i probably don't even need to tell you that this game is a dumpster fire, but i'm gonna say it anyway. i love the walking dead, i've seen every episode of every season, most of them multiple times. anyone else who has too has probably also wondered how things would go if certain events went down a little differently, and in case anyone was curious, this is not at all a satisfying answer to those questions! characters do not behave at all in character, many just basically taking the place of another character and being the exact same person as them for some reason. if you're looking for a good game to play, or just expecting something even mildly quality, look somewhere else.

if you're like me though and you love playing shitty games just to laugh at them and break them, this one is pretty great for that. i found a lot of really stupid techs in this game that made me die laughing, like using a heal and walking backwards makes you move like 10x as fast in reverse for some reason. or in stealth missions, if you're spotted by an enemy, just open the skill tree and close it and they'll forget they ever saw you! the stupid goofiness of how horrible this game can be is the only reason it's not 0.5 stars. there is some enjoyment to be siphoned out of this game, but none of it is because of the game actually being good

after a while of playing this game on and off for fun i decided to sit down and complete it, and i'm really fucking glad i did. unless you count resident evil 4's enemies as zombies, dead rising 1 is undoubtedly my favorite zombie game. though if i'm putting objective quality aside - i might like dead rising more than resident evil 4 anyway.

this will not be a game for everyone, you need to be pretty patient unless you just dont plan on saving survivors. i hesitate to give it 5 stars even though i enjoyed it enough for it to be a 5. putting it on the level of other games i've ranked 5 stars seems wrong. objectively, there are several problems with this game. it's got that old corny capcom dialogue, the controls are a bit of a mess (especially aiming), the survivor ai is horrendous, enemies can often catch you in a stunlock, some weapons are useless and others can kill any boss in the game in 3 hits.. i could go on about these flaws, but weirdly, all of them are things i kind of enjoyed a lot about the game? it's weird, but it's part of its charm. the level of difficulty constantly teeters right on that line of frustrating and challenging, where it feels AMAZING to succeed, and failing just makes me want to press on even harder.

i can only imagine this game was born from some conversation about where the best place to be during an apocalypse would be, and someone arguing for a mall. nearly everything you see in this game can be used as a weapon or a heal or something else, and it's so much fun to just grab the nearest object and just swing through a horde. i don't know what capcom employee threw in more weird ass ideas like having to kill random cartoony psychopaths or rescue old women from toy stores, or having the protagonist be a photojournalist and making photography an important gameplay mechanic for some reason? it's so stupid, but somehow, works so fucking well

anyways, this game is fantastic, but if you're impatient or just aren't really down for some kinda dated mechanics, you might not see what the hype is about with dead rising