For any hardcore or old-school gamer, Capcom is one of the biggest bright spots in the gaming industry. With franchises like Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Mega Man, Dead Rising, and Phoenix Wright, it just seems like they have a great portfolio of games that gamers want to play. But recently, I’ve started to get a little bit peeved over their various decisions but it wasn’t until this past week that I feel like they’ve really sold out. Let’s examine the evidence.

1. Departure of Keiji Inafune
Keiji Inafune was a major contributor to the success of Capcom, having been the former head of the Research & Development wing of the company and being one of the creators of Mega Man and Dead Rising. He definitely loved his fans, as he did signings for game launches and seemed to really help guide Capcom in the right direction because he loved games. So when he left because he couldn’t take it anymore, that was a big blow to Capcom fans everywhere, and one of the things I remember most from reading his interview on the topic was how much he feuded with those that actually ran the company and how they were very resistant to any kind of change:

Part of 4Gamer Interview:
Inafune: That’s fine, though. I expected that. But for a company whose whole business is making and selling games, you’ve got to think that development would be the key point. If you ignore development, the company can’t stand, so that’s the way things currently are.

I can’t say that I haven’t been able to make lots of different things, but I would’ve liked for the development-side to be more trusted in making games.

4Gamer: It isn’t?

Inafune: No. Not a single member of the board of directors understands games. I didn’t ask to be a board member, but if you don’t have someone who understands games in the position of making those final decisions, there winds up being a business-side that doesn’t understand games and development-side that wants to make games. I feel that’s the biggest problem Capcom will be facing.

4Gamer: It may be that way, but ultimately the ones who make the final decisions are the president and the chairman.

Ever since Inafune left, it seems like no one in Capcom took his place to push innovation and everything is now a business decision. Has Capcom gone the way of Activision? Judge for yourself!

2. Street Fighter IV
When Street Fighter IV was released, gamers were in love. This was a fabled return to the franchise, and it reinvigorated the fighting game genre. But since its initial release, Capcom has gone overboard with the number of releases. For home console gamers like myself, it’s annoying that I had to buy Super Street Fighter IV as a disc instead of as DLC for the Street Fighter IV title. Now an Arcade Edition has just come out and while it can be bought for $15 DLC, it also retails for $40 on disc? Why are there so many Street Fighter IV editions floating around?

02/17/2009 Street Fighter IV (console disc)
04/27/2010 Super Street Fighter IV (console disc)
03/27/2011 Super Street Fighter IV (3DS edition)
06/07/2011 Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (console DLC):
06/28/2011 Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (console disc)

(Meanwhile, other fighting games like BlazBlue: Continuum Shift release a DLC patch for free to upgrade it from Continuum Shift 1 to Continuum Shift 2.)

I’m not even really going to knock all of these releases for Street Fighter IV – primarily because I don’t really play it much anymore and was never too serious about it in the first place. So Capcom decides to milk the Street Fighter franchise a bit with Street Fighter IV’s success. They wouldn’t be milking their other franchises too, would they?

3. Dead Rising
Dead Rising was my first favorite game on the Xbox 360. During a launch time where most of the games were bland (Perfect Dark Zero, anyone?) Dead Rising was a fresh and innovative new title that I loved from start to finish. Years after that first title was released, Dead Rising 2 was released, but this time around Capcom decided to release several other related titles: two Live Arcade prologue & epilogue companions to the primary game of Dead Rising 2, and then a remake of Dead Rising 2 with a different character but slapping in a $40 price tag on it. Couldn’t this remake have simply been released as DLC? Why go the entire physical disc and distribution route when you could have just patched this in with DLC and save everyone some money?

08/08/2006 Dead Rising
08/31/2010 Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (Xbox Arcade title)
09/28/2010 Dead Rising 2 (console disc)
12/27/2010 Dead Rising 2: Case West (Xbox Arcade title)
10/11/2011 Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (console disc)

Am I going to buy Dead Rising 2: Off the Record at launch? Heck no. Unless Capcom can really demonstrate to me how different the game is by adding a different character into the same environmental assets that you already created for Dead Rising 2, I’ll just continue to be annoyed.

4. Marvel vs Capcom 3
Capcom’s recent announcement of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 somehow managed to get me excited and my blood boiling at the same time. For one, the new “Ultimate Edition” will come with 12 new playable characters, 8 new stages, a Spectator Mode, and balance changes. Sounds like a meaty update. But is it really worth $40 – and so soon?! With Street Fighter IV, the “Super” edition did not get released until 14 months after the original title. Ultimate Marvel 3 is being released 9 months after the original title. Couldn’t this have easily been a DLC patch instead of a forced $40 disc? Pulling this Super Street Fighter thing all over again. And what’s worse is that the DLC characters, Jill & Shuma Gorath, will still not be included in the Ultimate Edition. I still am annoyed with Jill and Shuma Gorath already being on the game disc but gamers having to pay $10 to be able to use them. Since when did Capcom begin the American nickle and dime process?

02/15/2011 Marvel vs Capcom 3 (console disc)
03/15/2011 Marvel vs Capcom 3 Jill & Shuma Gorath characters (console DLC)
11/15/2011 Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (console disc)

I guess this means I need to quickly sell my copy of Marvel vs Capcom 3 now if I have any interest in Ultimate. Or should I wait for Super Ultimate – another edition on physical disc?

4. Cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 and blaming fans
Mega Man has a very loyal following among Capcom gamers, and Mega Man Legends 3 for the Nintendo 3DS was one of the major titles hardcore gamers were looking forward to. Different from the traditional Mega Man games, Mega Man Legends games are 3D and have more of a Zelda/RPG-ish feel. Keiji Inafune was one of the main supporters of the third game, but with his departure from Capcom and the ailing 3DS, Capcom’s board probably considered it too risky to release. I can understand this decision, as it’s purely a business one and if the game was going to take $15 million to make but they didn’t think they could make that back in sales, then I can understand. But what made them change their mind when they first agreed to release it? It’s a much bigger deal when a company officially announces that they are going to make a game and then cancel it instead of never officially announcing it and silently axing it.

Not only did Capcom officially announce and kill Mega Man Legends 3, their Twitter account successfully riled up the Mega Man fanbase by blaming them for the reason the game got cancelled. Instead of trying to calm fans down, the Capcom Twitter guy tweets:

it’s a shame the fans didn’t want to get more involved if we saw there was an audience for MML3 people might change minds

And then after that things just got crazy. Granted, the Capcom Twitter guy should definitely be fired after how he handled the situation, but this is just another thing that has brought Capcom crashing down from the highest echelons of my gaming company respect.

5. Resident Evil 4 & Code Veronica Remakes
Resident Evil 4 is not only the best Resident Evil, but one of the best games of all time. Suffice to say, I am excited along with many other gamers that an HD remake of the game is being released for the 360 and PS3. But wait, how many times has this game actually been released?

