BRAINS! Dead Rising Xbox 360 Review

What is perhaps the most anticipated Xbox 360 game to date has finally hit store shelves. Dead Rising from Capcom (Who brought you Resident Evil) is a zombie survival game in which you take control of Frank West, a freelance photographer trapped with others in a mall full of the the undead flesh that is zombies. It is your job to uncover the mystery of the attack, and to make it out alive. But it wont be that easy.

Gameplay:

The controls are simple in this game, which is just right for it's style. You have your basic attack and jump, as well as your aim for shooting. Each of these will be used to throw down with the undead, and interact with the games many bosses. AN interesting concept is in the ability to take pictures. When taking a picture, you gain PP points. The more gruesome, funny, or erotic the picture, the more PP points you get. Accumulating PP points by taking pictures, bashing heads in, and completing tasks will allow you to level up your character RPG style, giving you access to more moves that can be unleashed on your foes. This is really nice because some later bosses can get very hard, and so can the zombies if you are not careful.

Two major parts of getting through the game are doing Cases and Scoops. The former of these are the main story of the game. You have 72 hours to complete all of the cases, but each one has its own time limit in between. If you are not in the right place at the right time, the "Truth Will Vanish into the Darkness" and the secret will never get out. The "get it done now" style of gameplay is somewhat disappointing. Some of us, like me, wished to be able to explore the mall freely, and while there are two unlockable modes, none of them let you do this without consequence. But other than the tedium of the time limit, the cases are creative and fun, and they will make you interact with many different characters in the game, and move along a good, albeit hard to believe, story.