Dead Rising

I'm amazed how anyone can't appreciate the techinical achievement that this game is. It is not possible to do this in any platform available today, but the 360 (or some high-end PC)!!! There's 800 characters moving on screen at the same time - the maintnance tunnels for instance.

The story line is one of deepest I've seen in any game, but one has to dedicate much, much more than just a few minutes,

This is an hardcore game at heart. It's Capcom, so expect to offer your time and soul to the experience, otherwise stay away. It's hard! You got to play at least 5 times from start to finish in order to level your character up and learn all the fine/fancy moves, and then you'll have to pull much more than just one button, as a matter of fact there's some pretty hard to pull moves that involve a serie of nutton combination + analog stick push/pull - 25 different moves, that include neck break; round kick, zombie throw, etc. and those are not random, one has to actually do it.

Graphicwise the game's great, zombies has disctinct looks, and very little repitition. Capcom used the very good Havok engine (used by other high-profile new games).

Of course the game has flaws, like aiming wich although explained at the begining of the game (Frank - our character - never had shoot a gun in his life), some unbalanced guns (handgun are way too underpowered, and mini-chainsaw is an unstopable killing machine); the "real-time" structure mixed with the one-slot save can be a pain (although Frank's stats do pass from a game to another) but the biggest "flaw" for me is that I don't have the time (not a teen anymore) to dedicate myself to the game as much as it demands, but for this I don't blame the game, it's just the way it is.

If you can live with this buy it, it's a landmark on the videogame industry. I can understand people beeing angry with the difficulty of the game, but it's not Capcom's fault, they are hardcore!

This is a game that requires concentration and persistence. Put in the hours and the game comes to life in a way that is very addictive. It may not satisfy the 'I need a quick shoot 'em / bash 'em fix' but it is certainly one of the most original games for the 360.

I have completed the game 4 times now and have unlocked almost all of the achievements (zombie genocider being the most satifying = 55,000 bodycount, yes that 1000 times 55!). This game excels in its intensity. Stuck in a crowd of zombies with a limping survivor and limited weaponry? Think hard on how you are going to get to the security room. By the time you get there you will be breathing a big sigh of relief.

Graphics are good but not excellent but how many other games have hundreds of 'intelligent' zombies on-screen at any one moment?

If you don't like edge of your seat missions with rigid timescales then steer clear of this game. If, like me, you love blood and gore galore, then saddle up, lock and load and kick zombie bottom in a huge variety of humorous ways.

In this game you play as a journalist called Frank West and you are left in a shopping mall to take pictures and gather stories...and Oh yea, the mall is full of zombies. After a few cutscenes, your 72 hour notice of when the helicoptor will be back to pick you up is set and then your off to do whatever you like.

Some people may be put off by the fact that there is a time limit, but its not as if you are going to be in constant worry that you are going to miss the chopper because 72 hours of game time is still many hours of real time gameplay.

You can tackle this game in many different ways, you can stick to the main story and try to uncover the causes for the zombie outbreak, you can go about rescuing survivors, or you can just go exploring and killing and basically causing as much mayhem as possible. Each of these poses different opportunities and rewards and therefore leads to a game with incredible replayability value. I love the shopping mall, because its big, but not too big. This is good because you dont get that dreaded feeling of its too big to explore properly. So after many hours of gameplay, you may end up learning where things are hidden and the most efficient way to get from place to place, and this in my opinion gives a real sense of achievement.

I must admit, it does take a while to get into the game because of the contols and the fact that you are so weak at the start. But keep playing and you'll soon be enjoying it.

Some people found it difficult at the start of the game, but you will progress up to level 10-15 quite quickly and in doing so, the game will become easier to play. This RPG like system allows you to unlock more skills, health bars and item slots and a good thing about this is, if you die, you can start a brand new game with your previous stats.

Some people have critisised the lack of save points in Dead Rising. I think that you just need to know where to find them. Learn where the save points are and you shouldn't have a problem. I advise that you do this as soon as possible because if you die, its back to the last save i'm afraid.

People have also critisised the small on screen text, when recieving phone calls, talking to characters and examining objects. This wont apply to people with HDTV.

Now lets focus on how much fun this game is... in this game, pretty much anything is a weapon from bowling balls to lawnmowers and from cooking oil to toy laser swords, as well as guns and blades. You will most probably spend hours just running around killing zombies in loads of different ways. and if thats not enough you can go into loads of clothes shops and dress Frank how you like. Believe me when I say there are some hilarious costumes out there.

Dead rising is special, its got a great story, fantastic graphics and a fantastic atmosphere about it as well as its fair share of dark humour. and if you get bored doing the missions, why not explore, if you get bored of exploring kill some more zombies. It is very hard to get bored on this game in my opinion. Once you truly get into dead rising, you are going to be addicted to this for quite some. Definetely worth the money, one of the few truly fantastic games out on 360 to date.