Dead Rising On The XBox 360: The Best Zombievideogame Ever

One of the main things the XBox 360 has going for it against competitors is quality games, and Dead Rising is a perfect example. This is a fantastic video game, and I really hope they end up making a sequel.

Here are some quick facts/opinions about the game from my view:

Coolest Psycho: Adam the Clown
Lamest Psycho: Kent the Photographer
Best survivor: Aaron - Arm this survivor with a shotgun and he takes out zombies left and right. None of that whining!
Favorite gun: I like the shotgun
Best weapon: One handed chainsaw, especially if you have the 3 books to make them virtually unbreakable
Hardest psycho: The Butcher
Hardest Gamer Achievement: The Saint, by far, followed closely by 7 day survivor in Infinity mode.

This game has three modes of play: 72 hour mode, which is the main story line, overtime mode (if you do enough to unlock the "true" ending), and infinity mode.

The replay value of this game is huge, and this may be the best buy I've made so far, and I love all of the games I own.

When I first saw the previews for the video game Dead Rising, I was really intrigued. Could it be that us zombie fans, that we finally had a video game that didn't involve "genetic mutation," "government experimentation," and the really irritating trend of "zombie evolution?"

Watching a commercial of a common looking guy using baseball bats, trash cans, a parasol, and even a bowling ball to fight off zombies made me smile. Maybe this was it. Maybe we finally had a zombie video game that would feel like a zombie world, and not just a cheap throw in for a shoot 'em up action game.

Well first off, let's say there is one major deficiency with this game: it was designed for high definition TV, so the text from characters talking can be hard to read if you have a small television, or even on a decent sized TV without high def.

That being said, for me it was still readable and while annoying, it wasn't nearly enough to detract from the rest of this game. On the other side: it was such a good game it's really a shame they didn't bother with larger text and voice acting.

You are Frank West, freelance photojournalist who comes into town after an unknown source reported that something big was going down. You find several survivors in the beginning, a hysterical old woman who cares more about her dog than anyone else's life, and all hell breaks loose when the flesh eating hordes break into the mall.

One of the extremely neat parts of this game is the fact that you are a photo journalist, and so you are trying to take pictures for your story as you fight the zombies. There is a main quest here, but you get plenty of points where you have time to wander around. You will get calls from Otis, who will tell you about survivors and psychopaths located throughout the mall.

As a warning, this is not G rated. This game is rated mature for a reason, and it has everything that zombie fanatics will love: tons of blood and gore, ultra violent death scenes, shock and splatter, and even a touch of "erotica." There's no nudity, but some scantily clad women, and add in a strange psycho cult, a sociopathic clown, and a Vietnam vet with a machete in full blown flashback mode, and you're in for the ride of your life.

Best of all, you're not expected to get every challenge one time through-the game saves your attributes, so if you get one ending (there are about 7 possible endings, aside from you getting eaten) you can start over with all your level ups and it's much less frustrating the second time around.

Oh, yeah, there's also snipers, escaped convicts, attempted mutinies among any survivors you do find, and a nasty surprise at 7:00 your first night. Xbox 360 also has tons of "survivor achievements" on this game to add to the challenge, and as far as story lines go, this one is incredible and will chill you to the bone.

One of the perceived cons is the lack of save points, but I like this because it was intentional. The creators wanted "Dead Rising" to mimic "real life." So in real life if there's a zombie infestation over a huge mall, you're not always going to have time to save everyone, you're always fighting the clock. This was supposed to add a sense of desperation, which would mimic most survivors. I can see why the lack of save points bugged people, but I thought it worked really well.

As far as zombie video games go, for those players who are fans of true zombie movies, (and they will tell you Land of the Dead was an abomination), this is definitely the greatest zombie video game ever made, and its ability to be re-played over and over again only adds to that experience. For any fan of zombies, or shock and splatter video games, this is a must buy!