01/11/2005 Resident Evil 4 Gamecube Edition
10/25/2005 Resident Evil 4 PS2 Edition
05/15/2007 Resident Evil 4 PC Edition
06/19/2007 Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition
07/27/2009 Resident Evil 4 iPhone Edition
04/03/2010 Resident Evil 4 iPad Edition
09/20/2011 Resident Evil 4 360/PS3 Edition

And how come in Japan Resident Evil 4 & Code Veronica are released as one bundle, but are separate titles here in the states? I guess I will reserve final judgment until seeing what price these individual titles will be announced at, but if either of them are retailing for more than $20 each, I will not be a happy camper. An HD bundle with the two games launching for $39.99 would have been perfect.

Interested in a Resident Evil 4 & Code Veronica HD Bundle? Too bad if you’re not in Japan.

Grr…I always felt I could trust in Capcom to bring us gamers the goods, but it looks like they’ve definitely changed – and not necessarily for the better. In a way, they seem to be embracing American business strategy for games, which will probably allow the company to succeed but get many gamers riled up in the process. Well, there’s still Sega and Platinum Games as the remaining examples of gaming companies that still believe in innovative Japanese titles.

Microsoft & Capcom had Dead Rising 2: Case Zero and Dead Rising 2: Case West on sale the week after I beat Dead Rising 2, so I picked each of them up for $5 a piece to continue supporting the franchise. It wasn’t until this past weekend, however, that I finally got to play through Case West. cmfl3x has already provided a review on Case Zero, so I’m tasked with sharing my thoughts on Case West. Sadly for PS3 owners, both Case West and Case Zero are 360-exclusive. Hit the jump to see if Case West is worth checking out.

The Highs
Although Dead Rising 2: Case West is considered an Xbox Live Arcade Title and does not require the original Dead Rising 2 game to play, it really does add a meaty Epilogue to Dead Rising 2. Taking place right after the end of Dead Rising 2, Frank West, Dead Rising 1′s protagonist, makes his reappearance and sticks with Dead Rising 2′s Chuck Greene throughout the entire Case West campaign. The pair spends time searching for more clues as to the causes behind the zombie outbreak at a pharmaceutical factory. The storyline events sort of tie Dead Rising 1 and 2 together and introduce a new villain, so the only thing I am concerned about is how fans of the series (most notably, PS3 owners) will understand what happens next in Dead Rising 3 if they don’t check out Case West. Granted, the storyline isn’t exactly Oscar material for the series, but for those that care, it’s good (and bad, for those who don’t play Case West) that Case West continues the storyline rather than set up some alternate universe for Chuck and Frank to play in.

The length to the game is also pretty meaty. It took me almost 4 hours to get through it, but that was also because I was able to do everything that Case West had to offer in one playthrough. Case West also starts players off at Level 40, allowing you to hit the max level cap of 50 through the course of one or multiple playthroughs. The setting is also quite different than the malls of Dead Rising 1 and 2. Dead Rising: Case West takes place exclusively in a factory setting, and it’s both refreshing yet a little more bland to be in a different type of setting when taking on the zombie horde. It’s great to see new environments such as labs and residential areas, but at the same time, a mall provides for a much more interactive environment. Overall, it’s a nice departure from the established Dead Rising setting.

There are other minor gameplay enhancements to the game as well, such as the fact that Survivors do not have to be escorted back to a safehouse and can find their own way to safety right after you rescue them. There are also some new item combos in Case West to experiment with. My favorite is the laser gun – a gun where if you shoot a zombie, it zaps him with electricity, then blows him up and everyone else around him.

Photography returns in Dead Rising 2: Case West, but it doesn’t add much.

The Lows
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Dead Rising 1 was the photography gameplay element. As Frank West, you always carried a camera around, and whenever you found something interesting, you could take a photo. Depending on what was going on in the shot, the photo was scored in several categories and you would get bonus experience points for shots. For example, if you saw several zombies feasting on another one and took a good photo, you’d get a great score for a “Horror” themed shot. Take a photo of 10 zombies after you put masks on all of them? High scoring Humor shot. You could really have a lot of fun in Dead Rising 1 simply going around looking for (or even setting up) good shots throughout the game and the game would return feedback to your photography skills in terms of score. Dead Rising 2: Case West brings back a little bit of the photography element, giving Chuck a crappy camera to take photos of 10 hidden camera stickers in the factory. Unfortunately, there is no photo scoring system like the original Dead Rising game, so the camera gameplay element included in Case West is pretty pointless.

I was not a big fan of the online co-op either. Dead Rising 2: Case West was billed strongly as a co-op game, since you and a friend can play as Chuck and Frank through the entire game. The primary player always plays Chuck, and the second player joining the host’s game gets to play Frank. There’s no lobby system or anything. For a game like this where up to only 2 players can play online together, a Lobby System is definitely more important than matchmaking (which is what Capcom decided to go with for Dead Rising 2: Case West). The big problem with Case West’s matchmaking is that when it searches for a game for you to join, the host of the game can simply reject you from joining. I had a hard time finding games to join because I kept getting rejected and when I continued to search, I wasn’t sure if I was constantly being rejected from the same person over and over again who just didn’t want me in his game. On top of that, when you want to join a game, you have no idea how far the host’s game is in the campaign. Ideally, if you want to play this co-op, you should be able to access a menu that lists all the open rooms of people that are looking for someone else to join their game, and how far into the campaign they are. Case West had none of this, and it was truly frustrating to try to find another player to beat the boss of the game with (the final Achievement I needed).

Just like there are some minor gameplay highs in Case West, there were also a couple of lows that seem to have canceled them out. It was great that Survivors, once rescued, could just get to safety on their own. What sucked though is that practically in every zone of this game, there are security guards with assault rifles that pepper you with bullets. Bullets don’t do too much damage in this game, but they sort of stun lock you so it can be VERY annoying to be stuck stun-locked any time you enter a new zone until you can finally run all the way up to the security guards to take them out. And while there are new item combos introduced with Case West, I was surprised to learn that so many of the combos that I learned in Dead Rising 2 were not allowed in Case West. Some of my favorite gadgets could not be used.

Dead Rising 2 trades the bright lights of the malls for the dim lights of a factory.

Final Thoughts
I’m a big fan of the Dead Rising games. I thought that Dead Rising 2: Case West added a great Epilogue to Dead Rising 2, just like Dead Rising 2: Case Zero was a great Prologue. However, the series as a whole is simply not for everyone. The stress from having to play the game while worrying about the time can be pretty rough, but it’s made easier with the fact that every playthrough unfolds in the same manner. In a way, the Dead Rising games play out like the film Groundhog Day; you can constantly have your fun playing through them and trying new and various things to amuse you since every playthrough unfolds in the same scripted way. It’s up to you to change things and experiment for yourself.

At this point, you’re either a fan of the Dead Rising franchise or not. If you are, Case West is definitely worth checking out since it adds more storyline and is relatively meaty. Of course, with both Case West and Dead Rising 2 having been released several months ago already, I don’t know if Case West is worth its $10 retail price when the full retail game is probably going to drop down to $20 soon. Consider waiting for Case West to go on sale again for $5 before purchasing – or wait until this fall for the Dead Rising 2 remake exclusively starring Frank West.

