'Chuck Greene: Carrying bitches and kicking zombies since 2010' - A 'Dead Rising 2' Initial Impression

So I have just started Dead Rising 2.

I managed to score a copy of GAME's exclusive 'Outbreak Edition' by pure luck on the morning of it's release and what you get for the £60 price tag is pretty good.

I've bought Special/Limited/Collector Editions of titles before and have been massively disappointed with what I have received (I'm looking at you Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition with no exclusive DLC) but the initial shock alone of how massive the box containing all these goodies is makes you feel like you've gotten your moneys worth.

The 'Outbreak Edition' of Dead Rising 2 gives you a copy of the game; a 'Sports Fan Theme Pack' DLC code; a 'Tape It Or Die' booklet featuring combo weapon ideas; a bonus DVD featuring a 'Making Of' documentary & Zombrex 'Dead Rising Sun' film and the crowning jewel, a 12" articulated zombie figurine with servboat head and traffice cone.

I've named mine Duane and he's now chilling out with R2-D2 next to my TV.



I also managed to snag the 'Ninja Theme Pack' GAME pre-order bonus courtesy of the store manager, which I am yet to try out.

Following the advice of my lovely Twitter followers, I downloaded and played the XBLA prologue 'Case Zero' before getting knee deep in zombie guts in Dead Rising 2.
Despite a fair amount of reviews calling 'Case Zero' a glorified demo, I thought it worked well as a standalone title and at 400MSP you can't really argue.
Yes, it would have worked as the first level in Dead Rising 2 but it was a nice treat for fans to get an early taste of the game for a small price and was great promotion and hype for the release.

After two run throughs, saving all the survivors and getting Chuck to level 5 ('Case Zero's level cap) I decided that amateur hour was over and it was time to go pro.

So far I have racked up about 3 hours of play time and I can already start to see the positives and negatives of Dead Rising 2.

The AI seems to have finally developed a survival instinct and you no longer find yourself having to rescue them from an overwhelming horde of 3 zombies.
In fact, every survivor I have acquired on my travels will actively go out of their way to lay the smackdown on any nearby brain munchers and have gotten me out of a tough spot more than once.
Survivors have become a help more than a hindrance. Just make sure that you arm any that aren't already wielding one of the many weapons/objects made available to you.
My favourites so far have to Shewanda, armed with a crowbar and cussing out her cowering husband as she cracks another zombie around the head and Chad, armed with a shotgun, blasting his way through crowds of hungry shufflers looking for his trigger happy other half.

The combo weapons are the best thing about this game.
I was quite disappointed that after playing 'Case Zero', I wouldn't have the opportunity to 'tape it or die' until about 30 minutes into it's big brother but once the option became available, I was wielding baseball bats with nails in and 'laser swords' at every opportunity.
Using combo weapons give you a 'PP' bonus for each kill which makes levelling a lot quicker and easier (I am already level 7) and zombie slaying is much more fluid than wielding their uncombined components. I have even opted to use combo weapons over firearms which is a bit confusing at times as logic would permit that a gun is more powerful than a bat with nails in it.
My favourite combo weapon? Well I don't want to give anything away but..



The frequency of the cut scenes and loading screens have a tendency to break up the action.
In an ideal world, I would like to be able to cross into different 'sections' of the mall with my broom/machete combo still swinging without having to wait 10 seconds for it to load in.
More than once I have been unexpectedly attacked by a cutscene, some of which are, in my opinion, fairly pointless and could easily have been replaced by one of the in game pop up notices.
On some occasions there have been cutscenes into loading screens into another cutscene. It gets very frustrating.

The time frame Chuck is allocated to carry out the main storyline along with side missions is fairly unreasonable.
When the game hits you with your first task in the main storyline, you are instantly sent several side missions, each with similar time periods and at completely opposite ends of the map.
Now this may only be a problem for the completionists, which I am one of, but I even found completing the first chapter of the main storyline within the time allowance to be a challenge.
It feels as if the game wants you to only use these fantastic weapons to take out the few zombo's that stand directly in the way of your objective and you should just try and ignore the huge crowds just begging to be cut down by a lawnmower.



It's also pretty irritating that you always have to be back at the safe house between 7am-8am to administer Katey her 'Zombrex' when Chuck could easily give it to the several people looking after her to administer.
I say let the kid turn! If 'Shaun Of The Dead' has taught us anything, it's that having a pet zombie is awesome as you always have someone to play co-op with but I imagine a zombie child is twice as annoying as a live one.
'Katey got sent home from school today for swearing at the teacher' becomes 'Katey got sent home from school today for eating several of the other pupils'.
From a game point of view, I get what Capcom are wanting to do but logically it's infuriating.
Apparently decent parenting is still applicable in the occurrence of a zombie epidemic.

So far, Dead Rising 2 overall is a great improvement on its predecessor and despite a few flaws, is really great fun to play and I really can't wait to try the multiplayer and co-op features, which are a new addition to Dead Rising.
Rescuing survivors in Dead Rising felt like a chore but I would encourage you to gather as many as possible in Dead Rising 2 as they are a huge asset and sometimes even life saving.
I'm hoping that a 'Free Roam' will unlock upon completion where you can have the option to just wander around the mall enjoying your zombie lolacaust without having to worry about getting Hilda to her husband Brian at 'Casual Gal' before the time runs out and he disappears.

I'll be sure to let you know how Chuck and I get on.