Dead Rising 2 PC Games and Downloads

Released on 01/10/2010

• Dead Rising 2 Preview

  The dead rise again!

  Set five years after the original, Dead Rising 2 is a zombie slaying action feast and survival horror title with a splattering of comedic touches. It places you in the shoes of former national Motocross champion Chuck Greene, a reluctant hero charged with slaying hordes of the undead and making sure his infected daughter Katey survives – having been bitten by a zombie, only regular doses of a drug called Zombrex will keep her from realising her brain-eating potential.

  Bigger is better
  

  A sequel largely built on the ‘bigger is better’ formula, Dead Rising 2 features more zombies, more locations, more weapons and more over the top violence than its predecessor. While the first game played out in a shopping mall, the second takes place in the comparatively large and Las Vegas-in-all-but-name setting of Fortune City, a set of interconnecting casinos, shops and open spaces packed to the rafters with shuffling corpses and the tools required to despatch them.

  A simple baseball bat becomes a lot deadlier when it’s studded with nails, for example, as does a toy helicopter with machetes for rotor blades.

  One of the original Dead Rising’s star features was its varied weaponry, which allowed you to kill in a host of inventive ways. The same is true of the sequel, which takes things one step further by allowing you to combine items at utility benches to produce more exotic tools. A simple baseball bat becomes a lot deadlier when it’s studded with nails, for example, as does a toy helicopter with machetes for rotor blades, or American footballs stuffed with grenades.

  Just to make things a little zanier, there are plenty of ridiculous costumes and items to be found lying around Fortune City, including flash suits, onesie pyjamas, superhero costumes, spray paint, sex toys and sunglasses, meaning you can dress to impress during the zombie massacre. You might also find it easier travelling around in vehicles, from machine gun-equipped wheelchairs to pink tricycles to bikes with lawnmower blades.

  Upgrade-me-do!

  Dead Rising 2 retains the original’s upgrade system, although this time around you’re not rewarded by photographing you exploits but instead by creating makeshift weapons and using them to kill in elaborate fashion. Doing so levels up your character, granting you access to a larger inventory, a bigger health bar and combo cards, which give you advice on particularly lethal weapon combinations.

  Multiplayer modes allow four players to compete in challenges including killing zombies with certain weapons.

  The mission and save systems from the first game pretty much carry over to Dead Rising 2. Tasks are generally carried out under strict time conditions, meaning organisation is required to complete all of your given goals before the clock runs out, while a visit to the nearest bathroom to relieve yourself saves your progress. Thankfully Dead Rising 2 affords you three save slots, unlike the first game’s one, meaning mistakes can easily be rectified by loading up an earlier checkpoint.

  Another significant addition to Dead Rising 2 is multiplayer modes, which allow four players to compete in various challenges including killing zombies with certain weapons and techniques within a time limit in order to get the most points. The game also supports a two player co-op mode which allows you to play through the main story with a friend, increasing your odds of survival.

  Dead. Fun.

  In many ways Dead Rising 2 is much like its predecessor, only bigger in scope and offering more ways to achieve its core challenge – the brutal and repeated slaying of zombies. With more to see, do and kill, it looks set to be one of the most action-packed and fun-filled recreations of an undead outbreak yet.

  Preview by: Tom 'Undead' Ivan
  Version Tested: Xbox 360
  Preview Published: 14.09.10

  Published: 14/09/2010

• Dead Rising 2 Review

  The Second coming

  When a zombie outbreak hits America's new capital of adult entertainment, Fortune City, it's every man and woman for themselves. Some adapt better than others to survival on the infested gambling strip, including former national Motocross champion Chuck Greene, who's spurred on by the instinct to protect his daughter Katey.

  Based around time-based zombie slaying challenges in a sandbox environment where almost anything can be picked up and used as a weapon, Dead Rising 2 is much like its predecessor, but it builds on the original by giving players more to do, see and kill, and by introducing game enhancing co-op and multiplayer modes.

  Combine items to make bizarre weapons - chainsaws canoe paddles, machine gun-equipped wheelchairs, even a sentry gun made from a robotic bear.

  While the original took place in a shopping mall, Dead Rising 2 chucks you into a larger Las Vegas-inspired location. Fortune City is comprised of casinos, shops and bars surrounding an open air area and set above maintenance tunnels beneath the surface, meaning there are plenty more locations to check out this time round, but the inclusion of tens of thousands of zombies ensures a sense of claustrophobia remains intact.

