Dead Rising

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JaySevenZero
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Dead Rising

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Capcom's Dead Rising for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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Quiet Paul
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Quiet Paul »

How mental is it that in 5 years time, (from August 2021) Dead Rising will be 20 years old!? I swear I picked it up for the first time on the 360 not that long ago. I got it just a few weeks after release.

I remember my initial thoughts being that it’s definitely fun but a little confusing. Where are the staple Capcom zombie puzzles? You mean, to access the next part of the mall I don’t have to find three pieces of a big emblem or fight a big nasty boss with a conveniently enlarged shoulder eyeball?

The zombies themselves look good! I prefer the slow moving George Romero style zombies than the sprinting overly aggressive ones. The sheer amount you can get on screen at once with little to no frame-rate dips, especially in the updated versions, is astonishing.

The AI seems to have a hard time with the zombies though, as the survivors who Frank must escort seem rather happy to run groin first into a large group of the undead and have their privates chewed off. Some strategy must be implemented to hold survivors in an area while you clear a path up ahead and more so if you plan on saving every survivor as it is worth your while to save them in a particular order!

Frank is a freelance journalist and I think the photography element flows really well into the chaos of the game. There are stretches of downtime and I find it best to fill that time with taking pictures of things for extra PP (hehe) allowing me to upgrade Frank’s abilities and health.

The Psychopaths are nothing short of amazing! There are not many games that can fit in so many boss battles and every boss has their own story, their own personality and their own way of fighting. From the iconic Adam the clown, the head-banging music and time limited aspect of Larry the butcher’s fight and the ridiculous but hilarious Steven the supermarket psycho battle. Then there’s the forgettable Jo the cop and frustrating convicts in the leisure park with Gone Guru by Lifeseeker jamming in the background compounding the pain of facing these guys. Although occasionally they would no-show, only to find them in a far away corner accelerating their jeep into a small tree leading to a rather awkward one-sided boss fight as the AI can’t figure out how to fix itself.

I think this game is Marmite and I love it but I can also see why a lot of people won’t. One thing I really detest though is the mind-boggling 7 day survivor achievement. I enjoy collecting achievements where I can and I have all the achievements in this game except from this one because, despite trying once or twice in the past, I don’t have 14 hours in the day to put towards this bloody thing and so Dead Rising will always sit as ‘incomplete’ in my achievements list.

3WR: Fun but flawed.
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Superuser
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Superuser »

I first played this around 2017, using the PC port. Time was unkind to Dead Rising for animations and control, but in other ways it shows how unique it still is. It feels like a PS2 game but pushed to the limits of the 360, and taking advantage of the new craze for persistent worlds.

I would argue Dead Rising is the first true 'fourth dimension' game. You have a constantly ticking watch. The game takes place over 72 hours. Every quest in the game is time limited and linked to currently ongoing events. You'll see the shops change. For example, if you don't have time to get around to a survivor, the barricades of the shop they are holed up in will break down. At night, more powerful zombies come out. As time goes on the survivors are affected, and for example an apocalyptic cult that enters the fray.
This could all describe a linear game, which it is, but its repeatable nature brings it to the time dimension. It also lets you ignore these parts and have things play out differently. Way of the Samurai tried this but without total success like with DR.

The first 3 hours were miserable and I would have quit if it wasn't for podcasts. But then something clicked and I was able to beat the first 2 sets of psychopaths. I got some amazing weapons and I learned the known part of the map like the back of my hand. Slowly I accessed more of the map. Though technically I could have gone to most of it from the start, the game just guided me through it so I saw things at the right time.

The story was surprisingly engrossing and fun. Frank West is a great lead character. The psychopaths had lots of character and the whole vibe of the game was just far enough away from horror to be enjoyable for me. The romantic ending was very well done.

It's a shame none of the later DR games could recapture the magic here. DR2 was close but it failed in creating a very memorable map. The areas in Williamette Mall were clearly distinct, and the map was just small enough for you to remember every weapon pickup and weird thing you'll come across.

I strayed from discussing the negative aspects of the game, like the massive difficulty early on, and the general level of jank in combat and animations. I couldn't imagine trying to beat this with controller stick aiming. Most of the difficulty comes from bosses, but the zombies are enough of a threat to keep you on your toes. It also replicates Dynasty Warriors in having you help along fellow survivors that cannot help themselves. Though you can also kill them if you want, it's up to you!

