Review: Dead Rising 2 - Xbox 360

by Steven Williamson on 4 October 2010, 13:25 4.0

Tags: Dead Rising 2 for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Capcom (TYO:9697), Action/Adventure

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Braaaaaains!

Like its predecessor, Dead Rising 2 is a survival of the fittest, a kill or be killed scenario involving the slaughtering of hundreds, nay thousands, of zombies who have one thing on their minds..."braaaaaaains!" Like the original title, gameplay follows much the same zombie-killing pattern only this time you’re given even more creative freedom to mow down the undead in any way you see fit.

The storyline is full of tongue in cheek humour, but also has some touching moments as you fight tooth and nail not just for your survival but that of your young daughter who gets bitten by a zombie during the outbreak. Her father, the former national motocross champion Chuck Greene, fights zombies for a living. He takes part in a reality TV show called “Terror Is Reality,” in which he and other contestants step into an arena in front of the cheering public to kill hordes of undead for cash prizes. Things go wrong when the contained zombie masses escape from the confines of the show and descend into the shopping mall of Fortune City. Now Chuck isn't fighting for cash any more, he's fighting for his life.

Those who manage to stay alive during the zombie escape take refuge, but Chuck has to brave the safety of the emergency shelter to head out into the city to gather Zombrex, the antidote that prevents his daughter from turning into a zombie. The only way that his daughter can survive the infection is if he delivers the Zombrex to her every 24 hours. Unfortunately, this means that you need to go searching for the antidote and avoid/kill any zombies you meet along the way.

The storyline isn't going to win any awards for creativity but it plays its part well enough in creating a credible back-drop to the events, while the need to gather Zombrex for your daughter on a daily basis creates tension and adds a sense urgency that the first game didn't quite possess.



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