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I've been playing a lot of Dead Rising 2 in the past week, thanks to h00ray4dolphins buying the game for me so he'd have someone to co-op with.
My dark zombie lover secret: I didn't like the first Dead Rising much. I loved the premise, being trapped in a mall for 72 hours and having to use any and every item you could get your hands on to dismember the horde slavering for your delicious living flesh.
But the problem with this is that after, oh, a few hours' playtime in, the novelty of hurling stuffed animals and cds at zombies wears off, and then you realize you have DAYS ahead of you of running around the same boring mall saving stupid, stupid people and fighting crazies that are so overpowered that you have to RESTART THE GAME to mow down more zombies so you're able gain enough levels to overpower them and FUCK IT'S SO DAMN BORING
also, Frank West is a sleazy jackass with a weird nose, and "He's covered wars!" is the worst gaming meme ever. EVER.
whew, that felt good to get off my chest! ^o^
so how does Dead Rising 2 compare?
...SO MUCH BETTER. I AM IN ~LOVE~
In DR2 they added what has to be the best idea for a zombie game: combo weapons. In the first DR, you just grabbed items and smacked zombies with them; most of the available items weren't that entertaining to use more than once and even fewer were actually useful so you ended up using the same rotation of weapons (which, depressingly enough, were actual weapons) throughout the whole game. DR2 has an enormous selection of items that you can combine to make wholly ridiculous, over-the-top murderin' machines that you can use to slaughter the undead in a variety of ways. The sheer number of possible combo weapons alone would be a huge improvement to DR's item/weapon selection, but the fiendishly clever results of most of the combinations adds an element of glee to the slaughter that was clearly intended but wholly missing from the first game.
The simple fact that you can tape a machine gun to a cheery robot bear to create the most delightful of automated turrets should tell you all you need to know about the combo weapon system. Namely, it is fucking fabulous.
Aside from that most wondrous of additions, DR2's environment and atmosphere is a lot more colorful and interesting than that of the first game. I know, 'zombies in malls' is the classic setup but tbh i think it works better in movies than in games because hanging around in a Midwestern mega-mall for any length of time is so fucking boring, even if it's swarming with undead monstrosities. DR2's gigantic Las Vegas knock-off has all the dubious pleasure of DR1's mall setting but with approximately 100000% more casinos and deep-fried cheesy Americana attitude. The greater size gives you a lot of area to explore while the incredibly over-the-top, fakey tourist trap atmosphere leads to a larger variety of mini-environments and matches the crappy B-movie flavor the game aims for.
speaking of cheesy B-movie, this scene is by far my favorite in the game. it starts out on a Deliverance-like creepy note and ends with one of the most forced one-liners i've seen in a Capcom game. That's quite an achievement from the company that gave us Resident Evil and Street Fighter.
HOOOOOOOOOOOMG. LOOK AT HOW FORCED THAT DEATH SET UP IS, JUST TO GET THAT TRULY HORRENDOUS PUN/INTERNET MEME. AND OH GOD CHUCK'S VOICE ACTOR MIGHT HAVE THE WORST LINE DELIVERY SINCE IDEK, STEVEN FUCKING SEAGAL. IT'S NEARLY PERFECT IN ITS AWFULNESS.
My only gripes with the game are:
-Too many fucking missions
-No free roam mode
So, even though this game is FAR larger and better suited for a sandbox-y zombie apocalypse game than the first, there is no game mode where you can really revel in the carnage and plain old goofing off offered to you. You CAN ignore all of the optional missions and even one of the major storyline missions, but you still have finish most of the stuff to keep playing all 72+ video game hours and that millstone seriously hurts the overall experience. i hope a free roam mode becomes available at some point, either through unlocking or as DLC, but i'm not holding my breath for it. :(
finally i normally don't like this kind of music but i think the ending theme is pretty rockin'.
My dark zombie lover secret: I didn't like the first Dead Rising much. I loved the premise, being trapped in a mall for 72 hours and having to use any and every item you could get your hands on to dismember the horde slavering for your delicious living flesh.
But the problem with this is that after, oh, a few hours' playtime in, the novelty of hurling stuffed animals and cds at zombies wears off, and then you realize you have DAYS ahead of you of running around the same boring mall saving stupid, stupid people and fighting crazies that are so overpowered that you have to RESTART THE GAME to mow down more zombies so you're able gain enough levels to overpower them and FUCK IT'S SO DAMN BORING
also, Frank West is a sleazy jackass with a weird nose, and "He's covered wars!" is the worst gaming meme ever. EVER.
whew, that felt good to get off my chest! ^o^
so how does Dead Rising 2 compare?
