Dead Rising 2 review

by William J. Haley, October 2, 2010

Like Nintendo with the Metroid Prime series, Capcom turned to a US studio to develop the next chapter in one of their flagship, this-gen franchises. Although Retro arguably knocked their assignment out of the park, Blue Castle Games, responsible only for three mediocre baseball titles up until this point, has limped in with a serviceable but immensely flawed sequel to one of the Xbox 360’s most beloved sleeper hits.

For a zombie game, it’s interesting to note that some people—myself included—find the zombies in Dead Rising 2 to be more of a nuisance than a worthwhile feature, even when they’re being decimated by all manner of makeshift weaponry. The best bits of the game are always off the beaten path in stores and maintenance rooms. Luckily running past zombies is quite easy, and by the end of the game it seemed like my expansive collection of survivors had bothered with killing more undead than I had (not counting any that shambled in front of me as I raced from one location to another in my golf cart).

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Babel Rising review

by James Pikover, August 28, 2010

For their heresy, the old testament states that the ancient builders of the tower of Babel were miraculously given different languages, and lost the single tongue they once spoke in unison to destroy their deity, and soon left, unable to communicate. But were you or I that almighty, perhaps we would do things differently. Perhaps we would let loose our wrath on the foolish mortals, and remove them from existence entirely.

It may be the way of video games today, which call for blood at every turn, but in this case it may not be too far from the truth. The gods of other religions regularly killed not only those who opposed or blasphemed them, but even at times their most faithful followers. So, why not?

Babel Rising is exactly this tale. The tower of Babel is being built, and players act as the all-seeing, all-powerful force they seek to destroy. Of course, you aren’t all-powerful or all-seeing, and there are many hundreds and thousands of individuals searching to destroy you. Instead, players are given seven powers to eliminate the heretics, who attack in unrelenting hordes of stone-carrying artisans. These powers vary based on the game mode played, but include such famous plagues as fiery hail, lightning, massive wind, waves, and destroying a level of the tower.

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Dead Rising 2: Case Zero review

by Raychul, August 31, 2010

Remember having to escort survivors of the zombie apocalypse who were among the most helpless and stupid AI seen in video games? Remember the combination of annoying controls and odd camera angles that, at times, made Dead Rising more of a chore than an entertaining experience. Well, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero brings all of that back in this prequel to a sequel downloadable game.

The story of Dead Rising 2: Case Zero follows Chuck Greene whose main concern is taking care of his daughter, Katey, who has unfortunately been bitten by one of the walking dead. The only cure is a shot of Zombrex that she must get every 12 hours to help delay the infection from taking hold of her little body. As his luck would have it, while in an abandoned gas station looking for supplies, some jerk steals Greene’s truck along with his supply of Zombrex for little Katey. As for the rest of the story, it’s up to the player to write the final chapter to Greene’s death-defying story where he must search for Zombrex before the 8pm deadline and also, on top of all the mayhem, escape the town before the authorities come and find out that little Katey has been infected.

In case you missed it, here’s the trailer to the Zombrex Dead Rising Sun, a live-action zombie series directed by Keiji Inafune, the producer on Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2.

The best Dead Rising 2: Case Zero has to offer comes courtesy of compelling weapon combinations such as a baseball bat with complimentary nails hammered into the side. In addition to the exotic weapons, collecting magazines allows players to boost the weapons or health of Greene, so long as the magazine is equipped; which would be awesome for mixing and matching within the inventory if there weren’t only four slots available. As a complete pain in the ass, the inventory is useless when we take into consideration that the equipped weapon counts as an item, as does the back-up weapon, so the players are only left with two slots for magazines that would be better utilized for the weapons in case either the primary or secondary breaks.  With such a small inventory, Capcom should’ve explored the options of having the magazines showing up in the collections page rather than taking up space in the small inventory provided.

At its core, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is nothing but a short fetch quest title with zombies scattered throughout the environment. This would be ecstasy for a zombie fanatic such as myself, but when they are an easy obstacle to overcome

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