Reviews from

in the past


An entertaining experience that takes the zombie genre and does something unique with it. Full of variety, charm, and hidden bonuses, the game could've been great with better survivor AI

fun game, my game file got corrupted so shit

It's weird how I got into this game. Remembering how much people use the mall music in their video essays or commentary videos. I recently played it on the pc, but my first play through was on the 360.

And this game is hard at first, but is so rewarding if you learn it imo. Each play through gets better and better. Sure, it's got some flaws (for me, it's in mission design some of the missions with AI partners, they play so clunky. Not talking about survivors btw)But for me, the game is pretty balanced.

I admit the game has its flaws but it's so much fun to replay over and over again


Feel like a kid in a shopping mall. With zombies.

This review contains spoilers

For personal reference more than anything else. Still have done spoiler warning just in case though.

First time doing a complete playthrough after playing it a lot for around ten years mainly messing around with it and attempting but then abandoning a full playthrough last year. Finished 72 Hour Mode and Overtime Mode.

This game used to be a source of mindless fun for me to begin with, I wouldn't even bother attempting the story and would instead just go around the mall putting on silly outfits and using random objects to kill the zombies. Then it became a more mixed experience as I tried to play this game properly in recent years and I discovered (or finally realised) just how bad the survivor A.I was, rendering it no longer fun and something to avoid and just play either Dead Rising 2 or Off The Record if I needed a Dead Rising fix. But in the last year I've found out that going into every game with a mindset of I need to take this seriously and not have any games that can just be for fun isn't really the best idea. I think I'm really beginning to understand just what I want from games, what can stop me playing them or that some games are really only good for one or two things and that's ok. Even with this I still wanted to play through the main story of this game because for whatever reason I keep coming back to it despite getting what I believe to be better experiences from the next two (DR2 & OTR).

To start off with, the story is this game was genuinely good I thought and I'm slightly surprised knowing this game's penchant for doing silly things. When I was younger I'd always skip the cutscenes and this meant skipping the section at the beginning where you fly over the town of Willamette taking pictures of what's happening there, even when I started to do that section I didn't really see it as anything over then a chance to get free PP before the game really starts. This time I still took pictures, but the sights of the people in danger noticing the helicopter and trying to get Ed and/or Frank's attention while Ed sets up the perfect position for Frank to take a shot and capitalize on their misfortune felt really unpleasant. Later on learning about the incident in Santa Cabeza and hearing Isabela pour her heart out to the camera, wanting people to know what she and the people from that place had been through felt upsetting, even if its undercut by the prior explanation from Dr Barnaby and some of the details he gave concerning the how and why of the creation of the zombie parasite feeling quite stupid.

Frank West feels like one of the better examples of a complex protagonist I've seen, he seems to have a good heart and he really does seem to care for the people around him but he's a bit of a scumbag, the first half of the game is him trying his hardest to get the scoop through any means necessary and acting like a complete prick. He's unnecessarily hostile with the other main characters, he's a total pervert and there are moments in the game where he seems perfectly content not helping someone out and instead just filming them like the helicopter scene mentioned prior. He does help out with some things though and eventually seems to come from a place where he shares Isabela and Carlito's sentiments about wanting to get the truth out there, not just for a shiny medal or a pay rise but because its whats right.

The other characters are also quite good for the most part, Isabela was probably my favourite with me also liking Brad and Carlito quite a bit, each character brought something to the story, felt quite complex and made me care if something happend to them (more for Isabela and Brad here though). Jessie, Brock and Dr Barnaby were ok but each have at least one interesting moment (Jessie being clearly wracked with guilt after calling her superiors who then decided to kill everyone in the mall, Brock's kind of fucked up way of viewing the cover ups he tasked with doing and Dr Barnaby when he realises that he's going to turn).

Now onto the gameplay, being able to mess about in the mall can be really good fun, its interesting to explore, theres quite a lot of potential weapons and outfits to try out and try on and you also get skill moves which can be quite fun to use in killing a lot of zombies or killing one in kinda strange ways. The mall itself is one of those iconic locations in gaming to me as I spent so much time with this game when I was younger, even if most of that time was spent in Paradise Plaza.

The boss fights are another big aspect to the gameplay as not only are there the typical main bosses in the story but also the Psychopaths who are people who usually went through something with their minds when the outbreak happened and are now usually killing people or protecting a certain area. Due to the timed nature of this game I wasn't able to do all of them but I managed to do some and I felt that they were kind of a mixed bag. Adam and Sean felt like genuinely good boss fights with recognisable attack patterns with clear moments where you can safely attack. Isabela's fight where she is on a motorbike was one of the funniest boss fights I've ever had to do as she went so incredibly fast and had what seemed like the most perfect control of a motorbike I've ever seen with it moving in ways I don't think it should've been able to. Jo and Steven's fights were just kind of bad with not much thought feeling like it was needed in either of them. I also wasn't really keen on Larry's fight but thats because the dodge roll seemed necessary to block the bits of meat he throws and I find it to be weirdly hard to pull off with the timing also being not consistent when I i could pull it off but that may just be me being shit.

The other main aspect of gameplay is finding people around the mall and bringing them to the security room which rewards you with a survivor checked off a list that can go towards trophies or achievements or whatever and PP which levels Frank up. So much has been said surrounding these survivors and for good reason, as a couple of rules for myself this playthrough I had decided to let a survivor stay dead this time around and not try to reload and come back for them if any of them did die and i also made sure to try and use checkpoints rather than the follow command. I think this slightly helped but it still sucked for the most part.

But something I noticed this time around was how this affects the game and I don't mean in a "oh it just kinda makes the game worse because this one aspect is bad and it brings down the overall view of the game" but in a way that that kind of spreads and proves to be a much bigger problem. Trying to move survivors along takes time and this being a game that literally runs on a time limit with you needing to be in exact places at exact times with not much leniency (and also that if you don't have enough time you may not be able to finish a mission and will have to reload) doesn't really work with that. I tried saving Ross and Tonya like three different times but Tonya would keep stopping to fight zombies making what should have been a pretty simple and quick journey take much longer and leading me to not be able to do the next story mission, this was not the only instance this happened. I had survivors get stuck on things, constantly stopping, running directly into zombies, there are far too many things that could and did go wrong.

So this then leads to having to make a decision, do you continue as you were and hope that the A.I plays ball? Do you try to pick and choose what survivors to take as some seem to be better than others even though chances are you'll have no idea which ones those are and even then they'll probably have another one with them that is awful? Or do you just not bother and do something else instead cutting off one of the only ways to get a high level of PP at a kind of regular rate? Unless you're really good at the game, PP is pretty much needed to ensure you have more health and be able to carry more items as you run into harder enemies as you go on, making these things vital to be at a high level. But as mentioned before, this is also how you get skill moves that, when it comes to getting kidnapped by the True Eye cult and the final boss fight against Brock you will also need as you don't have any items at all against Brock and only a couple of items against the cultists.

The game seems to be at odds with itself, asking you to try and adhere to its time limit but making it so that its a difficult thing to actually achieve. I got by but it meant having to try out helping various survivors and then seeing if I could make it in time only for something to go wrong and then have to reload and try helping someone else or just not bother because I genuinely had no idea how long things would take and didn't want to spend my time doing something that would be rendered useless in the end. Another problem with the time management in this game is Otis, when Otis calls, you can only run around, you can't jump or fight and if you go to a different room (or get grabbed by a zombie) it cuts the call off and then you have to answer it again. If you try to ignore him he'll just keep trying again after like 20 seconds. The game doesn't have moments outside of cutscenes where he can't call so i pretty regularly had him calling during boss fights in the game or just as I was about to leave a room once again wasting precious time that could be used elsewhere.

To try and talk about something positive before I finish, a small thing is that I really like some of the songs in this game, specifically 'Mall Music 3', 'Arrival' and Frank's theme, they're some of the most recognisable songs to me in gaming as I usually don't notice soundtracks unless I really like them or if they get used a lot.

One of the biggest things I had to think about this game though was what it brought to the table, I honestly love the concept of this game and there are so many things that give the game its personality and help it stand out or are just really fun game things. Rescuing the survivors, time limit with the mission structure is great, the pick up and use anything as a weapon mechanic is great, having not only the Psychopath boss fights but area bosses like the cult or sniper family that add to the atmosphere and make you think twice about a area you've probably come to quite a bit by this point (don't think the convicts should respawn though and I have no idea why they do). The only problem with these is that some just aren't handled well, like the time limit which I think is maybe a little too strict in this game in all honesty or the survivors being really bad.