...SO MUCH BETTER. I AM IN ~LOVE~
In DR2 they added what has to be the best idea for a zombie game: combo weapons. In the first DR, you just grabbed items and smacked zombies with them; most of the available items weren't that entertaining to use more than once and even fewer were actually useful so you ended up using the same rotation of weapons (which, depressingly enough, were actual weapons) throughout the whole game. DR2 has an enormous selection of items that you can combine to make wholly ridiculous, over-the-top murderin' machines that you can use to slaughter the undead in a variety of ways. The sheer number of possible combo weapons alone would be a huge improvement to DR's item/weapon selection, but the fiendishly clever results of most of the combinations adds an element of glee to the slaughter that was clearly intended but wholly missing from the first game.
The simple fact that you can tape a machine gun to a cheery robot bear to create the most delightful of automated turrets should tell you all you need to know about the combo weapon system. Namely, it is fucking fabulous.
Aside from that most wondrous of additions, DR2's environment and atmosphere is a lot more colorful and interesting than that of the first game. I know, 'zombies in malls' is the classic setup but tbh i think it works better in movies than in games because hanging around in a Midwestern mega-mall for any length of time is so fucking boring, even if it's swarming with undead monstrosities. DR2's gigantic Las Vegas knock-off has all the dubious pleasure of DR1's mall setting but with approximately 100000% more casinos and deep-fried cheesy Americana attitude. The greater size gives you a lot of area to explore while the incredibly over-the-top, fakey tourist trap atmosphere leads to a larger variety of mini-environments and matches the crappy B-movie flavor the game aims for.
speaking of cheesy B-movie, this scene is by far my favorite in the game. it starts out on a Deliverance-like creepy note and ends with one of the most forced one-liners i've seen in a Capcom game. That's quite an achievement from the company that gave us Resident Evil and Street Fighter.
HOOOOOOOOOOOMG. LOOK AT HOW FORCED THAT DEATH SET UP IS, JUST TO GET THAT TRULY HORRENDOUS PUN/INTERNET MEME. AND OH GOD CHUCK'S VOICE ACTOR MIGHT HAVE THE WORST LINE DELIVERY SINCE IDEK, STEVEN FUCKING SEAGAL. IT'S NEARLY PERFECT IN ITS AWFULNESS.
My only gripes with the game are:
-Too many fucking missions
-No free roam mode
So, even though this game is FAR larger and better suited for a sandbox-y zombie apocalypse game than the first, there is no game mode where you can really revel in the carnage and plain old goofing off offered to you. You CAN ignore all of the optional missions and even one of the major storyline missions, but you still have finish most of the stuff to keep playing all 72+ video game hours and that millstone seriously hurts the overall experience. i hope a free roam mode becomes available at some point, either through unlocking or as DLC, but i'm not holding my breath for it. :(
finally i normally don't like this kind of music but i think the ending theme is pretty rockin'.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-30 04:08 pm (UTC)From:I never played DR1, but I wasn't really all that impressed with their shitty demo. The idea sounded really awesome, though. :( I totally want DR2 because of that amazing scene you linked to and TEDDY BEAR TURRETS?! Hell yes!!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-31 10:21 pm (UTC)From:ffff, i really don't get the critical praise DR1 gets. i can understand why people like it cuz hey, zombies in a mall!!!, but it is really repetitive and sloppy when you play it after a few hours.
DR2 still has issues, but i like that they decided to go way, way over the top with the atmosphere and story and combo weapons.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-30 09:04 pm (UTC)From:OH MY GOD
THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN
no subject
Date: 2010-10-31 10:22 pm (UTC)From:you know what ELSE happened? THIS.
ROCK HARD BB, ROCK HARD.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 09:03 am (UTC)From:ASKDLGJASKLDBALKJ
AKLASDJKLJASLKNGALKSDJKLASJED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MIND = BLOWN
SERIOUSLY
I CANNOT EVEN
BELIEVE THAT WAS REAL
FROM A REAL THING
no subject
Date: 2010-11-10 06:34 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-11-10 12:04 pm (UTC)From: