Pros: Very Fun Gameplay, Fantastic Premise, Over a Hundred different Weapons, Hordes of Zombies
Cons: Escorting Survivors Can Be a Real Pain
The bottom line: Dead Rising is a simply amazing game with a wonderful sense of humor and fun gameplay. Get to working on a sequel, Capcom!
Resident Evil is the game that launched the survival horror genre into heights of massive popularity. Created by Shinji Mikami, Resident Evil is a game that's all about blasting your way through zombies and other fiendish ghouls. The games are quite scary too, I might add. It was quite surprising then, when another figurehead of Capcom, Keiji Inafune decided to start work in 2005 on a zombie game of his own. The reason this was surprising was because this new game was to not be related to Resident Evil in any way. From this venture came the Xbox 360 game Dead Rising. Does this new title measure up to the companies legacy of survival horror games? Is it different enough to set itself apart from Resident Evil? Read on to find out.

One interesting point to note before beginning this review. Resident Evil is a series that has always drawn heavy influences from George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Its interesting to note that Dead Rising takes this a step further by taking the entire basic scenario, a shopping mall filled with zombies, right from the film's sequel Dawn of the Dead. I always thought this scenario would work very nicely in a video game, and I was ecstatic when Dead Rising was first revealed, and even happier to see that this premise was done proper justice. Another point of interest - the film company that owns the rights to Dawn of the Dead have actually taken it upon themselves to sue Capcom for following the film too closely. This is a bit absurd considering that only the most basic of premises is shared between the two.

Dead Rising

The main character of this story is a fellow that goes by the name of Frank West. Frank is a freelance photojournalist, and after hearing rumors about something big happening in the small town of Willamette Colorado he immediately hires a pilot and rents a helicopter to go check things out. Upon arriving at Willamette the two discover that the entire city has been overrun by flesh eating zombies. This is not enough to turn our overzealous hero away - he instructs the helicopter pilot to drop him off on top of the town's shopping mall. Frank has exactly three days to get the scoop before the helicopter returns.

During Frank's 72 hour tour of the Willamette Mall you can play the game pretty much any way that you please. Prefer to hide the entire time and simply wait for the helicopter to come back? You can do that. Would you rather spend all of your time beating the daylights out of the mob of living dead? That's possible too. Despite your options there is in fact a way to progress the storyline; through various missions given to Frank. Working through these is the only way to solve the mystery of the zombie outbreak and completing all of these is the only way to get the best ending. The storyline itself is fairly typical as far as b-movies go, but the game does feature a rather likeable cast. Unexpectedly the latter half of the game steps things up a bit by making some not so subtle commentary about consumerism and the American way of life. It's not the best story ever but it's got it's charms.

So with literally thousands of zombies against one man the odds certainly don't seem in your favor, do they? Frank isn't as outmatched as you would initially suspect - nearly everything you find in the mall can be used as a weapon. There are well over a hundred different items you can use to slash, smash, maul, and cleave the hordes of the undead. These include knives, saws, swords, axes, lawnmowers, benches, chairs, ladders, toys, sporting goods, and much, much more. There are guns in the game, but they are rare and not very practical in place of a handy melee weapon. Unfortunately each item can only be used a certain amount of times before it breaks so you'll always need to be on the lookout for more items laying around.

On top of different weapons you'll also find food items that can restore your health, and books which will increase Frank's stats. Frank has an inventory for storing items which is extremely helpful for those times when you need to stock up on health supplies and powerful weapons. In the beginning of the game you can only carry three items at a time, but as you gain levels (more on that later) you'll be able to hold more. You'll quickly learn that it's unwise not to carry healing items around because, given the huge amount of zombies in nearly every section of the mall, it can be incredibly easy to simply be absolutely overwhelmed by their massive numbers.

Dead Rising also features elements commonly found in role playing games - most notably, an experience point system. Known as 'Prestige Points' (or PP), gaining these will increase various aspects of Frank. These aspects include his maximum health, strength, ability to throw items, running speed, the amount of items he can carry, and more. Prestige points are earned in numerous ways - from killing zombies and bosses, rescuing survivors, or successfully using your special moves against zombies. Dead Rising features an in depth picture taking feature where your photos are rated, and you are awarded PP for the really good ones.

There's a big catch to leveling up though: unless you're the best player in the world you probably won't be able to complete the game on your first playthrough. The good news is that each time you start over Frank's stats carry over to your new game. This means that you'll probably be replaying the game more than once. Many people hate the game because of this aspect alone. I personally didn't mind it - Dead Rising is a game that's varied enough that it remains interesting on subsequent playthroughs. This makes what would normally be a five hour game significantly longer.

Frank isn't exactly alone in the mall - strewn throughout the various stores you'll find survivors. Saving them is actually a pretty big part of the game, and it also serves as my only major complaint with this title. As time passes in the game you will receive calls on a radio transceiver Frank acquires early on in the adventure. These transmissions alert you to where these survivors are located in the mall, and usually you only have a window of opportunity on the 72 hour clock to rescue them. Tracking the frightened shoppers is the easy part - escorting them to safety can be a real pain.

More often than not the survivors are dumb as bricks. You can use simple commands to tell them where to go, whether to run ahead or follow you. They listen well enough, but the survivors all have a really hard time avoiding zombies. You'll often find that when given the choice to follow you straight through an opening in a mass of zombies, or to run head on into the undead horde they usually opt for the latter. Rescuing them without killing them is easier said than done, and if you're escorting a big group it's sometimes best just to leave them behind to join the legions of the undead. It can be extremely frustrating, but the huge PP bonus you get for leading them to safety is well worth it. Thankfully escorting characters is optional, but at the same it stands as the single best way to level up Frank.

