Be Excellent To Each Other

Looking back through my list-o-game, basking in the post-orgasmic afterglow of Deus Ex: HR completion, I noted that the first game I got for 360, the game I intended to play until GTA4 came out and CHANGED THE UNIVERSE had not been played since literally the day I got my 360. This game is Dead Rising. I reinstalled it and started last night.

Now, from what I gather, you haven't got time to do everything, so on the first playthrough, you just learn the map, have fun, complete maybe a case or two... and then regardless of whether you make THA CHOPPA or not, the game endeth, and you restart with all your xp and so on, the stronger to tackle other elements of the game, until all cases are solved and so on.

Am I correct? It seems awfully strange. Also, is it 100%able on the cheevos without too much arseachery beyond the faff of the controls?

It's fucking awful.

But at first you'll think it's good.

Is this the one in the mall with a camera? And a really bad storyline? And strange controls? And a lot of other weird stuff as well?

Wasn't one of the cheevos to play the infinity mode (unlockable after you complete it) for 24 hours straight without being able to save it?

I think another requires 7 hours of ploughing through zombies to get a million kills or sumfink.

So no, not the easiest cheevos in the world to 100%! Sorry.

Some people evidently "got it" and quite enjoyed it. But I did find it rather like old-school Resident Evil in the control department. Too much jumping up and down whilst shooting into the corner of the ceiling whilst a incapacitated zombie poodle inched towards you. A shame really as I really wanted to like it.

Yes. Meaty has that one. You have to carefully gather almost all the health items in the game and ration them out at precise times to counteract a steady drop in Frank's health gauge.

I think Meaty got about seven hours into it on his first attempt before being away from the console at a critical moment and missing the narrow window in which he had to drink some orange juice. He had to start over.

Yes well I'm less masochistic than our maple-scented friend, so will just cock about on it for a while. I'll assume the save-restart-play other bits mechanic is correct, then.

It is, yes. Basically it's like the NewGame+ mode in lots of Japanese games like Resident Evil; you always carry your levelled-up Frank forward into new games. Thus the game unlocks more opportunities to arse about as you over time.

Meaty once explained to me with a straight face that the reason I didn't like Dead Rising was because the first thing I sohuld have done was go down to some maintenance tunnel, get in a car, and spend three hours straight going back and forth (literally back and forth in a straight line, mind) running over zombies. This apparently would have unlocked some special gun that would make the first part of the game more bearable. I declined to do this and binned the game off instead.

But, as Craig said, plenty of other people love it.

I'm one of the people mentioned above that loved it and it was the first next gen game (okay okay current gen!) that really clicked for me.

To answer some of your questions (and the comments above).



You can actually do a lot but its nearly impossible on your first playthrough as your character is that weak - playing the game the whole way through is only a few hours and you will need to play it through multiple times to get the most out of it.



Not even that - first few playthoughts go out , save the first 2 people standing outside , and go kill zombies trigger stuff to happen and then die - just save and restart the game (dont 'save' then go back to your save game - you get killed - then start a new game which will keep your XP and unlocked skills)



There are mainline quests (about a dozen) and then loads of side quests - its very unlikely you'll be able to do 'all' the quests in a single playthrough until you've maxed out a lot of the game already.



There are 5 problem achievements :

Saint - rescue 50 survivors - there are around 55 people you can save in the whole game but there is a 'choice' at one point where you cant save both people - its do-able but you need a maxed character and pinpoint timing to get it

Transmittion - you need to answer all the calls from Otis , this is doable as they happen at specific times , but you need to do different things to trigger them and if your in the wrong area when a call comes in then you'll miss it (and there is no display to say this so you wont know until you've finished the whole game).

Genocide - kill the total population of the town (you still get zombies around afterwards so dont think its easy after that) , this is do-able but just boring - and the bit Doccy G mentioned above - you can just drive around the underground areas running over zombies in the car (and swapping out cars when they get damaged) and you'll get the kills and piles of XP + if you then finish the game (for any ending) you unlock the most powerful gun - it will take a few hours of playing to do this but you only need to do it once

There are then 2 'timed' mode games which are stupid - one is survive for X days in a special mode in game where there is no save points so you need to do it in a single playthrough (I think it said somewhere about its 6 hours in real time) , the other is survive for double the amount of time (so 12 hours real time) - you can pause the game but cant save and the whole point is saving up the food to eat when your 'almost' dead (as you lose health automatically) - if you do this you get a 'real' lightsaber (I have not done these 2)

By this I mean that the first bit when you're taking photos in the chopper is great, then you get out of the chopper and it all goes to shit. I've tried so hard to like this game - even going back to it a few months ago for another attempt (and even while writing this I'm thinking "Hmm, maybe I should try it again"), but it's awful - just really, really awful.

