Dead Rising 2 · 4:35am Feb 10th, 2018
So I've always wanted to play a Dead Rising game, and when I linked Steam accounts with my brother I saw that he had it and that I could play it! I started it up and played through it.
It was... underwhelming, to say the least.
There were a ton of major problems with the game. I had to convince myself to finish it just on principle. I was sorely disappointed.
The biggest problem I had with the game was the psychopaths. Not the idea in of itself, but that they were so strong. At first I thought that they were people infected with a stronger strain of the virus that made them powerful without turning them into full zombies. cliche, but it would have worked. Nope. They were just people who had gone crazy (some of them) and were way stronger than your character. I get that they have to be challenging, but come on, I can only suspend my disbelief so far, and it's broken when I have to make them take literally 19 rounds of a sniper rifle to the head before they died, if that even worked. Again, these are just normal people. Nothing special about them.
This would be a little better if your character was stronger than a cupcake. Keep in mind that I finished the game at the highest possible level with a bunch of strong weapons and I these bozos were still strong enough that a predator would find them a worthy match. Of course, they'd just throw a plate at the predator and make him fly back into the wall, but you get the point. It stretches my disbelief WAY too far when these normal people are bullet sponges. You shouldn't need 200 rounds of a machine gun to take out anything short of a terminator, much less a 110 pound woman in a skimpy cocktail dress.
The worst part about all of this? During a cut scene it takes one hit to actually do them in. Seriously, in one fight you're fighting two of the aforementioned cocktail dress clad women, and you focus your efforts on one of them. You kill her, then the other one, who isn't really all that damaged in a lot of playthroughs because why would she be, stabs herself in the stomach and dies. A woman who could previously take ten shotgun rounds to the head. Seriously?
A simple fix would be 1. giving them an in-game reason for being so powerful and 2. give us more tactics than "get in a few hits, get hit because every one of them is faster than you, run around and heal, repeat." In one of the fights, you fight a 400 pound guy (who, again, is way faster than you, the trained athlete) and if you shoot the pig head on his kilt, he's stunned and you can get a few good hits in. There's a little something there. Why not use that?
Anyway, I've complained about them enough. How were the performances? Awful. Truly awful. I took out my headphones and let my wife listen to some of the dialogue and it was painful. I get that not everyone is Dee Bradley Baker or Mel Blanc or Tara Strong but I've seen better line readings in high school plays. Was there never a moment when the voice director said "can we try that again, only like real humans this time?" Some of that was some of the horrible lines they had to read, but... blegh.
The story? It was fun, but majorly cliched. You're a character framed for a disaster and you have to go around and clear your name. Yawn. That was the main story. Most of the game is side missions, and all of those, I kid you not, are fetch quests and escort missions. Aren't those words profanity to the gaming community? "Oh, I know there's a zombie apocalypse going on outside, but I left my favorite golf club out there. Can you get me a new one?"
Really?
Okay, so I hated the game, right? Well, I started playing to kill some zombies and when I had time to do that it was a blast. Mowing down hundreds of zombies with a motorcycle with chainsaw blades, building a lightsaber and mowing down rows of enemies, knife gloves, spiked baseball bats, anything you can get your hands on... it was glorious, and if the game didn't make you go from escort mission to escort mission so quickly, I'd love doing more of it. I'd killed thousands by the end of the game.
Of course you kill more doing a round of Left 4 Dead, but why bother with that detail?
The biggest problem, and it's a small one really, is that the weapons break far too quickly. I don't want to craft 3 lightsabers so that I can cut through crowds of zombies with them for more than a few minutes! I get that they don't want us to just use the powerful weapons all of the time (a good reason why guns are so scarce in the game, or at least the best ones) but it's so much fun! Why can't we do more of it?
So would I suggest the game? Eh... not really. It's fun killing zombies, but when you boil it down to its core, you're left with a game filled mostly with fetch quests, escort missions, a cliche plot, terrible voice acting, bad glitches (my character would just sometimes stop like he'd run into a brick wall and I'd have to move him around a bit to get him to move) odd inconsistencies, a main villain you saw coming a mile away, and little time to stop and have fun doing what you started playing to do. 3/10. Wouldn't replay.
Disappointing. Hope the third one is better.
Also, the last shot of the canon ending is a stupid jumpscare.
I literally flipped off the game when I saw that.
Trying to remember, I think it was Left For Dead or something where you had to shoot the monster's in the *arms* to hurt them. Put in quite a few frustrating hours, then found that out, put in even more frustrating hours trying to hit fast moving limbs in the dark, then uninstalled. They got my money, though. Bastards.
4793529
Doesn't sound like L4D to me.
That's the main appeal of the game, killing a bunch of zombies in wacky ways, a cheesy game, and also the series boasts the larger amount if on screen zombies in any games. It's an homageto Day of the Living Dead
4793535
Dawn of the Dead, actually. But yeah, killing zombies should have been a bigger part of the game. I wish the best part of the game had been wrapped in a better game.