  Just as well then that our hero Chuck has managed to bag a place for him and Katey to hide out away from the zombie horde, alongside other survivors in a safe house accessed through the ventilation ducts of a shopping centre. Between missions Chuck will have to return here to give his daughter a drug called Zombrex - she's infected after being bitten by one of the living dead, but will remain human as long as she gets a dose of the good stuff every 12 hours.

  Freedom fighter

  Dead Rising 2 builds on the first game's combat system by considerably increasing the number of items you're able to find, from traditional weapons like guns and swords to improvised ones such as roulette wheels and croupier sticks. There isn't an area of Fortune City that isn't stacked with novelty weapons and outfits, so you'll soon find yourself riding along on a child's tricycle kitted out in a superhero costume and wielding a shotgun.

  Dead Rising 2 introduces the ability to combine items to make the most bizarre of weapons - chainsaws attached to either end of a canoe paddle, bikes with lawnmower blades, machine gun-equipped wheelchairs, and a rudimentary sentry gun made from a robotic bear with an assault rifle attached to its arm, to name just a few. The tougher to make, and the more outlandish and gruesome they are, the more experience points you're awarded, earning you a bigger inventory and health bar as well as new combo cards, which unlock special moves and tell you which items are best combined.

  Drop-in, drop-out co-op allows you and a friend to enjoy the carnage together at any time.

  As in the first game, Dead Rising 2's unfolding story is governed by a strict time limit. Fail to trigger the next chapter before the clock runs outs and it's game over, so you'll have to decide carefully what you allow to distract you from your core objectives. This might mean ignoring a distress call from a survivor - or not having ‘just one more go' on a bucking bronco or the slot machines - if you need to manoeuvre through hordes of zombies to make it to the other side of Fortune City to complete your stated goal in time. Thankfully the inclusion of three save slots, compared to the original game's one, means making a mistake doesn't prove too costly as you can reload to an earlier point to wipe out any rash decisions.

  Multiplayer also adds greatly to the overall experience. Drop-in, drop-out co-op allows you and a friend to enjoy the carnage together at any time, while the Gladiators-esque challenges that form the game's competitive multiplayer mode allow up to four players to face off in a range of zombie killing contests. You can even bet and win money that can be carried over to the single player story, allowing you to buy new vehicles and anti-virals.

  Unique playground

  While a couple of its predecessor's issues – such as occasionally shaky controls – remain intact, you'd be hard pressed to find a more playful action romp with this much replayability, the title again delivering an urban playground jam-packed with tools capable of laying the undead to rest in bizarre and inventive ways.

  Some might argue that Dead Rising 2 plays it too safe by failing to mess with the core gameplay established by the original, but a bigger and more varied sandbox environment, lashings of the same twisted humour, plus the addition of combinable items and multiplayer modes help elevate the series to new heights.

  GAME's Verdict

  

  • Bigger, bloodier and funnier than the original.
  • Cool multiplayer and co-op modes.
  • Great replay value.

  

  • Plays it a bit safe by sticking to what worked last time.
  • A few patchy control moments.
  • Time management can be tricky at times.

  Review by: Tom 'Survivor' Ivan
  Version Tested: Xbox 360
  Review Published: 24.07.10

  Published: 23/09/2010

• Dead Rising 2 Review

  Dead Rising was one of the most divisive games of its generation. For fans of George Romero, it offered a sharp, smart interactive rendering of the zombie cinema genre as you hacked your way through the hordes of lumbering undead who had overrun a shopping mall.

  But for all its humour and silly costumes, the game's unforgiving difficulty level, ropey visuals and infuriating boss fights infected the experience beyond salvation for many.

  Dead Rising 2 steps in to ease some of those frustrations, offering a more forgiving play experience with the help of Canadian studio Blue Castle Games, who co-developed the game with Japan's Capcom. You play as Chuck Greene, an ex-motocross champion who now ekes out a living riding motorbikes equipped with chainsaws in a zombie-murder television game show.

  You start the game on set, riding your bike around a cage against three other competitors in front of the cameras, slicing and dicing the helpless undead with your deadly vehicles. But within minutes the tables are turned, as the zombies break out of the confines of the television studio and overrun the surrounding area of Fortune City.