Final Grade: B+

One of the first games I played and reviewed on the Xbox 360 was the original Dead Rising. To this day it is still one of my favorite Xbox 360 games since it was the type of game that made me jump from the consoles of last generation. The concept of being stuck in a mall for 72 hours fighting off hoards of zombies while saving survivors and piecing together clues to understand how the outbreak occurred kept me riveted to the end. Of course, the original game did have its fair share of issues, such as the time-limits, the harsh save system, and even the fact that anything you used as a weapon would simply break after repeated use. How does the sequel fare?

The Positives
The first and foremost positive thing to be said about Dead Rising 2 is that it looks and plays great. The new Western development studio, Blue Castle Games, did a tremendous job bringing out a sequel to Dead Rising that really feels like a true sequel to the game. The gameplay and controls feel just like the original game, yet the graphics and technology have been greatly improved. The sheer number of zombies that are packed on screen at once without any noticeable slowdown is quite impressive. I never really had problems with the saving in the first game, but it has been improved in the sequel. You still need to save by visiting rest rooms, but instead of 1 save slot, you have 3 to choose from so you can load older saves if needed. Dead Rising 2 also introduces 2-player co-op, so you can play through the entire game with a friend.

With the game taking place in Las Vegas, gambling is a major theme. The design to the levels and incorporation of slots and poker work wonderfully. I enjoyed the Texas Hold’Em Poker mini-game a lot, and felt it was done well enough that it can practically be its own game. It adds to the over-the-top humor in this horror game – survivors that you find in a casino that won’t leave until you beat them at poker, so you sit in a room with zombies walking outside until you can knock all of them out of the game and take their money.

As a fan of the first game, I was disappointed that Frank West, the original game’s protagonist, was not present in the sequel. The use of his camera in the first game was quite innovative and entertaining, so the lack of camera usage in the sequel is quite noticeable. Fortunately, the sequel introduces a new major gameplay element to Dead Rising 2: Combo Cards. In Dead Rising 2, our protagonist, Chuck Greene, can combine two items he finds into a better weapon. For example, combining a baseball bat with nails allows Chuck to create a spiked bat, and combining boxing gloves with a bowie knife allows Chuck to create Wolverine-like gloves that slash through enemies like butter. Some of the combinations are a lot of fun, but the annoying aspect of the combining is that sometimes it can be tough to find the two items you need to construct the new item. Fortunately, all items reset when you re-enter any zone, so once you learn where items are throughout the game, you can always return to pick them up as needed.

Dead Rising 2 allows players to combine items such as giant stuffed bears and machine guns.

The Negatives
I’ll start with the most painful negative in this game first: its loading. Even after a full hard drive install on my 360, Dead Rising 2 takes a good 15-20 seconds probably to load a new zone when you enter it. Even saving the game or selecting your save game source (hard drive vs memory card) takes several agonizing seconds that I could not understand. To be fair, the game is loading a zone with hundreds and possibly thousands of zombies as well as all sorts of items you can interact with in that entire zone, but it can be quite jarring when you go into this game expecting without the understanding that you will be doing a lot of waiting.

Dead Rising 2 also introduces Multiplayer, in the form of different mini-games where you compete with other players to kill zombies. As someone that is playing this game now instead of during its initial launch last year, the multiplayer is an empty wasteland and rightly so: the multiplayer is not good enough to compete with real multiplayer games nor do I think people buy Dead Rising games to play multiplayer. Fortunately, the main campaign is more than worth getting this game, but I don’t understand why game companies these days force multiplayer in games that are not really meant for multiplayer (I am looking at you, Grand Theft Auto 4, BioShock 2, Dead Space 2, and all of the high profile titles had money spent on making multiplayer just to keep players from selling the game).

Another negative I would say about this game is that it really doesn’t feel that fresh. The original Dead Rising game came completely out of nowhere with an innovative gameplay concept and garnered a cult following. The sequel is very similar in concept to the first – taking place in a huge mall (or really, a group of malls) during a zombie outbreak. The core gameplay concepts remain the same: rescue survivors and bring them back to the safehouse, take on psychos that have gone crazy as a result of the outbreak, and do everything on time or else you will have survivors killed or clues lost. Dead Rising 3 has already been announced, and I don’t understand how many more times this formula will be milked as it’s not exactly fresh anymore. Capcom even has the balls to release a Dead Rising 2 remake starring Frank West in the Fall. I guess Capcom wants to give Dead Rising the Guitar Hero treatment: milk it for all its worth until it burns down in flames.

Like comedy and horror? Dead Rising 2 continues bringing the laughs and scares.

Final Thoughts
As a huge fan of the first game, I still enjoyed Dead Rising 2 a lot. It felt like a more polished version of the first, and scratched my Dead Rising itch. But the lengthy load times, silly multiplayer, and lack of being much different from the first game don’t make this sequel fall into “must-play” status. If you enjoyed the first game, the second game is definitely worth picking up since it is quite a well done sequel. But if you never really cared much for the first or found it too limiting/frustrating, the sequel is not really going to change your mind.

I found the positives and negatives of the sequel just enough to make Dead Rising 2 just as good as its predecessor back in the day. It’s a series that has really found its own unique style, combining horror and comedy. For fans of both genres, Dead Rising 2 is a great choice. I played through the game twice because the game was not only fun to play, but there were all sorts of new and hidden things to discover. I just pray that Dead Rising 3 changes things up to keep the series fresh. I’m not sure if I’m ready for yet another mall setting!

Final Grade: B+

Our Awards & Holiday Shopping Guide are just about done, but today I get to talk about some of my favorite categories. Which stories really stuck with me this year? What new IPs are out there that might stand the test of time? And how do all the sequels this year stack up? Hit the jump to find out!

Best Story

Mass Effect 2
Alan Wake
Heavy Rain
Red Dead Redemption [winner]
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Fallout: New Vegas

I really enjoy the stories in games, and this year had a few good ones. Mass Effect 2 didn’t necessarily live up to the story of the original, but I still enjoyed the story a lot. Even though it was mostly about building up your squad, I found the back stories and personalities of each character very compelling. Mass Effect 2 isn’t the greatest story, but it’s still an enjoyable ride, and the last mission is a great payoff.

Alan Wake almost won this category, until we realized the ending was a bit cheesy. It’s too bad, because this story about a horror fiction in a creepy lake town had all the makings of a real winner. The ambiance, the twists and turns in the story, and the premise are all great. It’s just too bad the “twist” at the end is a little too cliche. Still, Alan Wake is a story worthy of Stephen King.

I loved Heavy Rain and was seriously considering picking it as the winner as well. Then I started thinking about it more, and realized that if this is the STORY category, Heavy Rain just has too many plot holes to win the category. It’s still a great story, but there is a website out there that points out all the plot holes (Google it if you’re interested). I really enjoyed searching for a serial killer and the dark story – it’s just…did I mention plot holes? As a game, though, the plot holes are kind of fun!

