For anyone who may be on the fence about this game, I wanted to download some of my impressions of the game after spending about 10 or 12 hours with it.
The demo gives you a good feel for the combat and how many weapons are available to you, but it gives you no indication for how frantic the game actually is. Your first time through, you constantly feel like you barely have time to get where you need to go (this is especially true for all cases after Case 1). You're always on the move trying to make it to your next objective. While there were a few opportunities to work on side missions, I managed to take care of some Psychopaths and do a few escort missions, 75% of the time you're booking it to the next part of the story. This gives the game a very breathless, chaotic feel. During your first playthrough, you're probably going to spend more time figuring out ways to avoid most zombie encounters rather than trying to kill them all - a big difference from the demo.
The save system was a big concern for me when I first got the game, but it actually manages to work. It gives the game a "Survival Horror" feel. Your heart will pound when you've just offed a boss, you've got one or two life blocks left, and you've got to figure out how to get past several hundred zombies to make it to a restroom where all the games save points take place. It is a satisfying feeling when you make it by the skin of your teeth and there always seemed to be a save point fairly close to a boss so as long as you've made sure you have plenty of time. In the end the save points were actually really well thought out for the most part, but could become extremely frustrating to other gamers.
The atmosphere in the game is great. The mall environments are very realistic and it's amazing what you'll come across when you look hard enough. Near the end of the game, there are some areas that are unbelievably densely packed with zombies. Trust me, you don't want to get caught in the back end of one of the maintenance tunnels on foot.
The achievement system is great aswell. There are 50 achievements, each of which are worth 20 points. A few are pretty easy to get, but most are in the medium difficulty level to achieve. Getting most of the achievements will require several playthroughs.
The graphics in the game, as most of you with the demo or game know, are great. The environments, of course, are nothing mind blowing but coupled them with thousands of zombies ambling about and very few frame rate issues, you've got a really good looking game. The character detail in the cutscenes is amazing, also. This look of this game is definitely next gen - trying to do this on a PS2 or Xbox1 with far fewer zombies would have made this a completely different experience.
I've really enjoyed my experience with Dead Rising. I loved the demo, but I was initially disappointed with the retail game due to the rigid mission structure and save system. Then, after a while, everything the design team was trying to do with the game clicked. The similarities to Resident Evil 4 are a lot more pronounced than I initially thought from the previews and demo. The atmosphere is different, but it gives you the same kind of thrill.
Finally, after all that verbose discussion, I'll break down into likes/dislikes (I'll try to avoid spoilers):
The demo gives you a good feel for the combat and how many weapons are available to you, but it gives you no indication for how frantic the game actually is. Your first time through, you constantly feel like you barely have time to get where you need to go (this is especially true for all cases after Case 1). You're always on the move trying to make it to your next objective. While there were a few opportunities to work on side missions, I managed to take care of some Psychopaths and do a few escort missions, 75% of the time you're booking it to the next part of the story. This gives the game a very breathless, chaotic feel. During your first playthrough, you're probably going to spend more time figuring out ways to avoid most zombie encounters rather than trying to kill them all - a big difference from the demo.
The save system was a big concern for me when I first got the game, but it actually manages to work. It gives the game a "Survival Horror" feel. Your heart will pound when you've just offed a boss, you've got one or two life blocks left, and you've got to figure out how to get past several hundred zombies to make it to a restroom where all the games save points take place. It is a satisfying feeling when you make it by the skin of your teeth and there always seemed to be a save point fairly close to a boss so as long as you've made sure you have plenty of time. In the end the save points were actually really well thought out for the most part, but could become extremely frustrating to other gamers.
The atmosphere in the game is great. The mall environments are very realistic and it's amazing what you'll come across when you look hard enough. Near the end of the game, there are some areas that are unbelievably densely packed with zombies. Trust me, you don't want to get caught in the back end of one of the maintenance tunnels on foot.
The achievement system is great aswell. There are 50 achievements, each of which are worth 20 points. A few are pretty easy to get, but most are in the medium difficulty level to achieve. Getting most of the achievements will require several playthroughs.
The graphics in the game, as most of you with the demo or game know, are great. The environments, of course, are nothing mind blowing but coupled them with thousands of zombies ambling about and very few frame rate issues, you've got a really good looking game. The character detail in the cutscenes is amazing, also. This look of this game is definitely next gen - trying to do this on a PS2 or Xbox1 with far fewer zombies would have made this a completely different experience.
I've really enjoyed my experience with Dead Rising. I loved the demo, but I was initially disappointed with the retail game due to the rigid mission structure and save system. Then, after a while, everything the design team was trying to do with the game clicked. The similarities to Resident Evil 4 are a lot more pronounced than I initially thought from the previews and demo. The atmosphere is different, but it gives you the same kind of thrill.
Finally, after all that verbose discussion, I'll break down into likes/dislikes (I'll try to avoid spoilers):
Dislikes
- Being closed in by thousands of zombies and getting a call from Otis the janitor (you can't use your weapon while taking a call from him).
- Having to always go through the warehouse and up that zombie filled elevator to get back and forth to the security room - come on Otis, break the welds off that door and give me a key through the Entrance Plaza!
- Save System makes the game more difficult, which I liked, but can turn a lot of people off. The game is nowhere near Devil May Cry 3 or Ninja Gaiden difficult, though.
- On your first playthrough, you don't really have to do much exploring if you stick to the Case files.
- The subtitles and text is too small. I can read it on an HD set, but I can see how it would be nearly impossible read on a SD set given how small it is.
- The cult members...
- Survivors who can't fend for themselves and constantly get swarmed.
- Where's multiplayer?
- One Save Slot
Likes
- Otis can be pretty hilarious.
- That song the Convicts are playing in the courtyard is the most blatant rip-off of the Beastie Boys' "So Whatcha Want" that ever heard. It's such an obvious homage, it's hysterical.
- Being able to dress up as megaman
- Driving a car through the maintenance tunnels
- Dropping a queen bee in the maintenance tunnels
- The story is good, but makes us non-vegans look bad.
- Cletus, the drunk redneck that took over the Huntin' Shack.
- The Lawn Mowers and the Shopping Carts