  You and a handful of other survivors find refuge in a maintenance area deep in the belly of the mall, and it's from here that you head out to search for other survivors and the answers to the mystery of the outbreak, while awaiting the arrival of the US military.
  

  Dawn of the Dead

  The game is spread out over a 72-hour period and, while there are a number of key events to witness each day if you are to chase the story to its conclusion, your time is otherwise pretty much your own.

  That said, there is a constant barrage of demands made upon it. Your pager rings every few minutes with word of another lost, trapped of confused patron of the mall, still alive and unscathed, but whom must be rescued quickly, if they are to survive the three days.

  By following the guide arrow you can race through the zombie throng towards their position and, once in contact, convince them to accompany you back to the safe house area.

  Finding survivors has multiple benefits. Firstly, every survivor safely returned to the safe house will earn you Prestige Points, which level up Chuck increasing his health, abilities and even the number of weapons he can keep about his person at any one time.

  Also, you can give any survivors one of your weapons and they will set about the zombies themselves, chasing after you and covering your back for you as you explore. There's even an achievement for managing to secure 8 survivors at one time, forming a veritable conga line of zombie-killers.
  

  Zombie Apocalypse

  A great deal of the game's appeal comes from the various ways in which you can inflict damage upon the zombies. Every shop in the mall has been deserted, allowing you to run in, pick up almost anything they sell to use on the zombies in your quest to save survivors.

  Anything from a chainsaw to a shampoo bottle can be acquisitioned for the cause and the introduction of maintenance rooms, in which you can tape items together to create weird and wonderful mash-up weapons, only adds to the gross humour and spectacle of the game.

  There are more serious concerns here too though. Chuck's daughter, who remains safely tucked away in the safe house for most of the game, suffered a zombie wound and must be brought a dose of Zombrex every 24 hours to keep her from 'turning'.

  With a clock consistently ticking down on screen you have to manage her safety, respond to the cries of survivors around the mall, and follow the clues to discover the cause of the outbreak all at once, and managing your time effectively is crucial to success.
  

  Chain Reaction

  Some of the issues of the first game remain. You can still only save your game by visiting one of the mall's toilets and, if you're not prudent, it's easy to lose half an hour's play because you forgot to save and were then overwhelmed by the horde.

  Likewise, loading in the game is long and frequent (particularly in the first few hours) and the frustrating boss fights - especially against 'psychopaths', survivors who have gone insane - are a chore.

  But it's easy to see past these irritations, as the wide-angle view of the game is so enjoyable. This is a curious, compelling, idiosyncratic experience, quite unlike anything else. For all the hundreds of weapons lying about the place, Fortune City is an unforgiving locale, taut with danger.

  But the thrill of rescuing people from the sea of threat never loses its edge, and the chance to do so with a friend in co-op makes Dead Rising 2 a better game than its predecessor, and one of the most interesting experiences in undead gaming.

  

  Brains
  + Variety of silly weapons.
  + Compulsion to save everybody.
  + Huge numbers of on-screen zombies.

  Drains
  - Poor map system.
  - Irritating boss fights.
  - Occasionally ropey visuals.

• Frank West returns in Dead Rising 2: Off The Record

  As good as Dead Rising 2 was, most players were disappointed not to see the original Frank West return to kick some serious zombie butt. Well, never let it be said that Capcom doesn listen to fans because at yesterday Captivate event, the publisher announced Dead Rising 2: Off The Record a hat iftake on the Fortune City outbreak, with everyone favourite chubby cameraman replacing Thomas Jane lookalike Chuck Greene in the lead role.

  The announcement trailer shows Frank asking the question hat would I have done differently?The answer, naturally, is verything The photography aspect of the original Dead Rising makes a welcome return, with Frank earning experience-enhancing Prestige Points for his best snaps, while the opening sees him don a wrestling leotard to grapple the undead in the ring for gore-soaked gameshow Terror Is Reality.

  As well as new weapons and new moves for Frank a spinning lariat attack shows he a fan of Street Fighter IV Zangief the game features a new checkpoint system, which saves before boss battles and after critical events, smoothing off, making this tough series a little more accessible to newcomers.

  With a brand new area of Fortune City to explore, co-operative multiplayer and an additional mode Capcom isn prepared to reveal just yet, Off The Record is much more than a simple reskin of Dead Rising 2. Expect more zombie-killing fun this Autumn on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

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