At first, Red Dead Redemption seemed like a long shot, but I eventually decided to give the game a try. I’m glad I did, and Red Dead Redemption ended up winning Leveling Down’s Best Story award. Red Dead Redemption is a great……redemption story, one with a cool main character, a unique old school western world, and a lot of fun side missions. GTA IV kind of wore on me at the end because Niko’s character rang hollow – I don’t feel the same way about John Marston. The story keeps you wanting more, and the ending really tugs at the heart strings.

My runner up in this category is Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Red Dead Redemption is a deeper, more nuanced story. Enslaved is a summer blockbuster. The story is a fast and action packed ride that never stops. You are moving from locale to locale, set piece to set piece as the game just barrels on towards it’s conclusion. It’s a lot of fun: the popcorn flick of this year’s crop of video games.

Not surprisingly, Fallout: New Vegas rounds out the nominees in Best Story. Obsidian, the makers of the original Fallouts, did an amazing job with the story. They have taken all the great things in Fallout 3 but improved on the story. New Vegas involves a series of different warring factions and you have to decide where your loyalties will lie. It’s a lot of fun and feels a lot bigger and graver than Fallout 3′s story: that’s a great thing.

Best New IP

Bayonetta [winner - tie]
Darksiders
MAG
Heavy Rain
Alan Wake
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West [winner - tie]
Vanquish

It was actually kind of tough to come up with a winner in this category. As espion4ge has mentioned, 2010 kind of feels like the year of the sequel.

espion4ge chose Bayonetta as his winner in this category. He absolutely loved this game, and this is what he had to say about it:
When I think of the Best New IP category, I think of the game that I would like to see a sequel from moreso than any other. Since Bayonetta was my favorite action/adventure game of the year, I can’t imagine anyone being surprised that this is the game I would love to see a sequel from most. The game had what I considered perfect gameplay design, oozed a sexy style in its female protagonist and combat mechanics, and has set the new bar for action/adventure games. If other current action/adventure games matched the level of gameplay that Bayonetta provided, I wouldn’t be as zealous to play a new Bayonetta sequel. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to see anything out now or on the horizon that can provide this old-school hardcore gamer the thrills and highs that Bayonetta could. Even if the sequel has a storyline as non-coherent as the first, with the gameplay so good, I won’t even care. Now Platinum – please release a sequel!

Darksiders feels like a Zelda knock-off, but in a good way. The game feels like an homage to Zelda, but a worthy game in and of itself. Even though it feels like Zelda, the premise is very un-Zelda: in a post-apocalyptic world, you play as one of the four horsemen in the apocalypse. Instead of killing weird things that shoot rocks out of their mouths, you are killing angels and demons. Anyway, Darksiders is a lot of fun and a nice little new IP.

MAG (Massive Action Game) is a super ambitious first person shooter on the PS3 that almost lived up to the hype. It allows up to 256 players to duke it out in massive battles. More interestingly, there is a promotion system where you can work your way up from a grunt to a commander who oversees squads in battle. It takes unlockables in a new direction, and a sequel should be coming soon.

Now while the story was riddled with holes, Heavy Rain as a whole is an amazing new IP. Quantic Dream billed it as interactive drama, and it stands as one of the most unique games released this year. The control scheme makes a player really feel like a part of the action, and the different ways that the story can play out really make your decisions feel weighty and important. I doubt there will be a sequel (it wouldn’t make sense), but I’d love to see another game in this vein released.

Alan Wake is also a great new IP, and the story was continued through various DLC offerings. I’m pretty sure the series could still sustain a sequel, although there’s not much more for me to say that I didn’t say in Best Story.

My winner in this category is Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Besides being a popcorn flick, this game is also a lot of fun. The gameplay is pretty simple to pick up, but deep enough not to get boring. It also takes place in a unique post-apocalyptic world, a completely different world than Darksiders. I really hope this game gets a sequel, but I don’t know if it has the niche following that Bayonetta does – my fingers are crossed!

Rounding out this category is Vanquish, a third person shooter that takes place in the future (but not post apocalyptic! Seriously, what is with the future!?) You have an awesome suit. You fight Russians. DARPA is involved. It’s kind of like Metal Gear Solid, minus sneaking and extended cut scenes but plus Gears of War type action. The game has kind of flown under the radar, but with mostly positive reviews, it’s worth a look.

Best Sequel

Mass Effect 2 [winner - tie]
BioShock 2
Dead Rising 2
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Civilization V
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty [winner - tie]

To start things off, here’s espion4ge:
How does one decide on the best sequel for a game among this year’s so many sequels? I like to think of a Best Sequel as a sort of “Most Improved” award. What sequel among this list of nominees has considerably improved over its predecessor? While all the games in this category are good in their own way, some of them are arguably not better than their predecessor. Mass Effect 2 is a definite huge improvement over the first one. In my review of the first one years ago, I was actually not a huge fan of the game at all. The storyline was interesting, but the game itself was short, the scope of the world was tiny with mundane optional planets to drive around, and the Achievements were poorly designed (how many times am I supposed to go through this game?). Bioware listened to all of the negative feedback from the first game, and fixed every issue I had with the original game – making the sequel an amazing product. The game is lengthy now, the galaxy feels a lot more vast, there are new characters to recruit, and even the choices you made in the first game affect the sequel – something that I have not ever seen done before to this degree. In short, Mass Effect 2 is the best sequel of the year and I applaud the developers for learning from the first game.

People weren’t sure that Bioshock 2 should even have made, but in the end it turned out pretty well. Even though it couldn’t top the story of the original, subtle tweaks to the gameplay and plasmids along with a brand new protagonist AND antagonist combined to make a game that drew on all the great aspects of the first. Thus Bioshock 2 is a solid sequel, it isn’t a major improvement but it didn’t feel like a cheap cash in either.

Dead Rising 2, on the other hand, did feel a bit like a cash in. Ameliorating that feeling is the fact that the original came out like four years ago. Dead Rising 2 is one of those sequels that feels exactly like its predecessor, for better or worse. It’s still the same zombie killing fun you remember from Dead Rising, but it also contains a lot of the same glitches and bad design choices as well. It’s a game for fans of the original, but I’d personally recommend Case Zero.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, feels like a major expansion pack to Assassin’s Creed 2 – an awesome one. You get to gallivant through the one major city in Italy you missed, Rome, while advancing the story and setting things up for Assassin’s Creed 3. The combat has been streamlined for the better – one of the few things I didn’t like about Assassin’s Creed 2. More importantly, there is this awesome new guild of assassins that you can use to do your assassinations for you. How is that not a winner?

Of course, a list of best sequels wouldn’t be complete without the token Call of Duty game. Treyarch seems determined to get out of Infinity Ward’s shadow, and Call of Duty: Black Ops is their best Call of Duty game yet. With an interesting single player and a slower but more balanced feeling multiplayer, Black Ops is a solid entry in the series. I wish they could have included SpecOps, but with so much to do on one disc, it’s tough to complain.

As espion4ge pointed out elsewhere, if you are interested in jumping into a time machine and traveling 24 hours into the future without knowing where the time went, Civilization V is your best bet. The game has become more user-friendly and accessible and is still just as addicting. What that pretty much means is that you’ll get addicted faster. Civ V is THE turn based strategy game, and you could feasibly get by playing ONLY Civ V for the next year.

