What I want to see from Dead Rising 2

Zombies – can’t live with them, and nerds can’t live without them. Though some gamers these days are arguing that zombies are suffering some over saturation in games these days, I am not one of them. I firmly believe zombies could be added to literally any game and that game would be better for it. Maybe not any, but most.

Being a huge zombie nerd, I nearly lost my mind when I first played Dead Rising. Outside of the weird photography experience mechanic (leveling up main character Frank West was partly dependant on taking different, vaguely defined pictures) the biggest draw of the game was being inside a giant mall (just like Dawn of the Dead!) where you could use anything and everything to smash countless zombie skulls.

But beyond bashing zombies with shovels and battle axes, Dead Rising was a pretty brutal game to play. The save system only allowed for one save slot, so if you got in a bind you were stuck with the last time you saved. Along with that, you could only save at bathrooms which, like most malls, were almost non-existent. One of the main tasks in Dead Rising is to try and save as many survivors from the mall as possible. This wouldn’t be so hard if they were actively trying to die as fast as possible by doing things like not following closely enough, not following at all, getting stuck on things, and moving slower than the zombies themselves. But to get info on where these survivors are, you are briefed by Otis, a maintenance man stuck in the mall’s security offices (the only safe haven). Unfortunately, Capcom didn’t get anyone to do voice work for Otis so these tidbits of information are deliver via the tiniest, most unreadable text possible. It wasn’t until after the game was released that Capcom admitted that the only tested Dead Rising on HDTVs and anyone without one probably(definitely) wouldn’t be able to read that text. Oh, and that they weren’t going to fix it. Ever. But on top of that, my biggest gripe was the way the game hurried you along. You were only given 72 (in game) hours to save as many people as possible and discover the source of the zombies before a helicopter was supposed to rescue everyone.

For starters, I know for certain that the time constraint is still part of Dead Rising 2. Developers at Capcom stated that they gathered that American audiences didn’t understand that Dead Rising was designed and meant to be played multiple times, so as to level up West. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t really grasp that aspect of the game and viewed the 72-hour time limit as almost a mistake more than carefully considered element of the game. I’m the kind of gamer who likes to take his time and explore my options in a game and didn’t appreciate the feeling of being hurried along through Dead Rising. A game’s replayability should come from how well it’s made and making me want to play it again, not be forced to play it multiple times to experience all it has to offer.

That aside, it seems that Capcom has righted all Dead Rising’s other wrongs, though. Gone is the photography aspect of Dead Rising – the method used to earn experience and level up West. Replacing it is a much more intuitive way to earn experience points. In Dead Rising 2, protagonist Chuck Greene will be able to create deadly weapons by combining items he finds in Fortune City. The more unique, violent and interesting the combinations are, the more experience points Greene earns – so instead of having to pull out a camera to try and catch some ambiguously defined photo-op, your XP points are now directly related to how creatively you can dispatch zombies.

I’m really hoping I won’t be tasked with saving too many hapless survivors in Fortune City but I’m not going to hold my breath on that matter. Greene finds himself in Fortune City because his daughter, Katie, was bitten some time ago and needs regular doses of a drug called Zombrex to stave off infection. You’d think Greene’s biggest concern would be keeping his daughter as hopped up on the drug as he can and not running around, saving some fools who couldn’t figure out how to elude the shambling hordes on their own. Unfortunately, the most I can hope for is that Capcom gave these survivors enough smarts to not wander helplessly into a sea of zombies when they should be following me to safety.

But more than anything, I want the multiplayer to be fun. I don’t know much about it outside of the modes revolve around a reality TV show of sorts with each game have different variations of “kill the most zombies” requirements. Honestly, I probably won’t even play the multiplayer since I will still probably be playing “Halo: Reach’s” multiplayer. Dead Rising 2 does feature a co-op mode – because splattering zombie skulls is so much more satisfying when done with a friend.

Luckily, “Dead Rising 2: Case Zero” will finally be debuting on Xbox Live Marketplace and sometime next week (Tuesday or Wednesday, I’d guess). The game proper was originally planned with an end of August release date but got pushed back, also pushing back Case Zero. While Case Zero is essentially a demo, it’s also much more. Case Zero is set (some years, I believe) before the events of Dead Rising 2 and features Chuck and Katie stuck in a small town where Chuck must find a method of transportation so the two can escape. Though it will cost 400 MS points ($5), all the experience you earn as Chuck will transfer over to Dead Rising 2, allowing you to get a leg up on the zombies of Fortune City. I’ll be interested to see just what in the way of missions is included in Case Zero but let’s be honest – I just want to see how many different, zombie mangling weapon combos I can create.

To surmise, I wasn’t disappointed by Dead Rising because it was a bad game – it was actually pretty great considering how different it was from any other game at the time. It was only held back by some unfortunate design choices that (I’m hoping) will be rectified for the sequel. And from what I’m seeing so far – Dead Rising 2 is everything I had hoped its predecessor would be. Be on the lookout for a full review of Case Zero next week.