Wednesday, October 20, 2010

31 Days of the Walking Dead - Day 20


Its day twenty and this ain't Williamette Mall.
Its Fortune City and you've just hit sequel country with
again from Capcom.

If you haven't guessed by now Frank West did not stop the zombie plague by solving the conspiracy behind the origin. He was just a photo-journalist. What did you expect?... Currently the Z-virus has run rampant about the world and taken it's toll. There are now "safe" cities in which citizens can live without fear of those pesky flesh-munchers. Safe is such an unstable word, especially in the Zombpocalypse. Its inevitable that your safety will become compromised. All of Frank's hard earned work was not for nothing though. Mr. West and Isabella Keyes, a femme fatale from the first game, have worked steadfast in creating a cure for the zombie, spread by bee?, virus in the form of Zombrex. Okay its not a cure but more of a preventative medicine. If you've been bit it will abate the spread the of the virus. Zombrex plays a big part in this sequel.

In Dead Rising 2 it is five years later and you play as Chuck Greene, a contestant on the very popular television show, Terror is Reality. A show in which zombies are the fodder of the will of the contestants to maim, humiliate, and just plain destroy while restrained only by the rules set of the game you are playing. It all has a very American Gladiators feel to it. Think, the ending of Shaun of the Dead. However, Chuck's celebrity as a veteran contestant is rattled as an explosion rips open a hole in the outer perimeter and guess what? There is footage of Greene planting the bomb! Of course we all know he didn't do it. I mean, come on. He's the hero of the story! The problem is he must venture out onto the zombie infested Fortune City strip to prove his innocence. The zombies aren't the overall problem however. Chuck has a daughter, Katey, and once upon a not-so-happy time she was bit by a damned Zed. She survived but must take Zombrex every so often. This is how the time driven storyline is enforced as you must find Zombrex and be back to Katey by a specific time to administer the medication all the while saving survivors, fighting those pesky psychopaths, and completing the main storyline if you so choose.

All the innovative game mechanics are back and mostly in a bigger and better way. Survivors have improved so much from the first game in that they are not as bad of a hinderance. Of course you have to struggle with the timeline and if there is enough time to save everyone but this time around the AI is smarter. This is in regards to characters not getting hung up or attacked so easily. Survivors have gotten alot better at defending themselves too. Another improvement is the weapon system. Yes, everything is still a weapon and all your favorite classics are still around somewhere. This time though; you can combine weapons! Got a bat and some nails? How about a spiked-club to bash though undead brains about? Got some extra jewelry and a flashlight? Light-sword. This time it is a real weapon, and a nice nod to the original, and not just a toy laying about the Play Palace.

Dead Rising this time around is also co-op allowing for you and up to three buddies to run around Fortune City and cause some improvised weaponed mayhem online. There is also a nice Terror is Reality set of mini-games for those looking for some online competitive play. The mini-games are worth a few runs as they are pretty off the wall and zany while being quite fun.

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