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.
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.
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.
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.
Finally some good content. Dead Rising 1 is almost a perfect game and it deserves to be called one, I don't care. What this game misses in lack of smart AI and weird arcade shooting controls, gets outweighed by the sheer fact that the concepts baked into here are unique to itself and haven't been done again outside of this series.
This is a sandbox adventure game first and foremost, just in the setting of a mall with zombies as the obstacles. There are hidden items and survivors laid about to encourage the player to naturally investigate all areas of Willamette while also providing them with some challenge.
The AI can be stressful and stupid, but they aren't impossible. They are literally a living collectible that give you massive rewards for doing them.
The time limit mechanic is not a bad mechanic, and anyone complaining about it is an infant who helped ruin this series. Timing in this game is a very effective tool to get you to move your god damn ass across the mall so that you always have something to do that isn't just standing around, while giving you a bit of challenge that revolves around time and resource management. You won't level up simply by killing zombies, and you won't get better weapons unless you challenge bosses. The mall isn't THAT big, and it doesn't have to be, because you're almost always on the move doing something.
On top of that, you have the mechanic where almost everything that is selectable can be used as a weapon to fight enemies. Realistically, your options are limited, this being an Xbox 360 launch title but this is another idea I don't often see in other games. I'm not talking about picking up your neighbor's Excalibur sitting in a cave, brother. I'm talking about using the TV in your living room to bust some dude's ass wide open because he just simply looked at you funny.
Don't go into this plot expecting fine course cuisine, but treat it like it's your parents coming home with surprise McDonalds instead. The story and characters are as campy as camp can get. Frank is not only the toughest guy you'll ever meet, but he's also the world's best Ally. The only thing I hate doing in this game is getting an upskirt photo of a woman so I can 100% it. (Sorry, weirdos!!)
This game is the perfect candidate for a Capcom Remake in that sweet sweet RE Engine that they make everything in and not just RE. You could fix all the issues this game has so very easily while keeping the time challenge mechanic. More items that are able to be used as weapons, fixed and amplified survivors that have personality values that actually work, etc. That would be if Capcom didn't HATE Dead Rising with every fiber of their being and remembered that they even made it in the first place.
Out of the 5 mainline games, minus the Wii and Java ones (don't even start with me), this one is by far the best. Numbers and stars are arbitrary, my friend. This baby is a 5 star if I've ever seen one.
This is a sandbox adventure game first and foremost, just in the setting of a mall with zombies as the obstacles. There are hidden items and survivors laid about to encourage the player to naturally investigate all areas of Willamette while also providing them with some challenge.
The AI can be stressful and stupid, but they aren't impossible. They are literally a living collectible that give you massive rewards for doing them.
The time limit mechanic is not a bad mechanic, and anyone complaining about it is an infant who helped ruin this series. Timing in this game is a very effective tool to get you to move your god damn ass across the mall so that you always have something to do that isn't just standing around, while giving you a bit of challenge that revolves around time and resource management. You won't level up simply by killing zombies, and you won't get better weapons unless you challenge bosses. The mall isn't THAT big, and it doesn't have to be, because you're almost always on the move doing something.
On top of that, you have the mechanic where almost everything that is selectable can be used as a weapon to fight enemies. Realistically, your options are limited, this being an Xbox 360 launch title but this is another idea I don't often see in other games. I'm not talking about picking up your neighbor's Excalibur sitting in a cave, brother. I'm talking about using the TV in your living room to bust some dude's ass wide open because he just simply looked at you funny.
Don't go into this plot expecting fine course cuisine, but treat it like it's your parents coming home with surprise McDonalds instead. The story and characters are as campy as camp can get. Frank is not only the toughest guy you'll ever meet, but he's also the world's best Ally. The only thing I hate doing in this game is getting an upskirt photo of a woman so I can 100% it. (Sorry, weirdos!!)
This game is the perfect candidate for a Capcom Remake in that sweet sweet RE Engine that they make everything in and not just RE. You could fix all the issues this game has so very easily while keeping the time challenge mechanic. More items that are able to be used as weapons, fixed and amplified survivors that have personality values that actually work, etc. That would be if Capcom didn't HATE Dead Rising with every fiber of their being and remembered that they even made it in the first place.
Out of the 5 mainline games, minus the Wii and Java ones (don't even start with me), this one is by far the best. Numbers and stars are arbitrary, my friend. This baby is a 5 star if I've ever seen one.
Deceptively deep and challenging time-management-action-RPG where like, real honest to god exploration (and not just tourism) is essential in a detail-rich large zone. Someone said its like a covert roguelike but I think it should inspired several actual roguelikes.
Dead Rising is an absolute blast and one of the best zombie games I've played; and I think that I'll like it even more on subsequent playthroughs.
It’s a shame because this game could be rated so much higher. Idk if other consoles suffer from this but the PS4 version has an issue with the roll mechanic once you unlock it. And you do that around Level 10 automatically. It breaks the game in a bad way because you’ll auto-roll every few seconds. Other than that, I do love this game.
I think I'm just bad cause I can't beat the second boss (I don't wanna do the side missions to level up)
Peak Dead Rising
7.5/10, my definition of a flawed masterpiece
ive covered wars yknow
This review contains spoilers
Dead Rising é um jogo com uma atmosfera bastante única, muito em conta da proposta de se passar inteiramente em um shopping center de uma cidade pequena poucos dias após o início de um surto epidêmico de zumbis, algo similar à proposta do filme "Despertar dos Mortos", de 1978, dirigido pelo lendário George A. Romero (considerado criador do gênero no cinema). Diferente da produção cinematográfica, o jogo escolhe dar mais destaque a um tom humorístico e irreverente em meio ao caos.
