Pong and Beyond

54th game played so far

Genre: Survival Horror/Action
Platform: Xbox 360
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Back in late 2006 I had a choice to make. For Christmas I had the choice of getting either an Xbox 360 or a Wii… hard right?

Having to make a choice about what conosle to get as you cross into the next generation of gaming is not one to be taken lightly. So what I chose to do was to look at the games available at the time and make a choice based on that. Since I, somewhat stupidly, thought that the Xbox 360 would be completely backwards compatible I chose to get that. However, that was only an afterthought since the games that really tipped the balance in favour of getting the 360 were the already blogged Viva Pinata and today’s entry Dead Rising. The fact that it took me another five years before I finally got it is another story.

Our Playthrough

Seeing that this game starts out pretty much as a linear single-player game (before expanding into a more sandbox mode) we thought it would be best for us to both have our own game where the experience would add up to 5  hours. Seeing how I am the more experienced in terms of console gaming I played for longer than Jeroen did.

Our Thoughts

Here’s our next zombie game already, although the title could just as easily refer to skeletons or other such undead evils. I think a quick glance at the game’s cover would allay any worries about the presence of zombies.  Then again they are not necessarily the toughest enemy to defeat. I think a chainsaw juggling psycho-clown comes close to the top of that list.

As you can tell, we’ve started playing our first survival horror and yeah, that is a character in the game. Nightmare fodder, right? Surprisingly my zombie nightmares stopped when we started playing this game. Now I just dream of being murdered in a room decked in red and yellow. What game will get rid of that one? Possibly a discoloured chess game, I’ll start looking for one. I fail to see the link but let’s move on.

So, I guess the big selling point that Capcom used to ship as many copies of this game as possible was that this was a rather unique mix of zombie and sandbox  games. Sandbox up to a point only, due to some time limitations, but this is as close as you’ll get. There’s lots of zombies, and you can go where you want (as long as you kill the right people first for their keys and such).

Well, the limitations get dropped once you complete both the 72 hour and overtime game modes. Then it opens everything up and you are then able to dip in every now and then to take your rage out on a never-ending zombie population. In the end this population is so large that there is an achievement for killing more zombies than actually present in the town where the breakout occurred. Presumably due to the infestation spreading, it’s quite scary to think of.

Luckily they’re zombies, so you’re likely to outrun them. Unless it is night-time… then they become faster, stronger and their eyes glow red. Yeah, they are, signalled by a rather worrying cut scene. Yes… I might have spoken too soon about the lack of nightmares. Luckily we only saw it today, so can’t discuss it at length yet. Apparently this blog now doubles as a dream journal. Tomorrow’s entry may be 16+…

ANYWAY! Survival Horror, scary game!

When I first played this game I was pretty jumpy… even in the segments in the safe house area. However I have to admit that after I decapitated a few zombies with a sickle I was no longer scared of it. It may be one of the more violent games I have ever played though.

The sheer quantity of blood that you shed just to go to the bookstore is more than you see during a rampage in the recent GTAs. It is pretty unique when you think about how much blood is involved. This can be seen in Germany, where this game was refused a rating which made it illegal for stores to sell the game there.

Considering how casually you kill them… the only reason it doesn’t feel uncomfortable is because they’re really not human, they feel like zombies. The graphics may help give that feeling. They are good – quite realistic, with the normal humans looking good and the only weird thing being their mouths when they speak. They don’t sync, pulling you out of the illusion quite quickly. That is the thing that has dated this game immensely. The zombies and the mall surroundings are so well executed that it is a real pity that everything between the nose and the chin looks ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous… the AI of the survivors is absolutely pants.  Firstly you are not able to give them everything that can be used as a weapon due to certain items having unique battle animation. The major gripe is that when you say to them ‘follow me and I will lead you to safety’ they interpret it as ‘crowd surf on that patch of flesh-eating nightmares’. Sometimes you feel that they just do not wish to be saved and should therefore be left to their gooey fate. It is possible they are already zombies; the rotting has just been taking longer.

Final Thoughts

It’s a sad fact that this is a game that really has aged a great deal.

The fundemental sandbox game play still remains great fun and there is no way to properly cover this in the time we set aside for this so I am really looking forward to giving this a good old explore later (especially when it comes to the psycho clown who’s mere existance is somewhat disturbing). If you can get it cheap in a place like CEX it is still a worthwhile gaming investment.