Video Game Review: Dead Rising 2: Off The Record
Dead Rising 2: Off The Record
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Arcade/Survival Horror
Rating: M (US), BBFC 18 (UK), PEGI 18+ (EU), MA15+ (AUS)
Players: Single player, multiplayer, co-op
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom, Blue Castle
Console(s): Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/PC
Description: Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, sees photojournalist and original hero of Dead Rising’s Willamette incident, Frank West take center stage as players experience a reimagining of the Fortune City outbreak. Forget what you know about Dead Rising 2,”Frank West is back in the game!”
I like my zombies like I like my camp –- shuffling about on my TV on a Saturday evening, wearing the skimpiest and most sequined of garments, grunting as they’re thrown about the dance floor. Or food court. Such is why I always lament jump-kicking the showgirl zombies faces in, but if it saves them from chowing down on my virtual crotch, I’m okay with that.
Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is an “alternate universe,” canon-be-damned, take on the events of the game of the same name released last year, minus the post semicolon flavour. You’d both be right in your assumptions that Capcom put out this rehash to milk more money from your wallet-udders, and also to sate fan cravings by putting the series’ original protagonist, Frank West, back in the mall in place of the Marmite-like Chuck Greene.
Most of the trappings, locations and survivors and psychopaths are the same, with a few minor adjustments made throughout to accommodate Frank’s appearance as so it’s not just like all the developers did was swap character models. Where the biggest differences come into play that makes Of The Record worthy of your hard earned is the revised and refined gameplay elements, improved survivor AI, as well as buffed loading times, more zombies on screen -– though this does lead to more noticeable lag albeit occasional – and a new area to explore. And that’s not even to mention the inclusion of a Sandbox Mode that allows you to take in the sights, sounds and smells of Fortune City without the frustration of constant clock watching. Just be careful not to slip on the sick.
While Sandbox Mode does take away the entire immediacies of the game played normally, it offers challenges dotted around the complex that earn you money and PP that can be taken back to the main story, and most notably where you can even begin attempt the absurd one million zombie kills achievement. Considering that this is very much a fan-service outing, a true Sandbox Mode has been something that’s been asked for years by fans, and the fact that they actually made it –- for whatever motives –- does go some way to showing that the devs do listen. Whether that’s to butter us up some more so we’d buy the costume packs, or just to give us a fix like the virtual-crack dealers they are, personally I’m happy either way.
This is so going on MySpace.
Also, I do not care what you say; the original game’s Infinity Mode does not count as a Sandbox Mode. Constantly scavenging for food with your health bar decreasing every minute and a half does not make for a true, freeing experience.
The trade-off in clock watching is more than up for in the main game with an increased difficulty. Looters are more of a threat, now living up to their name and mugging you for your cash and weapons should they get close enough to spray you in the face; not to mention now lobbing Molotov cocktails across the way into you and your party. Zombies now also seem to be hungrier and more twitchy, not actually running towards you but they certainly have more of a pace and vigour about them. Though, admittedly, that might be just my observation and the fact that my Frank’s not wearing the cleats that Chuck had.
Perhaps the greatest addition not only to Of The Record but to the entire series thus far, is what I like to call the “creeper-zombies”. You’ll find random zombie bodies scattered on the floor, most of the time on their own, and nine times out of ten they’re just there and do nothing. My foolish thinking was that they were a new kind of art asset, but that one time you think you’re safe and BAMN — the gits pounce up and try to give you a hickey. And don’t get me started on the ones that hide behind doors, like the one that spawned for me inside of a locked bank vault. Needless to say their randomness provide an uneasy, much needed and unpredictable scare that means you’re never truly safe. It’s only after having it happen to you (once or countless times, it really doesn’t matter) that you begin to wonder why it’s taken this long for something like this to make it into the game.
The new wing of the casino, the wonderfully titled ‘Uranus Zone’, opens up a whole new way to kill the legions of the undead in spectacular Zombieland fashion, and also offers new Combo Cards to make some outrageously good custom weapons. It does feel somewhat removed and slightly tacked on, but at the very least it serves a good entertainment purpose and also a shortcut between wings. It’s hard to reason why this zone couldn’t have been DLC for the sequel – seeing boarded up shops in the malls and unused areas always stuck me as ideal candidates for downloading new stores rather than having constant vanity costumes with some admittedly neat attributes on offer.
For existing fans with Dead Rising 2, there’s honestly enough to warrant picking this up, especially with it being a budget-price release, let alone just for an excuse to head back to one of the most satisfying arcade titles in recent years. Prospective fans, absolutely take Of The Record over the original iteration of the game because, as much as it pains me to say it –- yes, I quite liked Chuck –- this version is the true, if “spiritual,” sequel to the game that started it all.
The only harsh criticism that I can really give is that not all of the characters you meet have beards, women included. If this is a parallel universe, and you can have a dildo-gun, then it’s not asking a lot to have evil beards to signify this other dimension. Just saying.
Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is available now on Xbox 360
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