Quote:Information Updated: 2/17/2006

After so many months of seeing screens and video of Dead Rising, it was a pleasure to both see and play it in person...what was once something that looked merely "good" became "frickin' awesome," for lack of a better term.

On the surface, Dead Rising is basically a "survive a mall full of zombies" game. You kill them, you avoid being killed, and things move on from there. In fact, your only goal in the game is to get on the helicopter that's coming to get you in 72 hours.

This is where it gets complicated. Dead Rising quickly becomes a game of options--you have 72 (simulated, not realtime) hours until the helicopter comes to your rescue. Certain tasks take certain amounts of time, and dying takes some time off the clock as well--meaning that every choice you make has a consequence. It's a kind of gimmick familiar to those who watch 24...and brings a bit of tension to the game. Do you save fellow humans? Do you go after the scoop? Or do you save your own butt and forget everything else? Different choices will make different things happen in-game, and that will eventually lead to a different ending. Consequences in play, all the way through.

As a sort of counterbalance to the serious tone of the plot, Dead Rising's gameplay takes a decidedly over the top tone. Gore flies everywhere as you kill zombies left and right. From the traditional goresprayers of chainsaws and axes to unconvential items like coathangers and purses, you can find over 250 items to keep the undead at bay. One of the crowd favorites was the lead pipe--by going into first person mode, you can throw a lead pipe like a javelin into a zombie. When it hits, you hear a sickening splat/thud combo, and then the pipe is left sticking out of the zombie whereever it landed a blow...and blood is spraying out of the open end.

The playable demo included one mission: go to the pharmacy and get medicine. Although the mall wasn't finished, the amount of detail put into creating it was amazing. Everything looks and feels like a real mall--which is an impressive feat, given that the Dead Rising team specially designed every object in the game...over 2,000 in all.

Going from the security room to the pharmacy was a bash, too. Combat was decidedly simplistic (jump, hit, throw, grapple), but being able to get through the zombie-filled mall and courtyard was rewarding. You can't just blaze your way through, killing each one... No, you've got to be smart, make hits count, jump and dodge. Eventually you'll get to your goal (which sadly wasn't possible in this early build as one of the areas wasn't done) and you can try your hand at getting back.

In short, Dead Rising is one of the most inventive and fun games to come along in a long time. It eschews any sort of linearity for an almost fully open experience that only has one solid objective. As well, it ignores the "Resident Evil" mold Capcom has made, and instead makes a name for itself as a sort of mix of 24 and Shaun of the Dead.

Dead Rising will walk the earth in June of 2006.