Going on vacation a few weeks ago resulted in a few unexpected consequences. Failure to properly operate sunscreen led to the bulk of my problems, but another was the byproduct of being a thousand miles away from my 360; I couldn’t review Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, Capcom’s incredibly priced downloadable prequel to Dead Rising 2 (Greg did an excellent job of that). Thankfully $5 wasn’t that much of an investment risk, so I picked it up when I got back.
Sort of an uncommon observation, but I couldn’t believe how (for lack of a less manly word) adorable Blue Castle made Chuck’s daughter, Katey. Her rubbery face was incapable of expressing much emotion, but her clothing, which sported animals, sparkles, and other undeniably cute things, made me feel like she was a real little kid. Her backpack that Chuck eventually pulled from the truck was equally endearing. The absolute last thing I expected from Dead Rising 2 was to give a shit about the characters, but the father/daughter relationship (something honestly not explored in most games I play) was enough of an surprising hook to provide actual motivation to the character. In fact, on my first go around I flat out let someone else die so I could save the Zombrex for my daughter.
As could be inferred from that last line, I wound up playing through it twice over the course of around five hours. My first playthrough was a relative disaster. As was the case for the last Dead Rising game, the first time out was more or less a dry run for the eventual optimal playthrough. I leveled up a few times, figured out where the hell everyone was, and then did my best to find the only key to a locked door.
And I made a bunch of shit. The weapon bench was where I spent the bulk of my time with Dead Rising 2 at E3, and my first playthrough resulted in a similar experience. I love how you’re rewarded with PP for kills that are relatively inefficient, but often highly skilled, hilarious, and the product of experimentation. The drill bucket, which you place on a Zombie’s head before it blows it up, in particular was barely useful as a means of crowd control, but the sheer concept, the fact that someone had that crazy idea and then they actually put it in the game, was beautiful. Limiting special abilities to the cards ensured that you don’t need a license to make anything while simultaneously rewarding experimentation. It’s a little rudimentary, but it’s an awesome way to bring something new to the series and/or replace photography.
Not that it needed much new anyway, given there still isn’t much else like it. In the original Dead Rising I considered the timer to be the product of awkward Japanese game design, an archaic devise shoehorned into the design document because Capcom couldn’t figure how the hell else to make it a challenge. I initially cursed Case Zero for included the same stupid system, but on my second playthrough I really began to appreciate the demand it created for ultimate perfection. I had everything mapped out ahead of time, and, in the end, actually wound up with a bunch of spare time to humiliate zombies. It’s atypical, but it actually works in both the context of the game and as a significant challenge. It’s a cheap way to encourage multiple playthroughs, but since when was that a bad thing?
Survivors also seemed to operate with a better degree of intelligence. I didn’t really even have to babysit anyone. In fact, the only time I started to become overwhelmed was when I stopped to clear a path. I’m sure the challenge will get ramped up a bit in the actual game, but Case Zero provided a great foundation for that stuff.
To be fair there was a bunch of stuff I didn’t really like. I found certain sequences were dependent on random actions. For example, it wouldn’t let me start looking for survivors in the afternoon until I entered the garage after like 12pm. Bob would just sit up on the roof and pick off zombies until it got dark. Through utterly random experimentation I figured that shit out and wound up going back to a save file from 12pm, but that could really screw up events in the main game. I’m also not a fan of multiple buttons to cycle through dialogue which is often important to rescuing people, and trying to pick up one object when there are a bunch on the ground is near impossible. I found myself cycling through shit and then throwing it just so I could pick up my nail bat in a sea of buzz saws. The load times between sequences were terrible. Not having a run button is also a bummer, but, in lieu of speed devices like the moose head, sort of understandable.
It should go without saying, but Case Zero was an amazing piece of content for the price. Though it was intended to only be two hours long, there was enough content in there to push five to seven. Figuring out and then making all the weapon combinations ate a bunch of time, as did trying to level Chuck up to 5 (the cap) so I can import him into the main game. The open world of Still Creek also contained a fairly good amount of secrets and inaccessible areas, most of which contained unique weapon parts. There’s also the sanbox screw around factor, where I did things like try and aim my shotgun at survivor’s heads, tried to use the Queen around an I.E.D. to see how many things I could kill at once, and experimenting with the variety of ways in which a broadsword could slice the living dead. Zombie humiliation is a major part of Dead Rising, assuring that, even though flicking off poker chips may seem pointless, it has a grander purpose in the name of pure idiocy.
I also experienced a moment of sheer panic. On my second playthrough I decided to do everything, which required an additional shot of Zombrex for a survivor, Sharron. That could easily be obtained for $25,000 at the pawn shop, and, using money from the previous playthrough as well as some scratch I looted from beating up slot machines, I bought an extra. Problem is I didn’t pick it up, so I wound up giving my daughter Katey’s Zombrex to Sharron. I realized this around 6:30pm when I took note of the giant zero next to the Zombrex that was a permanent part of the HUD. Luckily my optimal playthrough was saved by a quick slot machine massacre (thankfully, those respawn), but I almost shit myself at the prospect of screwing it up.
Which, oddly enough, was pretty much the theme for the first Dead Rising. Screw up as little as possible and then, when you inevitably do, do something crazy to right your wrong. I can’t wait to see this content pushed into a full game.
