Dead Rising 2

Developer - Blue Castle

Publisher - Capcom

The original Dead rising game was released way back in 2006 and saw you playing as photojournalist Frank West, as he tried to survive in a mall swarming with Zombies. The game had a unique twist wherein you had 72 hours to basically do anything you wanted. You could tackle the main storyline, tons of side missions, or just spend the entire time running around killing Zombies.

Dead Rising 2 is more of the same, but with a few improvements in gameplay. This time around you play as former motorcross champion, Chuck Greene, who as you start the game is taking part in a controversial game show called 'Terror is Reality' where the contestants kill Zombies for money. This money is needed by Chuck to buy a drug called Zombrex, for his infected Daughter, Katey.

After a short linear mission at the beginning of the game, you arrive in a shelter with a few other survivors, and are given free reign over what you do, and how you play the game from here on out. You can chose to tackle the main story missions and get Zombrex for Katey which needs to be applied every 24 hours. Or you can fail the missions, let Katey die and spend the rest of your time using a variety of weapons to kill Zombies.

If you go down the story missions route, you are given objectives which you must tend to before set times each day, if you fail to do them on time you will fail the remainder of the missions and can either start again or continue and chose another path.

There are lots of Survivors in the game, and you will always be recieving texts telling you that a survivor has been spotted, and you can go and rescue them and escort them back to the safe room, for a large amount of experience points, which make your character level up and earn attributes such as, Health, Speed and a increase in the amount of items you can carry.
There are also Physchopaths in the game, which like the survivor locations, are sent to you via text for you to tackle or ignore. Some of these can be extremely tough, and will see you die a few times before working out the best way to beat them, but it's very satisfying when you do, and once again you recieve a big experience boost for killing them. It would be a wise idea levelling up before even considering tackling them.

New to this game is the addition of Combo Cards. Combo cards are recieved from either levelling up, or from killing certain Pyschopaths. They teach you which weapons you need to combine, to make a more powerful version of that weapon. These range from anything like, using a baseball bat with nails to create a spiked bat, chainsaws on a wheelchair or using a torch and jewels to make a lightsaber. There are lots of different combinations to try out, and for me personally this was one of the more fun aspects of the game.

There is also now a Co-op mode, which enables a friend or random player, to join your game and play through it in whichever way you choose. The other player is also Chuck Greene, and at the end of the session can keep the stats and experience they recieved during the game, and take them back to their single player story. Only the host keeps any kind of story progression.



Multiplayer

New to the series is the Multiplayer mode, this takes place in the 'Terror is Reality' season, and consists of 4 players, battling for the most points which at the end of each round converts to cash which can be transferred to Chuck in the main game. These mini-games consist of:

Bounty Hunter - In this mode each of the 4 players are given sniper rifles, and must kill as many Zombies as possible. Zombies all head into the centre grinder, and occasionally a bonus target pops up allowing the person that hits it to kill all the Zombies inside, and puts up a barrier blocking the other peoples view for a few seconds.

Ramster Ball - Each player is placed into a giant hamster ball, and must run over Zombies and hit pinball-esque bumpers to score big points. Only one person is 'it' and can score points, while the other players have to bump into that person so they can become 'it' and score points too. The highest scorer wins.

Slicecycles - This is always played last, and basically puts each player onto a motorbike equpped with dual chainsaws, and gives them the simple rule of running over and killing as many Zombies as possible in the time limit. Big bonuses are given for hitting the Zombies with balloons attached to them.

Stand Up Zomedy - This consists of a bunch of Zombies, and 4 different types of props. The players must fight to get 3 different types or props onto the same Zombie, and can gain extra points by sticking them onto one of their rivals Zombie and breaking the chain.

Ball Buster -All of the players are given a infinite supply of bowling balls, and must throw them at Zombies when the doors open to reveal them, this requires quick reflexes to get major points.

Headache - In this mode you have to put Blender hats onto the Zombies, and then press a button to activate them to gain points, higher points are scored for the more hats you have on them before you press the button. You also get Dynamite which can be thrown towards the other contestants to ruin their chained combo.

Pounds of Flesh - You are given a Antler helmet and basically have to charge at the Zombies and aim for them landing on a giant weighing scale. The heavier the Zombie the more points you get.

Master Shafter - Multiple landing zones show up in the arena, and you have to rush to them and catch the landing Zombies for points. If more than one player enters the same landing zone, a button mashing sequence appaers, with the winner tripping the other player(s), and stealing the points.

Zomboni - You are driving something which resembles a snow plow and must run over Zombies to collect their blood, which is then shot out at giant head collecters to earn points.