Speaking of games you can play for one year straight, my winner in this category is Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. Although it feels a lot like the original, Blizzard has made a lot of tweaks for a better experience. The interface has become easier to use with “smart” groups, making the gameplay more accessible and less frustrating. The addition of the Wing Commander-esque navigation menus between missions is a lot of fun, and the story is great and ends on a nice cliffhanger. The only thing bad I have to say about Starcraft 2 is that it gets me in trouble with my wife. It’s difficult for me to pay attention to her when my allies are in combat!

I bought my 360 a year or two after launch, so I never had the chance to play Dead Rising, a zombie game that holds a place in many early adopter’s hearts. Supposedly, it was a campy zombie game that despite a bunch of glitches turned out to be a lot of fun. Years later, Capcom has decided to release a sequel, Dead Rising 2. Unfortunately, most of the reviews have been saying that what was fun five years ago is lame now, so I decided not to buy the game. I still wanted a taste of the action, so I picked up Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, a $5 downloadable prequel to Dead Rising 2. Case Zero recently topped the 600,000 sales mark (I think I bought the 600,000th!) – is it worth the $5?

Storyline and Premise
Zombies. Zombies. Zombies. Some people are getting sick of zombies, and I must admit that I am one of them. Dead Rising 2 picks up five years after the events of the original, which I have no recollection of because I never played it. In terms of premise: blah blah blah zombies blah blah blah outbreak blah blah blah survivors. You’ve heard it before. What you need to know: you are Chuck Greene, some action star or something, and you have a daughter, she’s been infected, you’re stranded, she needs medicine. Not ground breaking stuff but it sets the game up well.

The story just involves you helping find medicine for your daughter and finding a way to escape the quarantine zone you’re stuck in. I don’t dock it too many points for being so straightforward – it is meant to be a prequel to the main game and it also should be evaluated as a $5 XBLA offering. So even though I wished for more depth, it accomplished what it needed to.

Gameplay
The zombies in the world of Dead Rising are slow moving ones, which means that it mostly comes down to killing masses of them instead of quick reflexes or anything like that. Figuring out how to kill them is the fun part. You get the chance to combine different items to make super-weapons, and these super-weapons are a lot of fun to use. I won’t spoil them, but it’s a lot of fun using some of these weapons. On top of that, weapons break after repeated use, encouraging you to try new weapons. Although this is great in theory, in practice, I ended up sticking to tried and true weapons I enjoyed.

Case Zero is essentially one long fetch quest: you are searching a small town for parts to build a motorbike so you can get out of there. It might sound boring, but it’s actually not. There are some puzzles (or problems) you need to solve to get some of the parts, you can earn money to buy weapons/items from the local pawn shop (whose owner you have to save), and there are various survivors scattered around town who you can save as well.

One thing that some might hate, but I enjoyed, is that Case Zero has a time limit. You essentially have 12 hours to do everything you need to do to save your daughter and get out of dodge – if not, bad things happen. There are multiple endings to the game depending on whether you are successful or not. I feel the time limit accomplishes two things. First, it creates a sense of urgency that made the game more fun for me. I failed the first time around. Secondly, it keeps the game compact which prevented me from getting bored. After the game ends, you can restart a new game with all of your experience (you level up and get stronger) and with your leftover money, so it’s not really a big deal, you can play again and try to “win”.

Final Thoughts
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is a pretty short game. I think I beat the game and got all the Achievements (over three playthroughs) in about five or six hours. My fastest run through the game while getting the “good” ending was about an hour. Yet I don’t hold that against the game – it’s actually fun to try to rush through it. Also, I didn’t mind playing through multiple times because the experience wasn’t long and drawn out. There’s very little filler in this game, making it a nice, streamlined, XBLA experience. It’s definitely worth $5.

Despite all that, I am only going to give the game a B. Why? I guess I’m punishing Case Zero for the retail version of Dead Rising 2. It’s obvious to me how Dead Rising 2 can get repetitive and annoying. In fact, I think it would have been better just with Case Zero – it’s a great bite sized experience. But as a full meal, I definitely understand why Dead Rising 2 came up lacking. There just aren’t enough flavors. In a vacuum, I might have given Case Zero a B+/A-, but since Case Zero also spurred sales of the main game, I feel like I should temper my feelings a bit. Nobody probably cares about that but me.

Regardless, it’s well worth $5, especially if you feel like bashing/slashing/decapitating/murdering zombies in fun and playful ways. I’m kind of hoping they release “Dead Rising 2: Case West” (co-op game with the two protagonists from Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2) as a XBLA game and not DLC. Unfortunately, I think that’s a long shot.

Final Grade: B

Last week cmfl3x and I presented you with a list of games that we felt were good value from a standpoint of being enjoyable for pretty much every type of gamer. This week we’ll share more “niche” titles – games that you can enjoy – provided you’re into the genre. Again, we want to look at games that are good value – ones that either have a lengthy/replayable single player campaign or plenty of multiplayer hours to keep you coming back while at the same time being enjoyable while being inexpensive.

While many Western reviewers put down Japanese developed games that don’t have a lot of production quality, I tend to still enjoy them. I like Japanese fighting games, RPGs, action/adventure games, and beat’em ups. I appreciate the linearity with many of them, and personally don’t mind if the graphics tend to appear closer to last gen technology than current. Because at the deepest level, what’s most important to me is gameplay. Is it ultimately fun to play? Here are games that I feel are ultimately fun to play and are good value, if you like the genre:

Fighting

Dead or Alive 4
[360: $29.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Dead or Alive 4 was the very first fighting game released on the 360. While several others have come along since then, it’s still quite a casual friendly fighter while having a strong online mode that allows for four players sharing a room at once. If you want to get into a cheap, yet accessible online fighting game, consider this game.

Virtua Fighter 5
[360: $19.99, PS3: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
While Dead or Alive 4 prides itself on its online infrastructure, Virtua Fighter 5 has no competitors when it comes to single player. For the best single-player fighting game on current consoles, Virtua Fighter 5 is it. It takes about 40-50 hours to get through, as you create a player and travel through various arcades that have hundreds of different AI opponents – with some modeled after real life Virtua Fighter 5 pros. There is a ranking system, and the ability to earn money to buy accessories for your character as well. Note that while the 360 version has online, the PS3 version does not.

Realtime Strategy

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
[360: $27.99, PC: $27.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Red Alert 3 didn’t sell well enough upon released and quickly dropped to the under $30 value price only months after release. But it’s definitely worth a shot as it has a very lengthy single player campaign consisting of 27 missions (pretty much double Halo Wars), a skirmish mode, and online play. For the least expensive, yet enjoyable RTS games on the 360, Red Alert 3 is the game to get.

