Dead Rising 2 isn’t a bad looking game and is a decent upgrade over the visuals seen in the first one. That said, besides the impressively large amount of zombies and usable objects in the game, it’s nothing to really write home about.
Sound was also a very big disappointment for me. Besides major cutscenes or moments in Dead Rising 2, the majority of in-game dialogue has no voice at all, leaving you to have to constantly sit and read through line of text. Come on Capcom, this is a PS3/Xbox 360 game, not a PS1 game, I expected more than that.
You will also spend a considerable amount of time in loading screens and don’t get me started on having to load two or three times because people following you didn’t teleport through to the next location with you.
Conclusion:
It’s not very difficult to see why the Dead Rising titles are Marmite (love it / hate it) games.
On one hand I simply cannot forgive Capcom for some revoltingly terrible design choices (some even carried over from the first game) and issues with the titles worth as an actual game that everyone can enjoy. At the same time the game is packed with hours and hours of top-notch fun that can be had tearing up zombies, experimenting with weapons and generally wreaking havoc.
I’m still not so sure that each side works well for the other. If you own an Xbox 360 you can get your hands on the short Case Zero prequel (for a price) and get a feel for it.
Scoring:
Gameplay: 8.5
Killing zombies in creative ways is a ton of fun, controls could be much better though. The story mode, boss fights and missions can be very frustrating.
Presentation: 7.5
An average looking console title but it still has tons of zombies on screen going for it. Too many long loading screens and clunky interfaces also kill the mood pretty heavily.
Sound: 6.0
No issues with effects or music, but the lack of voice-overs in most scenarios is simply unforgivable in this day and age.
Value: 8.0
Some gamers will get hours and hours of playtime out of Dead Rising 2 while many others may just get a kick out of killing some zombies every now and then. Terror Is Reality online mode is forgettable but co-op is never a bad thing.
Overall: 7.9 (not an average)
I would have loved to give Dead Rising 2 a little bit of a higher score, but the truth is that for every bit of fun there is to be had with killing zombies in new and inventive ways, there are also bad design choices and core issues with the experience that would make you want to possibly spend your money elsewhere.
[Reviewed on Xbox 360]
Last Updated: October 1, 2010
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Karl Thomson
October 1, 2010 at 12:04
If you were better at games, Dead Rising 2 would have gotten a better score. :biggrin:
James the Zombie-eater
October 1, 2010 at 12:04
Good review Nick. It’s kind of what I expected. I’m still on the fence about Dead Rising 2, although I enjoyed Case Zero, it actually reminded me of why Dead Rising was such a hit and miss. The story (and conspiracy theory) was one of the weaker aspects of Dead Rising 1, and there’s really only a limited number of times you want to kill zombies, unless of course you’re one of those sadistic folks who relish in killing 100 000 of them in one sitting. The timed missions actually makes a lot of sense, given that you only have 3 days (in game). I’ve heard that some consider that to be the most frustrating part of the Dead Rising games, but that’s actually one part that I wish more games would adopt, it really adds to the terror.
By the way, I heard some of the bosses in DR2 are unrelenting and very frustrating.
AC!D
October 1, 2010 at 13:03
Im pretty disappointed with this. According to Digital foundry the Xbox 360 version has massive problems in outdoor areas with frame rate because its V sync locked and the PS3 version which is not V sync locked has massive screen tearing and has a lower resloution i.e not 720p native.
This is what happens when you take a decent game from quality Japanese devs and give it to an american studio. Just bugs and performance issues. I can see the same thing happening with DMC 5 which frankly looked terrible in the trailer. I cant understand this obsession about Japanese companies claiming American Devs > Japanese devs. Maybe technology wise yes but thats what middleware is for like the Unreal engine.
Anyways bargain bin for me. There was not enough effort put into this game. You coulld see from the start that this is just more of the same with greater performance issues than the original had.
James the Zombieeater
October 1, 2010 at 13:12
Have to love platinum releases, I’ll pick it up when it’s below R280.
mit5as
October 3, 2010 at 06:25
mmm …. miss , dead rising was fun but fucking frustrating , nope sorry rather gana spend my money on a game that makes me wanna play more and not less
:alien:
Kanjo
October 6, 2010 at 01:42
i have this game and its awsome ZOMBIE game ever i love it every edge of it very good feature the only thing i hate is the Online coop -_-‘ i wish they make it LAN