Game: Dead Rising 2

[Animeniax]

So this game is a pretty much like DR1.5. It fixes some of the issues with the first game, like the escort missions are 150% less frustrating because the survivor AI has been improved. The downloadable prequel really helps, letting you get to level 7 even before you start this game.

Now for the gripes: this game is 33% play time, 33% waiting for loading, 33% watching poorly rendered CGI videos, and 1% picking up your controller after you've thrown it across the room in anger and frustration. Of the 33% playtime, 20% is spent running though the mall to get to a survivor or destination before time runs out. You hardly get time to enjoy finding new ways to kill zombies, or trying to rack up the kills. They really stress combo weapons, but they give you very little time and inventory slots to find parts to discover new combo tools. In this game you get 72 hours in game to complete the story while saving as many survivors as you can. I don't remember exactly how much time you got in the first game, but after about 4 hours of playing I'm down to 50 hours in game. Kind of bullshit.

[darkshadow]

I really, really can't stand the term .5. This game is a sequel, were you expecting some drastic departure? A sequel hold on to the core, fixes blemishes and introduces some new stuff, this all accompanied by newly built art.
Something else would be called a reboot or revamp.

Now to continue, your percentages are really odd.
The loading can be decreased by installing the game, and also only really pops up if you constantly go from one area to another. Don't forget it has to load an entire area with a shitload of items and npc's
Poorly rendered cgi videos....how about no rendered cgi videos? All of the cutscenes are ingame, if you seriously thought that was CGI...then well....I dunno.


Of the 33% playtime, 20% is spent running though the mall to get to a survivor or destination before time runs out. You hardly get time to enjoy finding new ways to kill zombies, or trying to rack up the kills. They really stress combo weapons, but they give you very little time and inventory slots to find parts to discover new combo tools

You can't be fucking serious, I'm pretty sure now you didn't play the first game, or only very briefly.

You don't have to do ANYTHING except kill zombies, you can fill the entire 72 hours of ingame time with just killing zombies over and over again, finding weapons combos and just doing generally wacky shit (in fact, a certain achievement requires you do to so).
No you don't have to save survivors, no you don't have to do the main cases, heck you don't even have to give Katey zombrex.

Whenever you fuck up something, the game will NEVER stop you from continuing to play the game however you like.

Also inventory.....you do know you level up to get better stats right? not just for scratch cards and abilities. Seeing how it's random what you get, I can't say when you will have maxed out inventory, but even around level 30 ( which can be easily reached with even half a playthrough of just killing stuff) you should have plenty of space.


In this game you get 72 hours in game to complete the story while saving as many survivors as you can. I don't remember exactly how much time you got in the first game, but after about 4 hours of playing I'm down to 50 hours in game. Kind of bullshit.


The time you get in this game is exactly the same as in the first one, 6+2 hours. +2 being for story related missions, so if you just want to kill shit and do general shenanigans, you are free to do that for the full 72 hours (6hours).

Anyway this game is awesome.

[Animeniax]

I played the Case Zero demo and if you don't give Katey Zombrex, story ends. I played the first game and if you miss any of the main story elements, the game is over. Sure you can continue "playing" by killing zombies for the rest of the game, but then it's pointless.

Sequels are supposed to be new territory with familiar characters. DR1.5 is identical territory with new characters that don't really change the game. Bioshock 2 is a sequel. DR1.5 is basically more of the same.

I played the Case Zero demo which is installed on the harddrive and it loaded slower than CD\HDD loading. To get from one survivor or mission to the next, you're passing through 3 or 4 different areas, each of which requires load time. I understand the game has to load a lot of zombies and area details, but it would make more sense to render zombies on the fly rather than to load them all into the area which you will spend all of 2 minutes in as you run to another area.

CGI, cutscenes, same thing. They interrupt the flow of the game and occur too often. I had similar gripes about the cutscenes in the first game.

In summary, this game could have been so much more without the time constraints and poor system resource management.

[darkshadow]

So you only played the demo for Case Zero?
Cause I really hope you aren't being retarded in calling a 3(10 to get everything) hour arcade game with completely different survivors/story/enviroments/clothing a demo.