After playing 3 of these randomly picked mini-games, you play the finale game which is Slicecycles, to get as many kills and a big boost to the prize fund.
Overall I found the multiplayer to be a very welcome addition to the game, and although after alot of sessions it does become quite repetitive, it's still very fun to play. The only issue I have with it, is that it's hard to find games, and you will be disconnected randomly alot of the time. Also people now seems to drop out when they are losing, which ends the game for everyone else and you lose all of your winnings.


The load times for me are a major problem. They are everywhere in this game, because it's all done in real time, the clock still counts down during cutscenes, the game pauses to load the upcoming cutscene, shows it, then loads again to get back to the game. Everytime you go outside or into a casino there is yet again another loading screen. This becomes very annoying after a while and ditracts from the fluidity of the game.

The Achievements in this game are a bit hit and miss, on one hand they require multipe playthroughs, which adds longevity to the game, however on the other hand, alot of them can feel like a big grind at times. Things like killing 72,000 Zombies in the 72 hours of game time can become very tedious, and then there are things like using every weapon, wearing every item of clothing and killing 1000 Zombies barehanded. While some are fun, and you'll enjoy actually trying to unlock them, overall I think only the most dedicated of players will actually max this game, which could put alot of achievement hunters off slightly.

The Good

- Lots of fun making weapons combinations to take down the Zombies in a variety of amusing ways.
- Fun Multiplayer mode with some real tension whilst trying to win
- Tons of replayability
- The sheer amount of Zombies onscreen at any one time is simply stunning.

The Bad

- Load times.
- Issues with the game dropping co-op players when the host saves.
- Disconnecting players online ruining it for everybody else.
- Achievements feel like a grind.

Overall it's a very entertaing game, at the start I felt a little overwhelmed with the freedom I was given to do anything I wanted, this was made worse by looking at the achievement list and having no idea where to even start. However as you learn where things are, how to get to places and start playing the missions, you quickly become adjusted to it and each playthrough becomes better than the last.
If it wasn't for the co-op and the multiplayer issues, I would give this a extra half of a point, but it does detract from some of the enjoyment of the game, and makes it much harder to unlock certain achievements.

I give this game a well deserved 8.0 out of 10.

Excellent review Leigh

Has left me really considering trying this now where previously I had zero interest in Dead Rising 2

Great review mate, having not played the first one, i wasn't gonna rush out to get this. But its one i'll certainly consider picking up at some point!

well played Leigh matey

seems lots of folks are wishing that a few issues had been ironed out prior to its launch

lets hope there is a patch on the way soon for the load times at least

repped

Good review Leigh, I pretty much agree with everything you said. I knew some of the achievements were going to be a bit tedious though because they were like that in the first game, I think the one for using all melee weapons takes it a bit too far though, there's hundreds of weapons in the game so it seems impossible without a list and I guess it all has to be done in a single play through as well.

I was a huge fan of the first DR game and DR2 lived up to my expectations, the only thing that really takes away the enjoyment for me is the issue with players getting kicked in co-op and the loading, I assume they'll eventually patch the co-op issue though.

Ok, firstly I must say I am very impressed with your reviewing skills Leigh.
I like your honest tell it how it is style, very easy to read

Secondly, I will pick this up when its £14.99 at xmas

Thirdly, I am surprised you gave it an 8 given all the problems the game has with loading times and dropouts and the inability to finish multiplayer. Sounds sloppy and rushed out like ALOT of recent games and I think we all need to start taking a stand against unfinished games.

i only played a little bit of the first partly because of the bloody save points.

Althogh this does look good. Maybe a rental or even waiting for it to be cheaper

I gave it a 8 Kent, because even after the issues with Co-op dropping and the long load times, if you put that aside and focus on just the gameplay, the amout of things to do, longevity etc, it's still a really really good game. One of the most fun ones I've played in a while. I'd definately put it in my top 5 games of this year.

There was also a patch this morning which is rumoured to have fixed the co op dropping, though I've yet to test it.

I also got 71,000 out of the 72k needed for the achievement earlier, but the time ran out. Which was annoying, but I went from level 25 to 41 while doing it so don't mind too much.

I was playing co-op for about 4 hours earlier and never got kicked when the host saved, so this morning's update seems to have fixed that.

Leigh, that's really unfortunate missing out on 1000 kills for that achievement, I haven't even attempted it yet, were you using the SUV? seems like that's the only way to do it.

Yeah I did the thing where I had about 10 driving mags so it took 30x longer for the SUV to break. I noticed the update made it easier to actually kill Zombies when running them over. Might give it one last shot tomorrow.

Good review mate, I like your brutal honesty.

YES this game has its issues.
NO there isnt a game as fun as Dead Rising 2.

Im currently loving finding new ways to annihilate zombies!!

Leigh36295 wrote:Yeah I did the thing where I had about 10 driving mags so it took 30x longer for the SUV to break.

