Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (2010)
Amuse-bouche. With Zombies.
Dead Rising 2, the multi-platform sequel to the hit game from the early days of Xbox 360 (and slightly less successful Nintendo Wii port), scheduled for release this September, comes with a hors d’oeuvre in the form of a chapter zero, a prologue or, if you like, a prequel.
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is a short Xbox Live Arcade title, which gives you a few hours of playtime if you’re not too pedantic, but serves as a valuable introduction in to the story, explaining who Chuck Green is and why he does what he does. The story (after a few introductory cut-scenes) takes place in a small town called Still Creek, where Chuck and his daughter get stuck without a ride, any money or Zombrex (a drug that prevents his zombie-bitten daughter from turning undead). In the strictly allotted time-frame, before the army flies into town to clean it up, Chuck has to explore the town, gather parts to build a motorbike, so he can continue on his way towards Fortune City.
The game gives a taste of everything Dead Rising titles have to offer, only in bite-sized chunks – you can roam about the town, use weapons and weapon-like objects to annihilate the undead, try out a few different costumes, makes some money playing the slots (or beating the crap out of slot machines with said weapon-like objects), do some trading, save a few survivors for fun and PP’s and take down a psychopath.
Just like in the original game, this chapter has the standard issue with time limitations (it’s a sandbox-type game which absolutely forces you to do certain things at certain times), there’s no auto-save, only a semi-automatic save which comes up after every sub-chapter, but luckily, there are more then enough restrooms where you can save the game. The ability to move through the game area vertically is another thing that worked so well in the original Dead Rising and works well here.
Playing this introductory chapter has additional advantages, since you can import your character into Dead Rising 2 and carry over the character level (up to Level 5, which is the best you can get in the prequel), some money, combo cards and some of the outfits.
Dead Rising: Case Zero is definitely worth the 400 XBLA points and I can sincerely recommend it to all the fans of the series. And if Capcom doesn’t start selling orange T-shirts like the one Chuck is wearing in the game, then they have no business sense whatsoever. 🙂
Finally, a few words about Dead Rising 2. I’ll probably do a full review once I finish the game, but until then, I’ll leave you with a few original screenshots and answers to a couple of less important, but still fun questions about Chuck Greene.
We all still vividly remember how difficult it was to get Frank West in his underwear, and that in order to achieve that, one had to play very carefully and do things which may not have been in the best interest of getting the best ending to the game. Luckily, we won’t be having this problem in the sequel, and I’m grateful to the development team for giving us a practical and easy way of stripping Chuck down into his underwear by simply selecting the option “Underwear” in the clothing locker.
This nifty feature has also made it easier to research the answer to the other burning question which may have bothered the hell out of this blog’s target audience, so I am happy to inform everyone that Frank, indeed, has a hairy chest (although he still doesn’t hold a candle to Frank West’s chest fuzz) and that he is quite easy on the eye whilst wearing underwear. The development team, I salute you!
Lagano predjelo sa zombijima
Dead Rising 2, višeplatformski nastavak uspješnice iz ranih dana Xboxa 360 (i manje uspješnice na Nintendo Wiiju) čiji je izlazak najavljen za kraj rujna ove godine, došao nam je uz predjelo u obliku nultog poglavlja priče, kratkog prednastavka, prologa ili, ako baš hoćete na naškom, prequela.
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero kratak je Xbox Live Arcade naslov koji možete dovršiti za nekoliko sati ukoliko niste suviše pedantni, ali služi kao vrijedan uvod u priču i objašnjava tko je Chuck Greene i zašto radi to što radi. Radnja (nakon nekoliko uvodnih scena) se događa u malome mjestašcu imena Still Creek, gdje je Chuck zaglavio bez prijevoza, novca i Zombrexa za svoju kći (lijek koji sprečava da ugriženi postanu zombiji). U strogo određenom vremenu, do dolaska vojske koja kani ‘očistiti’ lokaciju, Chuck mora obići mjestašce i skupiti dijelove za motocikl kojim će nastaviti put prema Fortune Cityju.
Igra daje sve ono što cijeli Dead Rising naslovi nude, samo u doista malim dozama – imate priliku istražiti gradić, koristiti normalno oružje u borbi sa zombijima, koristiti sva priručna sredstva, možete sami složiti nekoliko kombiniranih oružja, isprobati nekoliko kostima, zaraditi nešto novca kockajući se na automatima (ili prijateljski uvjeravajući iste automate već spomenutim priručnim sredstvima), trgovati na malo, spasiti nekolicinu ljudi i srediti jednog psihopata.
Kao i prvi nastavak, ovo poglavlje ima onaj standardan problem ograničenosti vremena (igra sandbox tipa koja vas bezuvjetno tjera da napravite određene stvari u određenom vremenu), automatskog snimanja igre nema, samo ‘poluautomatsko’ koje vam nudi snimanje nakon što dovršite pojedinačne dijelove igre, ali na svu sreću toaleta za snimanje pozicije ima puno više nego u prvom nastavku, a tri moguća slota za snimanje svakako dobro dođu. Mogućnost vertikalnog kretanja još je jedna dobra strana koju smo naslijedili iz prvog nastavka na Xboxu, na tendama, krovovima i ostalim teže dostupnim mjestima opet ćete naći bolje komade oružja.
Igranje uvoda ima dodatne prednosti, jer lik možete uvesti u Dead Rising 2, što vam u igru prenosi razinu (Chucka možete dovesti maksimalno do pete razine, prenosi se u potpunosti), nešto novca, combo kartice i odjevne predmete.
Za kraj, pozabavit ću se kratko i Dead Risingom 2. Puna recenzija slijedi nakon što dovršim igru, a do tada mogu sa zadovoljstvom objaviti da sam našao odgovor na jedno od manje značajnih, ali jednako zabavnih pitanja o Chucku.
Svi se vjerojatno sjećamo koliko je zeznuto bilo svući Franka Westa u donje rublje i da je ta akcija zahtijevala pozorno praćenje radnje i katkada postupanje koje ugrožava uspješan dovršetak igre. Toga u drugome nastavku, srećom, neće biti i zahvalan sam autorima što su omogućili da Chucka svučemo u gaće jednostavnim odabirom opcije “Underwear” u ormariću s odjećom.
Ta opcija također je olakšala pronalazak odgovora i na drugo pitanje koje je možda mučilo dio ciljne publike ovoga bloga i sa zadovoljstvom mogu objaviti da Frank ima dlakava prsa (iako nešto manje do Franka) te da uopće nije gadan za gledati u gaćama. Pljesak za autore!
ggeek.net Archive - GayGeek’s Stuff for Geeks 