Dead Rising

Dead Rising, from Capcom, the masters of survival horror, is the first true Next Gen game for the xbox 360. Any other game out there, its questionable that they could've been done on a lesser console. This one however, is the first 'must buy' if you want to show off your consoles prowess.

The first time you run into the mall and see two hundred to three hundred zombies shambling around in front of you, your jaw will literally hit the ground... simply because the game does this with ease whilst keeping a truly solid frame rate and an excellent level of graphics.

The concept is shockingly simple. You're a journalist, dropped into a town overrun with zombies, specifically at the mall, you have to survive 3 days. Sounds easy right? Hell no.

Dead Rising is unfortunately going to draw comparisons between two properties. The first is George Romeros zombie movies, and fair enough, it does borrow the concept of the Dawn of the dead movie. The second, the Resident Evil games for some reason.

Let me assure you, the only thing Resident Evil 1 2 3 and 4 have in common with Dead Rising is that there's zombies. But in Dead Rising however, the zombies are much more threatening.

We're not talking modern day running zombies though, we've got the old style swarming zombies. Ever see a zombie movie and wonder 'How the hell did they get eaten? They could've just walked around them!' or something? Get your ass into the maintenance tunnels of Dead Rising, where literally hundreds of zombies pack the halls and you have to wade your way through.

The game play is third person above and behind, the controls are fluid and intuitive, response time from Frank, the journalist, is superb. Capcom have really outdone themselves. The controls are simple, not complicated and every time you get a new skill, it's something to add to your arsenal to turn Camera from Camera toting wimp into Zombie masher extraordinaire.

The weaponry in this game, is incredible. Every sound seems spot on for whatever you're using. You can use things from knives to katanas, pistols to 50. cal machine guns, from chainsaws to fence post hole diggers called Excavators. Each weapon affects the zombies in an individual way for the most part. The Katana will slice zombies in half with whatever angle it hits. It may be from the shoulder to the groin or the head to the leg, it doesn't matter, no hit seems to be exactly the same. The Excavator is just pure gold but I won't spoil that one, it's got to be seen to be fully believed.

Dead Risings only missteps, are minor ones. Well, maybe one major one and the rest are minor. So what are they? 1. People complain about the one save slot. However, Capcom ensure you'll never have to truly start again as any progress in a previous game, if you're killed, can be taken over into a new game. Personally I found a way around only one save slot. I use a memory card and a hard drive in conjunction with each other. This allows me essentially two.

2. No true Free roaming mode. There's a survival mode you can unlock and thats nice, but there doesn't seem to be a true 'free roam' mode as such. Not that that's such a bad thing. The game might get a tiny bit tedious if that was all you'd do...

3. Unforgiving plot. In this game, you have main cases and side cases. Side cases are optional, they're usually rescuing people or defeating psychopaths. Main missions are the ones you must do to progress. Miss one of these and you're done.

4. Time goes by way too fast. An hour goes past in 4 minutes roughly. The game lasts 72 hours, you're looking at between 5 - 6 hours game play. But thats a truly MINOR quibble. The game has that much re-playability it's not funny. If you can get through this, or even half way, in your first few days, I'll buy you a beer :D So to conclude. Dead Rising isn't without its faults. Pobodys Nerfect as they say. It's my cup of tea and then some, but it's not someone elses, but they're not writing this review. My recommendation is this... if you want a showpiece for your 360, a game that you can either stuff around in for hours or play seriously, if you want something that's surprisingly deep for such a shallow concept, check out Dead Rising, you won't be disappointed.

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.

It's really refreshing sometimes to play a game that doesn't take itself too seriously nor does it provide any philosophical, deep, moral messages or even thought-provoking. What it does is entertains and sometimes that's all you want.

Inspired by the likes of the George Romero zombie flicks of yore, Dead Rising tells the tale of Frank West, a no-nonsense photographer who has landed, quite literally, into a living hell of a story. And that hell comes from the mindless hordes of zombies that seek to devour nothing but human flesh as well as generally moaning and groaning. He gets more than what he bargained for as he uncovers a conspiracy that goes far deeper than he has expected.