O design do shopping de Willamette (a cidade em que os eventos do jogo ocorrem) é conceituado em várias divisões distintas, como uma área em reformas, uma praça de alimentação, uma área focada em produtos cosméticos e assim por diante. Todos os ambientes têm algo único que os diferencia, seja pela presença de cores vibrantes dos estabelecimentos, por algum item especial secreto escondido, ou pelos sobreviventes diferentes que você encontra ao longo da jornada. O shopping é marcante, também, pelo uso magnifíco de sua trilha sonora, capaz de trazer a sensação de quando estamos um shopping center comum. Para um jogo produzido em 2006, sua dimensão impressiona até os dias atuais.
Todas as lojas são entráveis e praticamente tudo o que você vê ao longo dos cenários pode ser usado como arma, tal como CDs, brinquedos infantis, plantas, manequins, e objetos usados para realmente aniquilar tudo e todos, como bancos de madeira, cadeiras, tacos de beisebol, canos de metal, serras elétricas, prateleiras e muitas armas fogo, desde pistolas a rifles de precisão capazes de desmembrar corpos. O combate é muito prazeroso de se fazer, não só pela variedade de possibilidades entre apenas caçoar dos mortos-vivos ou obliterá-los, como também pelo incentivo à constante alteração das armas utilizadas pelo jogador, dado o fato de que quebram após serem usadas por muito tempo. Não só isso, mas todas as lojas relacionadas a vestimentas podem ser interagidas, ou seja, temos inúmeras opções de cabelos, máscaras, óculos, camisas, calças, sapatos e trajes. Você pode vestir roupas de criança com uma máscara de cavalo ou um terno com mocassim e fedora. É um oito ou oitenta. E o fato do jogo nos dar tanta liberdade para agirmos como quisermos no shopping é um ponto positivo. Quando nós dominamos a gameplay e evoluímos de nível, o jogo se torna bem mais fácil e passa a ser visto como um playground, o que me leva ao próximo ponto.
Dead Rising é um jogo complicado, BEM complicado nas primeiras horas. Quando estava nos primeiros dez níveis, eu quase sempre morria depois de uma meia hora jogada por sempre tentar matar o máximo de zumbis e realizar todas as missões secundárias de resgate de sobreviventes e lidar com os psicopatas. Frank é lento e desajeitado no começo, e torna a jogabilidade bem desafiadora. Foi aí que me toquei que o design do jogo é projetado para ser jogado várias vezes. Quando morremos, não perdemos o PP (pontos de experiência no jogo) ganho, desde que salvemos nosso progresso. Por isso, fui focando apenas na história principal e fazendo as missões secundárias fáceis, quando eu já estava decorando o mapa e os locais das melhores armas.
Sobre a gameplay em si: é bem satisfatório atacar zumbis com armas brancas, mas com armas de fogo é bem datado. O Frank fica estático no chão enquanto miramos bem lentamente nos zumbis, o que é bem arcaico e quebra a dinâmica divertida que a gameplay em geral representa. É uma pena que certas partes envelheceram mal, não só o tiroteio como os espaços de salvamento, que devem não só são poucos, como também ficam muito espaçados uns dos outros pelo mapa, o que torna o ato de salvar progresso, muitas vezes, um desafio próprio.
Frank, nosso protagonista, em si, é um personagem excelente. Multifacetado, ele é um fotojornalista que não está muito interessado com possíveis sobreviventes que estejam sofrendo em meio ao apocalipse e só quer garantir o melhor furo de reportagem para tentar catapultar sua carreira e retomar ao antigos dias de glória, em que era um profissional aclamado e até chegou a cobrir guerras. Mesmo inicialmente relutante quanto ao fato de arriscar a vida para entender a origem do surto e salvar pessoas que precisam de ajuda, ele o faz, não mais apenas com a autopromoção em mente, mas porque sabe que é o correto a se fazer. Apesar de ser sarcástico, cínico e ter atitudes questionáveis quanto ao modo que executa seu trabalho, ele tem um bom coração, fato que se comprova ao decorrer da história.
Após muita investigação e contando com a ajuda principalmente de Brad e Jessie, aliados valiosos que Frank faz no início, é descoberto a motivação que possibilitou o começo do surto: o governo dos Estados Unidos, em uma tentativa de aumentar o índice da produção de carne bovina para gerar mais lucro, realizou testes com vespas capazes de intensificar a procriação entre gado em uma pequena vila fictícia chamada Santa Cabeza. Porém, em uma reviravolta inesperada, os insetos passaram a infectar os habitantes, o que dizimou o local e deixou apenas dois sobreviventes vivos: os irmãos Carlito e Isabela. Assim, em uma tentativa de vingança após a vila natal ter sido devastada, conseguiram espécimes da vespa e infectaram a cidade de Willamette. Para buscarem refúgio, parte dos cidadãos se abrigou no shopping, mas, assim que Frank West ouve falar dos rumores em Willamettte e chega no shopling para descobrir o que estava acontecendo, os zumbis invadem e o jogo enfim se inicia. É uma história exagerada, mas não me incomoda, porque se propõe a ser assim. Ao final, por exemplo, ainda mais reviravoltas acontecem quando tudo parece que acabará bem. Além de ter personagens carismáricos como o Brad, Jessie e Isabela, ela flui em um ritmo bem agradável e não se prolonga desnecessariamente. Por isso, o fator replay é alto: é uma narrativa com um mistério interessante, que induz o jogador a transitar bem por um mapa repleto de variedade estilística, e faz com que tenhamos a sensação de que realmente estamos evoluindo: quanto mais jogamos, mais recompensas vamos ganhando, e são permanentes em futuras jogatinas. Por examplo, se matarmos 53.000 zumbis em uma jogatina, ganhamos a arma usada pelo Megaman, a Mega Buster Gun, que possui 300 lasers de munição e é capaz de matar todos os zumbis com apenas um tiro. A partir desse momento, se tornará acessível em todas as futuras jogatinas. Essa referência não existe ao acaso: Keiji Inafune, criador de Dead Rising, é também o principal idealizador da franquia Mega Man. É com detalhes como esse que percebemos a paixão de Inafune por seu novo projeto naquela época.
