Top-Ten Improvements For Dead Rising 2

By Shane | September 4, 2006

Dead Rising is a great game, it’s already sold over half a million copies and is on its way to selling a lot more in Europe when it’s released. The game wasn’t perfect but it was close. That’s why I’ve compiled this list of 10 things I’d like to see improved if there’s ever a part two, and I sure hope there is. There were a couple of major issues with the game that I despised and I thought people didn’t take a liking to either, so I’ve included them in the list. Don’t get me wrong, I think Dead Rising was one of the best games I’ve played in a while. It was addicting, and that’s a good quality to have in a game. I myself have played though at least 5-times and I am just about a level 50, so I thought it was only time that I let you know what I feel should be altered or improved upon for the sequel if there is one:

#10: Destructable And More Interactive Environments

Problem:
The upcoming next-gen game Stranglehold has gotten me all giddy because of the detail in the destructable environments. You can shoot at anything and it’ll fall apart or interact with objects and they will react accordingly. Dead Rising does have a bit of physics and interactivity, but not much. The only objects you can kick around are the ones you can pick up. To me the game doesn’t feel authentic enough when destructable environments are absent and objects that you think should be animate are inanimate. I’m not saying every game needs this, but it sure does add a lot of value when the shoe fits.
Solution:
Bring it on. Imagine having the ability to blast a shotgun at a hanging sign and having it fall on the Zombie. This opens up a whole new can of Zombie worms. Think Half Life 2 Dead Rising.

#9: Combat Controls

Problem:
I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time learning the combat moves that you earned as the game progressed. There was one that I couldn’t do for the life of me and that was the lariat-spin.
Solution:
There isn’t much to say on this one other than make it easier to pull off all the combat fighting moves.

#8: Bosses

Problem:
The bosses you didn’t defeat the first time around were too easy when your power level was higher, later on in the game and it only took a minute or so to figure out their pattern. Hence their AI was just plain dumb.

Solution:
Smarter AI of course, which depended on your skills level because that’s what this game was all about; building up your skills and coming back for more of the things you missed.

#7: AI

Problem:
Oh dear, the AI for the NPC’s were atrocious. I actually gave up saving the survivors because they were too daft. Even when you equipped them with a weapon they’d still run around like a headless chicken. This goes for the bosses too – not much effort put into their intelligence. Where’s the fun in that?
Solution:
Umm…better AI. Hire a programmer who worked on FEAR or Half Life 2, that’ll do it.

#6: No Multiplayer Support

Problem:
Multiplayer in a game can save it from resting on your IKEA shelf to collect dust. Not that Dead Rising needed multiplayer to save it – it certainly had enough attributes to keep you coming back for more skills, unlockables and achievements. But if this game had Multiplayer I tell you I’d buy 10 copies.
Solution:
Introduce multiplayer into Dead Rising 2. Allow players to utilize all those survivors you save as characters we can play against. You could have a mode where you just play as Zombies and instead of Deathmatch, call it “Dead-Head-To-Head”!

#5: Bigger Environments

Problem:
The cliche mall theme was great and offered a lot of variety for players to explore. However, after playing the game the 2nd-3rd time to rack up the skills I got tired of seeing the same scenery. I actually tried, without success, to jump off the building from the roof into the parking lot just so I could take a look around. No such luck. I’m not saying a GTA sandbox-style Dead Rising is the answer, but an extensive land mass would be appreciated to keep our short attention-spanned brains stimulated.

Solution:
Ok ok, I would love Dead Rising to go full blown sandbox-like. Sure it would probably cut down on the graphics quality but hey, that’s ok. I’ll take fun gameplay over movie-like graphics any day, depending on the game of course. If this is out of the question, then go with a small town that has one of everything. That would work too.

#4: Load Times

Problem:
Load times, in my opinion, take away from the player’s experience and remind you that you’re playing a video game. Dead Rising had a lot of load times and I felt ruined the experience just a little. With next-gen, it is possible to eliminate load times and still have a great looking game with great audio. This issue has to do with a number of things including bigger environments, draw-in vs. texture and polygon quality. There was some noticeable draw distance in Dead Rising, but it’s not as bad as, say, Saints Row. Dead Rising’s graphics we’re better, hence less crappy draw distances needed to compensate for how much polys and textures were needed on the player’s screen at once. If Dead Rising went GTA-like, then the graphics might not necessarily be as good (although it is the next-gen era) but there would be little to no load-times. My point is I just don’t see the need for load-times on next-gen consoles anymore.

Solution:
Eliminate load times, it can be done! We’re starting to see some next-gen games that have no load times other then to load a saved game.

#3: Resident Evil-like FPS shooting system

Problem:
Why Capcom decided to borrow their shooting-style from Resident Evil and implement it into Dead Rising is anybody’s guess. It takes away from the experience when you have to switch views and find the time to swing Frank around until he’s facing the right way to shoot. Most times I would have to rotate the character to shoot a Zombie even though I was facing in their direction in the first place. Very cumbersome.
Solution:
Use a targeting system like one of the many 3rd-person games out there. For example, Saints Row or GTA. You can always rely on a permanent target on the screen so there’s no FPS needed.

#2: Small text

Problem:
The 1pt, aliased micro text that you were supposed to read in order to follow the story was only possible by those who had HDTV’s, or if you sat close enough and didn’t care to ruin you eye sight. I couldn’t read it on my 27″ so I did without it. There was a consumer outlash regarding this, but Capcom basically said “deal with it”.

Solution:
No brainer here, bigger text! That or some audio dialogue would have been nice too. I realize this takes up way more space but the game didn’t seem so big that it couldn’t handle more audio.

#1: Save system

Problem:
I’m sure most of you will agree that this was the biggest most concerning issue in Dead Rising. The only good thing that came out of this issue was that it kept you coming back for more, whether you liked it or not. The bottom line was that if you got to a point in the game where you had to go back because you missed a case-file, you had to revert to the last save. Nobody enjoys this, at least I didn’t.

Solution:
Allow us to save whenever we want or at least structure the game to have unlimited save slots. The saving only in the bathroom idea is fine, but I want it to be less hygienic in there, if you know what I’m saying.

So there you have it. I didn’t include the issue where some people experienced the game crashing or hanging up frequently as it wasn’t a confirmed bug. If you feel there’s something missing from the list, feel free to add as you wish. Maybe the folks at Capcom will see this and take some of them into consideration for the sequel if it happens.