Multiplayer Shooter

Shadowrun
[360: $29.99, PC: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Shadowrun has a funny existence on the 360 and PC. It’s a niche RPG game with its own fan-following, but the most recent game was converted into a Counter-Strike style online only shooter that allowed players to earn money and buy weapons, tech abilities, and magical skills. It’s a great game that also supports matchmaking, but because it wasn’t the type of game that Shadowrun fans wanted to play, and it shipped at $60 with no multiplayer, reviews were scathing. But at its current bargain price, the game is a gem. Just keep in mind that the PC version requires Vista.

Japanese RPG

Blue Dragon
[360: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Blue Dragon is a Japanese RPG that comes from the creator of Final Fantasy and the artist behind Dragonball and Chrono Trigger. The game is an excellent (yet very standard) Japanese RPG, but the only thing really going against it is that it has children as protagonists. This makes it difficult for some people to really get into, but if you can look past that and are interested in a Japanese RPG, Blue Dragon is a great deal.

Lost Odyssey
[360: $29.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
It’s a little bit pricier than Blue Dragon, but Lost Odyssey is arguably the best Japanese RPG game on the 360. After Blue Dragon, Mistwalker decided to develop an RPG that was more mature and accessible to Western Audiences, and this game delivers. If you were a fan of Final Fantasy games growing up and didn’t exactly enjoy fighting the cutesy monsters of Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey is perhaps the better one to pick up.

Japanese Beat em up

Samurai Warriors 2
[360: $19.99 on Amazon]
Out of all of the Warriors series that Koei has spawned on the PS2 and 360, Samurai Warriors has always been my favorite. Playing as characters based on real-life samurais and ninjas with various missions, leveling up, finding gear, etc. has always made Samurai Warriors (as well as Warriors games in general) a good bang for the buck if you don’t mind the gameplay that is repetitive for some as well as the PS2 quality graphics.

Warriors Orochi
[360: $29.99 on Amazon]
Very similar to Samurai Warriors 2, but instead of following historical missions and levels, Warriors Orochi combines the world of Samurai Warriors with Dynasty Warriors, allowing you to create teams from both while confronting a new made-up enemy. While the storyline to the game isn’t as tight or appeal as that of Samurai Warriors 2, there is appeal to being able to choose from dozens of characters in both worlds. It also has PS2 style graphics.

Bladestorm
[360: $29.95, PS3: varies on Amazon] [espionage's review]
This game is perhaps my favorite Koei game on the 360 (unless the studio finally decides to release a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game). While it’s a beat-em-up like Samurai Warriors 2 and Warriors of Orochi, it has a lot more gameplay depth as it chronicles your life as a mercenary in the 100 years war. The game features next-gen graphics and army management of over a dozen different unit types that you need to manage and utilize to capture castles and towns.

Earth Defense Force 2017
[360: $19.99 on Amazon]
Another hardcore beat-em-up (or shoot-em-up in this case) is Earth Defense Force 2017. While the graphics and gameplay may be a bit on the simple side, the concept of simply defending the Earth from giant ants, spiders, mechs, and space ships using whatever lasers and rocket launchers you can find has a lot of appeal. With over 50 levels and five different difficulties as well as co-op split-screen support, it’s a game you can play for dozens of hours.

Japanese Hardcore Action Adventure

Dead Rising
[360: $19.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
While Dead Rising is somewhat of a shorter game due to it being time based, the concept of being stuck in a mall with zombies can be enjoyed forever. On top of that, there are straight out modes that have you simply trying to survive as long as possible. The game isn’t for everyone, as it adheres very closely to linear Japanese game design and Western gamers complain about the limited save system.

Devil May Cry 4
[360: $27.99, PS3: $27.99, PC: $39.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
I didn’t think Devil May Cry 4 was such an innovative jump over its predecessor (in fact, I enjoyed Devil May Cry 3 more), but I have to say that the game is lengthy. If you enjoy the combat engine of the Devil May Cry games (flashy combo-based fighting) you’ll probably get good mileage out of this one with its various difficulties and optional Bloody Palace mode.

Ninja Gaiden II
[360: $27.99 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Ninja Gaiden II has its fair share of detractors, but it’s my favorite action/adventure game this generation. I’ve sunk 100 hours into the game, and it doesn’t even have multiplayer. With several different weapons to learn and use as well as a lengthy campaign that has difficulty levels with differing enemies, if you want to conquer this super hard-core title you will be putting in 100 hours like I did.

The Rest

The Club
[360: $12.05, PS3: $14.97, PC: $12.69 on Amazon]
The Club is a radically different game from the normal shooter, as it combines the mechanics from racing games with shooting games. Think about how you would play a racing game – going along a track trying to get the best time on corners, etc. In The Club, you play a shooter like a racing game – running through a level, and shooting guys or killing them in a stylish enough way to give you score multipliers and extra time. The game’s longevity comes from wanting to compete for the best times/scores online, so if you’re playing it just to beat it, you probably won’t get as much out of it.

Viva Pinata & Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
[360: $19.99 on Amazon] [360: $27.99 on Amazon]
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is not a sequel as so much as the original game plus a bit more of an expansion to the original game. Both are great and it’s fine to just pick up the first title if you want to save a few bucks. The concept to the game revolves around managing a garden, where the various flowers, vegetables, fruit, etc. all attract different pinata animals and those in turn attract others so the concept of the game is managing your garden in such a way that you have a thriving ecosystem. You could play these games for dozens of hours if you’re trying to accomplish everything in them.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
[360: $27.99 on Amazon]
Unfortunately, this game is still sitting in shrinkwrap for me so I haven’t had a chance to really play it yet. But from what I hear, the game is a lengthy adventure and very open to choice in that it allows you to hunt for parts and to create what you’d like in order to tackle various challenges in the huge world of the game. Need to fly your vehicle and keep it in the air for several seconds? Add whatever parts necessary and embrace your LEGO childhood….

That’s quite a list espion4ge! It seems like you did a good job covering pretty much everything, but I want to include title that’s not on the 360, but PS3:

Flower
[PS3: $10 on PSN]
This is the only game on my budget list that I haven’t gotten to play but if I owned a PS3 I’d probably download this immediately. Flower is a very different type of “game”. It uses the PS3′s Sixaxis motion controls exclusively. You play as the wind, and basically “blow” around different environments. As you touch different flower petals they bloom, and you eventually populate the entire field with flowers. From everything I’ve heard, this game = amazing graphics + great use of music + interesting narrative. If I ever get a PS3 I’m definitely picking this one up.

Well that about covers it for our two-part feature on gaming on the cheap – but you know what? Games constantly drop in price all the time so maybe in a couple weeks or months, we’ll continue to see the list of cheap, yet enjoyable games continue to increase. So my advice is, if you’re strapped for cash – just wait! It’s like deciding to save money by waiting for movies to go to video instead of going to the theatre every weekend. The savings definitely add up and based on how many games are out there today, if you’re watching your budget you can still be a gamer with plenty of games to tackle.

Dead Rising 2 - About time! Hope with the new developer it’s as good as the first one was.

Infinite Undiscovery - Wow. The game is actually a lot more enjoyable on these harder playthroughs. Who would have thought?

