Review: Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

Developer: Blue Castle Games Publisher: Capcom Mindlessly killing mindless zombies is always fun. Whether it was in CoD: World at War's Zombie mode, Resident Evil's scare-fest or in the original Dead Rising, zombie entrails flying up the walls was always entertaining. So in the build up to the latter's highly anticipated sequel, Dead Rising 2, Capcom have released a prelude to Chuck Greene's grand trip into Las Vegas as a standalone download on XBLA. In Case Zero, you play as Chuck, three years before the events of Dead Rising 2. You and your daughter, Katy, stop in a small town on their way out of Las Vegas, where you will be murdering zombies, finding Zombrex (the drug that stalls the zombification process) and completing tasks before the inevitable countdown that made the first game so unique. The initial concerns from the Las Vegas trailer of Dead Rising 2 were that Chuck didn't look like a good character. Despite the character having never spoken in the trailer, people were quick to call him out as a tough biker dude with no heart or soul. While this may have intrigued some and dissuaded others, I can certainly say thanks to Case Zero that this is not the case. The relationship between Chuck and his daughter is a heart-wrenching one. The lines delivered by both are heart-felt and cause you to care greatly for your character as well as what happens to his cute daughter. The game plays pretty similarly to its former entry into the series: you find silly weapons and batter zombies with them. On the way, you collect survivors, of which, the A.I. has been much improved from the DR1's survivors, who often chose to make sure they ran straight into that pile of zombies lurching for their sweet craniums. Now, the NPCs are quick to shrug off the threat to their minds and chase after you to sanctuary. You'll also complete tasks to build a means of escape, which leads to a thrilling finale, as well as using the new combine mechanic at various workbenches scattered around the small town. Now you can stick together (using duct tape, no less) the wacky weaponry you find to make even wackier weaponry. For example, you can attach chainsaws onto the two ends of a kayak paddle, giving you two ranged chainsaws that slice through zombies with the most satisfying revving noise while the zombie meat is ground. This new system doesn't just make you outlandish weaponry, though, as combining beer with a hard hat (for example) leaves you with a funky beer hat that gives you double the amount of beer to heal yourself with. You can also find food and blend it to make better food to heal yourself with, try on some new clothes, play on the slot machines in the casino, buy a moose head, put it on and run down the street barging zombies out of the way with your antlers, the list goes on. For such a small game, there is a bewildering amount to do. It would take you multiple playthroughs to find all there is to see in Case Zero. Other issues from the predecessor have been addressed too. There is now a three-slot save system, replacing the, you-love-it-or-you-hate-it single-slot from DR. Your character's speed vastly improves throughout the five levels you're given in Case Zero, whereas Frank only really got going when you got him to about level twenty. Although the load times have been improved, they're still way too long and often break up the gameplay or cutscenes a little too much in most cases. There has also been a graphical upgrade but the game suffers from frame rate issues and pop-in from time to time, especially when there is an explosion or two and a lot of zombies in the same spot. Case Zero is without a doubt one of the best games on the Arcade right now. Its sales figures are through the roof and with good reason. For a very small four hundred points, you're getting a retail quality game. The notable improvements over Dead Rising, a great game in it's own right, are reason enough to experience the thrill of shredding the undead with outlandish weaponry. Fans of the original should be extremely excited for the game's full release in a few days, I know I am. If you had any doubts on whether to get Dead Rising 2, I highly suggest you try this and watch the smile broaden across your face and your fingers find the preorder button on your choice of gaming retailer. Pros: Killing zombies is fun. Combining crazy weapons to make crazier weapons. Great, compelling storyline for such a short game. Cons: Very short, story wise. Load times can be tedious, especially in a cluster of cutscenes.