Dead Rising
About the Game
You play as Frank West, a freelance photo-journalist, and you're on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. Following a lead to the town of Willamette, Frank finds that the town has been practically taken over by zombies. Trying to get away, he makes his way to the Willamette shopping mall hoping he can find help there. At its core, the gameplay takes place in a set 72-hour period where one hour of real time equals twelve hours in-game.
Story & Setting
Players can follow the main plot, where they must be in the right place at the right time and successfully complete missions in order to advance, but they can also do side missions, wander around killing zombies and dressing up in clothes from the mall stores, or just stay on the roof and wait for the helicopter to come back to pick them up. The helicopter comes at the end of the three days and the game is over regardless of whether Frank is on the roof to get rescued. Survivors are located throughout the mall and Frank must show up at the right time to rescue them. Frank can lead survivors back to the safety of the security room so they can be rescued.
Gameplay & Core Systems
Frank can freely move about the entire mall, though some areas are not accessible in the beginning. As he gains experience, he levels up, which gives him new moves, a larger inventory and more health. To do this, he can equip them with weapons and order them to follow him or wait at a specific location. Food items restore health and almost everything else can be used as a weapon. Obviously, it's far more effective to kill zombies with a sub-machine gun or a chainsaw than by throwing CDs at them or hitting them with a mannequin, but since all weapons have limited ammunition or durability, you sometimes won't have any other choice than to kill zombies with a bowling ball or your bare hands if you run out of options or want to save a better weapon for another situation.
Standout Features
- There can be up to one thousand on screen at a time.
- Almost anything in the mall can be picked up and used.
- You can also pick up books from bookstores that give you bonuses while in your inventory, like increased durability for a class of weapons.
- There are several vehicles you can use as well.
- Frank can save in bathrooms and in the security room, but this will overwrite any previous save.
- If you make a mistake, you have to either restart the game, though you keep your current levels, or live with it and move on.
Modes & Ways to Play
Once you complete the main plotline, you go into overtime mode, where Frank, rather than getting on the helicopter, gets another 24 hours to resolve the plot. If you beat overtime mode, you get infinite mode, where the helicopter isn't coming back, Frank loses health over time and all the survivors are trying to kill him.
Presentation & Atmosphere
Pictures are scored based on the number of survivors or zombies in the picture, their proximity to the camera, and on emotional content, like horror, humor or sexiness.
Display support includes Progressive Scan (480p), HDTV 720p, and HDTV 1080i. Audio support includes Dolby Digital.
