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| Dead Rising |
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| Action |
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| Capcom |
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| Capcom |
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8th September 06 |
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8th August 06 |
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18+ |
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(M) - Mature |
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The character you play as in Dead Rising is none other than Frank West, who is a photo-journalist working freelance and doing as all journalists do which is to hunt for the next big story. After the usual tip off, Frank’s travels send him to a town called Willamette where things aren’t as they seem. The army has blocked off the roads leading into town (luckily Frank is airlifted in by chopper) and so he drops in via the rooftops of the Willamette Parkview Mall. It becomes clear why the army has blocked off the roads as it seems that Willamette lies under the occupation of zombies. Frank tells his pilot to return after 72 hours which should be enough time for him to find out what the hell is going on in Willamette.
Once inside the infested mall Frank is able to do some shopping which will help him survive the perils that lie within. So whilst he’s in the mall, a stop over at the hardware store to get his hands on some devastating equipment to help him fend off the zombie hoards would be a good place to start. If DIY isn’t your cup of tea, or Frank’s should I say, then perhaps he could do a spot of zombie gardening with a brand new lawnmower, that’s one way to kill time? Well Frank’s a journalist and whilst DIY and gardening is fun, they hardly make headline grabbing news stories. Being stuck in a mall with some rather undead shoppers with no idea how they got there it might be a good idea if he tried to get the scoop of the century if he can unearth what has happened here; it sounds like a good plan. Whilst Frank embarks on his adventures to uncover the truth, he always has the option to head on over to the mall eateries to grab a burger or two and then perhaps partake in some zombie golf or have a ride around on a skate board all the while decapitating the thousands of blood thirsty zombies in residence. These are all great choices, although not the usual activities you would expect when visiting a shopping mall.
To begin, the demo introduces you to a blonde spectacled female who appears to be an off duty cop of sorts, she is looking for someone called Brad (original name) and believes that he is in danger. The cut scenes are beautifully rendered as the characters have high levels of photo realistic details such as imperfections in the skin and fine hair around the head and the direction is particularly horror! We’re spared any pleasantries such as names, although it does appear that the two characters have met before and with Frank being a one man zombie killing-machine, he offers to help her find Brad. It was funny hearing Frank say that after this mess is cleared up that he and the blonde would have a little chat; and not one of those cozy chats over evening dinner in a fine restaurant either, more like an interrogation judging from the tone of his voice!
Playing the demo the mall is laid out as you would expect with a number of differing shops to enter freely. Everything is neat and tidy as you would expect, bar the wandering dead. What is good is the fact that Frank can interact with certain items (highlighted with an icon) which he can grab off the shelves and use. So being in a sports store, Frank is able to grab a baseball bat or bowling ball, even golf clubs and use these as weapons. With all items that Frank can pick up, he is able to throw them using an accurate aiming mode (accessed by holding the right trigger); this is also used for aiming firearms as well; however in true Resident Evil fashion is unable to move when in this precise aiming mode. The left trigger is used to take photographs and brings up a first person camera viewpoint in which Frank can still move freely as well as zoom in and out. Taking pictures of various things nets points which once levels are cleared can be used to level up. The demo doesn’t allow you to do this and begins with Frank already at level 10. leveling up will gain Frank things like more health, more carrying capacity and extra moves and will be paramount to his success.
The demo introduces us to some added elements as well such as being able to take books which boost Frank’s stats such as being able to wield sports weapons for longer than normal; yes that’s right weapons aren’t infinite and will break and disappear after so many uses. Frank is also able to prepare items and mix them in his inventory to create some unusual concoctions which again can be used to help him survive. The demo allows Frank the chance to change outfits, which is natural considering the number of clothes shops available. I’m not sure whether the clothes add anything other than simply making frank look different but it does point to some interesting possibilities for outfits in the final game; Chris Redfield or Leon Kennedy outfits anyone? There’s also much speculation regarding downloadable keys which in turn will unlock I assume more shops which could contain anything from new costumes to weapons and items.
