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    Dead Rising 2

    Game » consists of 18 releases. Released Sep 02, 2010

    Dead Rising 2 is a third-person action-adventure survival horror game that takes place five years after the end of the original Dead Rising, moving its zombie apocalypse setting into the glamorous Fortune City.

    ranger5000's Dead Rising 2 (Xbox 360) review

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    Another Zombie Apocalypse?


    Does this zombie apocalypse hold up to today’s games or is it just an undead game walking?   Between rescuing survivors, escaping zombies, executing psychos, finding Zombrex for your daughter, and clearing your name, you will have no problem spending 10- 12 hours playing through Dead Rising 2.   In order to survive this zombie apocalypse you will need and want to make combo weapons to gain as much PP (Prestige Points) to gain experience which will in turn gain your character levels.

    In Dead Rising 2 you play as Chuck Greene a motocross superstar that up until 3 years ago had a normal life.   Since then his wife has been killed by the zombies and his daughter Katey has been bitten and needs the assistance of the drug Zombrex to stay alive.   If that isn’t enough Chuck has had to relocate to a Las Vegas style city call Fortune City.   In Fortune City Chuck earns money by being a contestant on an American Gladiator style show called Terror Is Reality.   Were he is forced to slain as many of the undead in the allotted time to outscore his three other competitors.   Soon after this event Chuck finds himself trying to fend off the zombie hoard, for the once secured Fortune City is now in shambles thanks to a well placed bomb.   Chuck discovers a safe house, along with other survivors.   Soon he finds out that he is being blamed for the zombies that are now over running Fortune City and Chuck has only 72 hours clear his name before the military arrives.

    Dead Rising 2 is a 3 person action game with some RPG elements, where you run around casino and shopping mall areas.   The game is all timers based, you only have so much time to complete a story mission or rescue any survivors.   The game gets away with this because you only have 3 days until the military comes to rescue the remaining survivors. The main story missions are broken up into “Cases” which focus around clearing your name and finding Zombrex for your daughter Katey.   There are plenty of things to do in-between case missions, like rescuing other survivors, build combo weapons, and fighting psychos.   Chuck can only carry a limited amount of items at a time along with a small portion of health, which the only way you can regain health is by eating food.   The only way to hold more items and have more health is to level up Chuck with PP (also known as Prestige Points).   You receive PP by completing case missions, rescuing survivors, killing psychos, killing zombies, and other random things thrown throughout the game, like spray painting over Zombrex advertising.   This PP goes towards raising Chuck’s overall level which will give you access to new moves, increase your stats, and unlock combo cards. Combo cards are used to show you what will happen when you combine 2 items together; like a baseball bat and nails, you end up with a spiked bat.   When you use these weapons that you have combo cards for, you will receive bonus PP for every zombie kill you use with that weapon.   If you happen to come across a combo weapon that you do not have a card for, you unlock what is called a scratch card you can still use the combo weapon but you will not get any extra PP bonus per zombie kill.

    Dead Rising 2 throws you into a game where time is of essences, you really feel the pressure of trying to save a survivor before they get bitten and turned into a zombie.   The survivors are able to take care of themselves with little to no assistants needed by you the player, when you are escorting them back to the safe house.   You can give them weapons to protect them self’s and they all keep up with you while you are running from zombies.   The combo weapons are great fun; it is amazing how many zombies you can kill when you combine boxing gloves and a bowie knife.   The RPG style leveling system is addicting to the point of trying to rescue every survivor to see what you get when you level up next.   The story is entertaining enough and it contains a descent amount of double crosses that it keeps you interested until you reach the end.   The game supports up to three save slots, I found myself using two of three slots to keep a good save point that I can go back to, just in case things go bad.   The sound of the zombies moaning as you run past them, mixed in with the sound of a casino feels good.   The voice acting isn't the best but it works with this kind of a game.

    Even thought the game has some good points it does have some flaws that I wished had been worked out before they shipped the game.   First the psychos that serve as the boss battles in the game are a chore and you will find yourself skipping over the fights.   The battles seem unbalanced to the point that when they hit and you will get hit they can take away up to half of your health.   The load times are ridiculous; the game has to load every time you go into a new area and even getting to and from the safe house.   When you are escorting survivors to the safe house you get them to the entrance to the safe house, you have to take them into the safe house then you have to leave the safe house and have to wait through another long load time.   It is a big hassle that should of been fixed by just showing the survivors the entrance and then there mission ends. The animations of the characters faces are life less and the constant pop in of zombies in the background get on your nerves.   There is slow down in certain parts of the game when there are a lot of zombies on screen.

    What does all this mean, Dead Rising 2 is a very competent game that puts you on edge due to the time mechanic, at the same time some players will also hate this time mechanic because all you will want to do is kill zombies, which you are more than able to do but you will suffer consequences.   The amount of fun you have with making combo weapons and how can you not have a good time when you attach chainsaws to a dirt bike, so much fun.   Some of the fundamentals of the game are broken such as the loading times.   The psychos are unbalanced and a big pain in the ass.   In the end you will have more fun killing more zombies and trying to figure what combination of items make combo weapons.   The characters could use some better facial animations, but the zombies do look disgusting when they get cut in half.    

    Other reviews for Dead Rising 2 (Xbox 360)

      Frustruating addiction. 0

      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 t...

      4 out of 4 found this review helpful.

      Dead Rising 2 Review 0

      In Dead Rising 2 you play as Chuck Greene an ex-motocross champion whose daughter was bitten by a zombie. He must participate in a game show "Terror is Reality" to buy Zombrex for his daughter to keep her from changing. Chuck is blamed for causing the outbreak in Fortune City The leveling system has been changed from the first game to add weapon combinations to increase your leveling rather then taking candid zombie shots or Psycho pictures. You get additional points for using a combination weap...

      3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

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