Overall this is a difficult game for me to judge as I really do like it a fair bit but I just came out of this annoyed and slightly confused as to whether I'd even been playing it right when I was just engaging with the games main mechanics. I think despite all my problems with it I am really grateful that this game led to DR2 and OTR which I think just did things much better and really made me realise how special these games are. I think I'll probably continue to mess about in the mall like I used to but in terms of completing it again, I think the only way would be if it ever got a remake which fixed my issues with it. It feels kind of broken but I think its a good game.

Bom jogo mas envelheceu muito mal

Despised this when I originally played it, thought it was an underrated gem when I gave it another shot a couple of years ago, and now I’ve finally cooled on it- still a really admirable title, especially as one that was meant be Capcom’s leap into the 7th generation, but it’s decidedly frontloaded upon further inspection. So many of the offputting design choices, like the ever-present timer and weapon durability system, only really matter for the first couple of days when you’re still fumbling around, learning the layout of the mall, and dealing with the constant upsets the game throws at you just as think you’ve gotten a handle on everything.

Even coming back to it now, there’s an impressive streak of early-game roadblocks: the convicts, the gun-store owner, zombies that are deadlier and more numerous at night, and the infamous fight against Adam the Clown, each of which feels like catastrophe incarnate. But this also means these early hours necessitate, and are gratifyingly open to, experimentation. Was able to trivialize the Cletus fight by bringing in the LMG from the convict’s truck, and snowballed that into a much easier fight against Adam by handing out shotguns to a couple of survivors and having them stunlock him in place- a far cry from some of my initial attempts to tackle these fights while eating at away my time to complete objectives. If you value games for the little emergent stories they provide, the near misses and disastrous failures, then Dead Rising’s opening hours alone are well worth the price of admission. Could rattle on about the interesting moments borne out of the pressure to make the best use of your time, like a moment on this playthrough where I had to ferry two incapacitated survivors through the mall in the dead of night- anti-fun in practice, but a fantastically memorable challenge.

Once you get some of the busted boss weapons and deeper into the game, so much of that initial thrill is pared down, with little planning needed to prep for bosses and less overlapping case files to try and optimize. By its final unlockable section, the “Overtime” mode, the game has regressed into something out of the Simple Series: a threatless fetch quest through the mall carried only by the fact that you now have the opportunity to perform you newly-unlocked wrestling moves on hapless groups of Zombies. It’s a disappointing arc for a title that begins so well, definitely something where its most widely-criticized choices are really what brings the game together, and it's the deeper stuff, the scenario design and balancing, that needed further examination.

Would be much easier to let the campaign’s flaws slide if it coexisted with a mode that was totally centered on trying to save as many survivors as possible under a dramatically shortened timer- the game’s additional “Infinite Mode,” where you have to survive as long as possible in the mall while your health slowly drains also seems an inversion of what the real draw of the game is- just a total slog in practice- and even more of a shame given that Capcom normally excels at making supplemental modes that can highlight the best of a game’s mechanics. (Was an ardent RE6 defender for the longest time due to the relative strength of Mercenaries, for instance.)

At the same time, it’s got a million little cool details that are easy to latch onto, like it’s opening, where you learn the photography controls while doing a fly-by of Willamette’s main street, which handily beats Half-Life out as far as atmospheric intros are concerned- a great intro that offers you some early-game experience if you get the most lurid shots of the disaster unfolding on the ground, and crucially, is entirely optional. Or managing to run into the surprising number of optional scenes where Frank is stripped of gear and has to break out of captivity- tense moments I had completely missed on my first time through. And this to say nothing of the mall proper, which might rank as one of the best-realized locations in the medium, with a huge number of unique storefronts to explore. Easy to lose time just rummaging through and exploring the place, a mundane location given real life through sheer craft of world design.

I’m a couple of hours into Dead Rising 2 as of writing this, and it already seems like a more measured and evenly-paced experience, but the first is still worth a try- it’s a deeply flawed game, but it never seems half-hearted in its attempts to pull so many weird directions.

Whilst many would turn their nose at the concept of an action game with a timer which requires accurate scheduling to experience the majority of the content; I, on the other hand fucking love obscure, novelties and Dead Rising is no different. The best aspect of this game is how well Capcom managed to create dynamic and intense situations with a relatively shallow gameplay loop. What I mean by this is a large portion of Dead Rising is simply transporting survivors or gathering items, but the constant threat of the zombies hurting you or your survivors while managing your time and supplies is simply thrilling. Though the survivor A.I. makes a close second, the worst aspect of Dead Rising is the amount of waiting you are "blessed" with for managing your time well and in some cases, you must wait upwards to an hour in real life just to progress. Even worse 14 hours for the infamous "7 Day Survivor" achievement. All in All this game is Amazing with a couple hiccups like the amount of downtime and occasional A.I. retardation.

Dead Rising is one of the best zombie games of its time with a cast of colourful characters, an exciting setting, and a fun narrative. What shines in Dead Rising is the psychopaths littered through the mall. Each psychopath is interesting and offers a change of pace from the usual zombie killing. The weaponry in Dead Rising is also great with multiple tools at your disposal to take care of any zombies in your way. The only bad thing is that the controls are a bit outdated and can feel clunky to play.

not the best zombie game ever but 100% the most fun

... screw this game. No, I'm not sorry. It's trash.

I have a lot of fond memories playing this on the 360. It was so crazy seeing all these zombies on screen and attacking you all at once.

On to the actual game. It's a fun third person action game. The two main gimmicks are a timer system and the fact "everything" is a weapon. As for the timer system that means every second of gameplay counts towards an end of the game. Different missions\ Events only happen at certain times, and the main missions are even on a timer. I've always enjoyed the timer since it adds such an oppressive feeling to everything. There's always some feeling that maybe you time is better spent on something else. It always amazes me how much people complain about the timer system when it adds so much to the game. Which really sucks since by DR4 they got rid of it. The other gimmick is having everything as a weapon. Literally anything you can really think of that would be in a mall you can probably use as a weapon. Are they all great? No but it's fun and adds variety.

The main location being a mall is great since it adds more reason for why there's a variety of random shit to use. I'm pretty sure the biggest reason they went for a mall setting besides that was due to Dawn of the Dead. I mean the game claims any likeness to other works is coincidence (A very rare type of warning to get). But there's no way it wasn't part of the reason they went for the setting. It also didn't help that it came out just two years after the Dawn of the Dead remake . Still it's a cool setting and honestly not like there's a lot of games that use it.

As for the story you play as Frank West a journalist investigating what's going on in the town. You fly in and land on the mall. There you find survivors and start trying to figure out was going on. You then get like 3 days to investigate and try and help survivors around the mall. I thought the story was okay, it's not a deep story but it's interesting enough and the characters\voice actors add a lot to it.

The major negative thing I have against this game is the AI survivors. Around the mall your expected to find and rescue survivors by bringing them back to a safe house. Sounds simple but the AI is just terrible, you really have to baby them to get them around and they take damage real easily. It's pretty damn frustrating,

A interesting aspect about this game is that it does have a leveling up system. There's certain special moves you get at each level and general stat increase. The stat increases are pretty random but you get all of them by the max level. But the real interesting thing about this is that if you fail the main mission you can restart the game right away at the same level. So if you struggle the first time around you can level up enough to make the second time easier. Although I think you can beat at least the main story the first time around.

There's also certain challenges\achievements that when completed you get bonuses items in your next playthrough, so it's a rewarding NG+ experience. And there's also an infinite mode that's unlocked after beating the main story to see how long you can last where the main challenge is always having your health go down, and no saving. I remember the joke being that it was impossible to get the ~7 day survivor achievement since your xbox would overheat by that time (Not true).

Overall a great time, I'd highly recommend it. Especially since it's playable on most major consoles now except for switch.

Game is funny af, great dialogue, cool boss fights, a shit ton of quotables, engaging and dynamic gameplay and a loooooooot of replayability.

Dead Rising is a very good zombies game. While later releases would have combo weapons Dead Rising truly feels like everything can be a weapon. My only issue with the game is the survivor AI as its well known you have to babysit them to get them to the safe house.