As with any good survival horror title Dead Rising features some of the most twisted bosses you'll find in any game. These come in the form of psychopaths, and save for four instances doing battle with them is completely optional. These are people who have been driven to madness by the zombie epidemic, and now they're hell bent on killing everything that moves. These include such freaks as a paranoid store owner who pushes a shopping cart that looks like something straight out of the 15th century, a machete wielding ex veteran suffering from war flashbacks, a deranged and disturbing clown, and more. These boss battles are very over the top, and the psychopaths themselves are quite disturbing. Battling it out with these guys offers a nice break from fighting against brainless zombies, and whoever designed them has quite a diabolical imagination.

One of the major complaints I've heard people have with this game is it's save system. On top of only being able to have one save file at a time save points aren't all that common in the mall. I found neither of these to be a problem. Rather than being a flaw the gimped save system is a design choice, and for the most part I think it works well with the game. Time management is a huge part of Dead Rising, and so is choice. This combination forces you to make decisions quickly on what you want to do in the game, and I think it adds as much to the atmosphere as the tank controls did in the early Resident Evil games. It works perfectly with the way the game was designed, and if it were tinkered with I fear the game would be too easy.

I'm generally not a fan of sandbox style games (I.E. ones that throw you into the game world and let you do whatever you want) but I feel it was the perfect design choice for Dead Rising. Just exploring the mall is fun enough, but fending off the undead while doing so makes for an awesome experience. There are so many ways to kill zombies in this game. The idea of being able to choose from over a hundred weapons is really cool, and on top of that Frank is armed with various wrestling and kung fu moves that are gained by leveling up. Furthermore, fans of Grand Theft Auto will be delighted to learn that the outdoor area of the game features vehicles which you can use to run down the living dead with. Few games offer such a variety of combat options.

It's over the top nature takes a lot of the scare factor out of Dead Rising. Furthermore the game lacks the boo 'jump through the window' moments that makes the Resident Evil series so scary. Don't get me wrong - there are some creepy moments in the game, but don't expect to be absolutely terrified. During the nighttime all of the lights go out in the mall which can make things rather tense. Furthermore, the zombies are faster and stronger after the sun goes down, and their eyes glow red. This is never properly explained in the story, but it's cool because it adds a lot to the tension.

Speaking of Resident Evil, Dead Rising doesn't completely disregard it's existence. There are a few references to other games Capcom has made, but my all time favorite being based around a store being named "Jill's Sandwiches", a direct reference to an infamous quote from the original Resident Evil title. Another notable reference to Capcom's portfolio comes from completing Dead Rising's Overtime mode. Doing this will allow Frank to dress up as Mega Man, and he can even use the buster gun to fight against zombies. It may look goofy but it's a cool feature.

Dead Rising is a first generation Xbox 360 title, and as such it's not the best looking game on the system. There are moments when the game is quite impressive looking, and others where it's a bit drab. The environments look alright I suppose, but they don't have a lot of detail to them. The individual characters don't look that impressive and some of them look downright weird during cinematic sequences. Where Dead Rising shines is in the amount of enemies that appear on-screen. I believe Capcom stated that the game supports somewhere in the ballpark of 800 zombies at once, and with the massive hordes you'll see around the mall I'm inclined to believe them. Even with all of these zombies moving around on-screen the framerate never dips. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

The game's soundtrack is decent but nothing amazing. On one hand the music that plays in the mall perfectly fits the setting, and if you have a good sound system it actually emulates the sound of a real P.A. Each boss fight has their own individual theme song, but some of these can be annoying. These are full songs - lyrics and everything, and despite all of them being from different artists they all sound pretty similar - mostly grunge rock/pop. I can dig it, somewhat. Voice overs fit the style of game rather well with some decent performances (Frank West's actor does a notably good job), and several that are incredibly over-the-top. This latter bunch belongs mostly to the actors who play the psychopaths. The actors make for some very disturbing moments and I absolutely love it. Sound effects are also well done - each weapon featuring it's own pleasant effect.

Dead Rising features some pretty decent controls - this is very helpful in a game where a simple mistake can cost you your life. You should be up and running in minutes - Dead Rising doesn't even feature the awkward tank controls that Resident Evil is known for. The camera in particular is a godsend - this is one of the rare cases in video games when the camera does what you tell it and little else. The interface suffers from a few minor issues, notably the fact that you have to look at Frank's watch (by pushing left on the D-pad) in order to view your scoops missions. Furthermore the D-pad is also used to answer your radio transceiver, and as any 360 owner knows, the directional pad doesn't always register inputs correctly.

The mall is quite large and can be difficult to navigate. Thankfully the game features a guide arrow on the top of the screen which displays the direction you must go in order to complete the selected scoop. Furthermore, Frank is given a map of the mall early on and this not only indicates the various stores, but also the save points. These two features take the pain away from navigating the corridors of the Willamette Mall.

Dead Rising was optimized for HD television sets, and so many people have a difficult time reading the small text on the screen while playing on a standard SDTV. I play the game on the latter, using S-video cables, and while I did have difficulties reading at times it was never enough to ruin the game for me. I guess it also depends on the size of your television - my screen is 29 inches.

Final Recommendation
Dead Rising exceeded my expectations by a healthy margin. Not only is this the Xbox 360's best title right now, it might also be the ultimate survival horror game. At this point I would be surprised if Resident Evil 5 turns out to be the better game. Dead Rising is fun, pure and simple, and really should not be missed.