Dead Rising 2 ~ The Watcher

The three year old Dead Rising 2 ( Capcom), had been owned before and much loved by the junior free roamers, but had held little appeal for the Controller. Currently available to buy for the princely sum of £10-15, it was free to download from the 16th of August until the 31st. Giving the game another go involved some boredom, the lure of achievement points and constant badgering from fellow Xbox'ers. 

At first glance its little more than 'another zombie game'. Set in the Vegas style 'Fortune City', there's an impressive zombie outbreak which Chuck is framed for. The game revolves around the personal story of defending and providing medicine for Chuck's whiny daughter, Katey, whilst battling the hoards to clear your name.

When you start the game you are frustratingly slow, but as you kill and complete missions you gain PP (points for ranking system). Even if you do have to restart the game you keep your earned ranking level, which means you can actually run faster than an 80 year old. If you complete the included bonus pack Case Zero (a pre release DLC a small town map with extra missions) before starting the story line for the game you will start on level 5, a sneaky level-up to keep you ahead of the undead masses.

You have 3 days before the army comes to your aid, in this time you can explore the area with frequent missions to save survivors, collect Zombrex and gather weapons. In addition to the zombies there's a few 'psychopaths' (or bosses as they're often known), which litter the timed missions and entering new areas can trigger cut scenes for fights which you are drastically unprepared for.

The save points are toilets (actually usually toilet doors),which isn't too bad, as they are widely spread out. However having only 3 save spaces, can leave you tight if you feel a section needed more slaughtering/ people saving. Also be fully prepared for extended loading times every time you enter or leave an area and before all the cut scenes. A great game designers time delaying trick to throw you off your game when battling a boss.

It isn't obvious, but the whole game is set over a single timer. So don't wander quite as much unless you are willing to restart the entire game, or enjoy irrational screaming at the TV. The primary goal should be adhered to at all times, believe me: to get to mission 5-2 and have 20 seconds to complete it is laughably impossible, especially when the last save point was 4 hours ago. 

The Controller may believe he's as cool as Bugs Bunny, but I've seen the Daffy Duck impersonation more often.  


The controls are especially irritating when using a blender to mix up a boost drink, trying to pick up a drink can lead to you grabbing a cash register, and trying it in a busy bar is enough to cause and Controller to rage-quit. The quietest bar is the Baron Von Brathaus, you can mix quite happily just watch out for the occasional counter climber.

An added bonus is that the ability to combine weapons is continued from the first game, this makes for some epic zombie death. Grab two items with the wrench symbol and head to a Maintenance room to combine. You can create these with trial and error, but you will only get a 'scratch card' for them and won't be able to use the heavy attack (with high PP) until you receive  purchase the actual Combo card.

The baseball bat and nails (50 PP) is a staple from the start and a handy weapon throughout the game, but at 300 PP, who wouldn't love combining boxing gloves and a Bowie knife to make Wolverine style gloves (use one knife and get 6 blades... why not!). The early combo weapons yield less PP than the ones unlocked as you progress through the game. Try a Spear Thrower (spear and leaf blower) for 1000 PP, or a very cool, lightsaber (gems and a torch).

It is also considered fun to try on some of the stores outfits. Though seeing Chuck Greene in fighting zombies in a dress is amusing, the laced leather outfit (Excitorama), might be better left to those with strong stomachs.

There are 6 different endings for the game, but four of these occur before the end of the game. The final two ending A and S are achieved by finishing the game. Needless to say I've seen both and wasn't surprised by ending A; cue loading previous save and actually completing the vital missions. Ending S unlocks 'overtime' mode, in which Katey and Stacey are held hostage and you are given another range of missions and an additional baddy to battle.

That final fight is meant to be the culmination of all you've learnt through the game, prepare your drinks, gather your weapons...and lose them all! Yup that caused some choice phrasing, as if that hasn't thrown you enough, this fight is one of the toughest in the game. With a bit of timing and some micromanagement you get through to the final ending.

A handy tip though; if you drink your Quickstep and Painkiller (a magazine can also extend the length they last), just before entering the final battle, they will still be on for the start of the fight. This also works if you drink them before any boss related cut-scene.

This game appeals on so many levels, the happy-go-lucky slaughter fiends and the story line driven gamers should both be suitable impressed. If nothing else it would be handy to revisit the game before Dead Rising 3 is released, in November 2013 for the XBOX One .
                                               

With the impending launch of XBOX One Microsoft kindly decided to reward the fan base of the XBOX 360 Live Gaming community with free games (full list). Microsoft appear to have managed to cater for a wide stretch of gamers. With RPG's, first person and even the micromanaging delight of tower defence (though Command & Conquer would have been much appreciated).

Despite the conflicting opinions over this marketing strategy (yes; some were rather old and some were pretty poor), The Controller and the juniors all jumped on the downloads. It was a definite case of something for nothing; even previously purchased games (Such as Crackdown from Poundland) were downloaded mainly because digital games don't get scratched or lost.  Most of these held appeal to at least one member of my troop of demented, screen ranting monkeys, and new games were found along the way (Defense Grid: The Awakening).