The actual combat in the game is fluid and well animated, although you will be seeing the same animations over and over if you stick to a preferred weapon type. There are several ways in which to decapitate the blood-thirsty herd with my favorite being, to slice and dice them with a katana (sword) or crushing their fragile skulls with a sledgehammer which is so sadistically pleasurable; ( or perhaps I'm just twisted already). I also liked running them over with a shopping trolley Come on, you know what I'm talking about. You know you've had the urge to run over the slow moving zombie look-a-like in your local Asda or WalMart. Haven’t you? Well I have at least!
It is very clear that Capcom do not want to give anything away in regards to their characters and storyline in the demo. So then the basic premise of the demo appears only to be to introduce us, to the way in which Dead Rising is played (this is all find and dandy by me). There’s nothing better than taking a sledgehammer to a zombies head and crushing his skull against the floor only to see chunks of his skull go flying and at that same moment the blood explodes from the poor chaps head covering our Frank in the red stuff! (the zombie looked a little hungry as well, I think he found the end of my sledgehammer to be more than filling).
The demo is timed to 15 minutes of game play and there is only a certain section of the zombie infested mall for you to explore, two floors in fact. If you stray too far then you will be presented with a cut scene where the story looks like it would of course continue in the retail version, but in the demo after the cut-scene is over you are returned to the main menu. After replaying the demo again I tried to see if I could find anymore areas that would exit the game and give me another rather excellent looking cut-scene all the while enabling me to decapitate every limping sod in sight. The demo at least does allow you to meet one of the main characters from the game in the beginning cinematic video (as mentioned previously). There are some other survivors that appear during some of the cut scenes in the game. For example; as you progress so far you will come across a crazy priest of sorts holding at least two hostages in what appears to be some kind of church in the mall. As you progress elsewhere in the mall you will eventually get to the roof in another FMV sequence and some hillbilly on another building wants one of his lesser son's to snipe you with a rifle, this particular sequence reminded me of a scene from the remake of the Dawn of the Dead movie which was released a few years back. Then again everything about Dead Rising reminds me of Dawn of the Dead. Though George A. Romero's zombie flicks in my eyes has always been crying out for a game to honor the films and bring the comedy element of killing zombies to gamers. I was personally hoping for co-op in Dead Rising, but this is not to be. Should Dead Rising be very successful, as I think it will; then hopefully the guys at Capcom will release a sequel down the line with online co-op play with at least four players. Imagine the madness?
Dead Rising was the first Xbox 360 game that I had seen footage of before the console’s release, which made me think to myself, I must get an Xbox 360 for this game especially with those early screens of Frank surrounded by hundreds of on screen zombies. Dead Rising has such a next-gen feel and look about it. The word "next-gen" indeed gets thrown around a lot these days but make no mistake about it, Dead Rising is well within its right to be classed as a true next generation game. The visuals are stunningly convincing and life-like, well the zombie's aren’t life-like but I'm sure you understand what I mean. It is an insanely fun demo if played for the purpose to kill and decapitate as many zombies in as many sick ways as possible.
The demo overall I have to say for me, was some what of a let-down as I expected so much and got so little from it. As mentioned previously, the purpose of the demo is to introduce you to the Dead Rising universe and for you to get to grips with the game ahead of schedule. I was however hoping to have a few more things to do, like starting at the very beginning of the game and having a couple of missions to undertake to give the demo some direction all whilst pushing through the crowd of zombies and ultimately surviving. Do not let this put you off the game though as I said it is the demo limitations I was disappointed in, the actual game play during the demo was an incredible and welcome introduction of what to expect from the retail version of Dead Rising which should be in US stores next week. Ultimately Dead Rising is all about survival, in the final retail version you will have to survive for 72 hours whilst assisting civilians, killing sadistic bosses in true Capcom fashion and finally uncovering the mystery behind the zombie abomination. Dead Rising is destined to be one of the best zombie based video games ever made in my opinion and so, if you cant wait until next week then go get your piece of the insanity by downloading the Dead Rising Demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace now. If not then Dead Rising hits stores on the 8th August 2006 in the US and in early September for Europeans.
Preview By: Wayne Julian
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