Dead Rising (Xbox 360) Reviews

  • MrFunmanMrFunman127,274
    24 Apr 2009 28 Apr 2009
    69 12 10
    Just wanted to write a review for one of my favorite games on the 360 due to the news of Dead rising 2. Hope you like it.

    Story:
    Basically your character is Frank, he is a photographer/journalist. He is investigating this town in Colorado, USA. He ends up in a mall, and finds out there is a zombie problem. He talks to government officials, and tells them he has a helicopter coming to pick him up in 3 days. This is where the story starts. Now you have to follow the plot, very simple, go here, kill him, get that, etc. Also you can save non infected people while you do this, and there are some bosses to fight. At the end there is 6 different endings based on how much of the game you did and what you did.

    Gameplay:
    Gameplay is easy to learn. You can pick up almost anything in the mall. You then use what you pick up and kill zombies with it, after experimenting with new and unique things you will usually stick with guns and chainsaws. You only really press a couple buttons, but it is still very funny watching the zombies die in different ways.

    Also because Frank is a photographer he has a camera and you can take pictures at anytime. The pictures earn you prestige points or PP. PP is basically your exp. You gain more PP you level up. You can get up to level 50. And leveling up gives you stat bonuses such as inventory plus, attack plus, speed plus, etc. You also get exp for killing zombies and saving survivors. Taking pictures is very unique and fun to do in the game.


    Graphics/Sound/Music:
    The graphics are not very good, but are descent considering there are lots of zombies on the screen, and the fact that it is an earlier game released on the Xbox 360. The graphics do not hinder the gameplay at all though.

    The music has that ominous tone too it that is expected of zombie games, it can get old, so i recommend playing your own music like i do.

    Value:
    The game is a platinum hit so you can definitely get it cheap. You can get it 30 dollars at the store, or probably like 10-15 online. This is definitely a buy, because it has great replayability, and is very cheap. I bought it when it came out and still play it now and again for fun.

    Achievements:
    Most of the achievements are fairly simple i have about 500, and thats from putting very little effort forward on trying to get the achievements. If you really try and look up tips and guides online then 900 is possible, my friend has 980 for the game. Some achievements are time consuming and some are very annoying, so if you take out those ones this is a pretty easy 700+ game.

    EDIT: If you don't like it tell me why so I can improve future reviews.
    5.0
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    Tasty PastryThumbs up but I don't think you addressed the save system enough. Was the main turnoff for me.
    Posted by Tasty Pastry on 15 Jul 10 at 20:29
    UlteriorDesertNo pos vote, detailed review, but with the faults you pointed out, it should not get 5 stars, the rating should be based on the game, not what you think of it.
    Posted by UlteriorDesert on 02 Sep 10 at 21:20
    PsYcH0 Br0 666managed to find it for £6 ,good review!
    Posted by PsYcH0 Br0 666 on 31 Oct 10 at 20:24
  • buttnpresserbuttnpresser173,337
    22 May 2009 25 May 2009
    32 5 6
    The Dead Will Rise. Take a Photo! {My Giantbomb User Review}

    Ah, Zombies. Our Favorite Enemy in the beginnings of Horror Games, so slow and dumb, but still a little dangerous when one becomes swarmed with them. Dead Rising seems like a contract that offers us the ability to kill the undead any way we want, when we want to, and however we want. But in the fine print, we would have to deal with Long Load times, A Frustrating Save Feature, and intense Missions that if we fail, we May never get the truth to and have to restart the game.

    So why would I give this game a 4/5? Well at least for me despite it's flaws, I still find myself having a lot of fun playing the game, and feel to this day that I got my money's worth. As Frank West, you and your camera travel to the local mall in order to get the scoop on what is happening in town. The Camera is a big element of the game, and encourages you to take pictures with different things in mind. You have to the ability to take photos that are humorous, drama filled, or even full of horrified gore. The Camera really helps Frank differentiate himself from other main protagonists when it comes to fighting the zombie infection.

    The Story is pretty unique as well. Without giving anything away, it involves finding and talking to key figures in the mall, who may hold the key to the infection with their knowledge of the breakout. The missions that you will be doing are all story related, while saving other people or fighting the bosses of the game will just help add to the main cases in terms of having a better understanding of the plot.

