PS3 Review: Dead Rising 2

Is killing thousands of zombies still fun? Hell yeah…

Say what you will about Dead Rising, but it was impressive just for its sheer amount of death and destruction. I was impressed that you could use pretty much anything to kill zombies, even guitars. The problems were that survivors were idiots who got themselves killed and you the save system was ancient, but have those problems been rectified in Dead Rising 2?

The game takes place in Fortune City as Chuck Greene participates in a zombie killing gameshow where you drive a motorcycle with 2 active chainsaws on each side as you try and get a higher score than your rivals. It’s pretty fun and can also be played competitively online, but back to the story…so after the show, Fortune City is attacked by zombies and Chuck and his daughter need to survive for 72 hours. The trouble is that his daughter is infected with the zombie virus and needs Zombrex injections every 24 hours, so Chuck needs to hunt the medicine out in the mall.

As with the original Dead Rising, the sequel has multiple endings depending on what choices you make, who you keep alive, if you keep your daughter alive or if you just want to kill zombies. You can still rescue survivors and gladly they are a bit smarter this time around. The save system still makes you save in the bathrooms, but at least your progress is transferred between playthroughs so you’ll be pretty powerful after several times of playing the game.

You can still use absolutely anything to kill the thousands of zombies, but you can also find cards that allow you to combine items to make more powerful weapons that last longer, but they will all break eventually. There’s a bit more realism this time as you can’t just keep drinking and eating as Chuck will be sick, but I do miss not taking photos of zombies as Frank West. Chuck is a good character, but doesn’t quite have the same charisma as Frank.

In all honesty, Dead Rising 2 looks and plays a lot like the original but on a slightly bigger scale such as co-op and multiplayer. So if you had your problems with the first game then DR2 probably won’t change your mind, but if you enjoyed your time with Frank then the sequel does a lot that you will like. I personally still prefer the original but appreciate the effort that’s gone into Fortune City and I love the hundreds of ways you can kill the undead, again.

On a technical side, Dead Rising 2 is pretty impressive. The framerate is consistent for the most part with hundreds of zombies on screen at any time, but it does drop now and again. The character models are well detailed and animated, but the load times are a tad long…even with the long install time I had to go through on the PS3 version. Voice-acting is a mixed bag, but mostly good as are the lovely sound effects for slaughtering zombies.

The Verdict

I enjoy killing zombies. Yes, I admit it and there’s nothing those stupid zombie activists can do about it. Dead Rising 2 may be more of the same and sadly has the same flaws as the original, but it has its strengths as well and benefits from them. Chuck may not have the same charm as Frank had, but he does a good job in killing zombies just as good.