And yeah ofcourse the story ends if you miss the case file deadlines or katey, but you were specifically bitching about time constraints and about how not being able to leisurely kill zombies and experiment with weapons, well you can but you have to choose what to do and what to drop.

You also mentioned survivors, well as I mentioned you don't have to save ANY survivor, and you can still finish the game with the best ending. And seeing how the case files are pretty wide spread from each other, the time you spend in between them is entirely up to you.
Since you chose to nonstop save survivors, then yeah sure, you won't be doing a lot of silly exploring. But you made that choice.

Dead Rising has never been a game in which you can get everything done in a single playthrough, that's just not possible. It was always built with multiple runs in mind (hence some of the achievements).

And your definition of a sequel is completely screwed.

A sequel is a work in literature, film, or other media that chronologically portrays events following those of a previous work.
That's all a sequel is, the .5 term is so abysmally retarded for a full production. If it should ever be used, it would only be appropriate for add-ons.

And no, "on the fly" (instanced) loading brings in a load of ugly problems like very blatant pop-in.
And if you have such a problem with cutscenes, then why do you even care if you fail the story or not? It doesn't really change the game you are playing if you do or don't.

Also there is one survivor that is somewhat essential of saving.
her name is Linette I think and she appears during case 3 in the palisades mall, in the beauty salon. I think the case is name "The wilted flower" and solving it will open up a huge shortcut, that goes straight from Royal flush plaza ( where you start) to Palisades mall, that should cut out plenty of loading screens for you. Or you could go down the maintenance tunnels.

[RyougaZell]

Since the first Dead Rising was exclusive to the Xbox (I don't count the failure port to the Wii) I can't speak about it. But I'll be getting Dead Rising 2 this weekend.

Hey darkshadow... I read a rumor that the PS3 version was yet again a bad port... do you know anything about this?

[Marik]

I read a rumor that the PS3 version was yet again a bad port

They have an article about that on sankaku.

[RyougaZell]

They have an article about that on sankaku.

Well... apart from the matter that Sankaku is blocked at my current location... I don't really trust them. So I wanted to know if any respectable site would have talked about it. I heard about Eurogamer... but can't access it either at the moment.

[Marik]

http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/09/27/dead-rising-2-ps3-vs-xbox-360


In this article we will summarize EuroGamer’s findings, on the whole it looks as if the Xbox 360 is better, shadows and lighting are far superior and the 30fps cap ensures smooth gameplay, whereas the uncapped PS3 version suffers from screen tear.

The PS3 version does cope better when there are a lot of zombies in an outdoor environment, whereas the Xbox 360 can sometimes struggle, however this is pretty much the only time the PS3 excels.

EuroGamer also suggest that the native resolution of the PS3 release is in fact just 1024×576, which has been upscaled to 720p, whereas the Xbox 360 version runs at a native resolution of 720p, this is sometime noticeable in these screens (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-27-dead-rising-2-720p-comparison-gallery-comparison-gallery).

To conclude it seems as if the Xbox 360 version does have the edge, that said 95% of gamers probably wouldn’t notice the PS3 versions slight imperfections.

[RyougaZell]

Thank you very much. That pretty much summarized it. Yet again, the Xbox version is better. Nevertheless... not owning one... I'll probably won't notice it. Unless its a game breaking bug.

[darkshadow]

Thank you very much. That pretty much summarized it. Yet again, the Xbox version is better. Nevertheless... not owning one... I'll probably won't notice it. Unless its a game breaking bug.

Well, It is somewhat to be expected since capcom games run on MT Framework, which is a PC > x360 > ps3 development engine. So the ps3 versions are always a bit inferior...not as much as with DR2, I think that is partly because they had an external(now internal) developer make the game.

Still I don't think any of the listed things make the ps3 version unplayable, seems more like that it simply doesn't look as good as x360 version. I don't think you should have to fear something like the Bayonetta ps3 port.

[Animeniax]

So you only played the demo for Case Zero?
Cause I really hope you aren't being retarded in calling a 3(10 to get everything) hour arcade game with completely different survivors/story/enviroments/clothing a demo.
Whatever the $5 downloadable game was where you have to find the bike parts. It was more than a demo but less than a game.


And yeah ofcourse the story ends if you miss the case file deadlines or katey, but you were specifically bitching about time constraints and about how not being able to leisurely kill zombies and experiment with weapons, well you can but you have to choose what to do and what to drop.That's a silly way to play a game. You should be able to complete everything in one go. Some people don't enjoy playing the same game over and over.

You also mentioned survivors, well as I mentioned you don't have to save ANY survivor, and you can still finish the game with the best ending. And seeing how the case files are pretty wide spread from each other, the time you spend in between them is entirely up to you.
Since you chose to nonstop save survivors, then yeah sure, you won't be doing a lot of silly exploring. But you made that choice.That's one of the main points of the game, to save survivors. If you skipped that, it'd be a pretty unfulfilling game. Why not make it possible to save survivors and still complete the story and experiment a bit? I think the Zombrex for Katey arcing mission is tacked on just to mess with that.


And your definition of a sequel is completely screwed.

That's all a sequel is, the .5 term is so abysmally retarded for a full production. If it should ever be used, it would only be appropriate for add-ons.Sequel in games is very different from sequels in movies/books. Bioshock 2 was a sequel which story preceded the events of Bioshock 1, but it is a sequel to the franchise. DR2 is not a full production (or they wasted a lot of resources reinventing the wheel). It's basically the same game with new skins and slightly altered storyline.


Also there is one survivor that is somewhat essential of saving.
her name is Linette I think and she appears during case 3 in the palisades mall, in the beauty salon. I think the case is name "The wilted flower" and solving it will open up a huge shortcut, that goes straight from Royal flush plaza ( where you start) to Palisades mall, that should cut out plenty of loading screens for you. Or you could go down the maintenance tunnels.
Thanks for the tip, but I think every survivor is essential or you fail the life lesson of the game.

[darkshadow]

Whatever the $5 downloadable game was where you have to find the bike parts. It was more than a demo but less than a game.

.....I don't think I have to go into why Xbox Live Arcade games are called just that.


That's a silly way to play a game. You should be able to complete everything in one go. Some people don't enjoy playing the same game over and over.
That's one of the main points of the game, to save survivors. If you skipped that, it'd be a pretty unfulfilling game. Why not make it possible to save survivors and still complete the story and experiment a bit? I think the Zombrex for Katey arcing mission is tacked on just to mess with that.

One of the main points indeed...ONE of them.
-killing zombies
-doing story
-saving survivors
-unlocking shit.

The entire point of the game is that you pick one of those things to do, and then fill in the rest of your time with any of the other things (as I mentioned), or don't do any of the other things and just focus on one thing the entire time, which should only happen if you aren't doing the story. I mean at case 4-1 I had still killed well over 3000 zombies and saved 40+ survivors......learn to play? ;P It's not that hard if you prioritize.


Sequel in games is very different from sequels in movies/books. Bioshock 2 was a sequel which story preceded the events of Bioshock 1, but it is a sequel to the franchise. DR2 is not a full production (or they wasted a lot of resources reinventing the wheel). It's basically the same game with new skins and slightly altered storyline.

No the definition is entirely the same. And seriously some new skins? Are you fucking serious? NONE of the art you see in DR2 was present in the first game, not even the zombies. Entirely new fucking large enviroment, new zombies, new weapons, new characters, 118 fucking new survivors, new mechanics, 2 online modes and the continuation of the story...yes sequel (you are obviously oblvious to how much time/effort/money it takes to build all that).


Thanks for the tip, but I think every survivor is essential or you fail the life lesson of the game.

Lol ok, I guess you truly know what the game is all about ;[.

[Animeniax]

So towards the middle and late in the game the developer leaves you some time between missions to just run around killing zombies and to try to make combo weapons. So at least they got that part right.

I finished the game and got the A ending, then the B ending, and now I'm going for the best ending.

@darkshadow: your point about load times is wrong because it takes just as long to load the safehouse with 30 NPCs as it does to load an area with 1000 NPCs. This game has serious issues with system resource management. I've never played a game that spends so much time loading. It makes the game choppy and disjointed. What ever happened to flow in gameplay?