    If you've never played this game before, be prepared to restart your game if you miss any of the main cases. This part of the game is pretty annoying, as I once got towards the end of the game, only to fail a mission and have to restart the entire 72 hour mode. This mode is roughly about 6 hours, so It can be really frustrating, but hey, at least you can keep your level and experience. That's a plus, Right?

    50 levels of experience are in the game, and most experience can be obtained by taking pictures, defeating the psychopaths of the mall, and rescuing the A.I survivors. Man, you will hate these survivors, as they do annoying things such as run in circles, attempt to take on the zombies when you tell them to go to a specific area, or just not listen to you at all. I really hope the sequel improves on the Survivors' intelligence, as it kind of sucks as is.

    But with these problems, the game for me is very challenging, yet very fun to play and has loads of replayability.

    + Fun ways to take out the enemies you will face
    + Hundreds of Zombies everywhere make you feel excited and overwhelmed
    + Great Re-Playability and Challenging Achievements to obtain
    - Save Structure is maddening and may make you restart the game
    - No Difficulty options and Dumb A.I
    - No Multiplayer Features for this one
    4/5

    Overall, great game and you can probably find it now for less than $20 new or used in some places.smile
    4.0
  • OmeksOmeks149,037
    06 Sep 2010
    22 3 1
    A Review in Retrospect

    With the approach or Dead Rising 2 on the horizon, it seemed only appropriate to re-familiarize myself with the Xbox 360's classic original and provide my views on it. With the large amount of sandbox games that have come out in the last four years since Dead Rising's release, though, does it sill hold-up? Or was Dead Rising simply so early in the console's life that any sandbox-style game could have succeeded?

    Overview:
    In Dead Rising, you take the role of photojournalist Frank West. Over a 72-hour period, you're tasked with tackling the zombie-infested Willamette Parkview Mall, using what you can find to survive. Along the way, you'll find and rescue survivors of the incident, find out the cause behind this mess, as well as kill zombies en mass.

    Story/Setting:
    Dead Rising's story and setting both offer a lot that previous zombie games like Resident Evil have yet to explore. The game is a classic homage to John Romero's Dawn of the Dead, taking place inside a sprawling mall amidst a horrifying zombie outbreak. Frank West, as a character, is unlike your typical video game figure, and is about as average as they come, and the concept of running through zombie hordes with the goal of simply breaking a major news story is oddly refreshing from your typical Chris Redfield situation. The over-arching story of Dead Rising is also enjoyable. Finishing a Case will usually leave you wanting more, to know what exactly is happening with this outbreak. The storytelling is cliched, yet wonderfully cheesy and brilliant at the same time. Where else are you going to battle an insane, mini chainsaw-wielding clown while zombies bite at your heels?

    The one criticism to be had is that the story falls prey to doling out a fairly heavy-handed message. Going into it any further will likely spoil a major plot-point, but the overall message of Dead Rising tends to be a little too preachy and unfairly puts Americans in a negative light. Whether it's deserved or not, it's a little condescending to those of us who are American.

    Gameplay:
    The core of Dead Rising's gameplay is simply "kill zombies." while there's certainly more to the game than that, you'll spend most of your time collecting things to bludgeon zombies to death with. My personal favorite are the electric guitars that scream and wail as you kill zombies. Even four years after it's release, it's highly satisfying to just clear through waves of zombies with whatever you can find, which include simple boxes and cash registers, to chainsaws and lightsabers, to you typical shotguns or handguns. And with the large amount of zombies found on screen, you'll spend a lot of time doing it.

    A major mechanic in Dead Rising is the usage of time. The game takes place over a 72-hour period, with 12 hours of in-game time roughly equaling an hour. The presence of time adds an important element to Dead Rising, giving missions a sense of both urgency and purpose. However, it doesn't make you feel like you're constantly battling the clock, and, once you've risen your level a bit, you'll find you have plenty of time to tackle other objectives.

    As mentioned earlier, you'll also be tasked with rescuing survivors, which is where the game's first real criticism rears it's head. Namely, that the AI for survivors is horrendous. Survivors will get stuck on walls, be slow to follow you, and genuinely just be a nuisance. It's a wonder how they survived as long as they did. Though it's not a game-breaking issue, it's certainly an annoyance until you get used to the AI's behavior. Accompanying bad AI are strange gun controls. This may be the only game where I've seen aiming done with the right trigger and direction done with the left stick, and believe me, it's awkward as hell.