I played Dead Rising 2 for maybe an hour, because I give every game that I play at least an hour to prove that I'm going to have fun.
I'm willing to forgive a lot in a bad game if I'm having fun, and I have a lot more fun thinking about the games I was going to play after its hour was up.
ETA:
You know what? I had more fun playing Dead Island than Dead Rising 2. Take that, Capcom!
4793529
Definitely not L4D. Can you remember any other details? This is going to bug me now.
4793541
Glad I'm not the only one. I know it got good reviews, which surprised me. What were your problems?
4793541
4793529
Dead Space. That sounds like Dead Space.
The mechanics sucked, but I’m willing to forgive bad voice acting if I’m not taking the game seriously. Try playing EDF 4.1, the voice acting and plot are awful, but the point of the game is killing a bunch of giant insects. The game is so bad it’s actually kind of good.
4793529 I think you're thinking of Dead Space.
Should have just played the first one. That was really the only good one anyway. Besides these type of games arent really meant to be overanalyzed when it comes to the damage enemies can take.
4793548
Like I said, I'm willing to overlook a lot if I'm having fun, so the bad performances didn't bother me too much (for the hour or so I had to deal with them; if I'd played longer, my opinion may have changed). The errands were a huge problem for me; we have a game where you have the potential to turn just about anything into a weapon, and you don't really get to explore that mechanic because everything is on a timer, and it all has to be done right now. There was a lot to do even in just that first hour, but almost none of it was anything that I actually wanted to do.
I felt like I was on a perpetual fetch quest, but after turning in my 150 rabbit's left forepaws (and only the left ones), I had to pay gold to actually complete the quest, and the reward was a crayon drawing of a bird pooping on my head, signed by the least senior unpaid intern that was in that day. I'm actually really glad that I only paid about half-price for it, because I might've actually been really angry if I had instead of just kind of... smoldering.
4793567
Yeah, pretty much. Why have the killing zombies be a big part of your game if you won't make it part of the game?! Get rid of the timers. Problem solved. Spend as much time as you want killing zombies, exploring, getting new weapons combos, etc.
Yeah, Dead Rising is a game that really should be fun but just... isn't. All of the right elements are there, but they're just not implemented in a way that's fun to play. I remember getting the first game for Christmas some time ago, and felt about the same way you do about it. The boss fights were bad enough, but as far as I could tell, the first game wouldn't let you actually save your progress! I stopped playing for the day, saved the game, and quit, so imagine my surprise when I fire it up the next day only to find myself back in the opening cutscene again. Even more strange, the game saves the level your character was at when you quit, but you have to go through the whole game from the beginning. Suffice to say, I didn't bother with the rest of the series after that.
4793529
Dead Space
4793570
Dead Rising 1 on Wii did a lot better than the 360 I think. Less zombies sure, but it fixed a few problems like Otis interrupting, and removed the time limit. Have 2 on steam, but haven't gotten past the prologue yet. For some reason, the steam version hates controllers.
I stopped playing the Dead Rising franchise after the third one. Don't get me wrong, the weapon combos/vehicle combos are fun and all, but it could've been better. If I want to play a fun zombie game, I will either stick with L4D2, Dying Light, or Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare.
... though given how much of a fan I am of the Far Cry Series (especially the ones that deviate from the modern setting like the hilarious Blood Dragon or the prehistoric Primal), I am hoping that I can add Far Cry 5's Season Pass DLC "Dead Living Zombies" up there with those other games of zombie stuff I love to play and replay; especially if it plays up the B-movie scenarios like they hint at.
oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2018/02/Far-Cry-5-Season-pass.jpg
Eh..I can see why people don't like the game. But it's still one of my favorites. I love the idea of the original dead rising and the killing zombies with what you can scrounge up but after a while it lost the magic. The last few games weren't about a surrival game with zombies but an arcade beat um up. The timer, the cliche story's, overhard boss battles were all part of the charm of the franchise. Bosses might have unrealistic heath but there are meant to be hard. You shouldn't be able to kill a pyshcopath without being prepared. There is also literally weapons literd everywhere and a golf club shouldn't last long (unlike most of the weapons from breath of the wild) combo weapons do feel like they should last longer and there is ways to make them last really long. I know there is weapons than can kill thousands of zombies and still not break if you collect magazines around the mall or casino. I don't remember if it was DR1 or D2. D3 isn't the worst game ever but it streamlines a lot of things and the franchise hasn't been good since. You might like D3 but a lot of fans don't. The only thing I enjoyed from D3 was the story. I know there are a couple videos that explain why I feel DR1 and DR2 work the way they do better then I can
Also the canon ending isn't the one with the jump scare any more. It's actually the first good ending which leads to the side came Case West which I prefer more then DR2 mainly because it ties into the first game a lot more.
