Dead Rising 2 Preview
2009 was bursting at the bloody seams with titles that had players waging war on zombie hordes; from Resident Evil 5 to Left 4 Dead 2--and about a dozen others in between. It was a great year if you enjoyed splattering the brains of the walking dead. This year, however, has been zombie-free by comparison. Not to worry, though, as Capcom, longtime experts in the field of flesh-eating crazies, will soon be unleashing Dead Rising 2. And based on my time with the title, it should provide players with enough undead annihilation to make last year's line-up look tame.
My last peek at the game, nearly a year ago, was strictly hands-off and teased with its inventive weapon customization. 12 months later, the focus is still on crafting your own inspired death-dealers, but this time Capcom was kind enough to let me get my own paws bloody. As you've probably heard, Dead Rising 's shutterbug protagonist Frank West is out, and new right-guy-in-the-wrong-place Chuck Greene is in. But switching stars serves as more than just a cosmetic or narrative shift; it also redefines the gameplay and how you earn experience (pp). Where these things were rooted in Frank's photog abilities in the the first game, they're tied to Chuck's handyman skills in Dead Rising 2. It's a brilliant change, as making weapons—and especially using them on clueless walking corpses--is far more satisfying than snapping pics of the shuffling meat bags.
Dropped into a sandbox-style level, I was given a variety of items and weapons, access to a tool bench, and a casino full of zombies to test my inventions on. The process is simple: Find two items that can be combined (flashing icons signal matches), take them to the workshop, which in this particular level was in a backroom in the casino, and plop them on the tool bench. This triggers a brief animation of Chuck's hands—mostly out of sight—working on the table as the sound of ripping duct tape and an accompanying pounding rock track play to appropriately pump players up for the slaughter to come.
I began by bringing some circular saw blades and a vacuum to the table. The result was an awesome zombie cleaning tool that 'd make one of those pricey Dyson models look like a puny hand-vac. Its blades quickly cut through their flesh like ribbons right before sucking up what was left of their shambling torsos. Watching the casino-dwelling monsters get shredded and inhaled by this weapon could have entertained me for some time, but I was here to experiment, not focus on favorites. I kept my next trip to the tool bench simple. I grabbed a baseball bat and a box of nails, and went to work. While the expected spiked club was not the most inventive makeshift zombie-beater, its gory kill animation made up for any lack of originality. Many items have a secondary kill that supplements the normal button-mashing attack, and in this case, that meant an exaggerated swing that left the weapon deeply buried in enemies' rotting skulls. The sickening animation of Chuck prying the nail-embedded bat from a zombie's head kept me swinging till the weapon depleted. All of the makeshift weapons you create are temporary, but they still last quite a while, nicely rewarding you for your handyman work. Another cool crafted melee weapon included the unlikely combination of a flashlight and loose jewels. I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but before I could say “LucasArts lawsuit” I was slicing and dicing the undead with a lightsaber-like sword.
While these blood-bringing inventions were perfect for up-close encounters with my feet-dragging foes, I also tried my hand at a few ranged weapons. A water-gun with a gasoline can fastened to it made for an effective flamethrower, but it was actually a tennis racket and a flaming tiki torch that best kept the walking dead at bay. Combined, these two items allow Chuck to hit flaming tennis balls that pinball through a crowd of zombies, setting each one it hits on fire. Just as deadly, but less accurate are bottle rockets shot through a lead pipe. Building this particular ranged combo also provides some laughs, as you watch the flaming, whistling trails distract the dumb-as-dirt enemies.
Some of Dead Rising 2's best homemade goodies aren't traditional melee or ranged items, but auto-weapons that you build then unleash to do your bidding. Take a giant teddy bear and a machine gun, for example, and you've got the “Freedom Bear” turret. The cuddly killer—complete with red Rambo bandanna—will sit wherever you place it, unleashing hot lead till its clip is empty. A similarly self-propelled item is the toy RC helicopter with machetes attached to its propellers. Simply set it loose in a crowd, and this hovering killer does all the dirty work. Even better, its buzzing blades attract zombies to its location, so they essentially end up walking to their deaths.
In addition to delivering gloriously gory kills, this weapon-building mechanic is great for making otherwise weak items worth using. It was no doubt fun, but not especially effective, to whack zombies with stuffed animals or squirt them with water guns in the first game. But now, combined with the right items, these harmless goods become deadly. Constructing combo weapons is an addictive game-within-the-game that really complements the title's free-form nature. I had a blast experimenting with different items, testing their effectiveness, and watching their kill animations creatively cover the Vegas-like environment with blood and guts. And while I spent a good hour with the game, taking out thousands of brain-hungering baddies, I barely scratched the surface of its weapon-creating mechanic. Based on a menu screen which displays “recipe” cards, it appears the final game will support dozens of blood-spilling combinations. These cards, while not necessary to craft weapons, must be collected if you wish to earn maximum pp and secondary kill moves with your makeshift arsenal. I look forward to finding them all and building my deadly deck when the game shuffles onto consoles this summer.
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