Dead Rising

Upon reading the basic plot for this genre I was intrigued, and thought how can you go wrong with a game based on a mall full of zombies with well over 150 weapons at your disposal? Upon actually playing it, I admit to being impressed as there is much to see and do in the game. It pays homage to the famous "Dawn of the Dead", but is not an exact copy, only the scenario is the same.

There are different ways to go about this game. You play as Frank West, a freelance photographer who is dropped off a small town mall on midday, and have 72 hours in the game (which translates to around 10.3 hours real time) before the chopper returns to collect you. In this time, you can either follow the story, and complete the set missions, or just go berserk with whatever weapon you can find on a mindless zombie rampage. As far as weapons go, they range from the brutal and devastating such as the small chainsaw, shotgun, katana, machine gun...to the downright useless and comical items like teddy bears water pistols, dinner plates and CD's! The more effective the weapon, the more satisfying the zombie death, ermm "re-death?" is. Alongside the vast range of weapons available, there are a series of hand to hand moves Frank can master upon levelling up. Levelling up happens when you collect enough points to progress to the next level, which is always rewarded with with an extra health bar, an extra inventory bar, or a skill. Best thing is, you can carry your skill onto the next game, so don't worry about not reaching level 50 as you can simply start again and continue building.

I find this game super addictive with massive replay value, as you can never get bored of laying into the hordes of literally never ending undead with your insane arsenal of grizzly tools. The zombies re spawn constantly and in the same numbers, so don't be shocked when you re-enter a room to find it packed wall to wall with zombies after clearing it out afew minutes before. If the walking corpses aren't enough, you have human dangers to deal with. Whether its felons tearing round on a armed jeep, a Vietnam vet with a machete, a disgruntled food store owner with a spiked shopping trolley or much worse...they are just around the corner. Survival takes a new meaning in this game, as there are very and I repeat VERY few places you can let your guard down. There are human survivors around the mall, who have to be not only located, but persuaded to come back to the security room and then escorted. Escorting survivors can be very irritating, as many are slow at moving and just run into crowds of zombies, meaning you have to keep going back to rescue them.

You are given time limits for everything; psychos, missions, survivors etc. You can easily check when the cut-off line is for each objective by checking your watch, you will need to do this in order to plan out an order of tasks, starting with most urgent.

All in all, an immersive, blood soaked, no holds barred rampage worthy of its 18 certificate. Just remember to get hold of Adam's chainsaw and the 3 books which boost its impact if you REALLY want to do some crowd controlling.

Dead rising is by far the best Xbox 360 game to be released yet. Dead Rising is a fresh and creative game that finally brings a zombie game to life in a entirely interactive mall. I highly suggest buying this game if you own a 360. You are Frank West, Photojournalist, the place? Willmete Colorado, the mall. Your mall, your actions, you decide the way the story goes, each action has a consequence.

As Frank West your goal is to stay alive three days until the chopper gets back and get a story. Use virtually anything to kill zombies, including but not limited to: televisions, two by fours, guns, chainsaws, propane tanks, saw blades, baseball bats, soccer balls, cardboard boxes, Shower heads and many many more.

Wear anything from suits, to children's clothes, dresses, Teddy bear masks, Horse heads, and sports clothes. Use other weapons for pure fun, such as: Light up swords, make up displays such as lipstick, and anything that you can find that you know wouldn't kill anyone.

Drive vehicles such as a red car and a motorcycle resembling a Harley Davidson Fat Boy.

Overall this game is fresh, creative, and excels expectations.

Capcom is one of the best, if not most popular 3rd party developers of all time. They've developed a lot of popular series and have created some interesting game characters, including the ones from street fighter, and resident evil.

But then comes Dead rising, which puts you in the shoes of a young freelance photographer looking for his big scoop to put his name into history. What he doesn't know is that for 3 days, from September 19th, to the 22nd in the year 2006, He's in for a blood-soaked, fear-inducing, adventure filled with excitement.