With that premise in mind, it's easy to see the parallels to past zombie flicks and here it works really well. The Resident Evil games without a doubt are MUCH more intense than this game, but Dead Rising spices things up by game-play variety. Not only do you get to take pictures, but you also must time them right to get the perfect shot which earns you points that level up your character. You can also take on side missions ranging from rescuing civilians and killing bosses. And man, some of the boss fights are really good and inventive with a wide assortment of lunatics to defeat and once you defeat them, you get rewards like key cards and even new weapons. Some of the weapons are really cool; especially the ones that impales zombies and have them spinning around and around are darkly humorous and you can even use a lawn mower!!! Add to the fact that you can drive vehicles to mow down zombies and you have yourself one entertaining game.

The controls are tight and sound effects are top-notch, crisp and clear. Nothing is more pleasing than bashing the living daylights out of zombies with the sound of gushing blood and it helps to have a rocking sound system that adds to the experience. And it looks really good too; with detailed graphics that are so real looking, you'll be left agape with mouth in tow. As for the story, I thought it was pretty good although it doesn't really offer anything new in terms of plot, but the character development got me invested in the proceedings as things went along. There are some hilarious moments, though not in a lighthearted sense. All in all, stellar production values make this one a treat.

However, the biggest flaw in this game is the save system. Simply put, it is not well-developed or though out in any way shape or form. You can't save anywhere nor are there any multiple save slots for saved games; I found myself very frustrated by not being able to save anywhere. There are some moments where the game saves automatically and it lessens the frustration somewhat, but the save system really sucks the life out of this otherwise stellar game. I also found it rather short. I beat it in a couple of hours which is a little disappointing but the amount of variety in zombie disposal makes up for this in some ways than one.

So is Dead Rising the best zombie game? it's quite close but Resident Evil is much better. However, If all you want is a nice, entertaining zombie game that doesn't take itself too seriously, isn't very deep and offers a variety of killing zombies, then get this game. Just don't expect Resident Evil-like quality and you're all good.

This is definitely a great game. It leaves you with anything as a weapon, and swarms of zombies waiting to have the faces bashed in or sliced in two. The graphics definitely are amazing, and so are the blood effects, and when you kill an enemy, their blood goes all over you and if you walk through blood there are bloody footprints. The game has a ton of twists, lots of places to go, and a lot of bosses and weapon choices. The voice acting is absolutely incredible, yet the AI needs a little work. The game has a surprisingly amazing plot, an amazing soundtrack, and also has very interesting cut scenes, like the one at the end of the game... which i don't want to reveal and spoil the game.

scale of 1-10... 100!

The idea is great. Go around kill zombies in massive numbers, and do whatever you want. Sounds like fun? It is, but it could be so much better, and the errors are so glaringly obvious that the game developers could in no way miss them. It makes you wonder, but that's okay it's still a great game.

The problems are numerous, the only thing the game does completely right is with combat and the shear amount of zombies. Everything else is need of fixing. The first problem is the fact that you only get one save file, but that isn't too bad, seeing as you can start the game over and over again with the same file. But the save system is weird at best, and is a tad annoying. Save points are hidden away, and can be hard to find, especially since you'll want to save often, as the game is quite difficult and you can easily find your self playing an hours worth of game play over again. Save often! The main problem with the game is the lack of any originality with missions, their either main missions, called case files, or escort missions, tons of escort missions. But thank god they are skip-able, you don't have to rescue a single person if you don't want to, however if you want to level up fast you may want to check them out. Also the case files must be done before a certain time in the 72 hour period your there, if you miss one it's game over, but you start with all you skills and abilities. The game isn't actually 72 hours, the time is accelerated.

There is also the fact that you have to unlock the mode that I was most looking forward to, complete freedom, you don't get that when you have to do a case file. That annoys me, as sometimes I just want to go around and just have fun. You'll have plenty of time to do it, but you're always worrying about how much time you have left. Also if you decide to do this you miss out on those annoying escort missions.

Weapons are fun and intuitive, they make the sounds they are supposed to make when you hit them, and killing the zombies never seems to wear, although you could theoretically get through the whole game without hitting a single one. The game is hilarious! It's not going to scare you, it's going to make you fun. This is a casual game, I just wish some parts of the game were made to fit the casualness of the rest of game.

The photo part of the game can net you some cool pictures to show to your friends but that's about it. And it feels rather useless. Their are a few other problems that I noticed but nothing major, a few collision problems, and there is a minor amount of repetitiveness. Also the text is freakishly small. But all the problems are out done by how much fun you are going to have. If you are looking for a good fun game, this game is for you, but it will annoy some, make some extremely angry, and give everything others wanted. If the developers are going to make a sequel, they better fix some things, it's the only thing holding it back from greatness.