I love Dead Rising. I've played it through about five times (so far).

After last night's fairly pleasant experience I have been having another go today.

I reload, I'm in a sports store with 1 energy thing left. I am in a mission to get to Craig who is at the far end of the concourse. I run towards him, chainsawing as I go, get to him, then die. Reload. This time I stop off to get some food. I do not die. Reach Craig... loading.... we're on the other side of some doors. We walk towards some shutters... loading... cutscene of shutters opening.... we run towards a shop... loading... cutscene with old man.. . then Craig is gone, I've made some progress on a chapter. I look on my watch - I've got 5 missions to select, but can't seem to figure out how to get details on them. I run around a bit, first zombie I go to swipe at I miss for some reason, he grabs me, eats all my energy, I die. Thought I was supposed to be able to do a quicktime thing to get zombies off me?

I repeat that whole thing. This time I pick the main thread thing after Craig goes away. I look on the map to see where I'm supposed to be going. No idea. There are purple question marks - are these the missions?

I follow the navigation arrow, which is shit. I get to the food court, I die. Back to square 1.

I'm going to play something else for a bit. Wilfully hateful stuff in here.

Does the sequel improve on this side of things? I've got that as well, thanks to Trousers.

Told you.

Here's a thing about save games from Eurogamer:



A few things, then - I haven't got time to replay half an hour's gameplay every time a cack-handed title robs me of my progress or I make my own mistake. I'm unemployed and I have no time for this, so fuck knows how people with jobs get through. Slowly, I guess.

As for the risk required to save my game - I want to stop playing this and watch a DVD, or go out, or something - how can I do that without chucking away the last however long I've been playing for? Why should my in-game actions, particularly in a ticking-clock game, be dictated by real-world constraints? Why should I bother loading it in the first place, knowing I've got something to do at some point in the evening, if I can't say whether I'll be within reaching distance of a toilet?

Th save systems don't appear unforgiving, they are cruel.

I know but I can't afford new games and there's no trade-in value on this anymore. After 3 years I might as well give the bugger a go, mightn't I?

I hate this feeling, when you rinse and complete a game like Deus Ex: HR and then everything else you try to play is just shit by comparison.

Perhaps it's something in the name?

No !

Reloading keeps you with your weak character and the same problem - if instead you go back from the start by the time you get to this point with craig you'll have a more powerful character , more weapon slots , more health bars , more combat abilities.

What your doing here is the classic mistake in this game.



Just head for them - follow the arrow and you will either meet a psycho , or meet some other character than needs to be saved



You can - but at a low level your going to struggle with that.



But with a more powerful character - and after a few more goes you wont die at the same point



For these bits no - not really

Zaphod - but if you start again with a slightly more powerful character each time you die, won't you just end up doing the same couple of early missions again and again? That sounds unfathomably boring!

By restarting does that mean the helicopter bit and all that stuff at the start again, every time?

>sigh<

But what took you 1/2 an hour the last time will take you 10 minutes this time , and its not 'lost' , you'll have gained xp and powerups which you *keep*



In the second game there are 'toilets' (the save points) in every location in the game , it will take you a few minutes to get to one and save the game - yes you cant just click 'save' but its not that much of a problem
(The first game will make you walk further to get to the save points and the single slot means you will be in bad situations - however the answer is dont continue from the save again and again - instead load it up - and then go back to the start with the same character)



If you do the same things each time yes , however its an open world game - just because this time you went along the main story mode quest doenst mean you cant go and open up a different area and explore another area the next time.

If i was starting it now I would probably only do the single first mission (helping Brad in the food court) and then just go wandering and playing with stuff to kill the zombies



You can skip the chopper bit by pressing start - and the 'first' part is simply run to the back wall (get the cutscene) - and go up the stairs then your in the game proper its not that big a deal.

Indeed, I you do the same thing each time, you're doing it wrong. Go out, learn the map : there are plenty of things to find that will make your life infinitely easier. If you just do the story missions you'll miss this.

You shouldn't be repeating stuff you've done each playthrough.

Indeed. I spent most of one playthrough mowing down zombies in the maintenance tunnel in order to get the megabuster. That weapon makes things so much easier.

And you should do that at some point - however I dont think that should be your first task (as Meaty had suggested to DocyG)

I would think your first few goes are going to be wandering around - killing stuff - saving the odd person and getting killed
If you get a good run together at the start you could go up to the helipad and wait to get the chopper out (for the achivement and the XP bonus) and go back around again.