Por último, falta falar sobre o tempo: no jogo, temos 72 horas (seis horas em tempo real) para concluí-lo, e, mesmo que não sigamos e terminemos a história principal, há finais negativos, que podem variar entre seis dependendo das suas ações no jogo. Apesar de controverso, considero a inserção do tempo no jogo fundamental. Sem o tempo, não haveria direção por parte dos jogadores em como jogar e o que fazer, e o tempo serve como instrutor do que podemos fazer e como fazer no tempo determinado, apesar de eu particularmente achar o tempo um fator realmente punitivo em certos momentos.
Em geral, o que eu pretendo dizer é que Dead Rising é um jogaço. Foi extremamente ambicioso para sua época e foi feito com muito carinho pelos desenvolvedores, haja vista a quantidade de detalhes colocados. Posso ter passado raiva, me estressado e pensado em reiniciar o jogo no começo, mas agradeço que não o fiz. Aprendi a jogar e entender Dead Rising. E isso foi FANTÁSTICO!
O design do shopping de Willamette (a cidade em que os eventos do jogo ocorrem) é conceituado em várias divisões distintas, como uma área em reformas, uma praça de alimentação, uma área focada em produtos cosméticos e assim por diante. Todos os ambientes têm algo único que os diferencia, seja pela presença de cores vibrantes dos estabelecimentos, por algum item especial secreto escondido, ou pelos sobreviventes diferentes que você encontra ao longo da jornada. O shopping é marcante, também, pelo uso magnifíco de sua trilha sonora, capaz de trazer a sensação de quando estamos um shopping center comum. Para um jogo produzido em 2006, sua dimensão impressiona até os dias atuais.
Todas as lojas são entráveis e praticamente tudo o que você vê ao longo dos cenários pode ser usado como arma, tal como CDs, brinquedos infantis, plantas, manequins, e objetos usados para realmente aniquilar tudo e todos, como bancos de madeira, cadeiras, tacos de beisebol, canos de metal, serras elétricas, prateleiras e muitas armas fogo, desde pistolas a rifles de precisão capazes de desmembrar corpos. O combate é muito prazeroso de se fazer, não só pela variedade de possibilidades entre apenas caçoar dos mortos-vivos ou obliterá-los, como também pelo incentivo à constante alteração das armas utilizadas pelo jogador, dado o fato de que quebram após serem usadas por muito tempo. Não só isso, mas todas as lojas relacionadas a vestimentas podem ser interagidas, ou seja, temos inúmeras opções de cabelos, máscaras, óculos, camisas, calças, sapatos e trajes. Você pode vestir roupas de criança com uma máscara de cavalo ou um terno com mocassim e fedora. É um oito ou oitenta. E o fato do jogo nos dar tanta liberdade para agirmos como quisermos no shopping é um ponto positivo. Quando nós dominamos a gameplay e evoluímos de nível, o jogo se torna bem mais fácil e passa a ser visto como um playground, o que me leva ao próximo ponto.
Dead Rising é um jogo complicado, BEM complicado nas primeiras horas. Quando estava nos primeiros dez níveis, eu quase sempre morria depois de uma meia hora jogada por sempre tentar matar o máximo de zumbis e realizar todas as missões secundárias de resgate de sobreviventes e lidar com os psicopatas. Frank é lento e desajeitado no começo, e torna a jogabilidade bem desafiadora. Foi aí que me toquei que o design do jogo é projetado para ser jogado várias vezes. Quando morremos, não perdemos o PP (pontos de experiência no jogo) ganho, desde que salvemos nosso progresso. Por isso, fui focando apenas na história principal e fazendo as missões secundárias fáceis, quando eu já estava decorando o mapa e os locais das melhores armas.
Sobre a gameplay em si: é bem satisfatório atacar zumbis com armas brancas, mas com armas de fogo é bem datado. O Frank fica estático no chão enquanto miramos bem lentamente nos zumbis, o que é bem arcaico e quebra a dinâmica divertida que a gameplay em geral representa. É uma pena que certas partes envelheceram mal, não só o tiroteio como os espaços de salvamento, que devem não só são poucos, como também ficam muito espaçados uns dos outros pelo mapa, o que torna o ato de salvar progresso, muitas vezes, um desafio próprio.
Frank, nosso protagonista, em si, é um personagem excelente. Multifacetado, ele é um fotojornalista que não está muito interessado com possíveis sobreviventes que estejam sofrendo em meio ao apocalipse e só quer garantir o melhor furo de reportagem para tentar catapultar sua carreira e retomar ao antigos dias de glória, em que era um profissional aclamado e até chegou a cobrir guerras. Mesmo inicialmente relutante quanto ao fato de arriscar a vida para entender a origem do surto e salvar pessoas que precisam de ajuda, ele o faz, não mais apenas com a autopromoção em mente, mas porque sabe que é o correto a se fazer. Apesar de ser sarcástico, cínico e ter atitudes questionáveis quanto ao modo que executa seu trabalho, ele tem um bom coração, fato que se comprova ao decorrer da história.