I remember you saying something about this the other day, is it a glitch or something? you'll have to show me how it works sometime if you don't mind.

sadly the games only a rental, and I have to return it tomorrow. Seriously considering buying it though. But basically, you get someone to join your game with a driving mag in their inventory, they drop it, you pick it up, they quit. You still keep their items. Rince and repeat till you have as many as your inventory allows. Each magazine gives 3x 4-wheel vehicle durability.

Also thanks for the kind words from all the people who have commented. Makes all the effort feel worthwhile .

ok that makes sense, one thing I'm a bit unsure of is how do you get your inventory to carry over to someone's game? I've always joined my mates game from the main menu and my inventory is empty, do I have to load my game first or something and then join?

I'll have to try this next time my mates on, seems like it could be useful, have some rep.

Looks like DR2 is going to need some helpful boostage for quite a bit of stuff

Hopefully we can use our GSA chums to beat this game!

Ninja Yaro wrote:ok that makes sense, one thing I'm a bit unsure of is how do you get your inventory to carry over to someone's game? I've always joined my mates game from the main menu and my inventory is empty, do I have to load my game first or something and then join?

I'll have to try this next time my mates on, seems like it could be useful, have some rep.

You have to load whichever save you want it on, I recommend starting a new game and just saving in the safe house, because you'll need all the time you can get. I also found out the 72 hours only starts after you give Katey the Zombrex so you actually get 76 hours. But anyways, loads the game you want, and you have to pause, go onto playerlist and invite them that way. Your friend has to be in a game already too, and has to accept the invite through the pause screen. If you just do it all through the guide button it doesn't carry your items over for some reason.

Also you'll wanna get the SUV keys before you start the playthrough. This next bit will sound confusing, but it makes much more sense ingame. I'll do it step by step to make it a bit more easy.

1). you're friend brings in the mag, drops it for you and quits out. Make sure you don't save at all throughout this till the step 4.
2). reinvite him, and repeat step one till you have about 5
3). then instead of of him giving you em 1 at a time, he hosts, you give him the 5 you have, then switch again so he gives you them so you have 10. Makes it quicker than one at a time.
4). once you give the whole 10 to him, reload your save so you have the time back and get him to give you all 10 one last time so you have them all and all the time back.
5). Leave the mall part, and come out where the cage ball is. run straight for the little buggy thing and drive to the SUV. Then just run over zombies, till you have about 2000 kills, drive to the save point in the middle, save, then reload the save and get in the buggy again and repeat step 5. You have to load because the Zombies start thinning out so you get less kills, and its better to do it this way than going into a casino, because pyschopaths wont spawn if you're still outside.

good to see they have made getting some achs much more straight forward this time....cough lol

nice guide leigh mate

you are a top man

Thanks Leigh, I will definitely have to give that a go before I try for the 72k kills achievement. Have some more rep as well for taking the time to write a full guide, it will definitely save me some time.

Nice Review Leigh, you make some good points.

As many faults as there are with the game I still love it, completed it twice through now. (And made sure I rescued every survivor and killed every psycho the second time round. Quite annoyed that there's not an Achievement for either of these though, as theres more than 50 survivors and more than 10 psychos.)

Not looking forward to the 72,000 zombie achievement.. the 52,000(ish) one from the first game took forever!!!

Quite happy to help out on Co-op if anyones up for it, just add me.

Reading through some of my old reviews, and this is really making me wanna try for that 72,000 Kill achievement again :/

Leigh36295 wrote:Reading through some of my old reviews, and this is really making me wanna try for that 72,000 Kill achievement again :/

Just keep working on your MGS reviews!!

KENT HAMMER wrote:

Leigh36295 wrote:Reading through some of my old reviews, and this is really making me wanna try for that 72,000 Kill achievement again :/

Just keep working on your MGS reviews!!

Are you wanting them combined into one review feature or two separate reviews?

Seperate reviews mate is fine.

Don't worry, am working on them . Just been a while since I wrote one so was looking through past reviews to get ideas of layout etc.

I've completed the MGS3 and am working on the review for that now. Will start on MGS2 as soon as I'm finished.

This is probably one of my favourite and satisfying completions. I just barely hit 72,000 zombies with seconds to spare (after at one point being several thousand ahead of plan, so dunno what happened there), and all of the collection achievements were not that painful surprisingly. My one gripe was the competitive multiplayer stuff. I went in once "knowing" I only had one game to beat to finish the game, I beat it and nothing happened. I had to re-win every game to get the last MP achievement. Finding a match is a lengthy affair, it's horribly laggy if you do, and if you have a boosting party, the game determines matches on connection speed and distance, so even if all 4 of you are the only ones playing, you wont necessarily get in a lobby together.

Regardless, I loved it so much that I picked up Off The Record. The issue is that my usual gaming buddies have no interest in it after DR2, and to me the game just isn't as fun solo as it is in co-op. As such I don't have much urge to play it right now.