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Finally wrapped up Dead Rising 2 this weekend. It took forever, but it was mainly my own fault. I kept restarting the story over and over as I leveled up, not making a proper go of it until I maxed out at level 50. Looking back at my time with game now I’m finding that Dead Rising 2 is a mixed bag of tricks.
First the good – Dead Rising 2 is a ton of fun. If you liked the first game, you’ll most certainly like the sequel. It’s got countless zombies to smash and has made loads of improvements since the the original. Mowing down hordes of brain munchers never lost its charm and the game is zany enough to keep you grinning while you stand among the bloody wreckage of your handiwork.
The story was interesting, the main characters like-able and new additions like the weapon combo system just add to the overall ridiculousness of the game. Your bound to come away from Dead Rising 2 with more laughs than scares – which is quite unusual for a zombie game but makes for a damn good time.
Now the not so good: The loading in this game is EXTREMELY painful. I highly recommend you multitask while playing, because every time you go from one area to another or in/out of a cut-scene you are punished with a loading screen. It unfortunately zaps a lot of the energy out of the game, as you’ll be ramping up for a boss battle only to have to sit and wait for the batte to begin. On a scale of 1 – 10, I’d put the loading at horrendous.
Dead Rising 2 also sticks very close to it’s roots, perhaps too close at times. As I made my way through the game I was having Dead Rising flashbacks a little too frequently. Setting-wise, there was nothing unique or interesting about Fortune City aside from perhaps the slot machines. Changing up the location only to have it be nearly identical gameplay wise to the original was a missed opportunity in my opinion.
The game is also a very schizophrenic. I was constantly running back and forth, multitasking missions with barely enough time to make it from point A to B. This meant for large chunks of the game I was completely bypassing the zombies which I found quite odd for a zombie game.
My last ‘not so good’ point about Dead Rising 2 is the weapon combo system. It was a much hyped and fun addition to the game but it was never really crucial or necessary. Building combo weapons gives you Prestige Points (experience) but not nearly enough to make it worthwhile to seek out all the combos.
I ended up building the same combo over and over again because 1 – the items needed were all readily available, and 2 – the weapon was fast & effective. It would have been great to see the combo system tied more directly into the gameplay. Not to mention an item would have gone a long way to making the weapon combos more appealing.
While my ‘not so good’ list may be longer than my ‘good’ list, here’s the real kicker of Dead Rising 2 – the most fun I had with the game was after I finished the story and was just achievement hunting. There was no pressure or urgency, and I could ignore the missions and survivors and just go about wrecking havoc on the undead hordes. That is where Dead Rising 2 truly shines, its just a shame this joy is somewhat suppressed throughout the main game as you are constantly on the clock. That’s not to say that the main game is boring, it’s just like somebody giving you a wonderful sandbox full of zombies but not letting you play with it.
Despite the ‘not so good’ I did enjoy the game. It’s certainly good, but not quite great. On the money scale I’d say grab this when it hits the $35 mark. The single player will give you a good bang for your buck, especially if you play it like I did.
