outbreak in Fortune City, and our hero Mr. Greene is blamed. Rescue will arrive in 72 hours, so Chuck spends his time scrambling to prove it wasn’t him.

It’s actually a pretty engaging story with great cut scenes, but not the main draw of the game. It’s still all about Zombies, and the many ways to kill them, made even better with the combo system for items.

 Combo Cards and Leveling Up

I think were about 6 or so cards to use in Case Zero, but Dead Rising 2 has about 50. Each offer extra PP for kills and all are great to use. A paddle saw is cool, but combing gems and a flashlight to create a laser sword is just plain awesome. It doesn’t stop there either with secret cards available that open up even more ways to dispose of the Undead.

Even without these cards and items, Chuck can still hold his own against the Zombies and Psychos, just as long you level up him up. It’s not too hard to do either, as my first playthrough got me to level 33 of 50 and that was spent goofing around and tackling the main cases first. There are cool skills that will eventually unlock for Chuck, but I do miss a few that Mr. West could perform.

Terror is Reality and Co-op

The fictional game show in Dead Rising 2 can be played with up to four players online. No matter your place in the events comprised of about nine mini-games, each player will rack up points and even earn money to carry over to your single-player game. The mini-games are pretty fun and are not too difficult to accomplish, so each player has a good chance to reach 1 place in the events.

My only problem with this mode is that I was having trouble finding a match, which might have been a connection problem on my side or something else. What I hope to do though is get the three Terror is Reality achievements early so I can work on the harder achievements which dole out 20G for each one just like the original. Thankfully though, I won’t have to keep my 360 on for 14 hours again!

 Co-op is a great reason to play this game, and is a lot fun. At any moment you can invite a friend to drop in your game and help you out, with them still able to receive PP and money, but none of the story progression from that you both may make in your story. It seems to be fixed now, but the first few days that the game was out, anytime the host of a co-op game would save automatically booted the other player out. When someone joins your game, they will also be Chuck, so using the game’s stores to dress him up will also ensure that you have a unique Chuck, which is pretty cool.

Survivors and Saving

The survivors this time around are much, much easier to escort. They actually follow your waypoints properly and can hold their own with the many weapons in the game. The Saving system has been improved as well, with three slots available instead of only one from the original.

Conclusion

Dead Rising 2 makes small improvements from the original game, while still keeping the elements that the original contained that can be seen as both good and bad. If you loved Dead Rising like myself, you’ll love the sequel; if you didn’t, you’ll still have a great time with friends to back you up since playing alone can be pretty challenging at times, but may just want to give it a rent.