It means that you have to think somewhat strategically in Dead Rising. But only to decide whether to use a bottle of wine as the only remaining weapon in your hands, or to drink the contents and get your health back. By which time, some of the nippier undead would probably have decided on Secret Option C - eating you - so you have little option other than to carry on moving around, keeping your wits about you.
And being an arcade style game, some may find Dead Rising a little unforgiving in its approach at first. You only get one save point. If you happen to die (which will happen a lot initially), your only options are to either restart the whole game or return to the last save point - which is usually a long way back.
The game doesn't hold your hand and put you back in the boss battle that you just died in, you have to work for your meal. And even though the best of us were shouting things at the telly when we clumsily ran into a zombies' open mouth for the last time, we have to say it's generally a good idea. As we're all weaned on easy games these days, Dead Rising will certainly harden the stomach.
Thankfully, Frank won't be a pussy after you work him a little bit. You can level up in Dead Rising, gaining new abilities and better statistics once you have earned enough 'Prestige Points'. These can be earned by doing extraordinary things, like winding up the baseball bat and doing a home run on a zombie's head, or for every enemy you run over in a lawnmower. But the major way to earn these points is to use Frank's greatest asset as a journalist - his camera.
By taking photos of different situations and locations, you can earn points based on just how exciting your shot is. There are various 'genres' of photo you can take, with 'Horror' photos involving zombies all over the place and 'Drama' points earned if you get a civilian in the frame. There's a genre for sexual innuendo quite hilariously but, hey, whatever floats Frank's boat. The kinky sod.
We wouldn't blame him though; he's going to be on his own for a fair bit. You're stuck in this mall for 72 hours, and with such a large game map to explore it's going to be tough staying alive for long enough to find out the truth of this deadly incident. During that time you can do whatever you like: hang back and just see how many zombies you can destroy, follow the game's story and discover the truth, or save the many civilians that are trapped in the mall and need your help escaping.
You'll be given scoops via radio from the janitor, Otis (who has a knack for annoying the heck out of you) which involve people waiting to be rescued. Using a timer in the corner of the screen, you can choose how long to leave that cry for help or just flat out ignore it. It adds a bit of freedom to a game set in a restrictive world (i.e. the mall).
And if we were to beat Dead Rising on the head with a hockey stick, we'd say that although it has its secrets and little Easter Eggs, there's not much in the way of longevity. Complete Dead Rising (which isn't too long if you play the game constantly while in the 72 Hour mode) and you've seen basically all of it. There are incentives to replay the game, with the masses of Xbox Achievements on offer testing you with fun challenges, but those who didn't exactly like the "Nintendo Difference" in Mario Sunshine for instance won't really revel in that aspect. Like all good arcade games, it's a good run while it lasts, but it won't last for very long.
SPOnG Score: B+
Dead Rising is a great action game that fills you with extreme satisfaction like no other game has for a long time - because it taps into your raw basic desire as a gamer to break things and kick bad guys in the face! In this world of political correctness, it feels good to be allowed to hit something round the head with a baseball bat and not be lambasted as a future terrorist. The difficulty of the game won't be to everyone's taste, but look beyond that and you'll find a short but sweet game with many ways to approach the game's beautifully gory conclusion.
JonTart 18 Sep 2006 16:25