DARKMATTERS - The Mind of Matt

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Friday, October 01, 2010

Darkmatters Review: Dead Rising 2

Dead Rising 2 (18) PS3


Developed by Capcom

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth… Except this time the dead are in for a bit of a beating, and that’s after being made to star in a new TV game show!?

Dead Rising was a well-received Xbox exclusive but for the sequel the PS3 has been drafted in to up the ante for a slaughter-em-up of epic proportions!

Dead Rising 2 takes you to a near future Vegas-ish place called ‘Fortune City’ and you play Chuck Greene – a regular guy who will do anything it takees to protect his young daughter who has been bitten by a zombie but not yet turned… After losing his wife to the zombie scum, now Chuck has to fight his way through a freaky Running Man style game show - called ‘Terror is Reality’ for the prize money. This he will use to purchase medicine for his daughter who requires regular injections of the drug Zombrex which will prevent her from joining the undead plague. Now as zombies break loose and overrun the city, Chuck must survive for 72 hours before the military arrives to clean up.

But don’t worry too much about the plot – basically it is just a backdrop for some serious violence as Chuck has to battle the zombies with, well, anything he can find actually!? Find a baseball bat (which works ok as a brain beater anyway) but mix it with a box of nails and create a new much more ‘kill-friendly’ tool of spiky death!? Your imagination will be well served when it comes to creating weapons – go nuts with some power drills and a steel bucket to make a DIY brain masher or tape some chain saws onto a canoe paddle for some double ended chopping!? There are lots of combos to find and they are supplemented with some nice guns and other stand-alone tools of destruction. The good news is that as well as being lots of fun, building and using custom weapons gives you extra experience points which allow for new fight moves etc to be unlocked. Sweet!
"That's one good looking zombie!?"

It might not be a complete GTA style sandbox but you don’t have to follow the main plot too carefully either, Capcom in their infinite wisdom have given gamers freedom to just kill, run around finding and building mad zombies killing weapons, and still get back and save your daughter in time for another play-through…

Dead Rising 2 is choc full of black humour and sexism, which makes death-bringing to one and all a huge amount of fun! Sure it’s sick and very playable – it is also meant to be played through several times – so just kick back and enjoy it to begin, not worrying too much about trying to save all the side mission folk – you’ll be much more effective when you come back beefed up!!

Multiplayer drop-in co-op is a blast too and feels great when you and a pal are fighting off hordes of zombies back to back… There is also a multiplayer mode too where you can friends can play ‘Terror is Reality’ for money and prizes which you can use in the main game.

Overall if you’re in the market for a madcap does of over the top zombie carnage insanity – forget Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising 2 is the game to go for!!

Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 rampaging zombie deaths out of 10)

Buy the 'Zombrex Collectors Edition' HERE

Enjoy the madness over at: http://www.tapeitordie.com/agecheck?destination=home

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