Dead Rising 2

I would say that Dead Rising 2 so far is the best game in the series for me. I know this is a very strong stance to take as most of the games are great, but 2 just nailed it for me. The version that I am looking at today is the PC version.

A Father And His Daughter

While I would say that Dead Rising 2 does have some of that goofiness and cheesiness of the first game. For me, the story is much stronger this time around and the stakes feel a lot higher. You play the role of an ex-motocross rider called Chuck. Chuck is doing his best to hold it all together in the middle of this zombie outbreak, not just so he can survive, but also for his daughter. His daughter was bitten by her own mother after she turned and now Chuck needs to keep giving her medicine to prevent her from turning. As a parent myself, this is pretty hard to deal with and it does make things in the game seem more real. As well as this Chuck is also trying to get to the bottom of what has happened here and also make sure that his name is clear after…. I will not spoil it for you. Let me just say that Dead Rising 2 actually has quite a deep plot with many things running at the same time.

More Zombies & More Ways To Kill Them!

Dead Rising was pretty nuts in regards to the number of things that you could use to kill zombies. Dead Rising 2 is taking things to a whole new level of nuts! The game is set in Vegas so you have a casino and a shopping district to play around in. The world feels much larger than the first game and there once again are a ton of things that you can use. Capcom realized that duct tape is possibly the strongest force on the planet and they allow you to use it to combine two different items into one crazy weapon. This is a lot of fun and as you progress you will find ways of combing items together to make more powerful and fun weapons. My favorite is the one where you have a hand grenade taped to a football and you just launch it into a sea of zombies!

Speaking Of Zombies

It feels like there is way more on screen this time around and they tend to be more aggressive this time around too! It is a lot of fun mowing down hundreds and hundreds of zombies. But if you are not watching what you are doing, your weapon can break and you can be left in the middle of a horde with no way of properly defending yourself. Just when you think that Dead Rising 2 is all fun and games, the poop hits the fan and you are struggling to survive. While there is a main story arc that runs through the game, Dead Rising 2 also features a pretty diverse cast of secondary characters that have missions for you to do as well. Like the first game there are different endings here for you to discover and what you do in the game will decide what one of the endings you get so there is some good replayability here.

Smooth As A Zombies Butt!

Ok, that is a weird thing to say, but the first Dead Rising as much as I loved it could have some clunky controls. I am not saying that Capcom 100 percent fixed this for Dead Rising 2, but I do feel the gameplay is a bit faster here and there are fewer control issues while you are playing.

Killing Zombies With Friends

As multiplayer was all the rage when Dead Rising 2 was released. Capcom did add in two different multiplayer modes. One is pretty neat as it lets you play through the game with a buddy. Not enough story-driven action games do this so it is cool that Dead Rising 2 does. The other mode is kind of cool in that it pits 4 players against a horde of Zombies. This mode is called Terror and the idea is that it is kind of like a game show. It is actually way more fun and addictive than you would think.

Pros:

• I love the father and daughter story in the game
• You can combine weapons to make even crazier weapons
• The world feels much larger than the first game
• Controls are better than they were in Dead Rising
• The multiplayer is very well done

Cons:

• Not sure how easy it is to get a game of Terror these days
• Some may find the controls too clunky

I have long been a fan of the Dead Rising series and for me, Dead Rising 2 is my personal favorite. Dead Rising 2 was the first game to be released on all three of the major platforms of its day. Even now, this game holds up very well and is a lot of fun to play through.

The Story

I think what really nailed Dead Rising 2 from me above the rest is the story. I loved Frank West, but this time you play as a dude called Chuck. Chuck is a former motocross rider and he is stuck in the middle of the zombie outbreak from the first game. This already is a bad situation, but Chuck’s plight is worse than that.

You see he is also a father and his wife turned, bit his daughter and now he is doing all he can to prevent her from turning into a zombie too. There is a medicine called Zombrex that can help people stay human. Chuck’s ultimate goal is to protect and save his daughter, but also figure out what is happening and also clear his name from a major incident that happens.

The Presentation

I would not say that Dead Rising 2 looks a million times better than the first game, but it certainly is more polished. The game is set out in Vegas so it certainly has a very different style to the first game. While there is still a shopping district in this game, it looks very different from what the first Dead Rising offered.

In all, I think the graphics, sound, voice acting and the music all come together very well. It makes the game a very cinematic kind of experience and it is another reason why I love this game so much.

The Gameplay

Hmm, talking about the gameplay of Dead Rising 2 is a little tricky for me. You see, while this is my favorite game overall in the series. Dead Rising 2 is the better part of 10 years old as I write this. As a result, the gameplay is not actually as refined as it would become in Dead Rising 3 and Dead Rising 4.

That is not to say that it is bad or overly clunky. It just takes a little while to get used to it all. I still think it is a lot of fun and there are still thousands of zombies for you to destroy. I love how the game lets you smash to items together with tape in order to make a new weapon. I actually love the way that Dead Rising 2 handles weapons in general.

You have to be careful as the weapons tend to break at the worst time and there is nothing worse than being in the middle of a horde and your weapon breaking. While there is a great story to play through. Dead Rising 2 does also have plenty of other characters with things for you to do. Plus, there are different endings which make you want to play through the game again.

Dead Rising 2 also introduced multiplayer to the series. You can actually play through the campaign with a friend and it is a lot of fun to do this and something I have done a few times. You also have a fun horde style mode where you can team up with three other players and try to survive what is best described as a strange game show, kind of like Smash TV.

Final Thoughts On Dead Rising 2

Pros:

• The best story in the series
• I think Chuck is a great character
• The world is quite large and interesting
• Combining weapons together is a lot of fun
• The multiplayer modes are actually a great addition to the game

Cons:

• Controls take a while to get used to these days
• The save system is still a pain in the butt