Após muita investigação e contando com a ajuda principalmente de Brad e Jessie, aliados valiosos que Frank faz no início, é descoberto a motivação que possibilitou o começo do surto: o governo dos Estados Unidos, em uma tentativa de aumentar o índice da produção de carne bovina para gerar mais lucro, realizou testes com vespas capazes de intensificar a procriação entre gado em uma pequena vila fictícia chamada Santa Cabeza. Porém, em uma reviravolta inesperada, os insetos passaram a infectar os habitantes, o que dizimou o local e deixou apenas dois sobreviventes vivos: os irmãos Carlito e Isabela. Assim, em uma tentativa de vingança após a vila natal ter sido devastada, conseguiram espécimes da vespa e infectaram a cidade de Willamette. Para buscarem refúgio, parte dos cidadãos se abrigou no shopping, mas, assim que Frank West ouve falar dos rumores em Willamettte e chega no shopling para descobrir o que estava acontecendo, os zumbis invadem e o jogo enfim se inicia. É uma história exagerada, mas não me incomoda, porque se propõe a ser assim. Ao final, por exemplo, ainda mais reviravoltas acontecem quando tudo parece que acabará bem. Além de ter personagens carismáricos como o Brad, Jessie e Isabela, ela flui em um ritmo bem agradável e não se prolonga desnecessariamente. Por isso, o fator replay é alto: é uma narrativa com um mistério interessante, que induz o jogador a transitar bem por um mapa repleto de variedade estilística, e faz com que tenhamos a sensação de que realmente estamos evoluindo: quanto mais jogamos, mais recompensas vamos ganhando, e são permanentes em futuras jogatinas. Por examplo, se matarmos 53.000 zumbis em uma jogatina, ganhamos a arma usada pelo Megaman, a Mega Buster Gun, que possui 300 lasers de munição e é capaz de matar todos os zumbis com apenas um tiro. A partir desse momento, se tornará acessível em todas as futuras jogatinas. Essa referência não existe ao acaso: Keiji Inafune, criador de Dead Rising, é também o principal idealizador da franquia Mega Man. É com detalhes como esse que percebemos a paixão de Inafune por seu novo projeto naquela época.
Por último, falta falar sobre o tempo: no jogo, temos 72 horas (seis horas em tempo real) para concluí-lo, e, mesmo que não sigamos e terminemos a história principal, há finais negativos, que podem variar entre seis dependendo das suas ações no jogo. Apesar de controverso, considero a inserção do tempo no jogo fundamental. Sem o tempo, não haveria direção por parte dos jogadores em como jogar e o que fazer, e o tempo serve como instrutor do que podemos fazer e como fazer no tempo determinado, apesar de eu particularmente achar o tempo um fator realmente punitivo em certos momentos.
Em geral, o que eu pretendo dizer é que Dead Rising é um jogaço. Foi extremamente ambicioso para sua época e foi feito com muito carinho pelos desenvolvedores, haja vista a quantidade de detalhes colocados. Posso ter passado raiva, me estressado e pensado em reiniciar o jogo no começo, mas agradeço que não o fiz. Aprendi a jogar e entender Dead Rising. E isso foi FANTÁSTICO!
Came to this too late. Sorry Capcom
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.
Awesome fucking game, if anyone ever complains about escort missions with Ashley in RE4 (2005), make em play either this or Silent Hill 4 lol
The most surprising element of Dead Rising is its story, which has NO RIGHT to be as good as it is. There's just something so genuine and beautiful about listening to a true-to-life critique of American consumerism and the global meat industry, but as a 40-year-old man in a tight sundress, with a chainsaw.
White man has been here? How can you tell? shows white people going loco oh wow they really amped up the drama hihihi, ok can you just follow me sir. I don't bite but they do. With one of the most bankruptely creative name in the industry yet, Dead Rising offers a painfully accurate american outbreak with all its quirks. It doesn't even feel that junk in retrospect... Oh i'm soooo lying that AI came out the wazzoo. Does it make some situations more memorable? Also yes, that's one of our realities. Holding hands has reached astronomical tediousness levels.
It's an interesting branch of roguelites. We could even call it a management sim the way you're gonna rewind that clock over and over in an attempt to maximize your PP, hard pause on that one but I done forgor what the letters stood for, I'll go ahead and make this up it means "Cock n' Ball Torture" there, no one's batting an eye because one knows what this game's really about. I'm getting that PP up when some woman zombie is munching on my private parts or when I'm taking a photo of a woman zombie munching on someone's private parts. A serious main story and the silliness we're subjected to outside of it is exactly the Yakuza brand, it's something the japanese really know how to do. They be knowin their silliness frfr.
I'm not even gonna discuss that main story, it's serviceable and survivors ratio + cope seethe. I don't know if survivors really is a good way to put it, they aren't surviving shit until the West comes along. And here I am changing into sneakers wearing a dress that would turn me into the belle of the bal, I'm built different they cannot mimic a fraction of my power. I can eat bullets no problem, chainsaws are a different issue but it's because West is wooden hard baby
It's an interesting branch of roguelites. We could even call it a management sim the way you're gonna rewind that clock over and over in an attempt to maximize your PP, hard pause on that one but I done forgor what the letters stood for, I'll go ahead and make this up it means "Cock n' Ball Torture" there, no one's batting an eye because one knows what this game's really about. I'm getting that PP up when some woman zombie is munching on my private parts or when I'm taking a photo of a woman zombie munching on someone's private parts. A serious main story and the silliness we're subjected to outside of it is exactly the Yakuza brand, it's something the japanese really know how to do. They be knowin their silliness frfr.
I'm not even gonna discuss that main story, it's serviceable and survivors ratio + cope seethe. I don't know if survivors really is a good way to put it, they aren't surviving shit until the West comes along. And here I am changing into sneakers wearing a dress that would turn me into the belle of the bal, I'm built different they cannot mimic a fraction of my power. I can eat bullets no problem, chainsaws are a different issue but it's because West is wooden hard baby
Part of Spooky Season 2023.
My dumb ass accidentally restarted my save after I died and I don’t feel like playing through the game from the beginning again, so I’ve just decided to shelve it for now and write out my thoughts. It really sucks because I was approaching the game’s climax too. Ah well.
I think that Dead Rising has a great concept that unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to its full potential. It’s a game that heavily revolves around escorting NPCs with AI from the mid-2000s, and that alone should raise some red flags. The game can be thrilling and really enjoyable when the AI works, but that’s just it: the AI frequently doesn’t work. This coupled with other poor design decisions oftentimes makes the game more frustrating than fun. It bums me out because I can see the vision, and when things do work, it does manage to be a very good time. It’s just that it’s also janky as all hell, and while the jank can be charming, it’ll also frequently take you out of the experience.
Dead Rising is a timed game in a similar vein to The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. It takes place in a zombie infested mall, and you have 72 in-game hours to not only complete tasks that advance the game’s main storyline, but rescue as many survivors as you can and escort them to the one safe location within the mall: the Security Room. Everything operates on a schedule, so you’ll only have specific opportunities to complete objectives. If you miss those opportunities, they’re gone for the rest of your playthrough. These include main storyline quests as well. I really love this structure. It forces you to memorize the layout of the mall (which isn’t particularly complex) and plan ahead as far as which side quests (which are referred to in-game as “Scoops”) you tackle and how many people you can try and save.
Thankfully, escorting survivors isn’t vital for completing the main story except during specific missions, and I think that is one of this game’s saving graces. That doesn’t mean that successfully escorting them isn’t extremely important, though. There’s a leveling system where Frank gradually gets stronger and more agile the more you play. In addition to gaining exp from killing certain amounts of zombies and completing certain tasks, you get the most exp from successfully escorting survivors. This is where a majority of the game’s frustration comes from. Missing out on exp because the survivors you’re escorting die from not listening to your commands, getting caught on level geometry, or just dashing straight into each other and not moving at all is infuriating. Sometimes the survivors can even accidentally shoot and kill you, and that especially got on my nerves.
I will say that the game does throw you a bone when it comes to the survivors. Simply meeting up with them and getting them to join you is enough to grant you some exp, but actually getting them to safety is what gets you the biggest exp boosts. You’re going to really want them too, because Frank does not feel very good to play as early in the game. I realize that it was the developer’s intention to not make Frank very good early in the game, in order to make replays where he starts off at higher levels more rewarding, but still, it’s rough. If you ever feel like the game isn’t going your way and that you’re stuck or that you’ve missed out on more Scoops than you’d like, you can always reset your campaign with Frank’s current level and upgrades, which I think is a really solid design choice (though I did this by accident, which is how I lost my save).
In addition to the AI of the survivors, the AI of the boss fights is also pretty bad as well. Granted I haven’t fought every boss in the game, but there were a few bosses that were easy to exploit in pretty hilarious ways. I think that the famous Convicts are the best example of this. Almost every time you go through the park after their introduction, they will immediately just drive the humvee straight into a tree and you can shoot them from a safe distance where the AI won’t even register your presence.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the game is how you learn about new Scoops that are available to you. There’s a character named Otis that will call you on your walkie talkie whenever he discovers someone in need of help or if there’s something strange that Frank should consider investigating. The problem is that whenever he calls you on the walkie talkie, Frank is unable to attack or jump, as doing so will interrupt the call from Otis and he’ll call again, angrily telling you “Don’t cut me off like that, it’s rude!” before repeating everything that he just told you. This honestly makes me more angry than it probably should, but it’s incredibly annoying when the walkie talkie is going off over and over again while I’m in the middle of a stressful situation such as escorting survivors through a heavily zombie infested area or in the middle of a boss fight and I can’t answer it without risking either my own death, or the death of a survivor. You can talk to Otis directly in the Security Room, so I don’t get why you can’t just get Scoops by simply talking to him while you’re in there as well. You can only get Scoops when you’re outside of the Security Room via the walkie talkie, and I think that’s just really stupid and shortsighted.
I also really wish there was more than one route to the Security Room. Unless there are hidden routes that I just never discovered during my playthrough, you have to escort survivors through Paradise Plaza, through the warehouse hallway, up the elevator to the roof and then through the air duct every single time. I think this was done to make sure that the player most effectively learns the layout of the mall through repetition, but escorting them also becomes really repetitive as a result. I did learn of one shortcut to Paradise Plaza, but you still have to go through Paradise Plaza every time to get to the Security Room.
A majority of this review has been complaining, and I do want to stress that the game is actually really fun when these frustrations aren’t getting in your way. I loved learning about the layout of the mall, memorizing where I can find certain weapons or certain zombies that wield certain weapons, or discovering secret weapons like the sub-machine gun you can find above the roof of one of the stores in Paradise Plaza. I loved planning which Scoops I should tackle and agonizing over which ones I just didn’t have time for. I also think that Frank gradually becomes much better to control as you level him up and unlock faster run speeds and techniques like jumping off of zombies’ heads. Eventually, fighting hordes of zombies becomes very satisfying and enjoyable. It just feels like there’s a lot of factors outside of your control that hinder your efforts and subsequently your enjoyment. I think that if Frank was a bit stronger at the start of the game, and if the survivors and bosses had better AI, then Dead Rising would be much better than it is.
The story was pretty interesting from what I’ve played, and I was pretty invested in what was going on. Like I said, I was at the climax of the game when I lost my save and it was really demoralizing. Not quite sure what made Frank such a popular character back during this era of Capcom. He’s been a decent protagonist, but I can’t say there’s much to him or his personality that makes him especially stand out.
It’s possible to have a lot of fun with Dead Rising, just keep in mind that it has a lot of jank and really lacks polish. For all of its faults, I never found it to be boring. There’s a lot of charm to it, especially those aspects of it that feel straight out of the mid-2000s, like the nu-metal soundtrack and the overall design of the mall in general (finding stores that just sell CDs made me feel super nostalgic). It says a lot that despite all of the things that drag it down, I still want to go back and finish it eventually. Maybe I’ll save it for Spooky Season 2024.
