Burdensome boss battles
If avoidance is advised for zombies, it's downright admonished for psychopaths - powerful, fast-moving nutjobs who've lost it amid the outbreak. Chuck is clumsy enough, his special moves invariably ending in a stutter and a corpse snacking on his neck, but against psychopaths his stilted movements make it feel like he's the one who's a lurching, brainless cadaver.
Flesh food is important - must have five a day
Of course, unevenly matched, overly prescriptive boss battles are standard Capcom fare. But the poor controls exacerbate to the point where only attritional bludgeoning and repeated restoring of health seems effective, especially against the final boss - virtually impossible, even by Capcom's infamous standards. But at least the increased number of save points reduces the trudge back after failure.
Levelling up also helps, but lags behind the difficulty curve on the first playthrough. Prestige Points return to provide increased strength, speed, item slots and special moves. Along with combo weapons, this system drives the Dead Rising 2 experience. And, in truth, it's an enjoyable aspect of the game. Left to your own devices, there's a lot of fun to be had levelling-up as you explore Fortune City, especially if a second player dips in for some co-op. But even at your leisure, Dead Rising 2 remains just too similar to the original.
You want a big bite? Catch it!
Verdict
In Dawn of the Dead, the zombies are compelled to return to the mall through some kind of instinct - a memory of what they used to do. For a few gamers that might be reason enough to pick up Dead Rising 2, and for a few of those even reason enough to enjoy it. But for those, like me, who struggled with the original's glitches and mechanics, the sequel does little, if nothing, to improve the experience.
And for those who missed Dead Rising first time around - and haven't been dissuaded by my review – do yourself a favour and pick up the original for a few pounds, rather than wasting your money on this full-priced sequel. ®
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Dead Rising 2
COMMENTS
Shaun of the Dead?
Zombieland. Zombieland. Zombieland.
DX9 < 360 < DX10
The 360 is not DX9, it's an early version of DX10 but doesn't support the features of full DX10. A PC that only supports DX9 will lack some of the DX10 features used in the 360.
Having said that, I think the 360's OS is based on NT5 so the software restriction is political, however you would still need the DX10 hardware features (which any card since the Radeon R600 GPU series will have).
I agree to the review
I totally agree to the review, why can't they develop a simpler but more fun action game?
I bought case 0 in xbox live and was highly disappointed. The game is nothing but time limit and J-RPG like errands of collecting this and that, graphics and details are well established but actual core essence of action game play is missing. There is no fun and no time to kill zombies because time is running out, saving your daughter. Capcom should learn from Left 4 dead. I am Japanese but keep getting disappointed by J-games, they are simply never changed last 10 years and nothing but good looking characters and pipe dream stories like final fantasy series.
I played the first game for......
.....about a couple of hours but just couldnt get into it due to the crappy save system.
Everytime I got killed (often as I've never got used to controllers rather than keyboards) I'd then have to sit through all the cut scenes and minor action points before I got back to the main game.
After half a dozen times I just ejected it, never played it again and traded it in for Guitar Hero World Tour.
Nice idea, dumb execution.
Play Defense Grid instead.
Long loading times?
@Timmeh Buy a decent SSD. Area to are takes <2 seconds on my PC.
