Dead Rising 2

The original Dead Rising had hundreds of zombies you could easily plow through with assorted objects and guns. It was like ‘Dawn of The Dead - the game’ - a fact which lead Universal Studios to throw their lawyers at Capcom. Not ones to be deterred by legal action (and spurred by decent sales of the original) Dead Rising is rising again for a sequel on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

This title is set several years after the incident at Willamette where, as it turns out, the zombie outbreak wasn’t contained. Since no one kept an eye on the zombies, they were free to do as the please. Now they have made their way to a Las Vegas-esque town called Fortune City.

In Dead Rising 2 the mall has been replaced by a brightly lit city (thus avoiding further legal action) full of zombies ready to tear you apart and feast on your brains. Developer Blue Castle Games are touting more zombies than the original; it’s set in a city, after all.

Fortunately for the original game’s protagonist, Frank West, he won’t have to face the hordes this time. That job goes to former motocross champion and engineering genius Chuck Norris Greene. His background and the city setting could indicate a new emphasis on vehicle stealing (Grand Theft Dead, anyone?). Of course, zombies won’t care if you relieve them of their ride – they’ll try to kill you either way.

Among the improvements over the original, a new save system will be implemented. In the original’s system if you missed a case-file it would revert to the last save – this was arguably a game breaking flaw. Dead Rising 2’s system will allow players to save anywhere - so you won’t have to repeat the first scene for the 50th time. In addition, multiplayer modes have been added for both deathmatch and co-op play. In co-op mode extra players will take control of rescued survivors, while deathmatch mode will have players take control of zombies and attempt to rip each other apart – sounds like a good party game.

Between the new protagonist, locale, extra zombies, the improved save system and inclusion of multiplayer support Dead Rising 2 is looking interesting.

Check out the E3 09 trailer and keep it locked on NZGamer for more news leading up to the release next year.

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