My dumb ass accidentally restarted my save after I died and I don’t feel like playing through the game from the beginning again, so I’ve just decided to shelve it for now and write out my thoughts. It really sucks because I was approaching the game’s climax too. Ah well.
I think that Dead Rising has a great concept that unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to its full potential. It’s a game that heavily revolves around escorting NPCs with AI from the mid-2000s, and that alone should raise some red flags. The game can be thrilling and really enjoyable when the AI works, but that’s just it: the AI frequently doesn’t work. This coupled with other poor design decisions oftentimes makes the game more frustrating than fun. It bums me out because I can see the vision, and when things do work, it does manage to be a very good time. It’s just that it’s also janky as all hell, and while the jank can be charming, it’ll also frequently take you out of the experience.
Dead Rising is a timed game in a similar vein to The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. It takes place in a zombie infested mall, and you have 72 in-game hours to not only complete tasks that advance the game’s main storyline, but rescue as many survivors as you can and escort them to the one safe location within the mall: the Security Room. Everything operates on a schedule, so you’ll only have specific opportunities to complete objectives. If you miss those opportunities, they’re gone for the rest of your playthrough. These include main storyline quests as well. I really love this structure. It forces you to memorize the layout of the mall (which isn’t particularly complex) and plan ahead as far as which side quests (which are referred to in-game as “Scoops”) you tackle and how many people you can try and save.
Thankfully, escorting survivors isn’t vital for completing the main story except during specific missions, and I think that is one of this game’s saving graces. That doesn’t mean that successfully escorting them isn’t extremely important, though. There’s a leveling system where Frank gradually gets stronger and more agile the more you play. In addition to gaining exp from killing certain amounts of zombies and completing certain tasks, you get the most exp from successfully escorting survivors. This is where a majority of the game’s frustration comes from. Missing out on exp because the survivors you’re escorting die from not listening to your commands, getting caught on level geometry, or just dashing straight into each other and not moving at all is infuriating. Sometimes the survivors can even accidentally shoot and kill you, and that especially got on my nerves.
I will say that the game does throw you a bone when it comes to the survivors. Simply meeting up with them and getting them to join you is enough to grant you some exp, but actually getting them to safety is what gets you the biggest exp boosts. You’re going to really want them too, because Frank does not feel very good to play as early in the game. I realize that it was the developer’s intention to not make Frank very good early in the game, in order to make replays where he starts off at higher levels more rewarding, but still, it’s rough. If you ever feel like the game isn’t going your way and that you’re stuck or that you’ve missed out on more Scoops than you’d like, you can always reset your campaign with Frank’s current level and upgrades, which I think is a really solid design choice (though I did this by accident, which is how I lost my save).
In addition to the AI of the survivors, the AI of the boss fights is also pretty bad as well. Granted I haven’t fought every boss in the game, but there were a few bosses that were easy to exploit in pretty hilarious ways. I think that the famous Convicts are the best example of this. Almost every time you go through the park after their introduction, they will immediately just drive the humvee straight into a tree and you can shoot them from a safe distance where the AI won’t even register your presence.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the game is how you learn about new Scoops that are available to you. There’s a character named Otis that will call you on your walkie talkie whenever he discovers someone in need of help or if there’s something strange that Frank should consider investigating. The problem is that whenever he calls you on the walkie talkie, Frank is unable to attack or jump, as doing so will interrupt the call from Otis and he’ll call again, angrily telling you “Don’t cut me off like that, it’s rude!” before repeating everything that he just told you. This honestly makes me more angry than it probably should, but it’s incredibly annoying when the walkie talkie is going off over and over again while I’m in the middle of a stressful situation such as escorting survivors through a heavily zombie infested area or in the middle of a boss fight and I can’t answer it without risking either my own death, or the death of a survivor. You can talk to Otis directly in the Security Room, so I don’t get why you can’t just get Scoops by simply talking to him while you’re in there as well. You can only get Scoops when you’re outside of the Security Room via the walkie talkie, and I think that’s just really stupid and shortsighted.
I also really wish there was more than one route to the Security Room. Unless there are hidden routes that I just never discovered during my playthrough, you have to escort survivors through Paradise Plaza, through the warehouse hallway, up the elevator to the roof and then through the air duct every single time. I think this was done to make sure that the player most effectively learns the layout of the mall through repetition, but escorting them also becomes really repetitive as a result. I did learn of one shortcut to Paradise Plaza, but you still have to go through Paradise Plaza every time to get to the Security Room.
A majority of this review has been complaining, and I do want to stress that the game is actually really fun when these frustrations aren’t getting in your way. I loved learning about the layout of the mall, memorizing where I can find certain weapons or certain zombies that wield certain weapons, or discovering secret weapons like the sub-machine gun you can find above the roof of one of the stores in Paradise Plaza. I loved planning which Scoops I should tackle and agonizing over which ones I just didn’t have time for. I also think that Frank gradually becomes much better to control as you level him up and unlock faster run speeds and techniques like jumping off of zombies’ heads. Eventually, fighting hordes of zombies becomes very satisfying and enjoyable. It just feels like there’s a lot of factors outside of your control that hinder your efforts and subsequently your enjoyment. I think that if Frank was a bit stronger at the start of the game, and if the survivors and bosses had better AI, then Dead Rising would be much better than it is.
The story was pretty interesting from what I’ve played, and I was pretty invested in what was going on. Like I said, I was at the climax of the game when I lost my save and it was really demoralizing. Not quite sure what made Frank such a popular character back during this era of Capcom. He’s been a decent protagonist, but I can’t say there’s much to him or his personality that makes him especially stand out.