Three word review: Nice. Perfect. FAHNTASTIC!
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Alex79
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Alex79 »

Dead Rising, along with Gears Of War, was one of the games I bought alongside my Xbox 360 back in the day. I'd heard about the game, and wandering through a shopping mall picking up almost anything to use as a weapon against large hoards of zombies, the likes of which we'd not really seen before in a game, definitely sounded like my bag.

I was initially disappointed, and didn't really understand the mechanics behind the game and the pseudo realtime game clock, with time dependant missions and the like. I enjoyed killing zombies (again), sure, but it took me a fair old while to actually 'figure out' the game.

After some time I realised it's nigh on impossible to do everything in one run. So I employed a tactic I continued to use for the games sequel. I did one run totally ignoring the story, and just played every side mission I could cram in, levelling up Frank and unlocking abilities. Afterwards, I did a second run focusing on the story, and any side missions I'd missed the first time round. This seemed, in the end, like the perfect way to play the game. By the time you were focusing on the story, Frank was tough enough to take on the bosses and actually get the job done.

Playing in this way I had an absolute blast with the game, and even more so the second one when that was released. Dead Rising has its faults, its difficulty spikes and was a little janky even on release, but it was a game I really enjoyed and look back on fondly.

THREE WORD REVIEW: Best played twice.
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Alex79
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Alex79 »

Quiet Paul wrote: February 21st, 2021, 5:21 pm How mental is it that in 5 years time, (from August 2021) Dead Rising will be 20 years old!?
Or even......15 years old now...

:lol:
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Quiet Paul
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Quiet Paul »

Alex79uk wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:59 pm
Quiet Paul wrote: February 21st, 2021, 5:21 pm How mental is it that in 5 years time, (from August 2021) Dead Rising will be 20 years old!?
Or even......15 years old now...

:lol:
Yeah but 20 is a bit more “mental” than 15, surely? :D

When I think of it in those terms my brain goes “it will not be 20 years, it’s not been that long!” It’s just crazy to me!
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bensbb
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by bensbb »

I had this game on the Xbox 360 as it was one of the "hot" titles early in that console's life but my memories of it are
hazy, but I think I played it briefly but bounced off it. I revisited this game on the PS4 in order to play along with the show but after about 10 hours I gave up trying to play it any further.

I love the setting and the world that the developer's created, and I persevered for quite a while because I wanted to see how the story unfolded, finding navigating and discovering the mall fun, but the (in my opinion) crippling difficulty curve, combined with completely useless survivor AI, awkward aim controls and unforgiving save system, makes the game far too frustrating. It's also been a while since I played the second instalment but I remember that being much fairer on the player, and a similar game, so I think that's probably the one to go for.

It's a real shame the PS4 version of the game is just a straight port with a slightly higher resolution, and doesn't attempt to fix any of the frustrating design choices, so I'd recommend this game only to the most patient gamers out there!
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Alex79
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Alex79 »

As an aside, I'm quite disappointed none of these games are on Gamepass. I thought the original was an Xbox exclusive, so surprised that's not on there at least.
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by ratsoalbion »

It was 360 only in 2006, but it's been available on PS4, PC and Xbox One since 2016. It's often available for around £6.
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Alex79 »

Ah I see. I really enjoyed the first two in the series so will definitely keep an eye out for the later games in a sale. I'm finding the Xbox store (on mobile at least) a lot trickier to navigate than the PSN one. Wonder if you can set up wish lists...
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by ratsoalbion »

There is a wishlist feature on Xbox, yes.
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Nupraptor
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Re: 493 - Dead Rising

Post by Nupraptor »

I remember getting this relatively close to release.
At that point, I was used to the Resident Evil games, where you might be used to facing four or five zombies at a time. The ability of this game to put hundreds of zombies on screen at once was just stunning. It was a powerful demonstration of the difference between console generations.
The relatively complex time limits, levelling system and strict timetable for events and rescues, didn’t sit well for me with the rest of the game, which was about having goofy fun, putting on silly costumes and hitting zombies with wacky, improvised weaponry. As a result, I don’t think I ever made it as far as the better endings.
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