Pros: Fun, bloody, fun, so many weapons
Cons: Bad save spots, control is clunky at times
The bottom line: A zombie game that everyone can appreciate, what are you waiting for give it a try I promise you'll find it at least a little entertaining.
It's finally here, the zombie fest game we've all been waiting for. Thousands of zombies, loads of weapons, or random objects that can be weapons! This is the sort of sand box game the Xbox 360 needs. Dead Rising is very similar to the movie, "Dawn of the Dead", but it really wasn't intended to be that way. Capcom had shown bits and pieces of this game at the beginning of the 360's hype. It was meant to be a launch game but was denied and was left for more fine-tuning. Although Dead Rising isn't the perfect zombie killing Grand Theft Auto, it does succeed in being extremely fun and entertaining.

You are Frank West, photojournalist, on a mission to uncover the story of a lifetime. You have come to Willamette Colorado to investigate an epidemic outbreak, or so it would seem. Zombies are everywhere, in the streets, in the alleys, and most importantly in the massive shopping mall. That is where Frank decides to exit his helicopter transport. The only means of getting in by the way, because the National Guard has quarantined the town. Honestly I thought that was very realistic. Anyway upon arriving on the roof of the mall you meet a mysterious Spanish locale. When you enter the survivors have done a good job of barricading themselves inside, but a stupid old lady ruins their efforts by letting the zombies in just to get her poodle named Madonna. By this time all heck has broken loose and the mall is now infested. You and the remaining survivors must stick up for each other until help arrives. Frank, however, doesn't have any problems because he is there for 3 days of snapping pictures and then his helicopter will arrive and take him home.

So you have 72 hours in this massive shopping mall, what are you going to do? Kill lots of zombies using lots of ridiculous weapons of course. Just like it's advertised on the back of the box and in the commercials. Is it any fun? Indeed it is fun, very fun. You can pick up tons of items lying around the mall with the simple press of a button. Another simple button press and you can use that item with reckless abandon on the thousands of zombies strolling around. But as dumb as zombies are they are fierce enemies. You will fight mostly zombies with a handful of boss fights but you cannot underestimate the undead. They swarm on you faster than you'd think. Having a weapon ready at all times is crucial. You can be attacked only 4 or 5 times and then it's game over. If you happened to not save recently you'll be re-tracing your steps and probably cursing too. Dead Rising offers tons of sand box fun but at the cost of infrequent methods of saving your game progress. Aside from this however the game play is solid enough to have a bloody good time.

I think the many tools of death at your disposal should get it's own paragraph. Sure you get a few guns, knives, and the like but those aren't necessarily the most effective. However a dumb bell, a bench, fire extinguisher, lawn mower, massive umbrella, or even human body parts. The list goes on for a while. Some weapons are more bizarre than others. For example a boomerang, jewelry, and buckets. A bucket can be placed on a zombie's head for laughs and great snap shots along with horse heads and other oddities. Why not use a hockey stick to take slap shots at human flesh. Or have you even just wanted to run around the grocery store with your shopping cart knocking people over, well then there's a weapon for you. Of all the things I've mentioned there's probably still many more that I haven't even uncovered. The lasting appeal for this game is very big for sure.

Some other minor problems is the gun aiming, along with friendly character AI. When you use the gun you can't walk and aim at the same time. If the zombies are coming at you from every angle this can pose a problem. The other characters in the mall are also your responsibility to save. They are usually to obsess with killing all the zombies to make it with you to safety and getting them to follow your orders is a chore as well. The last thing I can make a valid reason to complain about is the load times, which are frequent but very short so it's okay.

Dead Rising doesn't just throw you in a shopping mall with zombies and weapons, you have an interesting storyline, many other surviving characters, and optional costumes and extra game modes. You also have a camera seeing as how you are a photojournalist. The camera mode is a fun diversion from cutting up zombies all game long. You try and take pictures with lots of gore, horror, drama, or erotica. The game will rate the picture and by taking good snap shots you can actually level up Frank faster. The point of taking pictures is to mainly get as many living or dead zombies in one shot as possible. Or you can take shots of people being attacked or just of girl’s skirts. I guess that's the Japanese humor talking there. On top of all this you can unlock more game modes to quench your zombie killing thirst, like being able to stay in the mall forever.

If there's so many things going on in a huge shopping mall the big question is,” does Dead Rising look good?" I can safely say that yes, DR looks very good. The graphics engine in the Xbox 360 makes having hundred of zombies on screen at once with an insanely detailed mall all-possible, and at a very solid frame rate. The game almost never has any hiccups. The gallons of blood that you'll see look very gross and real as well. Obviously in this game it needs to. The main characters look excellent in game and in the very well directed cut scenes. The living dead even get plenty of attention because they are the real stars here. The many zombie types keep your gore fresh at all times. The mall itself looks fantastic with so many varying stores you won't get sick of it. The animations of all the people and zombies are spot on a well, on par with any Romero movie.

I would say the sounds are dead on as well, no pun intended, but the zombies moan and growl just as you would expect. There isn't much in game music except for the classic horror movie suspense sounds. The best thing may be the cut scene voice acting, which is well written, realistic, and said with the right emotion. It pulls you into the conspiracy plot closer than if it wasn't so good. I just want to end it off with saying that Dead Rising is well worth the money, and is definitely worth renting. There's brutal fun, a little photography, and lasting sand box action, and a good story. A lot packed into a game everyone thought was just for killing zombies. Well it is...but you know what I mean. Go try it out it's a killer good time.