Mindless Zombie Killing....don't complain (Dead Rising (Xbox 360))

Member Name: robster113

Product:	Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
Date:	30/09/06 (1321 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Many many weapons, lots of zombies, good graphics

Disadvantages: may get a bit tedious

STORY

You are Frank West, a photojournalist who has got a tip off that something is going on in a little town called Willamette. Frank decides to investigate and so the game starts with Frank being taken into Willamette via helicopter as the military has surrounded the town and is not letting anyone in. This is an obvious sign that something is out of the ordinary. Frank is then dropped off on the roof of the mall and the helicopter driver says that he will be back in 72 hours to pick him up.

Well now the fun almost starts. First you go into the security room which will be your save haven for the next 72 hours. But now its time to go inside the mall and find find....yep you guessed it....ZOMBIES. The mall has been overrun by zombies with few survivors

GAME

Well lets get into the actual game now....the main objective is to find out what is happening in the mall in doing so hacking throw 1000's of zombies. Sounds fun eh!

There is a wide variety of weapons available. Pretty much every object that could be turned into a weapon is. There are chairs, bowling balls, potted plants, benches, lawn mowers, chainsaws, trash cans, baseball bats and many other cool and gruesome weapons which i will leave you to find for yourself in the game and gaze and the screen in awe as you rip apart a zombie. Weapons do only last for a certain amount of time. They will break after quite a few uses (i.e a baseball bat could kill 25 zombies and then will break). The icon of the weapon you are using will flash to indicate that it has only a few uses left before breaking.

There are of course guns available in the game for all of you with who are desperate to pick up a shotgun and shoot through a crowd of zombies. The guns available are:

Shotgun
Sub-Machine Gun
Handgun
Sniper Rifle
Machine Gun

There is also a nail gun but it isn't very useful as it takes about 5 shots to kill a zombie even if they are all in the head.

Apart from running around killing zombies there are missions or "case files" in the game which need to be completed if you want to achieve the "true ending." Also there will be many survivors in the mall which you can rescue if you want. You have to talk to them and then lead them back to the security room and bash down all the zombies in your path. You don't have to save any survivors but it does get you these things called PP which lead to advancements in level. I will explain more later

CAMERA

Well Frank West is a photojournalist so maybe its time for him to do his job. You will always have your camera on you at all times. You can take some great pictures of a large crowd of zombies or even better a picture of a large crowd of dead zombies which you ran threw with a chainsaw. Taking pictures will earn you PP.

PP

These are points which you need to advance in level to increase stats. PP can be gained via taking pictures, doing hand combat moves to kill zombies, rescuing people and also you get 500 PP at every 500 milestone of kills. Every so often you will level up (there are 50 levels) and for each level up you will either increase a stat (health, stock amount, attack , speed or throw distance) or you will master a new hand combat move

HAND COMBAT MOVES

Once you get to a high level it is fun to take advantage of the many cool moves you have learnt so far. Some examples of these moves are disembowlment, wall kick, football tackle, suplex, pick up, hammer throw and many others. Some are obvious from their names but i will let you figure out the rest.

VEHICLES

There are a few vehicles available in this game as there is an outside area (Leisure Park) in the middle of all the plazas in the mall. There is a car and a motobike just outside the entrance to the maintenance tunnels. You can get in a car and drive down into the maintenance tunnels and run down a lot of zombies. The tunnels are absolutely packed with zombies so you can get 1000 kills in just 10 minutes of playing. The cars do however get worn down and break just like any other weapon. There is one other car and a lorry available in the maintenance tunnels.

PSYCHOPATHS

There are bosses in this game but they are all psychopaths as it would not really be possible to make zombie bosses as the zombies are so easy to kill. There are quite a few psychopaths which you will have to kill as part of a case file but most are just ones dotted around the mall, maybe in a shop or somewhere like that. Some of these psychopaths are quite hard and you will most likely die first time from some of them. The hard thing is figuring out how to kill him. Once you figure out a tactic they should be easy

HEALTH

You start with 4 or 5 bars of health (sorry can't remember) and each time you get grabbed by a zombie that is one bar of health lost. It is not hard to be grabbed by a zombie so you may be dead before you realize that you had been grabbed a few times. When you get grabbed by a zombie they will try and bite you. You have to press left right left right on the analogue stick repeatedly to break loose. You will lose at least one bar of health in the process. To replenish your health you need to eat food items which are available all over the mall, in supermarkets, restaurants or lying around the play. Some food items will replenish more health than others so it is best to carry around a few of the best food items in case you are stuck in a big crowd, with little health.