This review contains spoilers

My personal history with Dead Rising starts as a youngster, someone who was stuck on the Playstation 2 Era of gaming consoles in a time where the Xbox 360 and PS3 were considered the next generation of hot, new consoles for years. Around this age I was imaginative, super excited about the state of gaming and where it would go, and obsessed with zombies. I was REALLY into zombie media as a kid from games to movies to books and would actively seek out new stuff to play, and eventually wish as growing up after my parents divorced there wasn’t exactly a lot of funds in the house under a single mother and my father thought of video games as a waste of time when I could be “learning something useful” like physical work. Around this time I was obsessed with ScrewAttack and their top ten lists (mainly due to the sound design and 2000s gamer aesthetic); and these lists, while archaic today, felt like a way for me as a young person to interact with a gaming world I had yet to attain. One of these was a “Top Ten Zombie Games” list, and this list is where I would come to learn of at least two games that I love dearly: Stubbs the Zombie and Dead Rising. The idea that I could pick up ANY weapon to kill zombies in an open world wearing ANY outfit that I please felt amazing, and as such I would actively keep track of this game. I also remember watching a bit of Youtube Machinima Creator Jackspicer2311 as a kid who would have a couple of Dead Rising references though my memory is foggy as to whether this was where I got interested in the game too (though that’s how I got into Twisted Metal I believe so shoutout).

I don’t remember much of my first games on the Xbox 360 (except The Godfather 2 being my very first one) but I remember the games that really made me want to go into the next gen series were specifically Dead Rising and Grand Theft Auto 4. I don’t remember when I got Dead Rising but when I did get it I would play for hours and hours, looking up Youtube guides on how to master button combinations, weapon locations, psychopath tips, basically anything and everything I could get knowledge on I would do it. In the process, Dead Rising would become one of my most prized games of all time as well as probably my favorite game of all time despite the frustrations that come with playing a title with some interesting design choices. I’d later go to try Dead Rising 2 and on but the games wouldn’t ring as well as this one did, Capcom Japan really made something special with this one that resonated a lot with my younger self. Having played it repeatedly as a kid, I’d later pick it up on Steam and have since in the past five or so years only really played it twice, including the recent playthrough. However, in my quest to get through most of my backlog and having played and reviewed the other Dead Rising games with my buddy BFD Survivor, before playing the Wii Port to DR1 as well as the later black sheep Dead Rising 4, I wanted to talk about what really makes this game special to me.

According to a 1UP interview with Keiji Infaune, Dead Rising originally started off as a sequel to PS2 exclusive Shadow of Rome, specifically Agrippa’s action parts. Poor sales however pushed it into the game it was today, spinning off to instead take a western influence that it came with today. During the development according to a forum board I found, a lot of assets were used from Shadow of Rome and originally only had Dead Rising as a sort of working title while the word Snatcher was used as the placeholder title for the entire development cycle. Influences of course are obvious, with the movie Dawn of the Dead being one of the first things that come to mind as a zombie movie in the form of a game. It was so similar enough that a warning was placed on the cover art dismissing any sort of copyright infringement with the George Romero classic only to get sued by the company who held the rights to the movie. Keiji Inafune also apparently wanted Dead Rising to include co-op play but due to the lack of time and resources needed to make it a functioning feature, it was instead saved for Dead Rising 2 and beyond. Over the years, different alpha and beta copies would also be produced, with cut content like removed weapons and such falling into the hands of like minded Dead Rising enthusiasts like STiPO to be explored. One of these concepts apparently included a sequence of Isabela Keyes using a sniper rifle to shoot some zombies only for that to be cut. It would then make its first appearance in E3 2005, along with the Microsoft Convention that same year using the same build. Over the next many years the builds would change as assets were re-done (most notably Frank West, who originally had a black jacket and black turtleneck I believe?). Eventually however, it would make its release date of August 2006, after dealing with a crunch period in March. So what was the critical reception like for this game? It was pretty much positive across the board minus a few hiccups here and there and as someone who loves the game to death, I think most people love this game (except for the ones who don’t like the timer which is understandable).

Dead Rising cold opens with a pair of legs shambling towards an open road in the middle of the night, whether they’re just shambling or trying to go towards the light is unknown. That motherfucker straight up gets run over in the next five seconds by a mother and her youngest daughter in their car, where the mom is trying to keep her daughter from looking out to see the carnage. Along the dirt road the background is filled with burning buildings and the sounds of blackhawk helicopters before the two get smacked by an out of control semi-truck. Mom is unconscious as the little girl tries to get her awake, all the while a shambling person roams nearby. This messed up looking man attempts to break into the vehicle with half of his jaw ripped off and attempts to make a quick snack of the mother and daughter duo before the mother manages to kick him away from the door. However, that victory doesn’t last for long due to the fact that the car won’t start and more zombies proceed to surround them before it abruptly cuts to black.

Cut to later on, September 19th of 2006. Photojournalist Frank West is investigating the small town of Willamette, Colorado to figure out why the National Guard has seized the town off. Hiring helicopter pilot Ed DeLuca, the two fly off into the distance as they witness the military blocking off all bridges. Pulling out the camera, Frank snaps shots of multiple survivors getting mauled on, ripped apart and eaten alive by the undead in a series of horrific events (though skippable) introducing the camera mechanic. Taking his photos, they fly their way to the Willamette Parkview Mall, Frank loses his equipment due to military blackhawk helicopters swarming Frank and Ed, forcing Frank to jump out of the helicopter and onto the top of the mall with one dictation from Ed: be back in 72 hours or else Frank will be left behind. Taking one foot forward, he suddenly runs into a mysterious hispanic man in a flashy looking shirt with the collar up, asking weird questions like if Frank “came alone” and making painfully obvious small talk. Heading down into the security room he witnesses a lady getting eaten on the TV monitor and after that heads down into the Entrance Plaza. Down here he witnesses numerous things, of which include cranky old men, beautiful latina ladies and an older woman obsessed with yelling out for her dog. One of the cranky old men identifies the people as “zombies” which Frank surprisingly doesn’t believe even when he witnessed numerous people getting chewed alive. Regardless everything goes from bad to worse as the old lady screaming “Madonna” witnesses her dog trapped with all the zombies and barges through to save her dog despite the fact they seem to be ignoring the little pup. The zombies barge through and everyone starts to die except an African American man in a yellow shirt, who yells at the survivors to run up the stairs to the security room. Getting to the security room, they weld the entrance shut, and the African-American man heads back into a nearby air duct to go into the mall. Frank introduces himself to a nearby blonde woman, and she asks to see some photos. She fixates on one for a bit, one of the cranky older men with the cane in the introduction. Shrouded in mystery, the blonde woman introduces herself as Jessie and the African American man from before as Brad. After the older african american man, Otis, warns him about the dangers outside and gives him a walkie talkie to head out into the open.

Here is where you’ll get introduced to the first two survivors, an older couple named Natalie and Jeff though it’s not mandatory to do so. Frank heads down an elevator into a nearby storage room and nearly clocks Jessie with a fire extinguisher, thinking that she was a zombie. Falling down and spraining her leg due to Frank’s ambush. It’s learned that Jessie followed behind because she witnessed Brad being ambushed on the monitor. This is where “I’ve Covered Wars Ya Know” debuts to become a legend, and Jessie gives him her gun and Frank makes his way over to the food court. While there, Frank nearly gets shot by a familiar hispanic gentleman armed with a P90 along with Brad. Whittling this man down with bullets, he escapes via a rope to the ceiling. Frank demands an explanation only to be rebuffed by Brad, only to concede to Frank’s demands for information a bit when he shows him the earlier old man picture. They begrudgingly agree to work together and Brad reveals himself as DHS, as in the Department of Homeland Security. They travel through the Al Fresca Plaza and into the Entrance Plaza where they unlock the shutters and find the old man. He refuses to leave the closed store until he’s promised safe passage. Frank heads back to the security room only to swat a giant bee, which when killed has every zombie’s head explode nearby. Heading into the security room, Brad and Jessie reveal the older man’s name, Dr. Barnaby. Trying to establish contact with HQ, Jessie learns that the signal is blocked. Frank reveals that his helicopter will be arriving in 3 days, and promising info in return, Brad goes to find supplies to last for a couple of days. Before the next case, you can go about other cases and find survivors, with one of the first optional psychopaths encountered being Adam the Clown along with the convicts in the park which brings up a question: how the hell did they get their attack jeep in there and where did they break out of prison, along with why do they respawn every day? Regardless, eventually Brad finds the supplies before talking to Frank about how not everything is allowed to be printed or even revealed. Eventually after waiting around, the monitor above shows the mysterious hispanic gentleman from earlier dragging the old man through the Entrance Plaza and Brad reveals that the professor was called to this mall mysteriously. Heading to the Entrance Plaza, Brad saves Frank from getting plugged by the hispanic gentleman and his high powered sniper rifle. He reveals arc words “Pachamama” (meaning Mother Earth) while holding his locket and continues to fire while Barnaby is held by rope over top of a crowd of zombies. Defeating this man again, he escapes again while Brad gets shot in the leg. However, Barnaby is saved and brought back to the security room while Brad is patched up a bit by Jessie. Jessie's tasks Frank with finding medicine and he beelines for a grocery store in the Northern Section. Going inside, he finds a grocery store manager going fucking nuts with the hispanic woman from earlier unconscious inside of his grocery cart. Frank defeats him and wakes the lady up, who freaks out and accuses Frank’s “people” of causing “Santa Cabeza”. Picking up the medicine, he brings it back to Brad before Jessie notices blood on his clothes. He tells Jesse about the girl and Santa Cabeza after getting roasted by Jessie, and the mention of Santa Cabeza startles Barnaby enough for him to wake up from his tranquilizer.

