Full Review for Dead Rising 2 by Forgoten_Scars

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the Dead Rising 2 game review for SuperCheats.com, provided by Forgoten_Scars. Not anything official, but my take on the game after going through it. I've had a few weeks to play this game, so I thought I might as well give a review for it a quick shot. In this, I'll try to point out the main selling points and fault in the game, ultimately giving you a quick overview of the game so you may decide to buy it or not.

Dead Rising 2 is an action-adventure, survivor horror video game, developed by Capcom in partnership with Blue Castle Games. This game was released to most places around September 24, 2010. Dead Rising 2 is a sequel to the original Dead Rising game. The location of the game is a casino town that goes by the name of Fortune City. Main protagonist in this game is a male that goes by the name of Chuck Greene.

The rough storyline is as follows. Five years after the events of the first dead rising, a TV show called 'Terror Is Reality' is hosted in Fortune City. Former motocross champion Chuck Green is a contestant in said who where he is trying to kill as many zombies as he can with a motorbike. Soon after the show, something goes terribly wrong and a mass of zombies escape. Spreading their infectious disease by biting others, soon the whole town becomes over run with thousands of zombies, leaving only a few survivors left out there in the mess. It's up to Chuck Green to save as many as he can before the military arrives in 72 hours time. Along with this, he'll have to keep his daughter stocked up on an anti zombie drug called Zombrex, else she'll turn into a zombie herself. There are several outcomes to the story, depending on what the character does in the game. He could do anything from going out and killing all he pleases or following the storyline and trying to clear his name, as the main character is the main suspect in the zombie outbreak.

Graphics

The graphics for this game are average for the day it was made. Nothing spectacular, as this is a Capcom game, but nothing sub par either.

If you're looking for some great game to stun you with the graphics, best look somewhere else. This game will not impress, while at the same time, not disappoint. There's a heavy blur set on things not far from you, most likely to keep down on the processing power needed for this game. You get more than 10 feet from an object or person, they're most likely just going to become a blur in the distance.

I will give the makers of this game one point, they did well on the zombies. You can hack, slash, break, smash, fry, electrocute, do anything you want to these zombies, and they will react accordingly. Probably one of the most fun things about the graphics in this game, actually.

Cutscenes. We all love them. In this game, they're alright. The graphics for everything are pretty decent, all mouths and bodies moving as they should. There's some blur and rich colors around everything to look enticing to the player. Was a good step forward for the game.

The weapons are pretty decent as well in how they look. Sure, everything's still a bit blocky and doesn't appear to take all that much damage, but the detail in how the weapons work is pretty good. Electric wheelchair, for example. Sparks light up everything around the player, making it all the more fun. Same with all the fire and ice weapons one can make.

As for the lighting and everything that one might look for in detail in a game such as this, it was pretty good. Stationary objects such as shadows and slot machines that couldn't really be affected were done well. I have to give this as an up point to the creators. Was nicely done and everything seemed to set a proper mood.

As a final score for the graphics, I'll have to give this game a 7 out of 10. Not great, but not bad at the same time.

Sound

Sound is, yet again, a neutral object of the game. Just like the graphics, wasn't great, but wasn't bad at the same time. Can't expect all THAT much from Capcom, am I right?

Lets go into dialogue first, shall we? It was pretty good. There wasn't any cheese sound effects that shouldn't be there at the time or bad voice acting. Everything seemed to be done properly as far as the main characters go. The zombies, however, seemed to get a bit repetitive in what they say. Though, being mindless beasts, I guess one couldn't expect any more from them.

Objects and sound effects seemed to be on the money. Wasn't any bad timing, and everything seemed to have a proper sound for it, based on what you did with the object. Good point for the people that made the game.

The only downside I could really see is the music. There wasn't all that much music to really set the mood. There was, however, always a cheesy background set of music to keep the player's mind away from everything else. I'll be honest, I didn't like it. It was similar to elevator music and it was ALWAYS playing. Could have gone without it and instead had some real music to listen to as I rip a zombies head from it's body using a lawnmower.