    Graphics/Sound:
    Four years ago, Dead Rising graphics were certainly up there with other Xbox titles, but age hasn't been very kind to them. Cut-scenes and character models remain decent, but the environment has a certain blandness to the textures and overall look. This is most likely due to the fact that the graphics were likely sacrificed to make-up the large number of on-screen zombies, which is a suitable sacrifice given the main goal of Dead Rising.

    Sound tends to fair a bit better than the graphics, namely in that you'll find a lot of unique personality to most items you hold. Whether you're making music to the tune of guitar-smashing zombie faces, or enjoying the sweet sound of katana slicing through undead flesh, there's a lot to like in the sound-department, which helps give the game some personality.

    Achievements:
    Dead Rising's achievements have always bothered me. Despite that a lot of them are difficult or require a lot of time to get, every one of them are worth 20 points each. Going further, a good few of the achievements are simply annoying, such as eating every kind of food in the mall, or answering every grating cal from the mall's janitor, Otis. The game's premier achievement, killing 53,594 of the undead, can only be done by spending hours driving through maintenance tunnels, which doesn't fly with me at all. That said, about 80% of the achievements are either fairly easy or challenging, yet not to the point of annoyance.

    Final Verdict:
    Looking back on Dead Rising years later, it's rough spots become far more apparent than when it was first released. Survivor AI is abysmal, gun aiming is clumsy and bizarre, and graphics are definitely dated. Despite all that, Dead Rising remains a staple of the Xbox 360 library. It was worth every dollar of it's original $60 price tag, and is a steal at current bargain bin prices. If you're looking to pick-up the sequel here in a few weeks, do yourself a favor and give Dead Rising a play-through if you haven't. If you have, then a re-run may just be in order.
    5.0
  • LessrOf2WeevilsLessrOf2Weevils87,087
    19 Oct 2010
    15 3 3
    My relationship with this game is definitely a love/hate one. It's like that girl friend that you know is no good for you but you can't help going back to her. On the one hand I love the open game play and the simple concept - survive 72 hours in a zombie invested mall. The clock is always ticking in the game (5 minutes of real time is 1 hour of game time) and what you do during that time is up to you. You can rescue other survivors, investigate the origins of the zombie outbreak, practice your photography, or simply run amok. The thing is, with time always pressing, there is no way to do it all. You have to decide how you play the game. Capcom also made the great decision to provide a huge variety of weapons laying around. Almost everything that can be picked up can be used as a weapon, from machine guns to two-by-fours, from chainsaws to mannequins. That element of the game is a blast.

    But then there's the bad. The AI of the other survivors is atrocious, often hysterically so, as it's not unusual to find them stuck in a running animation against a wall or each other with the only way of dislodging them is to rough them up a bit. The voice overs during gameplay are equally bad. Only two voice are used for every, non story, character - one male, one female - and they cycle through the same half dozen or so phrases. My kids and I have a running joke of yelling "Fraaank!", or "this can't be happening" because of this game. The unbelievably bad voice-overs are in stark contrast to the largely solid voice work and animations in the cut scenes. It almost seems like the two were made by different companies. The bosses are similarly more annoying than challenging, as are the final legs of the game. The game also has a crazy difficulty curve as you struggle to learn that many of the weapons are largely useless with no logical reason why (hitting someone with a mannequin does more damage then shooting them). Then, once you've found the right weapons (baseball bats and mini-chainsaws) they rest of the game is insanely easy.

    Curiously, these deficiencies somehow add up to something fun, like a b-grade horror movie that has no right to be as entertaining as it is. If I believed that this was intentional on the part of Capcom, then I would have high hopes for Dead Rising 2, but I suspect the strange convergence was more a fortunate accident. After all, the best b-movies are the once where the director thought he was making art.

    Story: 3
    Interface: 2
    Game Play: 4
    Challenge: 4
    Fun: 5

    Overall: 7.5/10
    4.0
  • Removed Gamer
    Gamer has been removed
    12 5 2
    Who doesn't love a good zombie game?? Seriously! Zombie games have been around for a good long time and they just continue to entertain and innovate the zombie culture started oh, so long ago by Mr. Romero. Capcom, obviously familiar with the zombie with the Resident Evil series, created one of the quintessential zombie games in the ouvre of the zombie catalogue with Dead Rising. Capcom's goal: kill the undead with whatever the hell you want! Feel like ripping apart a torso with a chainsaw? Done! Feel like using a stand-up umbrella as a battering ram? Sure! Guitars? Yep! Scissors? Uh-huh! Stuffed animals? You got it!