It’s possible to have a lot of fun with Dead Rising, just keep in mind that it has a lot of jank and really lacks polish. For all of its faults, I never found it to be boring. There’s a lot of charm to it, especially those aspects of it that feel straight out of the mid-2000s, like the nu-metal soundtrack and the overall design of the mall in general (finding stores that just sell CDs made me feel super nostalgic). It says a lot that despite all of the things that drag it down, I still want to go back and finish it eventually. Maybe I’ll save it for Spooky Season 2024.
I respect this game first and foremost for not babying you -- it drops you (literally) into zombie shopping mall hell and says, "figure it out." All of the mechanics I uncovered in the hours I played were quite cool -- holding books to increase stats; levelling up with survivor rescues and photography; unlockable special moves; the way game-time is woven into progression; etc... And the actual meat of the gameplay -- the dispatching of countless undead through comically varied means, including lawnmowers and umbrellas and mannequins and whatever else you can find -- is awesome. You can tell it's fine-tuned to feel exceptionally hefty. Every swing of a baseball bat, or pole, or dismembered hand feels consequential and releases sweet, sweet brain chemicals.
Where the game falters is fairly obvious. The "boss battles" (for example, the second encounter with Carlito) are embarrasments of design. Much of the world traversal feels too slow for a game that relies so heavily on it. Many of the coolest weapons are made far too difficult to uncover in the early game -- a needless roping off of fun. Finally, as many, many others have mentioned, the entire thing is a rickety tower of escort missions with the stupidest AI imaginable.
But, you know, at the end of the day I think there's still plenty of fun to be had here. There's a ton of genuinely great ideas to mull over, there's that miniature-open-world gamefeel that I personally love, and then of course there's Frank West -- a surprisingly delightful protagonist.
Recommended in spite of its flaws.
Where the game falters is fairly obvious. The "boss battles" (for example, the second encounter with Carlito) are embarrasments of design. Much of the world traversal feels too slow for a game that relies so heavily on it. Many of the coolest weapons are made far too difficult to uncover in the early game -- a needless roping off of fun. Finally, as many, many others have mentioned, the entire thing is a rickety tower of escort missions with the stupidest AI imaginable.
But, you know, at the end of the day I think there's still plenty of fun to be had here. There's a ton of genuinely great ideas to mull over, there's that miniature-open-world gamefeel that I personally love, and then of course there's Frank West -- a surprisingly delightful protagonist.
Recommended in spite of its flaws.
A pretty good game, hella early 2000s vibes coursing through its veins. I wasn’t too into the mission design and how tasks started to feel same-y after awhile, but the world and carefree B-movie mall atmosphere and characters kept things from getting too boring. The time limit is a cool feature too that’s adds more dimensions and difficulty to this game. I’d probably like this way more at the time than playing it now since the survivors constantly have a death wish and the controls are a bit dated yet still very playable. Shooting is awful but running around the mall chainsawing zombies and chomping down a baguette is fun. I might come back and finish this at some point even though I wasn’t super into it.
Also hate that I think of the game grumps whenever I turn this game on lol
Also hate that I think of the game grumps whenever I turn this game on lol
The Dead Rising franchise was one that I'd heard of quite early on through videos from YouTubers like PeanutButterGamer and SpaceHamster, and while I never got the chance to actually play any of the games, the way that people talked about them made me associate the name with goofy zombie hijinks in a shopping mall. Because Dead Rising 3 was an Xbox One exclusive and Dead Rising 4 was apparently the game that killed the franchise, the main game in the series that I was interested in checking out was Dead Rising 2, but when I came across a copy of the first game roughly two months ago, I decided to give it a try. Dead Rising was another one of those games where I could barely even tell whether or not I was actually enjoying what I was playing until it was over, because while a lot of its ideas seemed quite novel on paper, their execution left a lot to be desired.
Timers in video games tend to be hit-or-miss for me (which is partially why I still haven't beaten Pikmin months after starting it), and so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a game that was entirely made up of them. In Dead Rising, every main and side mission is timed so that you could potentially miss out on them entirely if you spend too long messing around in the Willamette Parkview Mall, and while I found this to be a bit iffy at first, I grew to see the thinking behind this choice. Not only do the timed missions give a lot more value to the upgrades and abilities that you unlock whenever you level up, but they also dramatically amp up the stress of actually playing the game, as it has you wade your way through oceans of zombies just to get a chance to progress the main story, let alone rescue a survivor or fight one of the many unique psychopaths that are spread out across the mall. Unfortunately, Frank West's only way of actually accepting these sidequests is by answering calls on your transceiver, and not only do you never know when these calls will show up, but they also leave you totally vulnerable to attacks, and so this system of accepting missions makes it practically impossible for you to do everything in Dead Rising without reloading saves constantly.
Despite its simple premise of being trapped in a shopping mall with an army full of zombies and spending the next few days trying to figure out how all of this came to be, Dead Rising makes the player juggle a lot of different tasks at once at all times, ranging from the missions they have to complete to the ratio of weapons to healing items in their inventory, and while there were some bits of breathing room during my playthrough, there was always at least one thing that I had to devote my full attention to, which made the immersion feel immediate and natural. The core gameplay of killing zombies with whatever items you can find is fun on its own and opens up a lot of opportunities for wacky moments, but the mechanics that this loop revolves around end up feeling janky and unreliable. Thanks to the awkward aiming for your ranged weapons and a complete lack of enemy targeting for your melee attacks, you never really know if your attack will even go in the direction that you wanted it to, much less actually connect with what you're trying to hit, and since every weapon in the game has limited durability (along with the unlockable skills having finicky inputs and incredibly situational uses), I often ended up just spamming the jump button with the hopes that the zombies would miss their attacks.