4793604
You're thinking of the Small Chainsaw from the original Dead Rising. Unlike the regular chainsaw, you could store it in your inventory and it was quite powerful (able to defeat psychopaths in a few hits); you could even give it as a weapon to survivors you're escorting, but giving how stupid the AI was in that game it is better to keep it for yourself. While it wasn't the only weapon to be strengthened by three different types of magazines (which increase a weapon's durability so long as it matches the type of weapon the magazine lists), it is by far the most memorable of them.
4793539
True
4793603
Wait, so, if you get the season pass, you get three side/spinoff games, and FC3 (ostensibly remastered) in addition to FC5? Am I understanding this correctly?
4793616
Eeyup! Given the more open ended nature of how to tackle main missions in FC5 (which works now based more on a Resistance Meter that goes up as you perform different actions in the game) as opposed to the more liner way main missions were doled out in the previous titles, it seems it would've been difficult to add in DLC for the main game's Montana setting (not impossible, mind you, just difficult). So instead of bothering to add anything to the core campaign, the developers decided to have a bit of fun, giving us a Vietnam War setting, zombie setting, and a scifi Mars setting to tide us over until they can come out with whatever it is their next side Far Cry game will be; fingers crossed for Blood Dragon 2! I actually like this as now I don't gotta wait for the next game to come out for a wacky and/or odd setting for a Far Cry game (seriously, Blood Dragon was a BAD ASS parody-and-homage to 80s action/scifi, and Primal was an underappreciated gem that decided to do something different with the core gameplay).
And yes, you will also get a remastered FC3 ... sorta. According to what I read, it is just the main game with the graphics boosted to what would've been 'high end' on a PC a few years back. So with that said, the console versions for Xbox One and PS4 will see a graphical improvement, while Steam users will just get a free copy of the original FC3.
I haven't bothered with any of the Dead Risings since the first one, I got for my Xbox. My disappointment there was... A little unusual, I think. All I knew when I bought it was it was a zombie game where you had to survive for three days in a shopping centre. I figured, excellent, 78 hours of gameplay trying to kill zombies and survive. No story, no plot, just killing zombies for three real-time days.
Nope, there's a story, which I wasn't expecting, and it wasn't real time. I found the bird's eye view awkward, as well. Rather than a simple 'kill zombies and live', I had to figure out what was going on, take photographs AND not die. And I didn't really have three days to do it in.
2 was super disappointing. But 3...3 was GLORIOUS.
Huh, and here I thought that my low opinion of Dead Rising was just me. The game just didn't match up to the promise it offered, and was surprisingly not very fun or interesting for a Capcom offering.
4793541
I really like Dead Island, for the most part. The only aspects that annoyed me were the persistent glitches related to throwing weapons--mod up a good throwing knife, use it, and... oh dear, it glitched out and disappeared, sucks to be you--and the constant "poke forward, poke forward, retreat, poke forward, poke forward, rush desperately to next objective point, repeat" nature of the game. But the enemies were interesting, the atmosphere was appropriately tense and twitch-inducing (fuck you, you screaming psycho rusher zombies, fuck you all!), and tweaking up a sweet new skull-popper or limb-shredder was always fun. Also, deoderant grenades rule all.
Well I like most of the dead risings, (haven't played 3 tho), I love the first, dead rising 2 off the records and I kinda liked 4.
4793729
Already loving 3.
4793626
I refuse to support the pre-order/season pass addiction.
...
Well... one more won’t hurt, right? Just one more, and then I’m done....
4793826
I didn’t have to worry about that: I got the Gold Edition of Far Cry 5 preordered and completely paid off with the $110 worth of GameStop gift cards I got for Xmas.
4794126
Is it worth it to get all of that?
4794247
Eeyup; for me at least.
See, I am a HUGE Far Cry fan, so I had every intention of preordering the game (just didn’t have the cash at the time due to the holidays).
So when I got a windfall of gift cards and because I really don’t have any other games I’m wanting in the near future, I went ahead and “upgraded” to the gold edition (even though at the time none of the season pass stuff was mentioned). I figured if the season pass stuff didn’t pan out, I’d downgrade to a regular edition and use the store credit for something else. Just turns out the season pass stuff sounds awesome!
4794473
Far Cry 3 and 4, especially 4, are my favorite games. The villain of Far Cry 5 has a lot to live up to with a series with Pagan Min and Vaas. He's automatically going to be better than Hoyt, though.
And yeah, I loved Blood Dragon, too. So awesome. As Cinema Wins would put it: Michael Biehn is always a win.
4794499
I also recommend Primal. So many people give it a hard pass because “were muh gunz?!” , but it is still extremely fun. The melee combat mechanics are top notch (so fun, in fact, it’s returning in FC5), the Beast Master mechanics of taming animals with different stats and abilities is excellent (again, so good they expanded upon it with the Guns/Fangs for Hire system in FC5), and the optional Survival mode dramatically increases the games difficulty and replayabililty.
4794554
The no gun issue isn't huge for me, as I do the vast majority of my fighting in FC with bows already.
4794822
Then yeah, you will probably enjoy Far Cry Primal. Give it a shot sometime. But in the meantime, enjoy Dead Rising 3!