The next Dead Rising game hitting consoles is Dead Rising 2: Off The Record which brings back Frank West. The core game is still about killing zombies, but since Frank is the main character, the photo journalism from the first Dead Rising also returns.
I got to spend about 20 minutes with Dead Rising 2: Off The Record today at E3 2011 and had a blast. If you have played any of the past Dead Rising games you should know what to expect: lots of zombies needing killing. The demo I played takes place in an amusement park with some fun new weapons like a saw launcher and a pinata with fireworks. Both of those were fun but the funniest new weapon I saw was a giant trash barrel with fire extinguishers attached to it. Throw that on a zombie and they get stuck in it and it launches them up in the air like a rocket.
When I wasn’t killing zombies with weapons from carnival games, I tried taking some pictures as well. The photo mechanics are pretty much the same as they were in Dead Rising. I was able to get some “Good” ranked photos without too much effort, but I did not try very hard. I was too busy trying out the new weapon combos. Still, it is nice to have that diversion again.
The Capcom rep I spoke with hinted that while this story is sort of a side/alternative one, there is a chance we’ll see it tie back in with the main Dead Rising story coming down the road. Frankly, I’m not too worried about the story. The fun is finding new ways to kill zombies and there was plenty of that in the portion I played. Making it even better is the fact that this will be a $39.99 title when it releases.
