Dead Rising 2 is set to be released at the end of the month. Instead of releasing a free demo a 400 mp (~$5.00) prequel game was release (which, by the way, you can still play the demo of which for free like any other Xbox Arcade game). The prequel introduces you to Chuck Green and his daughter Katie. One the run from the zombie outbreak they find themselves in a small town outside Las Vegas when Chuck's truck ends up getting stolen. Moreover, Katie has been bitten and injections every 12 hours of a drug called Zombrex is the only thinking keeping her from turning. Chuck must now find more of the drug, and find a way out of the town before the military arrive to take Katie away.If you played the first game at all, you will find that the formula has not be changed that much. As before, the clock is always ticking and tasks must be completed within a fixed period of time, but, as before, experience carries between play-throughs so you will find next time Chuck will be tougher (and yourself more experienced) to face the challenges the game provides. You will also find a variety of characters to interact with from survivors to be rescued to psychos that stand in your way. The game also maintains its RPG elements from the original Dead Rising.
What has changed has more to do with the presentation and the interface. The graphics have been improved and the zombie appearance and behaviour more varied. You will also find the survivor AI to be more helpful in that they actually will go where you tell them to. Controls are tighter and less cumbersome but are still, thankfully, challenging. Shooting and aiming is accomplished by left and right triggers now as in most shooters and you can now move and shoot at the same time.
As a bit of a fan of the first game, despite it's problems, I am very pleased to see the core gameplay has not changed and that many of the things that were frustrating before surround AI and controls has been dealt with. Case Zero itself was a heck of a lot of fun. I single play-through will take you about an hour and half, but you will likely find yourself going through it at least three or four times - will worth the $5.00 price tag. I also like the father/daughter aspect to the story line. It got me invested and really wanting to make sure the little girl remained safe.
If I were to have one complaint, it would be the ease at which I was able to get through this. Although Dead Rising may have been frustrating, I did appreciate the challenge it provided. Now, the ease of Case Zero could simply be a product of the length of the game not lending itself to developing a decent difficulty curve from intro tutorial to final boss (and the final boss is a bit tough). We will just have to see in Dead Rising 2.
Immersion: 4
Interface: 4
Game Play: 4
Challenge: 4
Fun: 5
Overall: 8.5/10
