Dead Rising 2

[toblix]

There's been little talk about this, considering how great the first game was. Has anyone tried it? Is it as fun and frustrating as DR1?

[Tanukitsune]

I was about to make a post about Case 0, but since I didn't see any post I assumed nobody here liked the game...

I've only played Case 0, but it's AWESOME! It's still as fun, but a little less frustrating, you have more time to rescue people and more save points and....

It has a MOOSE HEAD! Which is practically the best item in the game since it lets you run and charge at enemies, making you move faster and making your zombie body count rise!

Also... If you use the special attack with a kitchen knife... you hear the shower music cue from Pyscho!

The fact that Chuck was wearing a dress at the moment I did this only made the game better!

Oh, and let's not forget the combination of item, which makes the game much more interesting!

[twmac]

Meant to post to this thread a few days ago.

I went from quite excited to not interested about DR2 to a proportion that I did with Crack Down 2. Except I then played Case 0 and I am now very much looking forward to Dead Rising 2 again (especially now that they announced Case: West).

It looks to me like they managed to keep enough the core concept that made me love Dead Rising, only included one thing I don't like (multiple save slots = rubbish) and fixed my major gripe: You can now move and shoot at the same time!

I sort of miss the photography element but it was heavily exploitable in the first so I understand its exclusion.

Also, 'Case 0' is something that all X360 owners should download now. It is short but there are 6 endings so definitely worth it.

[toblix]

Has anyone seen a list of differences between the PC and Xbox 360 versions?

[Patters]

Has anyone seen a list of differences between the PC and Xbox 360 versions?

I'd suggest the PC version if it is playable, there will probably be mods to make a lot of the fucked up aspects of the game easier to manage.

[Irishjohn]

Is it as fun and frustrating as DR1?

The latter issue is a big obstacle for me. I enjoyed Dead Rising but I never got very far in the main story line. From the reviews coming out it seems DR2 is similar but with a better sandbox environment. Just not sure if I can be bothered to be honest.

[Chris]

I'd suggest the PC version if it is playable, there will probably be mods to make a lot of the fucked up aspects of the game easier to manage.

It's also 33% cheaper.

[mikemariano]

NZGamer.com confirms:

There are no clowns in Dead Rising 2.

As someone who strolls casually down zombie-infested streets, but quakes in fear at the sight of a red nose, this is welcome news to me.

[Brannigan]

I like to think that making Chuck wear the most insane outfit while playing makes it look like he REALLY didn't take the loss of his wife well. Especially if you use women's clothing.

Also I've played this on pc. My pc is supposed to be the min specs for it but it actually runs quite smoothly. I'd say the only thing that can be annoying is being unable to remap keys in the game, though you can edit a config file apparently. The default keys do make sense however, so I didn't need to do anything really.

[thespambot]

I just got it from Gamefly but haven't had a chance to pop it in. I think I might try to finish up Case 0 first so I can transfer my dude with all of his sweet levels.

[CaptainFish]

I never played the original, but I'm enjoying this. I like the time sensitive nature that makes you formulate a schedule of which missions to do when. I really like the psychos a lot too.

Especially Slappy and the Postman

. The cutscenes for the former are just so well shot and disturbing. The latter does a great job of accentuating a physical feature to the point that it's unsettling. Lots of great item/clothing specific sound work, bare feet will slap against the floor, spray paint cans will rattle, gas will slosh in a can.

I was really glad to see that they put out a PC version of this. Capcom's relationship with the platform is weird. A bunch of their tentpole stuff was developed on the PC friendly MT framework engine. A lot of those games had often definitive PC versions (DMC4, RE5, Lost Planet and SFIV although that wasn't MT), but subsequent support has been lacking. RE5 dlc never came out (90% sure) SSFIV will not be coming to PCs, and I'm not sure if there is a planned Lost Planet 2 for PCs. I had to show my support for their major release that did make it to my Platform of Choice.

[miffy495]

So? How does it play on PC? Or are you using a gamepad? If that's the case, does the UI change to 360 inputs and such if you're doing that? Can I buy it on Steam, save the $30, and have almost the same experience I'd have on 360?

[CaptainFish]

I'm using keyboard and it plays fine. It's not really the type of game where you need to hold down lock ons and alternate fires all the time, so it works out. I would use a ps2 gamepad but there doesn't seem to be support for non xinput controllers. I've heard about issues with Xbox360 wireless pads, but I think wired controllers will work fine. I would assume the layouts n tutorials change to the gamepad buttons, but I can't confirm.

[Lu]

I'm playing it on PC. It's quite a good PC port. Plays well, controls make sense, proper mouse support in game and in the menus. Capcom has really stepped up their game with the PC ports. Quite excellent, very playable. I let an American gift me the game, which made the game 50% cheaper than a full priced game! Can't complain about that.

Also, hitting a zombie with a sledgehammer feels like... Hitting a zombie with a sledgehammer. Fucking awesome.

[toblix]

Jesus Christ, the developers made the mistake of not playing their own game before releasing it. If they had, they would've discovered the bug that makes the guy attack the fucking people he's escorting. DEVELOPERS: YOUR GAME IS CURRENTLY SHIT.

[Tanukitsune]

That's your complain? Friendly fire? Or does he actually do heavy and special attacks like the drill bucket on them? The first is understandable, the second isn't...

[toblix]

I don't even know what a drill bucket is. When I was escorting the pharmacy lady, she got crowded by zombie men, and I ran over there with my maintenance spear and started clicking. My guy took out a couple of zombies first, but then stabbed the lady! Why would he stab the lady? Why doesn't the AI code remove friendly people from the collection of potential stabbing targets? It's an honest mistake, but it's not like events had to conspire to reveal this bug. To reproduce, attack zombies when you're with friends.