With his access to Barnaby restricted after intending to snoop, Frank tries to find the hispanic woman and notices her on the monitors heading back towards the supermarket and goes to meet her for information. She doesn’t take kindly and tries to kill him on her motorbike in return. A nut shot later, she finally decides to ask if he’s a reporter. Further questions towards the woman to learn that the mysterious hispanic man from earlier? His name is Carlito and he wants everyone to know that America created the zombies and not him. They proceed to make a deal: she will talk to Carlito about an interview with Frank in exchange for publishing U.S. war crimes. She then reveals that she’s Carlito’s little sister, who reveals that the zombies were a message from Carlito as revenge against the U.S. She gives a rendezvous date: midnight near the camera shop. Frank heads back to the security room (before or after defeating Jo the lesbian cop psychopath and the Hall family sniper psychopaths), Barnaby has apparently revealed that Santa Cabeza was the center of the CENTRAL AMERICAN drug trade and that “zombie drugs” are the cause. Frank starts to question why that would make sense, and Barnaby lies that there’s no logic because they’re terrorists. Before I continue, I capitalized Central America because later games would constantly say MEXICO instead and it drives me fucking nuts because it’s COMPLETELY different. Meeting up at the spot later, he witnesses Carlito’s sister get attacked by zombies and with a bloody patch on her arm. Rescuing her, she says that Carlito went crazy and shot at her while extremely upset. Frank escorts the woman (named Isabela) back to the security room while Carlito begs for forgiveness over the speakers.

Bringing her back, Frank explains to Brad the situation and says that the same person who shot him also shot her. It’s also revealed that Carlito has a backup plan, and when asking Isabela later what these plans are she reveals that there wasn’t a drug trade in Santa Cabeza, but an American research facility doing research into a wasp (NOT A BEE SORRY) that was supposed to fatten up cattle for American consumption. Barnaby confirms this after almost turning and biting Jesse: the wasp process was supposed to reduce costs to produce cattle before creating zombie livestock. Frank takes a picture of Barnaby’s corpse as Isabela recounts the Santa Cabeza Incident, with the queen wasps escaping from the lab. Barnaby rises from the grave and attempts to kill once again before getting a dome shot to the head. Brad brilliantly summarizes the Willamette Incident as “terrorism as retaliation for a cruel government cover-up”. Brad begrudgingly agrees to let Isabela “atone for her and her brother’s sins” and lets her check up Jesse. Psychopaths in the meantime include the cult leader of the True Eye Cult, a group of mysterious green masked raincoat clad men along with mentally disturbed goth man Paul, who threatens to burn some civilians with a molotov. Carlito apologizes again over the loudspeaker and begs for Isabela to come back, revealing the existence of a “last resort”. This last resort involves blowing up the mall, with several trucks planted with bombs in the underground car park mixed in with a flammable gas that Carlito plans to flood.

Frank races to the underground tunnel and collects the bombs one by one, which Carlito tries to stop. This part is important, because if you’re able to defeat Carlito while he’s in his truck and attempting to kill you, a cutscene plays where Carlito gets out of the van and runs while Brad gives chase as they exchange gunfire. Brad tells Frank to collect the bombs now while he chases down the suspect, and Frank does so, pushing them all in a shopping cart to the outside of the car park. Another cutscene reveals the battle between Carlito and Brad, which ends in Brad being kicked out into a horde of zombies. You’re able to go back to the spot after where you see his fate, and Brad encourages you to put him down and not to tell Jesse. He puts him down before heading back to the security room, where Isabela reveals that more of Carlito’s plans could be revealed if they head back to their secret hideout. Going there with Isabela, she finds the computer but learns that it’s password protected and nearly not hackable. While she hacks it, later on Frank gets called back to the security room again, where he watches footage of Carlito getting captured by a giant man into a butcher’s shop in the basement of the North Plaza. Heading there to get Carlito, he witnesses Larry the butcher attempting to chop him up while laughing maniacally. Refusing to let Carlito go, Frank attacks Larry before beating him and cornering Carlito. Frank gloats about how Isabela is on their side, before Carlito goes on a rant about American meat consumption, ironically while he’s dying in a butcher’s shop. However, Frank promises to tell the world about Santa Cabeza and Carlito gives Frank his locket, telling him to give the locket to his sister. He reports back to Isabela about Carlito’s death and some condolences before giving her the locket. Inside, she learns of the code word: Panchamama, “Mother Earth”. Hacking the computer, the signal finally frees up for Jesse to call up HQ. This call goes bad though as apparently DHS decides to ignore everything, cover up the incident and that Special Forces will arrive at midnight. Jessie goes into a near breakdown state and goes into the fetal position, while the special forces later arrive to rescue her. However, this doesn’t go well as she then turns into a zombie herself and kills the special forces representatives.

Frank arrives at the security room to find the aftermath and kills zombie Jessie, and many hours later the special forces teams officially arrive and proceed to wipe out most of the zombies in the entire mall. I assume they wanted the military there instead of just bombing everything so it doesn’t get out too much into the rest of American society. Regardless, it’s learned in a note that the special forces have been abducting all the survivors that you saved and that Otis escaped in one of the helicopters and tells Frank in a note that he “owes him a drink”. In the daytime, Brock Mason (or Ed Harris lol) pops up as the commander of the special forces.

Frank hangs out on the helicopter pad while Ed is scoping out to see if he’s made it, excited when he finally sees him because payday. How he didn’t get spotted by special forces I don’t know, but he attempts a pickup only for a zombie to have stowed away on the helicopter and feast on him violently, the helicopter crashing into the mall inside the park. Frank slumps down, having lost all hopes and with almost everyone dead except Isabela as zombies surround him. Cut to credits right? WRONG. If you’ve beaten every case in 72 Hour Mode there’s one more mode to beat for the story and that’s:

OVERTIME MODE.

Overtime shows Frank previously having given up and waiting for death, only to be saved by Isabela. Frank goes unconscious only to wake up back in Isabela’s lair, with my genuine surprise considering he’s a pretty big dude and to lug him across the mall must’ve been tough. It’s revealed here that Frank has been infected and that he’ll turn in a limited amount of time if he doesn’t find the tools and ingredients to survive even with his high level of resistance. Frank roams around the mall dodging special forces to collect all kinds of shit like blenders and it’s revealed that this drug was created specifically on orders from Carlito as a backup plan. Frank’s moaning about being a “time bomb” triggers something in Isabela, and she reveals that Carlito created an NPO to help war orphans, but had secretly experimented on them all as zombie time bombs to be unleashed in the future. It’s here I want to bring up something else so spoilers for Dead Rising 3: Nick and Diego have the Numbers 12 and I forget the other number. The list has Number 12 as Lisa Jackson, and while this could’ve been a sort of secret code thing, I’m 100 percent sure the developers just missed the research or decided to retcon. Besides the point, yes, Carlito infected orphans with a special zombie virus and spread them all over the country as a future revenge plot. Isabela sends him to the clock tower in the park to turn on the generator, only for Frank to see a giant hole that Ed’s helicopter made, revealing a tunnel into an unknown location. Afterwards, she asks for adult queen wasps, and a whole lot of them to be exact. She’s able to create a sort of temporary vaccine to help stop the infection spread and jabs him, before going on about how she’s able to isolate a pheromone to repel zombies away from them. Frank tells her about the tunnel, and she creates the pheromone.

They make their way out to the clock tower and hesitantly head down into the cave with the temporary vaccine and the “smelly perfume” and slash their way through the tunnels. On the other end, it starts to wear down a bit as they notice that special forces are guarding the end of the cave. Holding Isabela on his back, they fight their way through and steal a special forces jeep, driving out into the open of a big ass construction site. Similar to The Thing: The Video Game, a rail shooter segment where you play as Isabela while you shoot out certain weak points on the tank, along with shooting down drones that attack you. This doesn’t stop the tank’s commander Brock however, who switches from automated controls to manual and proceeds to shoot the jeep and flips it over. Isabela is alive but unconscious while Brock holds Frank hostage, where it’s revealed that Brock led the cleanup operation on Santa Cabeza. The two argue about the governments fuckups, while Brock goes on about how humanity excels at being a fuck up. Brock decides to flip the tank around to look at a horde of zombies, while Frank gives him a punch in the mouth and knocks out his cigar. Frank and Brock engage in a violent hand to hand duel, which knocks him out cold off the tank and onto an audience of zombies. Isabela is trapped on top of the jeep kicking away zombies and Frank once again gets on his hands and knees, but this time screams into the clouds as a slideshow of black text appears over the screen. The results: Frank apparently escapes Willamette (shown in the Road to Fortune comic), the news is released and the U.S. government takes partial blame, however the Willamette Mall Incident was forgotten in the future.