Starcraft - had a dream about it this past week. Talk about crazy – I haven’t played it in years, and here I was dreaming I was in a RT 2v2 mirror match with a Terran and Protoss on both sides. After an initial skirmish with my Terran and the enemy Terran, all was pretty quiet as I massed ground units. My Protoss partner was massing Carriers, and apparently so was the enemy Protoss player. I soon discover that the enemy Terran player was massing Battlecruisers, but I’m stuck with all these siege tanks and no air. Great. I plop down 4 Starports (where did I have this kind of money?) and begin massing Wraiths. I then send my squads of Wraiths to take out his Battlecruisers, and scan once in a while to take out the enemy Observer. Not sure how it ended up but then the alarm went off and I woke up. What the heck kind of dream is that? I don’t remember the last time I actually dreamed I was playing a game, especially in this much detail. It wasn’t even like made up stuff that would occur in a dream – all of these Starcraft game mechanics were still quite present and adhered to.

When a friend saw that I was playing Dead Rising this weekend, he asked me what it was. Apparently it doesn’t have the mainstream popularity of a game like Gears of War or even Elder Scrolls: Oblivion so hopefully I can enlighten everyone about why this game is so good. It has its own cult following for several reasons.

If a gamer were to ask me what Dead Rising is like, I’d probably best sum it up in one sentence: It feels like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil combined, but in a shopping mall. The graphics engine seems very similar to the Grand Theft Auto series on the PS2, but inserted into a mall with zombies. Of course, they look sharper and clearer due to the 360, but I wouldn’t say the graphics are amazing in this game. They get the job done but it’s no Gears of War. The gameplay is again, similar to Grand Theft Auto as well – missions and such are carried out through phone communication – you need to go to point A to rescue someone or fight someone in point B, etc. It feels Resident Evil-ish since of course you’re fighting the undead, and with Resident Evil being a Capcom property, it echoes forth the fact that it’s a Japanese game.

Introduction
This game is Capcom’s first original intellectual property on the XBOX 360. It comes from the guy behind the Mega Man games, and the game has a strong following because not only is it a good Japanese developed game on the 360, the premise of the game is completely different from anything else on the system (or maybe any system, for that matter). Therefore, the cult following consists of Capcom fans, Japanese games developed for the 360 fans, and game fans of the action/adventure/survival horror/humor type.

Capcom was quite surprised by the numbers that this game sold in the United States, and therefore has decided to continue releasing more games on the XBOX 360, starting with Lost Planet on January 16th. This is a big deal since Capcom is a Japanese developer, and the XBOX 360 is an American product that is doing miserable in Japan. Capcom realizes that even though the 360 is tanking in Japan, there is quite a large and profitable Western market for their games. If they continue to strongly support the system, other Japanese companies like Konami and Namco could follow. Maybe we’ll eventually see Metal Gear Solid 4 and Tekken 6 on the 360.

The chainsaw juggling clown is one of the tougher bosses of the game.

Storyline and Premise of the Game
In this game, the storyline follows a photojournalist named Frank West, who goes to some town looking for a story and finds that the town has been barricaded off and is infested with zombies. Apparently, almost the entire town of 54,000 some residents have become zombies. He asks the helicopter pilot to drop him off at the rooftop of a mall in the center of town and return there to pick him up in 72 hours. Frank wants to get some good photos and find a killer story. Upon entering the mall, he encounters people that still have not become zombies, and all of these people are dealing with the zombie infestation of the mall in their own way. Some are barricading themselves in local stores, while others are just getting drunk and waiting for their inevitable gruesome death. Throughout the 72 “game-time” hours, Frank learns about the background of why the outbreak occurs and who is responsible.

The premise behind the game is engaging – it’s timed, so throughout his 72 hours there, Frank needs to follow the storyline’s clues and pursue the villain responsible for the outbreak. At the same time, he learns of about 50 or so different people stuck in the mall that can be saved. Many of these “survivors” are quite comical: Japanese tourists, slutty high school girls, and cowards that you need to knock some sense into before they’ll come out of their own hiding place. One of the funniest guys you can save is someone who was stuck behind boxes in the backroom of one of the stores. Right after you tear all the boxes down, he thanks you and mentions how he was stuck back there for two days but is totally oblivious to what just happened to the mall. He starts walking out of there thinking he should be paid overtime, but then sees the mess of zombies right outside the store window! “Whoa! What’s going on here?”

Besides people stuck in the mall that need to be saved, there are also people that have gone crazy in the mall – they are the psychotic human “mini bosses” of the game. For example, one boss in the game is a man with his two sons that have decided to hunt the zombies with the sniper rifles. Not only do they shoot at the zombies, they also decide to shoot at humans as well. One boss is a chainsaw juggling clown who has gone crazy, and another one is the manager of the supermarket that affixes all sorts of pointed objects to his shopping cart to run you over when you enter his store because he’s afraid you’re going to make a mess.

The game becomes a somewhat stressful time management game because you need to balance out pursuing the main story with who to save and bring back to the “safety zone,” a sealed off portion of the mall that the remaining survivors have set up. You can play through the game and follow only the storyline without saving any of the people that need help, or you can try to save everyone without even following the storyline. Obviously you can do both, but on the first playthrough of the game it’s pretty much impossible because Frank is weak in the beginning of the game so it will take him more time to rescue people. What’s also funny is that you can skip both the storyline and saving people to just have fun in a mall infested with zombies.

With this many zombies, maybe it’s time to go bowling?

Game Mechanics
Weapons
How can one have fun in a mall infested with zombies? Well, one of the main selling points of this game is that anything in the mall can be pretty much used as a weapon. The zombies are slow, but they have numbers. It’s possible to find your whole TV screen with hundreds of them stacked. What do you do then? You walk into any store and look for weapons! You can walk into a sports store and pick up a baseball bat, a hockey stick, a bowling ball, etc. You can walk into a toy store and pick up a giant stuffed bear or a nerf-like ball shooter. If you’re lucky you can walk into a hardware store and walk out with a sledgehammer, hedge clippers, or even a chainsaw. Many of the 250+ items that can be used as weapons in this game are more for novelty purposes. You can pick up a parasol at a food court table and just charge into a group of zombies with it open, knocking them all over. A shopping cart also does the trick. With weapons like hockey sticks and bowling balls, it’s interesting because not only can you melee with them, you can also use them as projectile weapons. With the hockey stick, you can use pucks to clear through the zombies, or with a bowling ball, you can pretty much just roll it into any zombies that are lined up in a row to knock them over.

However, if you want to actually beat the game, you need to clear through hundreds of zombies efficiently and effectively. There are really only a few preferred weapons of choice for me. The first type of weapon is any long bladed item. These do great against zombies since they are good at crowd control. Katanas, swords, axes, and machetes slice zombies in half with one hit. The longer bladed items like katanas and swords that kill in one hit also can kill multiple zombies as well. Faced with a throng of zombies that I need to go through, my first instinct is to equip my katana/sword and slice through the mess. My other weapon of choice would be the chainsaw type weapon. Similar to the bladed weapons, the chainsaws kill in one hit as well. I was never a fan of the guns in the game, because they had lousy crowd control. It’s funny because not only do melee weapons do a better job with crowd control, they do more damage so they are more effective against all of the bosses in the game.

