GAMING
Critical Gamer reviews the latest games
games reviews
* Format: 360 (version reviewed),PS3,PC * Unleashed: Out Now * Publisher: Capcom * Developer: Capcom
* Site:
http://www.capcom-europe.com
The Dead Rising games are a bizarre mix of complete freedom and strict time limits; a mix that, somehow, just about works. Lots of time is given to the story, but all a casino/shopping complex crammed full of literally thousands upon thousands of zombies. You can ignore them all and just run from objective to objective if you wish, You can pick up almost anything from the environment to defend yourself, meaning a new weapon (just as well, as everything degrades with use and will eventually break). There are traditional zombie mash- ers such as chainsaws, axes, shotguns capitalist paradise of a Las Vegas-style gambling town! There are therefore literally far too many potential weapons to list here; stools, foam hands, benches, toys, fire ex- tinguishers, coat hangers, handbags... You can also play dress-up in any clothes store, and some of the more unsavoury stores carry outfits you might not want
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loved ones catching you choosing. Ahem. Best to stick with the tuxedos and hip hop outfits. This, combined with the predeter- mined item combinations (a drill bucket constitutes the freedom aspect. The some- times frustrating time limits relate to the meat of the game; the story mode. An in-game clock is constantly ticking. Events that constitute the start of the next story mission happen at strictly determined the whole of the rest of the story is blocked off from you. The main problem with this much time you have left until the next story event kicks in.
The reason this is an issue is mainly be- cause of Survivors and Psychopaths. Sur- vivors are uninfected people dotted around the complex who you can, if you wish, convince to join you and rescue by leading them to the safehouse. Rescuing survivors to level up (bestowing extra damage, more health, more inventory space, etc). En- suring they stay close enough to you will slow you down, and some require you to complete mini-missions which will slow you still further. Psychopaths are basically uninfected people who act as bosses, try- ing to kill you while taking loads of damage. Defeating them means more PP. Each sur- vivor and psychopath has their own timer and designated place however, meaning you sometimes need to plan ahead with see the story through. OTR has a Sandbox mode, missing from
the original DR2, that omits the story, time limits, and survivor rescuing entirely. Not only can you play this (and the unlock- able challenges therein) with a friend or acter between the two modes. This means you can use Sandbox to level up your character and gather cash without worry- ing about time limits. Oddly however, the has been dropped completely. On the plus side, swapping Chuck for Frank (from DR1) means not only new cutscenes, but the return of photography; a neat way to gather smaller bites of PP. Capcom have also taken the opportunity to throw in a few new psychopaths, vehicles and weapon combinations, and tweak things such as loading times. There are also checkpoints; a welcome addition for anybody who lost progress after dying because they were too worried about time restrictions to seek out and a change to the final leg of the story... budget priced remix is well worth buying. determined to experience everything the new chapter here. Just a shame the old outweighs the new.
written by Critical Gamer’s Luke Kemp
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