Dead Rising
Capcom and zombies. Undead monsters leaping through the windows of isolated mansions. Stalking deserted city streets, fingering your machine gun and listening for the telltale barks of enemy groups. Conspiracies, research labs, and island fortresses. Jill sandwiches.
| Opening Hours |
|---|
| Willamette Mall has everything you need under one roof. |
 |
| Day 1, 12:05 There's something fishy going on in this town... |
 |
| Day 1, 14:30 Game over... Shooting is tough, and you've failed your first mission |
 |
| Day 1, 22:00 Practice has paid off, and you're cleaving your way through the crowd in the dark |
 |
| Day 2, 17:30 Panic! Too many scoops and not enough time |
 |
| Day 3, 19:00 Many have fallen, now it's just a matter of survival |
 |
| Day 4, 13:00 13:00? Oops... |
It's not exactly realistic, even in context.
Suppose that some tragic incident has caused the recently deceased to creak back into the upright plane, reanimated with a relentless hunger for living flesh but without the physical or mental agility to really pursue it well. This is the fate of Willamette, Colorado, a small town just like any other in small town America. Except for the zombie outbreak and the national guard perimeter, of course. Photojournalist Frank West's chartered helicopter descends upon the town in search of a big scoop and, after a brief scuffle with the military, he is abandoned on the roof of the local shopping centre with the pilot's promise that he will return in three days.
And that's it. Dead Rising takes the concept of survival horror as literally as it has ever been done before. Make sure you are waiting on the helipad in 72 hours, accelerated to fit in six play hours, and the sweet taste of evac freedom is yours. It is even possible to just stand motionless for the duration, basking in the safety of the rooftop prison, but (and be honest here) you want to see what it's like down below. There's a story to report on, remember?
The interior of the mall does not disappoint. If you are familiar with the Resident Evil series, then just forget it. You've no chance here. Willamette Mall is a Living Dead homage, packed to the rafters with an unending supply of mobile corpses. The 360's processing power is pushed hard to assault Frank with hundreds of zombies on screen at any given time, and the opportunist clawing hands of the undead are rarely more than a few feet away. Areas can not be cleared or made safe - the enemy are the embodiment of respawning - and as such every second on the shop floor is one more second in hell. When the automatic mall lights go out for the evening and darkness draws in, the zombies' eyes taking on a red glow, the sense of fear is palpable.
At this moment, it is worth pointing out that the zombie population shown in these screenshots is a quarter or less of what it will become by the end of the game.
Fortunately, the zombie hordes are slow and stupid, and sprinting through crowds is a necessary but tense risk. Frank also has a number of melee combat moves that can help create a little breathing space amidst the rotting flesh. However, all the karate chops in the world are going to pale in comparison to Dead Rising's real unique selling point: The mall itself. 250 different items litter the shops and plazas, any of which may be utilised as a weapon. If you can pick it up, you can hit a zombie with it, and if you can see it, you can probably pick it up. The objects range from the sublime to the ridiculous, with the only common factor being that they will all eventually break requiring a contant source of assorted weapons of flesh destruction. While some can be thrown, and there is much fun to be had in a trip to the hunting shack, the emphasis is on going toe to toe with whatever comes to hand, be it large or small, stock or furniture. The one part of the HUD which doesn't fade out is the kill count, happily tracking the corpses into the high thousands by the end of the third day.
This is both Dead Rising's draw point and demoraliser simultaneously. Each weapon has one or two possible methods of attack, but their relative effectiveness means you will come to rely on just a handful of favourites picked up from the same shops as you pass by. It takes some effort to maintain the fun in the face of what is, by design, an unending assault. To relieve the monotony, Frank can take time out to investigate the mall in search of a story. A small group of survivors have holed up in the security room which acts as base of operations, from which they will report on sightings of other people and unusual activities on the security cameras. Following these optional missions usually results in finding a cowering survivor who needs your help returning to the security room, and this is where another of the game's niggles comes to light. The AI has been written with the mindless in mind. In short, it sucks. Survivors get lost in doorways and against plant pots, requiring anal attention to detail in setting waypoints and the patience of a saint. Shockingly, take a group to safety and they get stuck trying to decide who will be first to climb the single step into the security room. Other scoops lead to psychopaths, the game's equivalent of bosses. These survivors have taken a more proactive approach to the situation, and consider anything standing to be a worthy target. Dead Rising's atmosphere takes a much darker tone for these set pieces, with some truly horrific and disturbing cutscenes telling their story. Seeing Adam, the killer clown, torturing bloodstained dolls and then falling atop his chainsaws is a jarring contrast to manic DIY violence and throwing dishes at zombies.
| Bring Out Your Dead |
|---|
| There's more than one way to skin a zombie. Try these, and don't forget to take photos for the front page: |
|
One special set of missions follows the main game storyline, eventually revealing the cause of the zombie outbreak and how to stop it. Failing any one of these, or being at your destination a few minutes too late, results in the permanent loss of the truth and effectively turns the rest of the game into a pointless gorefest. For this reason you are given the option to start all over again or reload your save, for which you only have one slot. It is possible to save at a point from which it becomes impossible to complete the next case mission, which is sure to cause much frustration in a game based around freeform sandbox play.
Being quite nifty and coming from the Capcom stables, a sequel is almost inevitable. Personally my hopes are high that DR2 (Dead Risen?) will fix the AI worries and take the ideas further, maybe with a Source-style physics system and the ability to form temporary tactical barricades to form a bridge point between the monotony of constant combat and the frustration of rescuing survivors. When all is said and done, though, Dead Rising scores a critical decapitating hit. It's as much Shaun of the Dead as it is Dawn, blending dark comedy with gruesome violence and rewarding light-hearted experimentation as well as serious survivalist conservation.
You have 72 hours to survive in a zombie-infested mall. What would you do?
In Conclusion
Dead Rising is set to be one of those flawed gems of a game released early in a console's life cycle. It grabs you by the fun glands and demonstrates with ruthless simplicity the sort of power contained within. The minor niggles are initially outweighed by its sense of sheer childlike fun, but it's not too long before repetition sets in. You will put it to rest eventually, but it will be clawing for your attention again after a little while...
| Dead Praising |
|---|
|
| Dead in the Water |
|
| Final Score | |
|---|---|
| Violence: | Yes |
| Graphics: | Small |
| Zombies: | A fair few |
| 53,594 out of ooh, is that a chainsaw? | |
| When there are no more left to kill, the dead shall respawn in the next area. | |