CLOTHES

There are many many many costumes available in the mall so you really can personalise your player. In pretty much every clothes shop you can change at least one item of clothing. Clothes range from novelty masks to casual wear to pimp suits and other weird clothes you may find.

GRAPHICS

Well i must say that i was thoroughly impressed by the graphics when i first started playing. I also thought that it was amazing how it could show up 1000's of moving zombies on one screen. Dead Rising is definitely an example of a next gen game and it really does take advantage of all the 360 processors

SOUNDS

The zombies do make some sounds but not very loud so it doesn't really get that annoying. Apart from that the sound is like any other game really.

REPLAYABILITY

As i mentioned before the game only lasts 72 hours of in game play which is probably about 10 - 15 hours of real life playing. This may sound a bit too short but you will never be able to do everything in one game. The case files are quite time restricted so there isn't that much time for mindless killing and saving survivors. You can definitely play the game at least twice without getting too bored

INFINITY MODE

I have only just unlocked this and haven't had a chance to play yet. If you complete the game and get the true ending then you will unlock infinity mode where you have to try and survive in the mall for as long as possible. Sound easy....wrong. You're health will constantly slowly decrease. A good idea would probably just be to hang around the supermarket but i'm sure you would be able to make a good plan for this mode

ACHIEVEMENTS

Here is a quick list of some of the achievements in the game to give you a taste of what you will need to accomplish:

7 Day Survivor (20) Survive for 7 days.
Bullet Point (20) Fire 1,000 bullets.
Census Taker (20) Photograph 50 survivors.
Costume Party (20) Place novelty masks on at least 10 zombies.
Frank the Pimp (20) Simultaneously escort 8 female survivors.
Group Photo (20) Get 50 Target Markers with the camera.
Humanist (20) Get 10 survivors out of the mall.
Infinity Mode (20) Get the true ending.
Item Smasher (20) Break 100 items.
Karate Champ (20) Defeat at least 1,000 zombies barehanded
Level Max (20) Reach Level 50.
Life Saver (20) Get 20 survivors out of the mall.
Marathon Runner (20) Cover a distance of 26.2 miles.
Overtime Mode (20) Unveil all Cases and be at the heliport at noon.
Peace Keeper (20) Defeat 5 psychopaths.
Perfect Gunner (20) Don't miss with a machine gun.
Photojournalist (20) Score at least 1,500 PP from a single photo.
Portraiture (20) Photograph 10 survivors.
Psycho Collector (20) Photograph 10 psychopaths.
Punisher (20) Defeat 10 psychopaths.
Raining Zombies (20) Knock at least 30 zombies aside with a parasol.
Saint (20) Get 50 survivors out of the mall.
Self Defense (20) Defeat 1 psychopath.
Sharp Dresser (20) Change into at least 20 different costumes.
Strike! (20) Send at least 10 zombies flying with bowling balls.
Stunt Driver (20) Jump a car at least 33 feet.
Stunt Rider (20) Jump a motorcycle at least 33 feet.
The Artiste (20) Score at least 3,000 PP from a single photo.
Tour Guide (20) Escort 8 survivors at once.
Unbreakable (20) Get the True ending without being knocked out.
Zombie Genocider (20) Defeat 53,594 zombies.
Zombie Hunter (20) Defeat 1,000 zombies.
Zombie Killer (20) Defeat 10,000 zombies.
Zombie Road (20) Walk over 33 feet on the backs of zombies using the Zombie Ride.

OVERALL

A great game for mindless zombie killing and actually a great plot to follow.

8.5/10

Thankyou for reading

Summary: Fun fun fun