    The game in itself is great in its build-up of atmosphere. There is no music aside from what pumps out of the intercom speakers throughout the mall (save for boss fights). The situations are gritty and real with mothers losing babies to the gnashing teeth of the undead and Vietnam vets snapping and kidnapping random strangers. One man, photojournalist Frank West, is the only one left to save 50+ survivors from psychopaths and the US military from total apocalypse. And all that while wearing a summer dress and high heels to boot!

    Gameplay: 10/10

    The amount of zombies on a screen make for some chilling hypotheticals in your own head. How many of us thought that the mall might be the ideal place for a hold-up due to its access to food, survival materials and entertainment? I know I did...but not anymore!

    The look of the game is fairly simple with detail paid to the items and people populating the mall. The stores all feel like they have been ripped from my local shopping centre and populated with the stereotypical folks who wander the aisles aimlessly.

    That being said, there could have been a bit more added but I was more than impressed with what was presented!

    Graphics: 9/10

    The zombie groans and growls are there. Survivors yell for their life. The freakin' janitor's handheld chimes its way into your subconscious with annoyance. The weapons make noises according to what they are. The dialogue is funky and well spoken. The Muzak is eerie yet appropriate. I think the sound people for this game deserve all the credit in the world for building the atmosphere of the mall and its inhabitants perfectly!

    Sound: 10/10

    You'll be here for hours upon hours cleaning up zombies and achievements. As one of the achievements requires you to play for over 16 hours, and another requires to you kill over 72,000 zombies, if you are a completionist, you'll be here for a long damn time. For the casual gamer, there is enough fun to last 20+ hours but don't expect too much after that aside from the Capcom staple: multiple endings.

    Replay Value: 8/10

    Controlling Frank is easy enough, even with button combos for special moves. Sometimes you'll get to an area with some issues but they are few and far between. Everything feels solid when it comes to movement.

    Controls: 8/10

    Overall, this game has been in my system for well over 3 years now. I anticipated a sequel like everyone else and was damn pleased when Capcom delivered the goods last year (I'll be doing that review sometime soon). If you haven't, pick up this game on the cheap from your local used game store, pop it in, and enjoy! You will not be disappointed!

    Overall: 9/10
  • Removed Gamer
    Gamer has been removed
    6 1 0
    Shopping maul.

    External image


    Nothing livens up a party like a few zombies. And if a few zombies can make something better, then a lot of zombies should make something awesome, right? That seems to be the theory behind Dead Rising from the undead aficionados at Capcom. As a fellow fan of our non-living brethren, believe me when I say that Dead Rising is indeed the motherload of zombies. It’s bigger than a party; this is a zombie jamboree.

    Manage to escape from Raccoon City? Well, whatever you do, don’t head over to Williamette, CO., because they’ve got troubles of their own. No one told freelance photographer Frank West, though, because thanks to a tip, that’s exactly where he’s headed.

    Little does Frank know that the town has been quarantined by the military. Astonished by the carnage on the way in, the helicopter pilot drops Frank off on the roof of the Williamette Parkview Mall with a promise to return in 72 hours. Frank’s job is to scoop the story of his journalistic career, provided he can avoid being eaten alive by hordes of zombies. And you thought those TPS reports were bad news.

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    Surviving for three days lies at the core of this unique horror game, which counts down the minutes to your rescue in real time. Well, sort of real time - it’s sped up to take about 15 hours. While working under such a time constraint might seem limiting, Dead Rising is anything but. There are pictures to be taken, people to rescue, zombies to kill, situations to escape from, and a mystery to solve: where did the zombies come from? You can do as many or as few of these things as you like since most of the game is wonderfully non-linear. Heck, you could just spend three days on the roof waiting for the helicopter.

    That, however, would not be fun. Instead, you should drop down into the mall where a huge number of interesting people await. There are nearly a hundred fellow survivors, all with their own stories and situations. Some are just scared, some have lost their minds or their families, some will try to kill you, and, if you follow the game’s main storyline, some are more than they appear. Find them, avoid them, rescue them, or kill them - it’s all up to you.

    There are basically three ways to play though Dead Rising, in any combination. You can just free roam, scour the mall for survival items, accidental encounters and awesome photo opportunities. You can also follow time-sensitive ‘scoops’ from your buddy Otis, who watches the security monitors. He’ll steer you towards interesting mall happenings and rescue possibilities. Alternately, you can work on the much more linear ‘case files,’ which is the only way to unravel the mysterious story behind the zombie epidemic.

