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Here's the premise. Frank West, freelance photojournalist and all-round beefcake, hears rumours of a mid-western American town that's been cordoned off by the military and heads out to investigate. Hires a chopper, flies in.
As the helicopter makes its way into the town, it passes over crowds of people wandering around aimlessly. One group is converging on a petrol station. Frank gets closer, petrol station goes up in flames. Everybody... dead?
Helicopter moves on. Comes to a mall. Lots of scattered people hanging around in the deserted car park. Helipad on the roof - put me down there, says our man.
Inside the mall... ZOMBIES.
When pics of Dead Rising first surfaced, it looked like a fantastic central theme being wasted on a second-rate game. Endless hordes of the undead = great. Endless hordes of the undead in a shopping centre = greatest. But the problems were obvious - only about five zombie models used over and over again, a main character whose sole attack was a neck-drop throw (think Virtua Fighter's Sarah Bryant and forward/forward/punch), visuals that were clearly last-gen. This was obviously a game that had been proposed for release on the original Xbox, before Capcom took delivery of their 360 devkits, and hadn't received the time or attention that it deserved to make it the AAA product it could easily become.
So we had disappointment, made a little more bearable by the knowledge that almost everything Capcom have turned their hands to in recent years has been pure gold. The hint that this may end up being turned around was in a throwaway comment that went with the first batch of pics: one of the weapons available to Frank would be an old rotary lawnmower.
Dude. Braindedtastic.
We're about a week and a half away from the US release date, just over a month away from the UK release and - if the rumours are to be believed - no more than two days away from a downloadable, playable demo. And I'm more excited by the prospect of this game than I have been about any other for ages. It quite honestly looks like being the game that you buy a 360 for.
First up, the whole zombies + mall idea. You know you're onto a winner there, and if you don't then I'm afraid I can't explain it to you. Other than to say that you have no soul.
Next, the combat. It now looks like every single item in the various shops can be interacted with in some way, even if it's just to chuck it straight at one of the shuffling living dead. The rotary lawnmower is IN and can be seen in one of the vids that's doing the rounds - and, as hoped, it pulls a Braindead, chewing into the midriff of whatever poor sack of meat happens to be standing in yr way and sending them spinning around and around and around, limbs flailing, before they finally fly off into the distance.
Other moments of genius. Traffic cones can be plonked on zombie heads for comedy effect. Zombies in bikinis can be photographed for EROTIC BONUS POINTS. I'm convinced that, in one of the promo vids, I've seen Frank take a gigantic set of garden shears to a zombie, slicing it in half. The arm was hanging down at its side at the time, meaning that the hand has also been severed. Frank runs to the hand, picks it up, and throws it straight into another zombie's face. It's this sort of stuff that tempts me to use as many emoticons as I can fit into a single post. I'll have to settle for a simple XD.
Here's what we have so far:
A freelance photojournalist who gets trapped in a mall full of zombies, yet still finds time to play dress-up.
Frying pan brutality.
Suicidal apocalypse freaks?
Undead upskirt points.
ZOMBIES.
Not shown: other human survivors being ripped apart and eaten, just like the leader of the biker gang in DotD. Extra bonus points for frying an egg or running a certain distance in a fitness club. Punching a zombie in the belly and ripping its insides out. Stunning visuals on the main characters.
Lots of videos here.
I can't be the only person here itching to get his hands on this, eh? Stoatie, supaglue: Capcom made this game just for us. |
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