So, with that beast of a synopsis gone, how do I feel about the story? I love it. Compared to the other games, it feels like there’s more of an atmosphere, more of a vibe to it. The plot to me makes sense, has build up, engages in thematic build up that you could only expect from the earlier George Romero movies. The plot with american cattle, government cover ups, the terrorist retribution, the plot twists just kind of all feel perfectly in sync with each other; moreso here than compared to the other games. The stories behind the psychopaths aren’t just “crazy people”, but people who snapped and freaked out. The one psycho I don’t think I mentioned is a perfect encapsulation of this: Cliff Hudson. A Vietnam veteran who runs the hardware store in the North Plaza, the death of his daughter and grandchild (whom I believe were the mother/daughter from the introduction), the flashbacks to Vietnam. Yes, it’s a vietnam flashback but in this one side quest, it feels like it has a lot more depth than most of the other characters in the next couple of games. There’s a tinge of sadness in it, and this sadness spreads around to the other characters in the series. The lore is interesting as hell as well. I want to know more about Santa Cabeza and what has happened there. The True Eye Cult, how did they come about? Were they a cult before, spurred on by the apocalypse or perhaps were they created in such a short time frame? These are only a few examples, and honestly while I’m sure it’s not a perfect story, it feels appropriately perfect to me. The characters that inhabit this game, while feeling kind of detached, are all unique and memorable to me. I remember Brad Garrison, Jessie McCarney, Russell Barnaby, Carlito & Isabela Keyes and I DEFINITELY remember Frank West. There’s something about all of these characters that while they feel kind of detached due to their speech patterns, they feel human. Frank as a character is iconic as fuck between his outfit, his quotables, like he feels like a sort of perfect legacy character that’s unique in it’s own way. The problem with this is that because I’m not a Youtube Essayist who can go into super in-depth detail, I can’t tell you why everything feels so perfect other than it just does. When I was a kid, this game captured my imagination and held onto it in a warm embrace of a bear hug, and while I don’t play this game all the time anymore, each time I do play it? It keeps the magic and not a lot of things can do that for me. And truthfully, none of the previous games (aside from Off the Record MAYBE-ish) really feels like it can match in line with the series. This game is the high point, and while other games are good it just doesn’t reach the heights.


What’s the gameplay of Dead Rising like? Well there’s multiple different facets of the game: the actual gameplay, the combat and miscellaneous stuff. The actual gameplay is as follows: you are dropped off in the mall to sort of free roam around, killing the undead in unique ways while wearing different types of clothes, engaging in side quests (after getting calls on your transponder from Otis) and finding secrets while under a 72 hour time limit. What I will say about this is that you start off with a low level, you’ll barely have any health and you have to earn your way to level 50 by obtaining PP Points (or Prestige Point…points?). As you level up, unlike other games you won’t be able to choose what skill points you get, what’s invested in what; it’s all pre-chosen for you. In one way I’m cool with not managing ANOTHER skill tree, however it does kind of feel like it’s choosing how you should play instead of investing in yourself in a way that matters. Regardless, the game is REALLY difficult and time is NOT on your side. In fact, the timer is part of the reason why others don’t really care enough to play it. You will barely get any time to follow the cases, save all the survivors, fight all the psychopaths AND have a free roaming fun time. Even though this is my favorite game, the amount of times that I’ve died due to being swarmed or failed due to juggling too much at one time would infuriate me to no end. However, it had that Dark Souls effect where I would just want to keep going, try to give it another run. It’s one of those titles where you kind of have to memorize runs, learn where special weapons like the Katana and Uzi are kept, food combinations and the routes you need to plan. Of course though, you’re not forced into this; you could very well just screw off and ignore everything and be fine, at the cost of getting a bad ending due to not following the main plot. You could also just ignore the survivors and that would be just as valid, it’s not really a rogue-like in all honesty but it does have interesting elements that make it fit. If I could say anything bad about it is that honestly, I understand and respect the challenge that the game puts forward but I prefer the leniency that the later titles in the series would provide. Another annoying thing? The survivor A.I. fucking blows fat dick, like they’re annoying as hell even if it is immersive as hell with people who go panic mode around zombies. They’ll run into each other all the time, get stuck on objects, sometimes you have to hold their hand or carry them on your back which doesn’t allow you to use your weapons to defend yourself. It can honestly be a chore to deal with despite the semi-immersive factor to it all, and honestly zombies can and WILL make quick work of their ass if you’re not helicopter parenting their ass at all times.

How about combat? How does that work? Well, I’ll start with Psychopaths, which are their own separate side quests where you can rescue survivors, but also have their own cutscenes and personality. They’re all unique in their own way and usually you’ll get rewarded with a unique weapon, survivors and a lot of prestige points. Oftentimes the best thing you can do is get a high damage weapon, like the Katana or the dual chainsaws from Adam after you beat him. These guys are bullet sponges and the truth is with how free form and structureless the combat is other than aiming down the sights, oftentimes you might take a decent bit of damage while trying to deliver damage yourself. While difficult at first, these can be decently easy to overcome (other than the final boss Brock, fuck that guy) and besides your enviornment around you, you can also unlock combat skills the more you level up. However, another thing is that in Dead Rising 1 it’s very context based and needs a lot of practicing: for example if you want to ground slam you need to jump then hold aim and attack buttons at the same time in order to slam down (ex. Xbox Controller = A, RT + X at same time). You can jump in the air and do a backwards kick flip by pressing jump and attack very quickly as an example; other skills are useful but require certain situations like jumping right up against a zombie to hop on top of their shoulders. It’s a strange system, yes, but one that honestly I’ve kind of gotten used to dealing with over time even if I feel that the controls in Dead Rising 2 and beyond are better. Speaking of Dead Rising 2, there are absolutely no combo weapons in the slightest so you can’t go into battles with a paddlesaw or anything totally unrealistic.

How about miscellaneous stuff? Well, other than the aside stuff you can take pictures with your camera, which helps gain Prestige Points, with a certain amount of points in certain categories needed in order to progress in certain quests. This is mostly side quest stuff however, so if you’re not worried it’s perfectly fine but can help with later runs if need be. You can also collect secret PP stickers in order to get a lump sum bonus of PP but that’s about it? You can also drive certain vehicles, but this is rare (mostly involving the Convict Jeep, a red convertible, and a motorcycle but honestly the driving controls are kinda iffy. The only other thing I can really point out is that in certain locations there will be sorta hidden weapons to help out, like the Katana on the awning outside the juice bar, or the Uzi in the fountain of Al Fresca Plaza or the Shotgun in the Entrance Plaza. These are what I consider to be essential places to pick up extra weapons if you’re trying to arm survivors or whittle down psychopaths faster. In order to gain certain perks like weapon durability you have to pick up books in set locations and KEEP it in your inventory at all times otherwise you lose the perks, and the more of these books you have the more they stack stats. If you get captured by certain enemies (mainly by being killed by special forces or the cult), then you’ll show up either in a closet or in a helicopter, and these mini “human enemies” are can vary from easy-ish to kill to difficult if you don’t have the right equipment like the special forces. If you’re able to achieve certain thresholds (like killing 53,000 something zombies and getting the Zombie Genocider achievement), then you’ll unlock the Mega Buster. Beat the Infinity Mode in 7 days and you’ll unlock Mega Man clothing. Other outfits that can be unlocked include Special Forces outfits, Boxers, Otis’s outfit, etc.

The last thing to bring up gameplay wise is a whole ‘nother mode: Infinity Mode. This isn’t a free roam thing with infinite time exactly as much as it is a “how long can you last” mode. Your health will constantly go down, so it’s only recommended to try this at Level 50, and you will need to constantly eat food in order to survive. Sounds easy right? Wrong. You don’t get infinite food items, they only spawn once and so if you waste it all then you’re fucked. You’ll be able to kill hostile survivors and psychopaths who spawn in, who give you a random assortment of goods from their corpse like food or weapons but sometimes it’s useless. Balancing all of this with health constantly decreasing and it can be a depressing and miserable experience, and getting to the 7 Day mark without dying and restarting all over takes around 16 hours give or take, maybe more? I’ve only done it once and I will NEVER do it again, but if you want to try then be my guest.

