You could turn every which way and see the face of a human devouring zombie looking at you as if you were a side dish at Olive Garden. Throw the environment of the mall in the mix, as well as normal people gone bad and you have Capcoms new game named ‘Dead Rising’. You have now entered Willamette Park View Mall, and have 72 hours to get your scoop and get out safely.
At first look you would probably say that Dead Rising is just a typical zombie killing game where you just go off committing zombie genocide. It really doesn’t have to be that way at all, no missions specifically tell you to kill a number of zombies to attain something or complete a mission. Yet killing these zombies help you increase your level which helps you learn new fighting moves, and helps other traits. There’s alot more to Dead Rising than just gaining level advancements, otherwise there would be no point other than to slaughtering hundreds of on screen zombies which could get boring almost as fast as the original ‘State Of Emergency’ game. Here is a brief rundown of the game and its traits.
Gameplay
Gameplay is the most important part of any game. Classics like Pong have primitive graphics and still can be rated higher than more advanced gamed even on the market today. Dead Rising makes gameplay its top priority. Killing zombies is fun and all, but it’s more important what you kill them with that twists the game into a zombie genocide frenzy. The weapon variety in Dead Rising is so vast that it contains so many weird weapons. Some weapons that can be used to fight off enemies range from CDs, a big teddy bear, a plastic light saber, and a clothes hanger to a katana, a battle-axe, a sledgehammer, and even a lawn mower.
The variety is completely insane. At the beginning you will not notice the huge variety, but you will see it eventually. But the most useful weapon which even surprised me – The Queen Bee. To attain ‘The Queen Bee’ you have to first see and hear it. Usually you’ll see a zombie swatting at something, that is when you have located one. Catch it like you’re picking up a normal weapon, and save it for good use – a crowd of zombies. When you get to a big crowd of zombies use this, the zombies in the area around you will fall to the ground. The only downside of “The Queen Bee” is that it is only useable one time per capture, so use it sparsely.
Weapons aren’t everything believe it or not. The environment of Dead Rising remedies that of a regular mall. The mall contains clothes stores, toy stores, music stores, food stores, and much more. I believe every room has a cash register that is a usable weapon for your information, but the register gets boring to use after awhile. Sometimes in rooms you can change your characters clothing from his jacket. You can even make Frank wear a dress, or even kids clothes. Also yes, the full Mega Man suit is available but you need to attain it yourself. The mall also has a courtyard outside which contains you guessed it; more zombies. But outside there is a lawn mower, which is fun to use to mow down crowds of zombies.
While on your journey you’ll most likely lose health because of zombies attacking you, even if they are slow there is that marginal error on your part. That is when you need to find some sort of food store. There is food scattered throughout the mall like bags of chips that can help. Food stores and restaurants contain better health reviving food like juice which gives you more health than chips and bread. I personally suggest carrying a juice with you at all times. It is better to be safe and lack one weapon in your inventory and carry a juice than die and need to restart from your last save point.
There are some transportational items like a bicycle and skateboard. So look around for those as well, just be careful when riding too fast.
***Score: 9/10***
Graphics
I give the graphics of a rating of 9/10. The zombie models get somewhat repetitive even if there is a nice amount of different models. Everything in the environment seemed pretty solid, and some of the weapon item use actions were great. Powering up the battle-axe and swinging in circles like crazy made me giggle like a little schoolgirl. The lighting seemed fairly good, and the cinematics looked gorgeous. If there were more diversity in the models of the zombies it would have made a 10/10. But other than repetitiveness, the zombies look extraordinary.
***Score: 9/10***
Sound
The sounds in Dead Rising was one of my favorite aspects. The use of a katana had an admiring sound when slicing a zombies torso in half, hitting a golf ball sounded real, and the zombies groaning might just send shivers down your spine. Each weapon had a different and distinct noise making the use of a new weapon even more refreshing, even if it was just throwing a CD case at a zombie’s head. Even blunt objects have great audio equipped with them when whacking away at a zombies skull. Such objects like a nightstick and 2×4 have great, yet sickly comical sounds to them.
Just remember that the gushing of a zombie’s abdomen from a swift samurai-like swing of a katana leaving the zombie helpless is a lot cooler. Also, there is a music store containing guitars that you can use, as well as a bass guitar and an acoustic guitar. The astonishing sound of smashing a zombie with an electric guitar could keep me entertained for days on end, no exaggeration. Yet the sound track itself in the game doesn’t stand out, I find the sounds committed by the player are far more important to the games gameplay value. And yes, like any other violent game there are guns, but what fun is that? (Unless in a boss fight they like a necessity sometimes).
***Score: 9.5/10***
All In All
***Score: 27.5/30***
Overall Capcoms “Dead Rising” is worth the price tag of $60. Dead Rising contains something for everyone whether its zombie bashing, picture taking, escort missions, or just trying on kids clothes. Although it would be nice for an online multiplayer option, the game still holds strong. My advice is to actually play the story more so than killing zombies. The vast weaponry selection is great, but if abused the killing may get boring.
One more thing they should definitely add if there is a sequel is an Abercrombie store. I could spend all day messing up the clothes in there with zombie blood, but maybe that’ll be the new trend anyway.
Happy Gaming Everyone.
-Drew
Any questions or comments? E-mail me at [email protected] Thank you.
