If you are a big zombie fan, then Dead Rising 2 is the game for you. The timed events, game clock and absurd bosses will definitely put the pressure on, but that won’t stop anyone from playing this game over and over again.
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Dead Rising 2 revolves around Chuck Greene, an ex-motocross superstar that has been accused of setting zombies free on Fortune City. Chuck not only needs to clear his name before rescue arrives but also have to get Zombrex for his daughter every 24 hours to prevent her from becoming a zombie. In between these two major events, Chuck has to rescue survivors, kill zombies, and deal with psychopaths.
The main ‘events’ happen at specific times, so Chuck is free to roam around and do side missions radioed to you. Taking survivors to the safe room, dealing with psychopaths, and even slaying zombies using special weapons (which we will talk about later) can earn you ‘PPs’, which levels Chuck up (maximum level is 50).
As Chuck’s level increases, his inventory, life, strength, throwing distance, speed as well as moves (like sweep, elbow drop, etc.) also increases. It may take a while to get to the highest level, so more than one playthrough is advised.
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Along the way you also get ‘combo cards’ that combines two items to make a more lethal weapon. For example, combining a box of nails with a bat results to a bat with nails that give 50pp for each zombie killed using a normal attack. Combined weapons last longer than normal items, so it’s good to look out for items that you can combine along the way.
While you are free to do whatever you want for three days, the missions have time limits. This is fine for side missions, but if you miss the deadline for the main mission, then you have to restart the game or play on without ever knowing the real ending. Missed side missions can be played on the next playthrough, especially if those side missions are all about slaying psychopaths.
The game comes with a multiplayer mode called Terror Is Reality that pits you with three other players in four mini-games. Winnings from the events can be carried over to your game, allowing you to buy more weapons without having to play casino games over and over again on single player.
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There is another mode called co-op that puts another ‘Chuck’ in the game, allowing two players to roam around the city and wreak havoc. The co-op mode is good for those who want to beat psychopaths, level up quickly, or just have fun. If you are serious in beating the game, we suggest playing the game solo first and then team up with a friend or another player in the next playthrough.
The graphics were not as good as other third person games and suffered from framerate and load issues, but this did not hamper our quest for killing 70,000 zombies. We just hope that Capcom finds a way to make the game load quicker.
Overall, Dead Rising 2 is a great game that will keep you busy for hours. You need to play it more than once to reach level 50, but it doesn’t matter as there are so many missions to do and zombies to kill.