I think the Japanese are guilty of this moreso than other developers. They think you want to know more about the corny story (which is usually trite and unoriginal) so they clutter games with CGI and cutscenes. It's one of the reasons I didn't bother playing the MGS series after the first game. I don't play video games for 7 hours of play time and 10 hours of CGI video/cutscenes.

Otherwise, this game is worth playing if you can buy it used.

[Animeniax]

On my second play-through of DR2. It's a lot more fun this time, but the same gripes exist, load times are still atrocious and there are a lot of gameplay glitches.

Some tips: the survivors are a lot more resilient and intelligent than in the first game, so keeping 4 or 5 of the more capable ones with you makes all of the psychopath missions a lot easier (plus wading through zombies). Arm your group of survivors with assault rifles or shotguns and they form your own personal SWAT team. You'll have to occasionally give them food to restore health and you'll have to be careful that they don't get the kill shot on psychopaths or you lose the PP. Also, you have to wait for them to catch up before moving to new areas, as they lose health if left in an area that you are not in.

edit: one downside to keeping the survivors enslaved is that you won't get prompted for some of the missions. I missed out on saving the shortcut woman because of this. Also, the game continues to be retarded. I almost smashed my controller to pieces when the game started glitching while I fought a boss.

[Animeniax]

My two favorite combo weapons are the Blitzkreig and the BFG. If you get a chance to use them, they are the best weapons in the game, though with limited uses.

I'm on my 3rd play-through trying to kill as many zombies as possible (there's an achievement for killing 54k and 72k zombies. The most I've managed is 9k, but that's with following the storyline and saving survivors.

[Marik]

I'm on my 3rd play-through trying to kill as many zombies as possible (there's an achievement for killing 54k and 72k zombies. The most I've managed is 9k, but that's with following the storyline and saving survivors.

Is there an area like the tunnel in the first game that would make something like that a whole lot easier?

[RyougaZell]

Playing right now. Enjoying it but Im annoyed at the time restriction. Its like 'do I save survivors or move up with the plot'

Bleh

Terror is Reality is addicting.

[darkshadow]

Is there an area like the tunnel in the first game that would make something like that a whole lot easier?

Yep, maintenance tunnels once again ;D.
Oh and the Defiler and knife gloves are definitly by FAR the best weapons, sure bfg and blitz are good, but their use is extremely limited.
Defiler ruins crowds, one shots looters/soldiers and lasts long, the knife gloves just rape bosses.

[RyougaZell]

Hey dark or Ani, one question.

I just begun the game a few days ago. Sometimes I find myself with a weapon and a bag of chips or any food. Im smashin zombies left and right when my weapon breaks and Chuck immediately starts eating. Is there a way for Chuck to not use the food? I mean, for him to fight hand on hand immediately after a weapon breaks? Or am I forced to have spare weapons on hand so he won't miss-use the food?

[darkshadow]

if a weapon breaks, and it goes to food you could press UP on the dpad, which will make you unequip whatever you are holding.

The only other way is to equip the non-weapon in a slot next to something that isn't breaking....otherwise just press up .

[RyougaZell]

Thank you. Didn't know about that.

I think I've played more TIR than the main story too...

[Animeniax]

Is there an area like the tunnel in the first game that would make something like that a whole lot easier?

Like ds said, there is a tunnel area but it's not as packed with zombies as in the first game. The open areas are the best place to kill a lot of zombies, especially once you get to combo your bike (sorry if that's a spoiler).

@ds: defiler is my favorite utility weapon, but far from being the most fun to use. The spiked mma gloves/knifed boxing gloves are awesome too. But the BFG and blitzkrieg have the most wow factor.

@RZ: as ds said, up on the d-pad empties your hand, down on the dpad drops the item.

Are you guys playing TiR online, or in-game? I didn't think there was an in-game mini-game for TiR.

[RyougaZell]

Online. So far I've only managed 2nd place, but I've won on 3 of the different games. PS3.

[RyougaZell]

Trophy hunting on my 5th walkthough. Im currently hunting Zombies for the 72,000 mark... currently at 38,000 just after killing the 4 snipers.

[Animeniax]

I didn't sell/trade-in my copy after finishing it twice, in case I get the hankering to play through it again.