How do the graphics and the atmosphere for Dead Rising hold up in the present day? Honestly, compared to the other games in the series I feel like everything holds up the best, though Dead Rising 2 is very much second up for how close it comes to bringing Fortune City to life. Dead Rising’s Willamette Mall on the other hand feels like an american paradise of sorts with a sort of mall that honestly would do pretty damn well in a city. Everything about it is unique, wholesome, as well as unextraordinary, which is why when contrasted with the zombie invasion it brings this unique sense of isolationism into it, the feeling that anyone could be targeted at any moment. Even the opening sequence where you travel on helicopter over the small town while you witness people being chewed to bits felt unique, like a place I wished I could explore outside of the mall. However the mall is the centerpiece for the town of Willamette, and if the mall is in the center then to sound like a pretentious fuck, american capitalism is the centerpiece to every facet of american society. In fact, to be honest, the entire game’s atmosphere is a result of American capitalism and the greed caused by it. It would be too painfully obvious of course to go deeply into this aspect as everyone who does youtube essays could explain this fact better than I ever could but it’s still a prominent fixture in the game.

Of course compared to other zombie games this title, while it takes its story seriously, is a lot less serious otherwise. This is the game where you can literally use a lawnmower to run over all the zombies you find, or throw plates to knock zombies down, or even wear granny clothing and smack them with a bench. There isn’t much about this game you can totally take super seriously. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean that when shit hits the fan that it can’t deliver a gut punch. Take survivor deaths for instance, a lot of times when survivors die due to zombies there will be this little cutscene where they get tackled to the ground, chewed up and gnawed on throughout the entire process as they scream for dear life and bloody murder. It’s demoralizing as hell, and other than trying to save everyone for the rewards, led me multiple times to reload my save file to help these goofy AI bastards. The threat only gets more ominous when you learn that engine wise you can have around 800 zombies on screen at once, which you would never realize due to just how many there are in comparison to the smaller sized spaces. As for the graphical fidelity itself, while it still looks like an Xbox 360 game and while it doesn’t have the super in-depth facial muscle textures that half of these games use in the modern day, it still looks pretty slick brought up to 1920 on Steam. The zombies still look threatening, covered in a bluish tint and red slopped on their body while they shamble around what looks like could be a mall in Florida.

The voice acting for this game is strangely paced, offbeat and detached, yet infectious (no pun intended) at the same time between how they say things, when they say things that it’s become a bit of a meme status in the Dead Rising community. Stuff like “I’ve covered wars you know” sank its teeth (proverbially) into the gaming pop culture sphere, or the older lady screaming her dog Madonna’s name repeatedly before doing something stupid, or even Otis chiding you for hanging up while you’re in the middle of getting chewed on by zombies as if he’s not self aware enough to realize that. It adds to this strange charm, a game that both takes itself a bit seriously as well as not taking itself too seriously. I wouldn’t even doubt it if it had something to do with Japanese localization, but it adds to this whole mysterious vibe that it gives off. Terence J. Rotolo here is a perfect exemplification of that as the game’s lead Frank West. Looking back on my previous Dead Rising reviews, I felt that Chuck’s character was kind of a rip off of Frank’s vibe, as if he does all the catchy one liners. I was blatantly incorrect with this, as Frank might have his quips but he doesn’t drop cheesy one liners like Chuck did so my apologies for that. Alex Fernandez is solid as the ominous threatening yet mysterious Carlito Keyes, the main antagonist along with Kim Mai Guest as his sister Isabela Keyes, who is regretful yet angry at their shared trauma with Santa Cabeza. Other notables are Phil Proctor as the angry and shady Dr. Barnaby, T.J. Storm and Laura Napoli as Brad Garrison and Jessie McCarney. You’ll hear some other ones as well, like Steven Blum as Cliff the Vietnam Vet and once I learned that Jason Spisak voiced one of the Hall psychopaths I instantly made the connection there as well. Everyone does a good job at keeping up this tone, sometimes being serious yet tonally kinda hilarious to straight up serious. It’s unnerving to say the least and helps keep the horror atmosphere that I don’t feel any other game could match.

So how is the music? The music in Dead Rising is unique to say the least. Frank West’s theme (what I consider to be the “oh shit” theme) has this strange combination of string instruments and this shaking rattling sound that I guess could be electronic? Another favorite of mine is Gone Guru by Lifeseeker, which plays during the Convict psychopath battle in the park and has become notoriously catchy for being involved in such a bastard of a fight. Justified by Drea (the end credits song) is this power metal ballad of sorts that just feels right, like it’s got this emotionally uplifting vibe and as someone who doesn’t listen to metal in the slightest it just feels perfect for the tone of the overall game. A lot of the incidental mall music that plays over speakers sounds like straight up elevator music, sometimes straight up but sometimes having this funky groove to it with a woman singing over it. Sometimes you hear it over the actual loudspeakers but oftentimes you’ll mostly hear it just entering stores of specific kinds. The Kent Swanson theme sounds like it could be straight out of a Yakuza game with how much it kicks ass and the “Adam the Clown” theme just sounds straight out of a Matrix/Jet Set Radio styled soundtrack. It’s certainly eclectic but everything just connects itself together as a soundtrack should, but in a way that makes your stay at the Willamette Parkview Mall iconic.

Finally, how are the environmental sounds? Amazing, simply couldn’t be more perfect in the sound design department. Whenever you slash something with a katana it just oozes this slick feeling of a samurai clash mixed with blood. Shooting the basic pistol, while one of the weaker firearms, feels punchy on its own regardless. The UZI feels like a lower powered yet effective gun, the sniper rifle sounds like it could take someone’s head clean off (and often does) while the actual assault rifle late-game feels like a powerful version of the uzi. HOWEVER, by far the best one is the shotgun, which sounds like one of the punchiest shotguns I’ve ever had the pleasure of holding. This shotgun is like a literal gun nut’s orgasm in the form of a loaded firearm, like it sounds like it could put a hole in five separate people and just has this crunch to it that I can’t get from any other shotgun in any other game. Slamming a zombie with a park bench produces this breaking wood effect that sounds perfect and runs over the undead with a lawnmower? Forget about it, don’t even remind me of how awesome it is. I don’t even just mean with weapons, footsteps sound great as well along with breaking glass. The humming sounds and chants of the True Eye Cult are ominous and creepy, and give off an actual threat. The zombie groans, with how many there are also give off this authentic threat in numbers, eerily quiet almost when you’ve killed most of them. There isn’t one damn sound effect in this game that I can find an actual fault with, something that I have to suck Capcom Japan’s dick on because it’s amazing.

What can I say about Dead Rising that others haven’t? I love this game. I love Frank West, the plot and it’s twists, the american cattle thematic angle, the threat of the undead, the survivor system, the psychopath system, the fact that you can wear and use ANYTHING as a weapon is just fucking amazing. I have a near reverence for the game even though I don’t really go out of my way to play it much anymore. To me, this game is such a high pedestal that I’m not really sure how you could truly follow up on with a sequel in a perfect way. That’s by no means saying that this game is the best game ever or even that it’s perfect, because it’s not. But to me, this game oozes charm from the small town surrounding environments and the friendliness of Willamette and its color scheme to the threatening clash of the undead. Granted I will say after years of playing without mods I decided to play this game with mods (stopping the timer a couple of times and throwing on infinite health and such for a more chilled and relaxed experience) so I could get more of a sandbox feel and just as always there’s always this certain magic that brings me into the atmosphere of the game that no other game in the series OR game in general could really accomplish. While I can’t sit here and say I totally played it legitimately on PC, I’ve played it so many times on the Xbox 360 that honestly? Who cares, truth be told, maybe one day I’ll get one of those Frame-A-Game frames so I can hang it up on a wall so much that I love this game. If you decide you want to play this game, I feel you’ll be in for a fun time, with three caveats: the survivor AI sucks balls, the timer will fuck you for messing around for too long, and there’s a good chance you might die a bit so save as often as you can. However, the game is one hundred percent worth a legitimate playthrough the first time around and it’s something that I truly encourage if you want to try out something unique, just know what you’re getting into first before jumping in head on. It’s unique enough that the community itself is heavy into researching the origins of each of the games, with Youtuber STIPO being the main figurehead behind the search into Dead Rising’s beta.

The future of the franchise is something I already went over multiple times before, mostly considering this was the first game in the series. A Wii port would be created right after and released in 2009 in the midst of the “Wii craze”, with a lot of its assets being ripped straight from the popular Resident Evil 4 Wii port with a bunch of different changes. Capcom would later outsource the sequel to Vancouver based Blue Castle Games (having developed baseball titles before then) along with its free prologue Case Zero and its epilogue Case West (along with a tie-in comic book Road to Fortune) and would go on to reach relative success and acclaim. Straight after this, Capcom decided they wanted to release a Dead Rising game for IPhones in 2010 (along with a Java 2008 port) which I don’t think I ever played but would be an interesting experiment where you could play as other characters like Brad, Carlito and Jessie while slaying the undead. They’d go on to later be bought out and assimilated into Capcom larger itself as Capcom Vancouver and from Dead Rising 2 the series would go on to have a troubled franchise. Pitches included rivaling The Last of Us with a series tone which got nixed, attempts to create different games based on other IP as well as attempting to develop their own IP would either fail or get nixxed by Capcom themselves. Dead Rising 3 would have development trouble with their last gen ports and got turned into an Xbox One exclusive which saw a moderate amount of success. The troubles would only continue onto Dead Rising 4 as creative visions clashed with Capcom themselves and attempting something different lead to the disaster that Dead Rising 4 would become but that’s a different tale for the future. Nothing has been able to capture the magic that was the first game, with the fourth one “attempting” to but coming up shorter than my dick size. For me, this represents a bit of a personal journey this year which I would try to get to as soon as possible except one thing: moving issues. However, I plan to finish off all of the Dead Rising games, with the next one being the Wii port as my Wii game of the year and the finale being the black sheep of the franchise: Dead Rising 4. Those will come, but for now I appreciate the memories and the love this game fills me with. I guess to sound like a cringey fuck: Dead Rising is love, Dead Rising is life.

Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQCbFb_m5no&list=PLRoKwfu_qjekpXozraCHHoWIkkuyK7_-C&index=7&ab_channel=Deadforge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Rising_(video_game)

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/DeadRising

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-GwG556gLM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csil5mX3sBY&ab_channel=ScrewAttack%27sVideoGameVault

https://www.supercheats.com/guides/dead-rising/unlockables

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/DeadRising

https://deadrising.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Rising_Mobile

https://web.archive.org/web/20160305000556/http://www.1up.com/news/1up-interviews-keiji-inafune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Ki3br3Qec&list=PL0672E00A6DC5AD80&index=3&ab_channel=Tomzumir3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rm9LC9n7zY&list=PLRoKwfu_qjekpXozraCHHoWIkkuyK7_-C&index=183&ab_channel=JackMadrox

From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/

There is just nothing quite like Dead Rising 1. I have a review of this game from the last time I played it, but I don't think I really gave it the justice that it deserved back then. I was too busy trying to be a funny lil comedian, rather than being critical, and having finished it again recently, there is just so much that was left on the floor. I love this game a lot and I won't waver my 5 stars, but bear in mind that while you can be really passionate about something, that doesn't mean you should just ignore the criticisms it may have. It's not a perfect game by any means, and there are things in it that make me uncomfortable. But, I still enjoy the heck out of it all the same and it's a piece of media that I've been wanting to see brought back from the dead (hehe) for a long, long time.

Before the combo weapons, before the bloated map layouts, before all the horrible engine changes, before all the bullshit, this was peak as it is. I have played the other games in the series, minus 4. I've been putting off Dead Rising 4 for as much as I possibly could, but I have a hilarious friend who gifted it to me for Christmas and now it plagues my Steam Library like a nasty tumour. I would have honestly been more excited had he sent me a gift wrapped pipe bomb instead. I’ve agreed to finally sit down and play it, knowing that it was technically free, but I know that I will not like it. I despise Dead Rising 3 and Off the Record is a broken trash pile of flaming garbage. Dead Rising 2 is fun for what it is, and has come to be a game that I've mastered, but it's just not.. the same, ya know? It always lacked the simplicity of Dead Rising's original design while somehow being much easier in comparison at the same time. It’s the game where the cracks begin to form in what eventually lead to this series spiraling out of control and then mercifully euthanized at the vet when the time came.

I’ve always felt that the original baked-in concept of Dead Rising has been its shining star that speaks for itself. View it in the lens of it being an exploration game, before looking at it as a zombie game and you’ll see what I mean. The layout of Willamette’s mall is so tightly succinct, so perfectly sized with little gems sprinkled throughout in some of the weirdest places. The mall has just about everything you’d need, and then some. While smaller in size, it’s still comically filled to the brim with areas like a full-on supermarket, rollercoaster, totally not Home Depot, and a doomsday prepper’s wet dream of a gun store added into the mix just for funsies. There’s spots of infinite weapons or food to go back to when needed and secret items to find for the most devilishly explorative players. It’s so early 2000’s, arcade, before the Internet ruined everything fun. There was nothing quite like finding an SMG in a tree outside on accident, even today. I still find a random food item in a place I’ve never thoroughly looked over before. They’re so meticulously placed, without it being incredibly obvious. It’s everything that the modern open-world games of today are so desperately trying to capture, with many failing.

Uh oh, but- but- the whole damn place is packed to the brim with zombies like sardines in a tin can!! Those are only obstacles, my dear friend. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and grab that 2x4 piece of wood on the ground right next to you. You want to fill your entire inventory with the super OP shotguns that melt the psychopaths? Get to crowd surfing, bitch. You can use just about anything interactable to kill and slice your way from point A to point B. Not a weird combo weapon, or a hero’s sword specific to Frank, but the very definition of what you would call a Television. Anything, really, that’s allowed at the very least. Handbags, toys, sledgehammers, chainsaws, shelves, pipes, benches, bikes, etc., etc., etc. If the game allows you to pick it up, you can use it as a weapon. A real testament of your ability to explore, and make use of what’s around you. Your weapons break? Well, you’re standing next to a potted plant. Or use your fists even. BOTW Link would get suplexed so hard by Frank West, it’s not even funny. There are super powerful rewards in this game, but they come at a cost, which I love. The gun store is inaccessible until you kill the boss standing in it, so on and so forth. Adam’s Chainsaw’s trivialize the hell out of the game, but you can’t get them until he’s been killed, etc. The strongest weapons in the game are locked behind achievements and a daunting Infinity Mode unlocked after finishing the game once. Which is something that I feel the later game’s combo weapons are completely lacking. If you want to blast through the game with a gun that one shots everything, then you should have to work for it. It’s a greater reward to fuck around with once you’ve beaten the game and survived it’s challenges. There is still to this day, nothing quite like this item system in my opinion. You can compare it to BOTW or Dead Island, maybe, but it’s a silly system that flourishes in the mall setting and adds to the desperate feeling of using whatever you need to survive in the moment. It’s always been goofy as hell, and it’s always known what it is.

I’m sure that there’s people out there that would love to leave the walls of the mall, but in my opinion, it’s not needed. The later games try to explore this by making the maps much larger and expansive, at the cost of the player having fun. Not here. The opening prologue gives you a brief glimpse of the chaos outside through Frank’s unique photo mechanics, and you can clearly see that shit out there is bleak. In the first five minutes of the game, you’re fed everything you need to know through the lens of Frank’s camera, quickly loading up on PP bonuses before the game even begins. Pure interactive kino. It's a quick whirlwind of cramming what your goal is and that’s the point. Frank West is a no nonsense motherfucker. He’s a snippy man and has zero time for drama and hysterics. We got places to be and a story to report, people. It’s part of his charm, with brief moments of humanity sprinkled in. He’s not a complete unempathetic monster, but you’ll soon relate to his need for speed when you’re hauling 7 survivors back to the security room at once. I think he would benefit from a bit of fleshing out, of course. The later games seem to turn him into a completely uncaring asshole for pure comedic purposes and it kind of sucks to see. He’s annoying as shit now and it’s such a shame, honestly. The same Frank West that stayed with Brad and Carlito during their critical moments, is just reduced to a fat joke now. Haha!! So funny. Put this man in a dress, and he’ll be feeling himself ten fold. Put Chuck or Nick in a dress, and they whine to the player about it. Frank will always be superior.

Now let’s get to the contentious shit that people hate. The Survivors. Basically the other half of the game, cohabitating with the game’s plot. I see why people hate them, and you’re valid, but I gotta put my foot down and say that the survivors are a staple of Dead Rising. The survivors are what makes Dead Rising. You don’t have to like it, but without them, this game would be a jar of piss. The time mechanics are what separates this game from any other schlocky zombie kill simulator that its counterparts are already happily doing. Sure, you can go on a day binge of killing the zombies if that’s your underwear fit, but without hunting for survivors and killing the bosses, you’ll be seriously lacking in level ups, which means lacking in skill upgrades and health. I find the survivors in this game to be quite a cool collectible mechanic. They’re living experience rewards that require escorts from where they’re found to the Security room, and it adds an extra layer of charm to the game. While none of them are really.. characters.. per se, you can see that a large swathe of them were designed with some intent. Some are more aggressive than others, some are more cowardly, others are tied behind boss fights, etc. Some are easier to escort than others. They’re a challenge that is meant to be difficult and meant to be trial-and-error. A person expecting to find every single survivor in their first playthrough without a guide, is just asking too much for something that should be explored casually first. There are some survivors that are hidden, and others that may become the bane of your existence, but that does not eliminate their uniqueness nonetheless. The game allows you a NG+ with everything you’ve already achieved for a reason, it is not the end of the world to miss a few survivors on your first playthrough. The time mechanics have a stress factor that some may not like, but I’ve always appreciated how it made for something to do the whole game and challenges you to seek out areas of the mall you probably don’t walk through often. It’s a completely manageable mechanic for those willing to best it, and I feel only gets hampered down due to the game’s poor AI systems more than anything else. Where I think the mechanic falters is near the end game, as once you’ve rescued Simone there is just simply nothing to do for hours in-game. I think Day 2’s morning is the most stressful part of the game, while Day 3 is the weakest, with the least to do.

Now about those tricky AI systems, a criticism unable to be ignored. I love this game to death, but this is the part of the game that I think most people remember, no matter how they feel about the game overall. The survivors have what we would call… um.. Stupid Disease? At least, from a first glance that’s how it looks. Sure they walk into walls and can’t climb the simplest structures, or tend to let zombies eat their ass sideways until they die when you look away for a little too long, and that is of course frustrating. But, they were programmed with some thought that I just think wasn’t executed well. They all have a personality and act accordingly to it. Survivors like Aaron Swoop are pants pisser babies who will drop to their knees and crawl when surrounded. On the flipside, Tonya Waters is ride or die for her man and will act as a hero if you give her a weapon. Survivors will completely stop in their tracks if they witness you or their friend getting grabbed in front of them. They’re batshit terrified the whole time, so it makes sense, but that’s where the trouble begins because as soon as one of those dummies stops moving, it’s chaos from there. It is an experience that used to frustrate me to no end, but I am living in Nirvana now. I want to examine these survivors, to their finer details. I want to know why they’re so stupid. I want to peer into the binary code that makes them live. Had they been a bit smarter, or useful, this game would have fared so much better. It’s definitely the survivor AI and lack of auto-save that makes people tilt the most in this game. A speedrunner’s advice for those that may want it: the zombie spawn is affected by radius in correlation with Frank’s location. If you walk far enough away, the zombies on the outside of that radius will not appear, making escorting large areas a lot easier as survivors can stroll for a long time without getting grabbed. If you’re having a hard time, try this out, although I think having a hard time is part of the fun of it being a challenge.

I have yet to mention the story, but that’s kind of because the story is rather mediocre. It’s campy and satirizes a lot of zombie media in a really hammy way. It’s by far not a 5-star fine dining experience, but more like McDonalds brought home from your parents when you least expect it. It’s just a goofy time, not meant to really be taken super seriously nor does it have really that much to say about what it tries to politicize in its twists. There are things that could be made a lot clearer, such as the demise of an important character near the end game, as well as having a rather lackluster open-ended ending that can leave you with more questions than answers. It’s a fun time that swerves and curves while you play it, but the story isn’t why people play these games anyways. It’s the gameplay that makes this game so beloved by the people who cradle it like a baby. Like me.

Aside from all that there are item upgrades I never mentioned, that you of course have to find as they function through the use of holding magazines. There are blenders that exist to mix drinks with temporary stat boosting effects. The camera can be used for other collectibles and small morsels of PP here and there. As well as having an active role in one of the boss sub plots, but here’s where a personal criticism of mine comes from as well. I hate to do this but-but- I’m a.. a gulp- girl gamer, and I have to admit that the added interactivity of being able to take creepy ass photos of women and be rewarded for it with experience, as well as a nosebleed accompanying it, is not really my favorite thing to do in this game lmao. This game is very camp through and through and takes liberties of Isabela’s assets full front and center as they basically eat the cutscene camera, but those are honestly fine. I don’t dislike that aspect, but I can’t help but raise my eyebrow everytime I’m forced to get a good enough Erotica shot of Sophie’s undergarments just to fight Kent every playthrough, it’s just weird and nothing about Frank’s character gives the impression that he’d even agree to do that in the first place. Not to mention, if there’s a survivor like Kay Nelson in frame of the shot, you’ll get Erotica points on her crotch even when she’s not the focal point in the frame. Or getting Horror points for upskirting the older women, haha old lady gross!! farts.

The only one that works for me is Janet Star’s double Erotica shot for each of her gigantic boobs, because it’s so exaggerated and isn’t triggered by the player literally invading her privacy. That one admittedly gets a chuckle out of me, so it can be done in a way that works. But, I can’t help but think that this aspect of the game is kind of why Capcom doesn’t acknowledge that they made it in the first place, on top of the rest of the series being such ass poo poo water. If we ever get a remake of this game, don’t expect this part, or even Jo’s boss fight, to survive it. I’m not exactly sure how they’d go about making those changes, but I wouldn’t mind losing them personally. There is so much more that this game has to offer aside from the random lewdness anyways. L + ratio, girl gamer ruining my video games!!!

Speaking of, I think all of these criticisms and positives would benefit so hard from being remade. I mentioned it a bit in my last review, but just imagine how awesome it would be if everything in the game could truly be picked up. I feel as if there’s something on the shelf, I should be able to either grab it or put it on as an outfit. While the game gives so much to utilize, it also has a disappointing amount of objects that can’t be interacted with. I should be able to knock over objects, destroy book shelves, or even mess around with objects that are so neatly organized. The grocery store is so uncannily stocked to perfection, without any ability to move the objects around. Frank can infinitely take from areas that don’t visibly decrease in size, etc. It would just add so much to the feel, ya know? It would give so much more sauce than there already is. Just let me destroy everything in the area, then fix it when I come back. It would remove the weird barriers that exist in some boss fights like Jo or Steven’s where the display shelves actively get in the way of the two of you fighting. Cletus is by far the most dogshit boss in this game, with Sniper Carlito not far behind. They need to be bonked on the head with a magic fairy wand and changed so badly. Fix the AI on the survivors, give them a little more oomph, inject a little more life into their mini-stories and maybe even give them differing voice lines. Give Frank more modern shooting controls that allow him to walk and aim at the same time, etc. Either add or move around content into the later game that eliminates that boring part, and revamp the story to make the ending have more of an impact. It’s just an unfortunate case of what could be a great, fun time. The only thing that I don’t want them to change is the licensed music, probably the only time in my life I’ll defend the use of it. There is nothing more iconic than Gone Guru or Fly Routine as boss themes. And there is nothing funnier than seeing the sheer visceral panic a new player gets upon discovering the convicts for the first time while the initial “WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-” blasts in their headphones.

There is just nothing quite like Dead Rising 1. The choices Capcom made to abandon this series is just so baffling and sad to see in hindsight because it could have been so, so much better. It deserved more than to be tossed aside to a studio known for making baseball games. It’s one of the few games that Capcom doesn’t even acknowledge on their 40th anniversary site: https://captown.capcom.com/en either. I could go on all day about why I think this game is awesome despite its flaws, clearly, as I tried really hard here. But, since I’ll be playing the 4th installment soon, I figured I should go back to familiarity for a minute and just live in its bliss before I inevitably tear my own face off. Since Capcom is in their remake era anyways, it could still happen and I’m not going to make any demands of them, but a small part of me can’t help but have a millimeter sized glimmer of hope in the back of my brain for every game conference that Capcom announces they’ll be apart of. Recently, there has been a sign that there could be one cooking over there, but we’ll just have to wait and see. I would even take their own version of a reboot if it means more Dead Rising. This game will always be a game that I come back to and a remake would not replace it, but it sure does deserve so much better.

And yet he complained that his belly was not full.

Yes I love Chuck, but who doesn't love FRANK WEST BABY. Fun game, and if you want to replay it, it still doesn't play like shit and IS as good as you remembered it being!

First time returning to it in almost 20 years. Game's still a masterpiece.


I covered wars you know. - Eu te amo Frank West

Jogo muito especial pra mim. Foi minha primeira platina... e minha CENTÉSIMA platina o remaster. (pode não ser as mais difíceis, mas são as que mais tenho orgulho!)

14 Days Survivor!


A classic recomened by friends. I feel that this game has a beautiful simplictiy to it one that sequels kinda lost a bit. The final part of the true ending section is a bit drawn out and weakens a very tight experience.

7.5/10, my definition of a flawed masterpiece