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Dead Rising 2 Case Zero Double Review

Josh Margolis

With Dead Rising 2 just around the corner Capcom has released a taste of what is to come in the form of the 360 exclusive Dead Rising 2 Case 0. It not only shows us how the final game will play, but also gives us an early preview into the characters we will be seeing as well. However the question remains. Is this a glorified demo, or is this an interesting form of DLC? 


The story of case 0 takes place three years before the beginning of Dead Rising 2's story, and over a period of 12 hours. From the beginning we meet Chuck and Katey Greene who are on the run escaping the zombie infection. However we learn early that Katey is infected, and that she is using a treatment to keep from becoming a zombie. He seems to have a bit of the stuff, but while searching a gas station his truck is stolen, and all the shots for Katey's treatment with it. It is from here that you get your first and only missions. Those being to get Katey some of the medicine (Zombrex) for her next needed dose at 8 pm, and to get the hell out of the town they are in.



The game its self represents the final gameplay of Dead Rising 2, and if it is I think it'll be really good. Case 0 does not have any timed missions other than the main mission (giving Katey the Zombrex).  This might change in the full game, but we'll worry about that then. One thing I like that is gone is the radio calls. There is however a man on top of a building yelling down to you, but you can only hear him when you're near by. The big change now is building your own weapons. How you do this is you take two weapons that have the blue icon, and you bring them to a work station. If they meet to the set list it will combine them. It can be a bit frustrating in Case 0, but I'm sure Dead Rising 2 will have more available. Also there are (from what I have counted so far) seven people to rescue in Case 0, and thankfully the AI seems to be smarter than in the first game. 

While I really am excited for Dead Rising 2 I am really not a fan of Dead Rising 2 Case 0. It's a lot of fun, but in the end there is little more to do. It is pretty much just a demo. It is honestly not worth the $5, unless you are a big Dead Rising fan. Just know if you buy it you're paying $5 for 12 achievements (or 200g).

Score: 5.0

 Jay Malone

The idea of “Pre-DLC” such as Dead Rising: Case 0 is one I’ve been skeptical on since its announcement. I thought it was a developer’s excuse for paying for their demo. On top of that, I wasn’t a fan of the original Dead Rising whatsoever. So going into this “demo,” my skepticism remained.

I definitely did not expect this piece of content to be so story heavy as it was. I’m a sucker for a cute, lovable small child in a game (as creepy as that sounds) and as long as the character has decent enough voice acting, I’m happy. All of this represents the main character’s daughter, Katey. She’s infected by the zombie disease and needs Zombrex, and apparently doesn’t particularly enjoy needles. The main character, Chuck, isn’t very interesting whatsoever, though. Katey provides a sense of urgency to actually retrieving the Zombrex while Chuck is just the guy wielding the drill bucket.

The selling point in Dead Rising 2: Case 0 (and the main game) is the weapon combining system. Where you take two weapons, sometimes the combinations are obvious, sometimes they’re not, and combine them to make some sort of fierce weapon that will murder zombies like no George Romero movie’s business. The weapon combining variety throughout Case 0 is limited but once you do find a solid combination, it gives you a certain “jump for brutal joy” that you can’t get in any other game. I spent hours just searching around Still Creek for weapons to combine. I’m sure that once the full game does open up, I’m going to spend many more hours looking for items to combine. If only I could combine a machine gun and a rake…

 

The main fault within Dead Rising is the messed up save system. Capcom refused to change the already poor save system from the first game so the madness that occurred when you died in that one still remains. There’s no autosaves or checkpoints, and the amount of times you run into a bathroom you can save in is very limited. This ends with me frustratingly dying and having to re-do the last hour over again.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero does exactly what it needs to, provides around 4 hours of fun and teases the full game of Dead Rising 2 to the point where I’m just dying for more Dead Rising. For the pricepoint, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is well worth the download. 

Score: 8.0 

Rating
6.5

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