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Unfortunately, as I was all set to write you a glowing review after playing the demo, it’s with a heavy heart that I give this game a ‘rent only’ suggestion. Here’s what I didn’t like:

Save Points
Are there really any current games still only offering saves at hard to find areas? I thought we had moved past that to the simple pause/save that most 21st century games are using. It’s this fact alone that had me most peeved. I fought the first ‘boss battle’ 4 times because of save issues.

The saves in this game are located in restrooms and in weird locations (like the gym in one of the mall areas and the couch in the room you start the game in), and because you have to cross the Paradise Park to get to a save, it’s unreasonable to not allow frequent saving. FYI, Paradise Park is patrolled by a trigger-happy set of people and a thousand zombies, so rarely do you get through this area easily.

Premature Game Ending
Sometimes, after playing a game for 7 hours straight, I want to call it a day (or at least get a snack and take a bathroom break). When you choose ’save and quit’ you save over your last save. Of course, on most games that is what you want to do. In this game you keep all your points and your level but you begin at the start of the game (ie all the boss battles you have fought up to this point and all the hostages you have rescued will have to be done again). So, after 7 hours, I was a level 10 zombie killer going through the opening of the game.

When I realized I had played most of the day for absolutely nothing, this game almost became litter. If it weren’t a $60 game, I can assure you this game would have been toast.

Still though, I am wondering, “How do you quit this game (even without a save) at the ending point, and still retain your previous save?” I am afraid to stop the game again so I’ve just got it paused and turned down in my gameroom. If I don’t beat it tomorrow I’ll shut it off, but I am really afraid to stop the darn thing and risk having to fight through these zombies again.

Font Size
The text in the game is necessary. However, unless you have an HD screen or an screen that’s larger than my 27″, you are not going to be able to read it. Of course, this means you will have no idea where you are going most of the time. Since Otis’ calls lead you to your next objective, you really need to be able to read them (he doesn’t talk out loud). However, since they are truly illegible, I just took to answering the phone and waiting for the writing to stop.

And, the opposite is true everytime something unimportant happens (ie when the time changes, a minor character dies or you walk out of a door), in large letters, covering the gameplay, you are updated for about 5 seconds. This interruption blocks your view and means you have to jump in place everytime it happens so a nearby zombie doesn’t chomp on you while you can’t see what’s happening.

What is so depressing about this is that the game is really, really good, but these few issues just make it a bad game (almost movie-game-like). I mean, yeah it’s fun to hit people with motorcycles, run them over with lawnmowers and spank them with guitars, but if the actual gameplay is so hampered by the truly important gameplay issues, is it even fun to play the game? In my case, I’d have to answer no.

Now, if the multiplayer is as good as it promises to be, I’ll keep the game and just scrap the story line. However, if it’s not at least as fun as Call of Duty 2 on multiplayer, I’m returning it to GameFly. It’s a shame too, the story and game seem to have such potential…

Dead Rising is a CapCom game available on the XBox 360. More Dead Rising screenshots are available here.

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