Frank West is tipped off about something big happening in Williamette, Colorado, a fictional town of about 50,000 people. He hires a low budget chopper pilot to fly him in so he can snap some pictures of the town. it's not long before the national guard come and chase the chopper away, but not before Frank is able to land on the mall's roof, and get in. He soon discovers that it's not a civil disturbance, but a zombie apocalypse. And for the next 72 hours, it's him, a few survivors, and nearly 50,000 blood-thirsty, flesh-starved zombies.

I got this one very late in the Xbox 360's lifespan, and i'm still not sure why I waited so long to pick this one up. It's a lot of fun and worth whatever you pay for it.

The main idea of Dead rising is to collect as many Prestige points (PP) as you can, while helping 2 particular people discover why the zombies have risen up in the first place. You collect prestige points by using your camera to take photographs of people, zombies, anything that's happening in the disaster zone of Williamette. You also collect points by killing zombies with whatever is at your disposal, including knives, sporting goods, tools, Electronics, and my personal favorite so far, the Chainsaw. You get the biggest PP boost by rescuing survivors and guiding them to the only sanctuary left - The security room.

The best part of the game, is the fact that you have a lot of freedom. for 72 hours, you can do whatever you please. Want to be a zombie-killing machine with whatever is at your disposal? You can. Do you want to rescue survivors? you can. Do you want to take pictures for your big story? do it. And are you sure you want to know why the zombie apocalypse is happening in the first place? stay close to 2 particular people, stay alive, and you might just learn exactly why there is a zombie apocalypse in the first place.

For anyone who hasn't picked up a copy of Dead rising yet, I strongly suggest you do so. The replay value is great.

9/10

Actually i thought it was a great game, The story was captivating ,the characters were interesting, and the zombie killing was highly satisfying. Everything you can pick up can be used as a weapon, but somethings are more useful than others (a katana is a better zombie killing implement than a cardboard box).

Sure, the targeting system is a little annoying at first, but it gets easier as you play on.

The only thing that I found to be a problem and made me want to throw my controller was the camera controls. Trying to take pictures of the zombies makes me glad that I can kill them afterward to relieve the frustration.

And frequent saving can alleviate the "Starting over when you die" problem. Y'see when you die (and you will die) you are given two options, you may either "save and exit" which will save Frank's stats and skills, and exit the game (thus making you start the game over from the beginning. OR you can choose the "load last save" option, which will take you back to the last time you saved.

I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves zombie movies

When I picked up Dead Rising at the local video game retailer I expected a pure and simple zombie bashing game. As a fan of the zombie genre, that was what I had wanted as well. While the game delivered the buckets of blood and pointless killing that I had craved at the time it also supplied a little more.

There is an actual plot line that involves multiple endings for the player to unlock. Of course the player can ignore the story which constricts them to a strict time track to stay on top of in order to complete each of the missions arrayed. Ignoring the plot line does not detract from the game as it lets the player simply run through the mall killing at will, or having a more noble streak and rescuing survivors.

The mall itself holds plenty of weapons to use, food to regenerate health, and clothes to change into. The graphics are well done, featuring great sound effects (especially the blood splatters), and some great killing moves.

The game also features some small RPG elements which allow your character to upgrade and gain more health, stronger attacks, and some new hand-to-hand attack moves to use against the zombie horde.

The only true gripe I have with the game is with the difficulty one can have with non-zombie enemies, and with the saving system, which requires you to run out of your way in order to find a save point which are scarce and scattered.

The game also only lets one keep one profile, which I believe makes it easier as you really only have one game to worry about, and lets you keep a single character which transfers from game to game so you don't have to start with a wimpy character like you do when you first pick up the game.

Overall I believe Dead Rising was an enjoyable zombie romp for those who enjoy the zombie genre. However if you are completely impatient, loath difficulty, and feel the developers must make a game comfortably around your own little mold that you have in your head, don't pick it up because you will merely get frustrated and annoyed.