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It's Frank… Frank West.  Remember that name cause the whole world's gonna know it in three days when I get the scoop.

It took longer than three days, but the entire gaming community knows the name Frank West. Now Capcom has announced Dead Rising 2: Off the Record; an alternative take on Dead Rising 2 where Frank West is the hero, not Chuck Greene.

Capcom’s logic is pretty transparent: Most of the fanbase still see’s Frank as the identity of the game. Why not give them what they want, develop the fanbase before the inevitable release of Dead Rising 3 and make a quick buck?

I’m a huge fan of the original Dead Rising and even I’m questioning if we really need this.  Shouldn’t Capcom be putting their resources into developing original I.Ps or more deserving sequels? Capcom has a reputation of cashing in on their successful franchises, but even then it’s odd to see them develop this while flat out refusing to localise Ace Attorney Investigations 2.

 

Although the media coverage has been positive, some parts of the gaming community are having difficulty digesting this announcement.  Fans are accusing it of been a cash-in attempt, questioning why it isn’t DLC and there’s anger that it appears to be full RRP because of an Amazon listing,  although the price is likely to be to be a placeholder.

Blue Castle Games says that for all intents and purposes this is a new fully featured game. Perhaps comparing it Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City would illustrate their point because both games are essentially ‘new games’ but they simply share the same location.

The scepticism is justified; there’s a thin line between taking advantage of your fans and giving them what they want. The question is which category does OTR fit into? From what little we do know, OTR could the sequel Dead Rising 2 should have been.

In OTR, Frank became famous after he published his book on the Willamette incident; even getting his own chat show, but what goes up must come down. When we meet him again in OTR, he’s overweight, balding and attempting to get back into the limelight by appearing on Terror is Reality as a C-grade celebrity – much in the same way how celebrities try to relight their fame by appearing on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here.

 

The camera returns, including the ranking system that is in the original. Other changes are more typical, with new psychopaths, combo weapons, areas and a mode. Equally, the engine has been optimised meaning quicker load times. 

Yet there’s one addition I’m having difficulty with: Checkpoints. Now whenever you enter into a new area or fight a psychopath the game checkpoints. This is a horrible. The whole point of the save system is to add value to death and create tension, and having checkpoints would lose that.  Blue Castle argues that players are still complaining about the save system, however I’d argue that compromising the game’s design would ruin it. 

It’s clear that they’re making this game for their fans. Most of these changes are good and seem to bring the game back to the same tone that the original offered, but the changes to the save system worry me.

Do we really need Dead Rising 2: Off the Record? Probably not, but I’m still intrigued by it. If Capcom can prove to us that that it’s worth revisiting then I’ll be there. Yet there’s a kind of hopelessness to it; even if it is an amazing game it will have no bearing on Dead Rising 3.

My writing schedule has halted completely with a large work increase but I couldn't resist with this. I should be able to releasing content weekly again next month, until then you can follow me on twitter!