[ThatFatKid]

(Apologies for the delay on this review, tech difficulties.)

Like moths to a flame, zombies head for the mall.

The mall walkers program will never be the same again.

What happens when you take Dawn of the Dead and throw in Mallrats? You get a game thats campy as hell but a hell of alot of fun to play. Is it a perfect start for next-gen zombie-hacking games, no but it at least shows that its pointed in the right direction. YOU play as a photo-journalist by the name of Frank West, who looks awfully like a Johnny Knoxville clone, who has 72 hours to solve the mystery of why everyone in a small town has seemed to turn into a zombie. In typical fashion, military action is in effect and the group of characters you interact with are a hodgpodge of Doctors and shadowy government agents. Cliche', yes, but its done in such a tongue in cheek campy way you laugh at the humor of it more then of the stupidity of it. The game works in sort of real-time as certain case files (read chapters) are given a time limit on their completion. Every case file solved leads to another clue in unraveling the greater mystery this town has to offer. While these case files are active you have the opton to also try to complete things called scoop clues which will lead to survivors to save and also more clues to the story.

Actual gameplay is relatively simple. Find a weapon, pick it up, crack a zombie skull, find anothe weapon, repeat as necessary. While some might find this mundane, its actually quite fun and interesting. I often found myslef not paying attention to time and just find as many differrent weapons to use on zombies as i could (current fav is the shower head). Coupled with the simple gameplay is an interesting rpg aspect of levleing up and learning new abilities as you earn more and more experience or as the game calls them, prestige points. Its an aspect that while adds depth its just not seen through properly due to a very goofy save system (crashing on the security office couch or finding a john to take a leak are the onle save spots) plus it almost follows a Diablo 2 aspect in its save feature where all your experience you earn is saved however if you saved and quit in the nmiddle of a case file, you have to start that case file over again. It's a bit frustrating but i can see that it was done more to boost replay value then just programmers being lazy. The ability to use almost every object as a weapon is genius and adds a ton of humor, however they made Frank an unassuming muscle bound freak in so much that he can swing and chuck a park bench as easily as he can a baseball bat. I can easily ignore this simply because you can kill a zombie by chucking cd's in an almost obvious Shaun of the Dead homage (yes i know they threw records, thats why i said almost).

Bottom line, kids, its not perfect but its fun enough to play whenever you feel like crackin skulls with due prejudice. Its mindless fun but its a hell of alot of mindless fun.

3.5 Chris Redfield S.T.A.R's out of 5

Dig it: plenty of zombies to wack, chainsaw store next to a jewlery store,
high replay value especialy once 72 hour mode is completed.

Shove it: wack save system, camera mini-games tad bit annoying,
survivors dont listen to orders very well

Missing: 100 zombies on screen at once is awesome but they all look like
100 zombies with xbox-level movement, we want next-gen already!

[Senor Burrito Tosser]

that was a great review for Dead Rising !
Thanks for the heads up.

[Metallicorphan is an Ass]

dead rising comes out i believe the 8th of september here(same day as test drive unlimited)and i will be getting it


as for you doing more reviews...yes i would like to see more..but i couldnt vote...either i have already voted(amazing what you do when you need sleep)or the poll expired and i didnt get to it in time

[Aayla Secura]

Gosh! And for my part, I would like to show it to you, but I can't.

[ThatFatKid]

yeah ill be having a two-fer on reviews prob up tomorrow on both madden and saints row. dead rising was pretty cool, alot of replay value in that game. just remember the first time through its nearly impossible to do everything and save everyone. just qwork at it on your own pace and u will get the full experience in

[Metallicorphan is an Ass]

i got this yesterday(GAME were selling it a day early,nut only got to play for 30mins or so as i had to go to work,so i am gonna play it today,but also have to go and get test drive unlimited

as for the game,the opening was great ,flying over the town taking pictures of the zombies

oh and if the survivors dont listen to me when i am playing the game then i will let them die....sod 'em....i may even throw a plank of wood into their face

[Aayla Secura]

What time is it there?

[FantasyBarb130]

Yes more game reviews (couldn't vote)

[Aayla Secura]

Excuse me! You want more?

[Nubs McCracken]

yeah i think the poll had expired by the time you read this

[Metallicorphan is an Ass]

i havent got far on this game,i like it...but i have kinda got stuck with this son of a bitch psychotic clown with chainsaws...only good thing about him is that he is called Adam

not been back on since lego star wars and test drive got to my hands

[Aayla Secura]

What about the other ones?

[Senor Burrito Tosser]

The problem is you have alot of games with too little time before a new
game comes out . That is my problem Oh and I still play BF1 late nights.