For an overall score, I would have to give the sound a 7 out of 10. Wasn't good, wasn't bad, just in the middle.

Gameplay

Gameplay is most likely where this game shines. It's just flat fun, that's the only thing this game was made for. It's a horror game that knows how to laugh at itself.

Biggest part of the gameplay, the weapons. Just about anything you see in the game can be made into a weapon for beating a zombie to death. Beer bottles, light poles, cars, park benches, lights, even flat floppy purple dildos can be used as your weapons of choice. Best part about the weapons, the game's theme; "Creativity Kills". By that, they mean you can combine most things you see into even more powerful weapons. Things that just make sense when you take a better look at it. Chainsaws strapped to the sides of a bike, baseball bats with nails in them, sledge hammers with axes on them, boxing gloves with knifes stuck in the ends, and water guns with gas in them. Just about anything can be combined into a deadly weapon, or even a weapon for fun such as a helmet with a lawn mower on the top.

Storyline for the gameplay, was alright. Thing I liked most about it was that you could completely ignore it if you wanted to. Say you didn't want to go out and find the pimp that framed you, instead wanting to go out and bash your head through a pile of zombies. You could, and why could you? Because the game knows how to have fun. For the main story, it was alright. A bit hard to follow at first, but once you really got into it, the story made a lot of sense.

Only bad thing I could think of in this game was the learning curve. It was so steep, it had a freaking overhang. When thrown into the game, you have utterly no idea how to even move. The game just mainly expects you to figure out things on your own. You're set out there with barely any health, no defense, no idea how to use weapons, and a run so slow your grandmother could pass by the main character. In short, there's no point in even attempting to beat the story on your first playthrough, as it's nearly impossible. It's like trying to have a sword fight with Jackie Chan when you have nothing but a small dagger. After a playthrough filled with plenty of leveling up, the game becomes incredibly easy.

The survivors in the game are a bit ridiculous near the end. Most of them want you to pay them so that you can take them to safety. Idiotic, in my opinion, but most likely average for Capcom's intelligence. Good thing is that they will stick with you when you rescue them without you having to constantly look back and make sure they're still there. Upside... Or downside. Whichever way you want to look at it. They could have used a bit of work in planning out how they would behave once they actually saw someone wanting to help them out, but I guess it could do for now. Not like money was much of a problem after all of those ATM machines I had smashed.

On the subject of survivors, there are some that are bad. Psychos in the game, being the biggest ones, but also the looters that you'll occasionally find going around the place. I never exactly saw the point in killing them, as they do the exact same thing you do; Raid stores for supplies and take all the money you can. Guess it was just an "Every man for themselves" type of situation there. Could have used a bit of work, but I'm not complaining. The psychos in the game seem to fit, though. All of them gone crazy from the zombie outbreak and really just made the place all the better. Anything from chefs cooking people in stews to rednecks on a roof with guns, talking about killing liberals. Was nice.

Zombie intelligence is roughly the same as survivor. Mainly consists of them banging their heads on walls for a few hours, only turning around when you've decided to beat their heads in with an axe. Not smart on their part, but mindless things can't be expected to set up traps now can they? Good for the part, I guess. Was fun getting rid of them.

9 out of 10 for the gameplay. Simple, yet fun.

Lastability

For lastablility, I would have to say it's absolutely great, as it literally never ends. Even if your 72 hours do run up, you'll still be able to pick up right where you left off, as all your skills stay exactly the same. With that, it becomes and endless party mainly consisting of you beating up all the zombies you want, with whatever you want. If you're wanting to stick through this game and try to do everything you can, you'll probably be looking at a week or more of gameplay. Really nice if you just want to mess around and have a good bit of fun.

For the lastability of it, I would definitely give this game a 10 out of 10. Great job in keeping the game going, developers.

Overall

Overall, I would have to say this game would be an 8 out of 10. Worth the buy if you have some time and money that you want to kill off. I know I certainly had fun playing it, and will continue to play it until I've seen enough zombie insides to fill a city. Keep up the good work developers. If there is another game, I would hope it to be just as good.

Final Score: 82%