This leads me to believe they never played their own game. Which is strange because the game seems fine except for this.

[Tanukitsune]

Was this a special attack insta kill move? That would be a bug, but friendly fire has existed in so many game I could never name them all.

If you fire a rocket launcher at your allies and he dies, that your fault, but if you have special kill move and the game lets you use on an ally, it's on the game.

[toblix]

Friendly fire is OK, but when the exact target of your violence is determined by the game, it should never choose a friend over an enemy. That's what I'm saying. If I had fired a shotgun blast or a nuclear bomb I would accept that she was hurt, but my guy was stabbing her in the face with a spear.

[Lu]

Yea. That happens. There was also a friendly AI who once killed me with his shotgun. At least he said "Oops, that normally never happens", so it's cool.

Don't walk in front of an AI with a gun.

[CaptainFish]

I've had two cases where followers caused death and it was because they defected. One time I did too much damage to a girl by accident and she started trying to kill me with a bowie knife, so I had to put her down. The other time, a group I had armed with light machine guns for a boss fight turned on me, after one of their group died. It was just instant death as the other two gunned me down in seconds.

You just have to not use weapons to save your friends. Either use the skill moves you unlock or just run/jump into zombies that are holding your buddies. It does kinda suck but it's definitely purposeful.

The thing that bugs me the most is the interface failure on the follower icon cam. If you have more than one dude it becomes useless because the health bars and cameras just all cover each other as you're running for the exit. Makes it hard to know when a dude is in trouble, or when you can go through a door.

Also, the map seems broken, most of the time when I press TAB it just opens up with it centered on the cork board behind the map, rather than where I am actually standing.

[twmac]

I got to play this for two days while I lay in bed with the Flu.

I will agree the characterisations of some of the Psychos are great, if a little predictable. 'One hit Wonder' was probably my favourite.

The escort missions were made much accessible in this version, toblix if you found it frustrating here then you should not play DR. After that game I was expecting more of the same (anytime anyone was in desperate trouble I automatically switched to fisticuffs) from DR2 but the companion AI is surprisingly adept at looking after itself and I found the escort missions to all be a breeze.

What I didn't like was the last segment, I won't say much more but it is probably the worst in a game I have played in the last 5-10 years. Confusing, stupid and deliberately frustrating.

Otherwise everything else in the game rocked.

[CaptainFish]

I've been playing this a bit co-op with my friend, using my almost maxed out Chuck, and it is super fun. There is definitely some synergy that happens, especially with the fact that I can carry a bunch more stuff, but even having one dude carry a heavy weapon like the IED while the other fights is great.

It makes bosses more fun, with the added ability to revive your buddy with food when he goes down for the count.

A big negative is that the person joining can't keep his items, so when you finish, make sure to give any cool stuff to the person starting the co-op match. Also as per the single player experience, you'll be dealing a lot of friendly fire, so you'll have to get used to spacing out so you don't cut each other.

[toblix]

Just got my ass handed to me by a boss (actually two bosses) so I restarted at level 17. On the one hand it feels sort of frustrating having to do the early stuff over, but the open, free-form feel of the game alleviates that to a high degree. I don't know how many times I'm prepared to do this though – so far all my new skills have been useless; kicking zombies when they're down, etc. It seems to me being able to dodge quickly is key to beating any of the bosses, and I hope to God that is a skill I can get.

Also, Steve Gaynor posted some really good improvement suggestions on twitter, which I'll paraphrase here:

• Being able to restore durability on the workbenches
  
• Being able to store items in the maintenance rooms
  
• Prompting for a confirmation when changing zone and one of the useless civilians you're escorting is just outside the transition zone because she's being attacked by a fern that toppled onto her.
  
• Indicating boss fights on the map
  
• Checkpoints when transitioning
  

These seem to me to be great suggestions for lessening the frustration of the game. I suspect they're going for suspense, and it seems to me that in game design, suspense and frustration go hand in hand. After all, it's not scary if you've nothing to lose, and what's more precious than game progress?

[twmac]

* Being able to restore durability on the workbenches

I disagree, it would mean that you would stick to one or two weapons and never improvise on the fly when your weapons break. At the moment if you want to do that you need to memorise the locations of the wepaons and make it there. This suggestion also means there would be a lot of people who would grind areas outside of workbenches.

* Being able to store items in the maintenance rooms

This is probably the only one I agree with. That said, one of my favourite moments in Co-Op was prepping up for a boss fight and having to visit a couple of the shops first in anticipation

* Prompting for a confirmation when changing zone and one of the useless civilians you're escorting is just outside the transition zone because she's being attacked by a fern that toppled onto her.

This is already in there, a little green icon appears inside their preview screen indicating that they are within range. I like that I need to stop before each zone transition to check the party. It feels like a classic horror film trope, where the one guy in front has to urge the others to safety.

* Indicating boss fights on the map

Even the surprise ones? The ones marked out by the woman on the radio are pretty obvious, for example 'there is a man herding people into La Cucina', I knew that was going to be a boss fight.

* Checkpoints when transitioning

No, definitely not. I completely disagree. This game is all about awareness of your environment, monitoring of your inventory and health and constantly making sure that you are not about to die. It is about tension and stress in a hostile environment.

I feel like Blue Castle has already made so many concessions to things people didn't like about Dead Rising without taking too much away from what made it unique. This is pushing this game too far into the realm of generic Zombie game.

A lot of what he is suggesting is missing the point. It would be like being able to repair guns in Far Cry 2, or have every single patrolling jeep marked on your map, or indeed pausing the game when you brought it up. That isn't what the game is about.