Despite how much it had going for it, Dead Rising had two big, glaring flaws that kept me from enjoying the game as much as I wanted to, as they reared their heads very early on in my playthrough and remained irritating until the credits rolled. Although backtracking in a game like this makes sense, Dead Rising still got quite repetitive pretty quickly, as having to take the exact same routes to go to main areas like the security room over and over again made having to fight the same zombies using the same weapons that I picked up in the same spots felt immensely dull, and since trying out other weapons or paths led to me getting killed at worst or being left with less resources at best, I ended up sticking to those same routes and getting bored as a result. The AI for the survivors is also absolutely atrocious, and practically every survivor that I tried to rescue would get killed on the way to the security room because they would constantly run into a crowd of zombies and get overwhelmed with no chance of me being able to help them out. Fortunately, the unresponsive AI also appleid to the game's bosses, and so I was able to cheese quite a few of the more cheap fights in the game. Dead Rising had a lot of interesting concepts, but I wouldn't really say that I had very much fun playing it, and while I don't know how long it'll be before I eventually check out Dead Rising 2, I do know that playing this game made me really eager to finally watch George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead.
Timers in video games tend to be hit-or-miss for me (which is partially why I still haven't beaten Pikmin months after starting it), and so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a game that was entirely made up of them. In Dead Rising, every main and side mission is timed so that you could potentially miss out on them entirely if you spend too long messing around in the Willamette Parkview Mall, and while I found this to be a bit iffy at first, I grew to see the thinking behind this choice. Not only do the timed missions give a lot more value to the upgrades and abilities that you unlock whenever you level up, but they also dramatically amp up the stress of actually playing the game, as it has you wade your way through oceans of zombies just to get a chance to progress the main story, let alone rescue a survivor or fight one of the many unique psychopaths that are spread out across the mall. Unfortunately, Frank West's only way of actually accepting these sidequests is by answering calls on your transceiver, and not only do you never know when these calls will show up, but they also leave you totally vulnerable to attacks, and so this system of accepting missions makes it practically impossible for you to do everything in Dead Rising without reloading saves constantly.
Despite its simple premise of being trapped in a shopping mall with an army full of zombies and spending the next few days trying to figure out how all of this came to be, Dead Rising makes the player juggle a lot of different tasks at once at all times, ranging from the missions they have to complete to the ratio of weapons to healing items in their inventory, and while there were some bits of breathing room during my playthrough, there was always at least one thing that I had to devote my full attention to, which made the immersion feel immediate and natural. The core gameplay of killing zombies with whatever items you can find is fun on its own and opens up a lot of opportunities for wacky moments, but the mechanics that this loop revolves around end up feeling janky and unreliable. Thanks to the awkward aiming for your ranged weapons and a complete lack of enemy targeting for your melee attacks, you never really know if your attack will even go in the direction that you wanted it to, much less actually connect with what you're trying to hit, and since every weapon in the game has limited durability (along with the unlockable skills having finicky inputs and incredibly situational uses), I often ended up just spamming the jump button with the hopes that the zombies would miss their attacks.
Despite how much it had going for it, Dead Rising had two big, glaring flaws that kept me from enjoying the game as much as I wanted to, as they reared their heads very early on in my playthrough and remained irritating until the credits rolled. Although backtracking in a game like this makes sense, Dead Rising still got quite repetitive pretty quickly, as having to take the exact same routes to go to main areas like the security room over and over again made having to fight the same zombies using the same weapons that I picked up in the same spots felt immensely dull, and since trying out other weapons or paths led to me getting killed at worst or being left with less resources at best, I ended up sticking to those same routes and getting bored as a result. The AI for the survivors is also absolutely atrocious, and practically every survivor that I tried to rescue would get killed on the way to the security room because they would constantly run into a crowd of zombies and get overwhelmed with no chance of me being able to help them out. Fortunately, the unresponsive AI also appleid to the game's bosses, and so I was able to cheese quite a few of the more cheap fights in the game. Dead Rising had a lot of interesting concepts, but I wouldn't really say that I had very much fun playing it, and while I don't know how long it'll be before I eventually check out Dead Rising 2, I do know that playing this game made me really eager to finally watch George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead.
really annoying following AI and some really terrible boss fights 5 stars
One of the best zombie games out there
An incredible game despite all of the jank. I absolutely love the detailed American mall setting, the game world always marching forward regardless of what the player is doing, the multiple endings, and the non-linearity of how you plan and solve all of the various events happening. It's a really inspired game.
this is a stupid fucking game for babies
it's peak early Xbox 360
Sorry but timers stress me. Having one the whole game is a no no
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/
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/
I was never able to get into this game until I realized it’s kind of a roguelike. You basically have to die and restart several times until you’re strong enough to take out bosses easily. Once you’re able to fight the hordes and bosses this becomes so fucking fun, definitely one of the most fun games I’ve ever played I love Capcom
o primeiro deles hoje em dia gameplay mto ruim mas o jogo ainda continua divertido
This game is objectively bad. The A.I for the survivors and pyschos are bad. The story is cliche and all over the place. You can easily cheese the game out with just one weapon and a few books. And the mall anti-capitalist message is a bit cliche also.
With all that being said, this game is amazing. It's one of the the most unique games I've ever played. Everything form the light hearted atmosphere contrasted with the bleak setting. The great performances from each voice actor. And the personalities from each character, especially the pyschos. Replaying this game for the 6th time really shows that.
Although some of the negatives outweigh the positives, I think the positives makes this game worth at least a playthrough or few.
With all that being said, this game is amazing. It's one of the the most unique games I've ever played. Everything form the light hearted atmosphere contrasted with the bleak setting. The great performances from each voice actor. And the personalities from each character, especially the pyschos. Replaying this game for the 6th time really shows that.
Although some of the negatives outweigh the positives, I think the positives makes this game worth at least a playthrough or few.