What's the most effective/quickest method you've used to kill zombies en masse? Even with the chainsaws attached to the bike in the open areas, it took me hours to just get 10k kills. Eventually I gave up trying to get to 56k and 72k kills.

[RyougaZell]

For starters... I got the Driving Magazine (At the cafe at Americana Casino) and drove with the SUV until the Side-Mission 'Meet the Contestants' opened up. I had at least 6k kills by then.

I also continued the 'plot' so the case where the vaults were being raided opened up since the Bike Magazine is inside of one those locked rooms. That allows for the Bike to last 3 times longer. Here I switched to the bike.

Chainsaws + Bike + Magazine gives me about 2k kills per bike. When the Zombies start to go low, I enter Yucatan Casino and return back, to get a new bike and full zombie count.

I just hit 43k a minute ago. About 1 hour of real time play since my last post. Last Zombrex douse for Katie gets near... so I fear I won't get enough time for 72k.

Im definitely going inside The Facts and Overtime to get extra time and hope to hit 72k. 56k and 1k Gas-Zombie will just come as an aftereffect.

Oh... and about the bike... I just keep pushing it forward to the max. At first I crashed a lot and lost a lot of time... but I managed to get a better hold of it middleway.


EDIT:

Bah... I messed up and failed a mission... so I got stuck on 55k with no chance of getting into The Facts and Overtime... meh...

[Marik]

There's a release date for the Live Arcade game now.

Open up Dead Rising 2: Case West on Dec. 27 (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/13/open-up-dead-rising-2-case-west-on-dec-27/)

[Animeniax]

Glad I kept my copy of the game so I can get this DLC. Chuck Greene and Frank West, together again for the first time!

[RyougaZell]

F-capcom and their finger to PS3 users

[Marik]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKrLqS1lh3s


Off the Record puts Frank West in Fortune City in Chuck's place, with new missions, new enemies, new weapons and "a brand new Fortune City attraction to explore." The update also features "enhancements to elements such as the save system and the co-op experience." It'll be out on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in the fall.

[RyougaZell]

Mindless zombie killing is fun... but they could have given us a new location instead of an updated DR2 with Frank West.

Blegh.

[Marik]

Kotaku has a write-up about DR2: Off the Record. It's going to be a disc-based release. Hopefully they won't charge a full $60 for it.

Frank West Regains The Lead Role In Dead Rising 2: Off The Record, A Surprising Remake (http://kotaku.com/#!5790842/frank-west-regains-the-lead-role-in-dead-rising-2-off-the-record-a-surprising-remake)

[Animeniax]

Did anyone play Case West? I didn't, though I might in the future. Not sure it's worth the $10.

[RyougaZell]

Did anyone play Case West? I didn't, though I might in the future. Not sure it's worth the $10.

I didn't because Capcom screwed us PS3 users and didn't gave Case West to us.

[Marik]

This week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week is centered around Dead Rising 2.

April 26th - "Dead Rising 2 Sale" GOLD MEMBERS ONLY

XBLA

Dead Rising 2: Case West (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/DEAD-RISING-2-CASE-WEST/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410b00?cid=search) - 400 Microsoft Points - 50% off - Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/dead-rising-2-case-west) - Quick Look (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-dead-rising-2-case-west/17-3649/)
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/DR2-CASE-ZERO/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410a8d?cid=search)- 200 Microsoft Points - 50% off - Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/dead-rising-2-case-zero) - Quick Look (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-dead-rising-2-case-zero/17-3154/)

DLC


Dead Rising 2: Skills Pack - Psycho (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Skills-Pack-Psycho/00000000-0000-400c-80cf-0001434307ec?cid=search) - 80 Microsoft Points - 50% off
Dead Rising 2: Skills Pack - Soldier (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Skills-Pack-Soldier/00000000-0000-400c-80cf-0002434307ec?cid=search) - 80 Microsoft Points - 50% off

After spending 1440 points on Super Street Fighter IV's Ultra Complete Pack, I have 5030 points left. So, I'll probably pick up Case West before it goes back up.

[Marik]

Dead Rising 3 is coming...

Dead Rising 3 Is Set In California And The Protagonist Is An Auto Mechanic (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/08/dead-rising-3-is-set-in-california-and-the-protagonist-is-an-auto-mechanic)