Review of Dead Rising

In the game you play Frank West, a photographer, who is out looking the ultimate scoop. He is flown by helicopter and dropped off on the roof of a large mall in the small town of Willamette. Once you enter the mall the fun begins as there is an unending supply of zombies ready for you to kill in every imaginable way. You can slaughter zombies with everything from a toy light saber to handguns, shotguns, katana swords, baseball bats, axes, chainsaws, nail guns and more. Each weapon has its own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. The blood and gore is intense so it is not surprising the game received its Mature rating.

If you downloaded the demo and tried Dead Rising you may have quickly become bored the the repetitiveness of killing zombies. In the full version of the game there is not only an amazing assortment of weapons, but the map is very large with nearly a hundred different stores that can be explored. You can just explore the map in a free-form mode or try to solve the cases and escort the survivors to safety.

The graphics in the game are very good. The splattering blood and slashing off of limbs is sure to please the horror fans out there. The cut scenes have some of the best shadows and lighting effects of any on the 360 to date.

Dead Risings aiming system is similar Resident Evil 4. You have to hold the right trigger button to enter the aiming system and then move the left thumb control for aiming. The problem is every time you have to aim you have to stop moving and you can not easily see what is behind you. Aside from this the controls are well thought out.

If you follow the game straight through and solve each case and escort each of the survivors the game is very difficult. There are several psychopaths (bosses) that you have to get past. Once you figure out how to kill each it is not very difficult to get past them again.

The sound effects in the game are very realistic. With Dolby surround sound the bashing and slashing of zombies never sounded so good. The generic mall music and announcements in the background are a great touch.

Although Dead Rising is good it does have some problems. The biggest complaint centers around the game saving method. In order to save you have to get to a bathroom. When you exit the game and you can very easily overwrite your last save. If this happens you have to start back at the beginning of the game. At least you retain your skills and weapons, but this is a real pain if you have played for several hours and then lost it all. Another flaw that gamers with non-hdtv's will have a very hard time reading the text dialogs. If Capcon would have made the text larger this would not have been an issue. Also why no multiplayer or co-op modes?

Overall we found the game very fun to play and mildly addicting. It is challenging and the map is larger enough to provide you countless hours of entertainment. The mystery behind the game is intriguing and will keep you guessing till the end.