There is plenty of clothing for Frank to try out in the mall.

Clothing
Another big draw to the game is that you can wear various clothing attire in the mall’s different stores. You can walk into a men’s suit store and put on a slick suit, or even a women’s store to put on a floral dress. It’s pretty disturbing to wear a dress, but the option is there. What’s also funny is that you can put on masks, or even put masks onto the zombies. Walking around with a teddy bear head on makes the beating up of zombies quite humorous. Putting on masks and head pieces onto zombies makes them blind, so they’ll just walk around bumping into one another since they can’t see.

Picking up zombies and throwing them at others is no problem once Frank levels up enough.

Leveling
When I first played this game, I was having a lot of trouble since there’s a leveling up system in this game. You start at Level 1 but can level all the way up to Level 50. As you level up, your life goes up, your damage goes up, the number of items you can carry goes up, and you learn a bunch of different moves. Your level carries over from game to game, so if you level to say, 35 in your first game, you can start a new game as level 35. This makes subsequent play-throughs much easier, allowing you to rescue more people since you’re a lot stronger early on. That’s why I played through the game twice – the first time was my learning experience and just playing through it blindly. The second time was a “max run session” where I was maxed out and rescued pretty much every human in the mall.

The new skills you learn are great also. At level 1 you have no skills and are quite weak barehanded. As you learn more skills you become a crazy barehanded fighting machine. The simple jump kick knocks zombies over as you’re trying to run by. Then you start learning wrestling moves like suplexes, face plants, and you can even lift up a zombie over your head and throw it at a crowd of zombies. One of the funniest wrestling moves you learn is when you grab a zombie and hurl him in a direction, knocking over anything before it slams into a halt. It’s basically the move that wrestlers do when they throw some guy off the ropes or into a turnbuckle. Martial arts skills also get acquired – jump kicking off of walls, karate chops that sever heads and limbs, and somersault kicks that decapitate all become part of your skillset. Eventually, you’ll learn to football tackle, or even a double lariat where you use your arms like clubs and knock zombies out as you spin in a circle. The most gruesome move you learn is the gut rip, where you reach into a zombie’s stomach and pull out its guts, killing it instantly. Pretty much, as I got closer and closer to the max level, I began using weapons less and my own moves more. It was just a lot more fun going barehanded against them.

The way to level up in this game revolves around Prestige Points, the experience point system of this game. There are two main ways to get them: the first one revolves around rescuing people. For every person you can rescue and bring back to “the safehouse” you’ll get lots of PP. The other way revolves around the use of your camera, since you’re a photojournalist.

This photo should score some high points – that human is dangling and will fall to her death soon.

Photography
The photo-taking element of the game is pretty in-depth. There are five different types of photos you can take in the game: horror, brutality, drama, erotic, and outtake. Most of the pictures you take will probably be horror, since zombies tend to be classified under horror. Of course, there are the four other types. You can get a nice brutality shot if you get a zombie’s head blown off. Drama is usually taking pictures of the survivors when they are scared or feared, erotic ones are women that are scantily clad (or apparently have large breasts), and outtakes are amusing pictures. Erotic pictures are quite rare – I was surprised to take a picture of one of the survivors and it came out erotic because even though she was wearing a sweater, her breasts were large and the game highlighted them in the photo to tell me it was an erotic photo. That had me laughing for a bit. I enjoyed taking funny pictures too – zombies wearing masks, survivors making funny expressions, etc. The game really gets you to appreciate photo taking since the quality of the photo determines how much PP you get. The better the shot, the more points you’ll get so you’re encouraged to zoom in whenever you can. Besides just taking random pictures throughout the game, there are several “awesome shots” peppered in the game that you need to snap quickly to get a ton of PP. For example, if you give food to one of the survivors, he’ll burp right after – take a snapshot of this to get a lot of points since it’s a special “outtake” photo.

As if zombies weren’t enough – you have to eventually deal with crazy cultists too.

Achievement System
In some games, the Achievement System is an afterthought and sloppily put together. However, in Dead Rising, it’s really been well implemented. In other games, you’ll get Achievements for simply beating each level, but in Dead Rising, these Achievements really are something to be proud of. All 50 Achievements in this game are each only worth 20 points, for a total of 1000 points. Some of these Achievements are much more difficult to get than others, and I felt they should have been weighed different amounts. Still, I’m having a lot of fun trying to get as many as I can.

Here are some of the 50, for example:
-Clothes Horse: Change into all costumes available in the mall.
-Karate Champ: Defeat at least 1,000 zombies barehanded.
-Zombie Road: Walk over 33 feet on the backs of zombies using the Zombie Ride.
-Tour Guide: Escort 8 survivors at once.
-Costume Party: Place novelty masks on at least 10 zombies.
-Gourmet: Eat all types of food available in the mall.

A lot of these Achievements are quite detailed, and made me do things I didn’t even know were possible. A lot of the names for these Achievements are quite witty and the tasks themselves can often be amusing. I was laughing out loud for a while when the zombies clumped together, and I just climbed onto one and walked all along their backs to get the Zombie Road Achievement. Costume Party had me snapping photos left and right since I had several zombies all wearing Servbot hats and bumping into one another.

This is not a cutscene – there really are that many zombies surrounding you.

Final Thoughts
When I initially played this game for the first hour or two, I was stressed and frustrated by how difficult the game was since I was dying left and right. If I wasn’t dying, the people I wanted to save were dying as I was overwhelmed by the immense size of the mall and getting lost all over the place. I continued to stick with it though, and after a few hours of play, I understood how I should be playing it and it went on to become one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had in a while. The game is deep and it has a steep learning curve. But once you learn it, the game becomes second nature and quite enjoyable. The mix of comical gore, emphasis on photography, the combat engine, and a well scripted storyline had me addicted. When I was playing the game all weekend, I felt the similar addiction that I get when I’m burning through a season of 24. I couldn’t stop and wanted to keep going.

However, there are still a few problems with the game that prevent it from getting a perfect grade in my book. The first problem is the bugginess of the clothes system. Basically, it’s very easy to try on a piece of clothing, but often times you can no longer take it off if you try on a different piece. It’s like the code for clothing isn’t robust enough to manage putting on a certain piece of clothing, then another piece that occupies the same spot, and then taking the piece off. The second problem I had was the AI of the survivors you had to rescue. Their AI was very frustrating because you’d try to lead them somewhere and they wouldn’t move how you wanted them to. The AI of these humans is probably enough to get people to stop playing this game because it’s that frustrating. However, I learned that by giving these humans shotguns and katanas, they could fight their way (albeit slowly) through to where I wanted them to go. Complicated waypoints just didn’t work for them. I had to have them plow through everything.

All in all, I give the game a B+. The game is deep and satisfying enough if you can handle it, but at the same time it’s not a must-play game for everyone since the graphics aren’t amazing, and certain frustrations of the game can deter people from playing it through to completion.