After a few goes like that you'll get closer to doing some of the quest missions , and then you have the choice of trying to get the megabuster (Megaman's arm gun) or doing the missions + overtime , or something else.

Even if it didn't have the worst control system in a game I have ever played, and even if it wasn't riddled with bugs... that still sounds shit.

Surely there must be some other games you've missed, ones that aren't shit.

Are we back to the argument that those who think the control system is shit actually have spacky hands and are unable to stop themselkves drinking orange juice instead of changing to a weapon that isn't about to break?

SPACKY HANDS.

I did it on my 3rd, I think. Once I'd stopped making the beginner mistakes of trying to save everyone, the first complete playthrough I spent trying to complete the cases, and if they timed out, just trying to survive until the helicopter.

That look me up to level 10-12ish and from there it all became a lot easier. I completed nearly all the cases but failed in unlocking overtime. I completed that and finished the game again. I was then harder faster better stronger. Then came my Zombie Genocide runthrough. Got the megabuster and my 4th playthrough was a breeze, getting the tR00 end1ng!!!

I just need to play once more through to mop up a few achievements, then it's onto DR2!

From memory (and I played it a long time ago), don't the controls reverse when aiming?

Yeah, I forced myself to complete Shadows of the Damned even though I wasn't enjoying it a quarter of as much as I'd enjoyed Dead Space 2, Vanquish and Crysis 2. There's a HUGE gap in game quality and now my gaming time is reduced due to real life constraints I don't really have much patience for game mechanics like that. I like risk / reward stuff on arcadey things but not long drawn out adventure games.

Yes, the "take a picture" camera view reverses up/down. This is shit.

I don't remember it doing this.

Perhaps I only does it for wierdoes who use non inverted controls. Or something.

Whichever control scheme you choose at the start should be used throughout though.

I use invert-y controls.

You can change this in the settings. I'm pretty sure it's the first thing I did.

Ah, that might be it. I use the proper control scheme.

Tsk, I'm going to have to load it up now to check.

Well?

Yes, the controls are a bit daft; yes, the text is almost illegible in SD; yes, Frank is weak as fuck at the beginning. I don't care about any of this, because the game is so glorious I can see past these flaws.

I actually like the save system, because it means staying alive is paramount. If you could just quickload from a moment ago, all the tension would be removed.

I did enjoy Dead Rising: Case Zero though. That was quite fun for a while.

That doesn't happen in good games.

How many times have you died in Gears of War before the checkpoint and had to do the whole section again? I don't really see the issue.

There's nothing wrong with them. The options allow you to play with the settings, and there's no inversion. The only possible oddity is having to use the left stick to aim weapons, but that's kinda required if you hold your thumb over the fire button, and having your thumb there removes any possible confusion anyway, unless you're spacky headed.

It doesn't send you back to the start of the fucking game.

Or make me drink fucking orange juice.

Neither does Dead Rising. Unless you're approaching it entirely wrong.

You get the option, . You either start again with your levelling carried over, or you can choose to go back to the last time you saved.

Don't try or expect to 'win' the game. Don't try to game it - just run around splatting zombies in silly ways and have a laugh.

It's a brilliant game that someone's stapled several massive, INFURIATING problems onto, but it can still be great fun if you don't let it get to you, and don't try to beat it. Just have a laugh and see what happens, and eventually you'll have levelled up to the point where you can have a go at the big missions and story stuff without it being totally hateful (it's still annoying, though).

Also, try shooting aiming and shooting at a zombie in aimy mode with no item equipped.

Yeah, the deafault controls are idiotic - the camera controls completely differently from everything else you aim from a first person perspective. I think it even uses a different stick. Best changed right away, but the controls are still clunky as hell.

I found it to be an utterly brilliant challenge trying to 'win' the game. There was nothing like it at the time: the ticking clock, trying to manage as many survivors in the time effective way possible; it asked far too much of you but the insane challenge was gripping as soon as you got used to roughly where the survivors would pop up and at what times. It was you 'had' to play it through several times so you were prepared for that perfect run.

Of course that never came but the best moments I had involved those moments when you're juggling so many survivors "I've got fat guy, black woman and the three school brats but only 5 minutes to get Japanese woman...and maybe, just enough time to get guy in suit...quick everyone into this shop everyones getting frying pans!"

So the original Dead Rising thread has died and we've gone back to the beginning to argue all over again? How apt. Hope you all saved your XP!

Also: