One Life Left 10/7/10

Game|Dead Rising 2

Platform|Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Rating|Mature

“Why did mommy bite me, daddy?” asks Katey, one of the main characters of Capcom’s zombie series, Dead Rising.

Chuck Green, the protagonist, responds to his daughter with obvious hurt in his voice: “That wasn’t mommy, sweetheart, that was just a monster that looked like mommy.”

The game starts the player off as Chuck, a motorcross champion who finds himself in Fortune City (the city built as a replacement for Las Vegas, which was lost in a zombie outbreak). He is a contestant on a reality TV show called “Terror is Reality,” which makes people compete with each other to see who can kill the most zombies to win a cash prize. Chuck needs this cash to buy his daughter’s daily dose of “Zombrex,” a prescription drug that stops those who have been bitten by zombies from turning into a full-fledged undead.

However, an accident causes all the captive zombies to break free from their containment, and as zombies are wont to do, they start eating everyone left and right.

Chuck makes it to a safe house, only to find out that the media has accused him of starting this outbreak. Now Chuck must clear his name, make sure his daughter gets her Zombrex and survive for three days before the military shows up.

If you played the first Dead Rising, you’ll know that the game presents certain time limits for missions to be completed. As you only have 72 hours, all the plot-driven missions occur during specific times of the day. Luckily the game gives you a handy, easy-to-access digital watch. But once the mission begins, there is also a time limit on completing all the objective within said mission, and the game also throws at you side mission (each with its own time limit) so the game creates a tense time management aspect which may sound stressful, but is actually very immersive.

Now, obviously there are zombies in the game. Over 50,000 zombies to be a little more specific. The player can pick up almost anything to be used as a weapon. Trash can? Sure! Toy Helicopters? Wouldn’t recommend it, but go for it! Even better, certain items can be duct- taped to other items to create combo weapons, which give substantially more experience points with each kill.

The shotgun with a pitchfork creates a “Boomstick,” grenades taped to a football creates a “Hail Mary,” and — my personal favorite — a pair of boxing gloves with six bowie knives creates a pair of ridiculous-look Wolverine claws.

One also gains experience through the finding and saving of other survivors around Fortune City, who unlike the last game, aren’t completely useless. They can fend for themselves, will avoid running through large groups of zombies and will always be close behind you. (Unless you have to carry them, which complicates things).

By far the best aspects of the game are the bosses, known only as the “psychopaths.” Psychopaths are survivors who have gone crazy, and offer some amazing dialogue and fights (and not to mention amazing rewards if you choose to defeat them).

Special mention must go to “Slappy,” a psychopath in a giant toy store mascot costume with roller-skates who blames you for losing his love. His weapon of choice? Two super-soakers with gas cans strapped to them creating makeshift, albeit colorful flamethrowers.

The game is designed for the player to not be able to complete every side mission. That and the fact there are five different endings allows for maximum replayability. Couple this with the fact that Capcom allows you to transfer your current character to a new story, and the player is pretty much set.

If you’ve played the first Dead Rising, you already own this game. If you haven’t, I highly recommend at least giving the demo a try. Its a lot of fun, but the time crunching may turn some people off, who are looking for a more laid-back experience.

Dead Rising 2 gets an 8/10.

Santiago Azpurua-Borras is a sophomore from Phoenix, AZ.