    Any way you slice it, you’ll be done in 72 hours, and since so much depends on being in the right place at the right time, you can easily lose the thread of the case files. Once lost, it’s gone forever. Some people will find that frustrating, but that’s the wrong way to look at Dead Rising because the main story is only one facet of a much larger experience.

    Most of which is spent killing or avoiding the endless hordes of zombies. This is a joy thanks to the tight controls and excellent hit detection. Aiming your camera or a gun is mapped oddly to the controller, but works fine once you get used to it. Dishing out zombie destruction is fairly easy, as the real danger lies in being overwhelmed by the countless hordes. Individual zombies might be stupid, but hordes are stupid and hard to avoid.

    This gets easier as the game goes on, however, because Frank can level up and get stronger, carry more items, and learn more moves. You level up by getting “PP” (essentially experience points) through killing things, finding and rescuing survivors, and taking good pictures. Your camera is an integral part of the game and your shots are judged on their horrific, amusing, brutal, dramatic, and even erotic qualities. Manage to reunite a couple, and you had better make sure the camera is ready to catch their warm embrace. The better the picture, the more PP.

    But when you’re not shooting pictures, you’re shooting zombies using an almost limitless number of weapons. Nearly anything you find in the mall can be thrown, kicked, shot, or swung at a zombie to greater or lesser effect, from music CD’s (pointless) to hedge trimmers (very pointy). Stuck in a fashion store? Grab a woman’s purse to look ridiculous as you slap at a zombie. Sporting goods? Try a golf club, that’s better. A guitar isn’t a great weapon, but boy, does it make a satisfying noise on contact. The variety is simply staggering.

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    As are the graphics. The violence is a little tongue-in-cheek, but definitely over-the-top, sparing no small amount of blood and guts. Frank and the other survivors look good, but it’s the sheer number of shambling zombies that really sends Dead Rising into the undead stratosphere. When you’re running along the top of some scaffolding to avoid a horde of literally 500 salivating brain-munchers reaching for you. It’s like Thanksgiving weekend gone horribly awry. With a solid framerate to boot, the only thing hiccupping is the occasional load sequence between areas.

    The sound is quite good as well, as Capcom has somehow managed to find voice actors that aren’t crippled by flat intonation or insane Engrish. The sound effects couldn’t be better, especially with the weapons. There’s just nothing like the sickening thud of a 2 x 4 to the face. The soundtrack isn’t great, but it works most successfully when it’s just playing the lame mall muzak that so perfectly completes the scene.

    Although there’s no multiplayer game, there are plenty of reasons to replay Dead Rising, not the least of which is that you can’t see everything the game has to offer in a single three-day trip. Save one person and you’re probably neglecting another. Depending on how you play, how far you progress through the case files, and whether or not you manage to meet your lift on time, there are also multiple endings. You can combine foods in the mall’s food court to make better food, find tons of easter eggs, learn skateboard tricks, and change your clothes in the many retail stores. There’s just a ton of stuff to do at the mall.

    Unfortunately, the core act of killing zombies, while intrinsically fun, gets notably repetitive. You kill a thousand, you kill another thousand, and then, you’ll kill three thousand more. It’s a bit of a one trick pony, although it’s admittedly a very cool trick.

    The lame save system isn’t cool at all, though. You can only save at the mall’s bathrooms, which are few and far between, and you only have one save at a time. If you expect to unravel the story, do not screw up a case file and then save. The save points are also protected by tons of shamblers, which can lead to infuriatingly hard sequences. For instance, you might find three psychopathic snipers shooting people from the mezzanine. So you fight your way through a thousand zombies to get to them, manage to kill them with barely any health left, and hooray! No wait, not hooray. Now you have to fight your way through another thousand zombies to get to the bathroom before you can save. Die, and you either lose your progress and revert to the last save, or interestingly, choose to restart the game, but with Frank’s current level and abilities. It’s silly and frustrating and makes little sense.

    But Dead Rising sure does, at least if you’re into slaughtering zombies. The whole thing is simply great fun, a sort of malleable tour through the Dawn of the Dead films that clearly inspired the game.

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    Hardest Achievement:
    External image
    7 Day Survivor-20GS
    TYPE: 1 PlayREQ: Survive for at least 7 days.
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