The Dead Rise Again
At first, it’s hard to tell whether Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is a great deal or a rip-off. On the one hand, it’s priced attractively at $5 and offers presentation on par with that of a full retail release. On the other hand, it’s short, and in many ways, it’s just an extended demo for the retail release of Dead Rising 2. Gamers who are used to getting demos for free might scoff at the idea of shelling out money for one, especially in this economy.
But after spending some time with the game, we decided that while Case Zero is far from perfect, it offers an experience that’s worth the money. It’s both the ideal gateway drug for those who have never tried the series, and a great way for longtime fans to whet their appetites for the forthcoming full-length installment. When you think it through, even the length isn’t a problem: on a dollars-per-hour basis, five dollars for three hours of gameplay is the same as sixty dollars for thirty-six hours of gameplay, which hardly anyone would call a bad deal. Not to mention the multiple endings and many available achievements that give Case Zero some decent replay value.
The basic setup will be instantly familiar to Dead Rising fans. From a third-person view, using a control scheme that takes a lot of cues from Grand Theft Auto, you guide the new protagonist, Chuck, as he fights his way through thick hordes of zombies, using found objects (ranging from a newspaper to a potted plant to an assault rifle) as weapons. You also have to accomplish various minor tasks, including, most importantly, giving your daughter Zombrex every twelve hours to fight off her zombie infection. The more zombies you can kill, and the more over-the-top your style in doing so, the more you level up and the more fun the game becomes. Leveling up matters, even in this short game: when you buy the full version, you can start with the statistics you built in Case Zero.
In addition, Dead Rising 2 offers the ability to combine items on a workbench. For example, an electric drill and a bucket become (fittingly enough) a “Drill Bucket;” the drill pokes into the bucket such that when you slam the bucket onto an enemy’s head like a hat, the drill activates and blood starts flying. Yes, it’s incredibly gory and ridiculous (how does the drill know when to turn itself on?), but it’s hard not to have fun when you rarely have to kill zombies the same way twice. Further, we hear the various combinations available in Case Zero are just a taste of what’s to come in the retail release.
The presentation here is great for a downloadable title, but only good when one considers this is what the full game will look and sound like. The graphics are decent for the most part, but the non-zombie characters definitely have that disturbing “Uncanny Valley” effect going on. The blood effects don’t look realistic, even taking into account how exaggerated they are, but it’s easy enough to chalk that up to the developers’ creative license. The sound is great, from the music to the sickening sound of a broadsword cutting a zombie in half vertically.
Storywise, the developers did a great job of striking a balance between making Case Zero feel like a standalone product on the one hand, and making players want more on the other. One hardly even notices the plot is little more than a greatest-hits compilation of zombie-movie clichés.
The tale begins two years after the original game, and three years before the events of Dead Rising 2. Just outside of Las Vegas, Chuck stumbles upon a safe house for his daughter, Katey, who’s infected. Your first goal is to find some Zombrex; your second is to find five parts for a motorcycle that will help you escape when the military shows up. When all is said and done, you feel like you’ve closed a chapter in the story, but also that there’s more to come.
However, there’s one major problem with the story setup: the time limit it imposes. The bike parts are scattered throughout a fairly large town, and every George Romero fan knows the story won’t end well if the military shows up to find your zombie-infested daughter. There’s no way you’ll locate all the parts in time just by exploring the town on your first try. You can buy hints from a pawn-shop owner, but then you probably won’t have enough money for the wheel (which is purchased instead of simply found). So, unless you cheat (either by looking up the parts’ locations online, or by finding the parts without saving, and then loading your game and running immediately to them), you’ll almost certainly miss your deadline, get a bad ending, and have to start over again, possibly multiple times. If the developers were trying to wring a few more hours’ worth of play time out of this brief title, we sympathize with that goal, but forcing players to re-tread ground is just irritating. In addition, the tight deadline discourages you from exploring the area and taking on side missions (which comprise of rescuing non-infected humans who happen to stumble into the town, mostly).
There are some smaller issues as well. One is the basic controls still feel clunky, as your character takes too long to execute moves, and the camera doesn’t always go where you want it to. It feels a lot like Grand Theft Auto with an emphasis on melee combat, but if there’s one thing Grand Theft Auto doesn’t do well, it’s melee combat. In addition, when a weapon runs out, it’s immediately replaced by the next item in your inventory, meaning if you’re still hammering the attack/use button when a health item replaces your zombie-bludgeoning instrument, you’ll use the health item whether you need it or not.
These are minor quibbles, though, and in the end, we recommend giving Case Zero a shot. It’s a great introduction to a fun franchise, and at five dollars, it’ll hardly break the bank if you end up not liking it.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.8 Graphics
Most of the visuals are fine, but during cutscenes, the character models give off that creepy “Uncanny Valley” effect. 2.9 Control
They’re still clunky; it’s like a Grand Theft Auto game that focuses almost exclusively on melee combat. 4.6 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music and gross-out sound effects fit the game perfectly. 4.2 Play Value
At five dollars for three hours, this isn’t a bad deal, and there’s a lot of replay value for achievement hunters and those who want to see all the endings. The fact that you’ll probably miss your deadline and have to start over is annoying, though. 3.9 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
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