➤ Fortune City: the city that never dies 🎮

Version tested: Xbox 360

Did everyone discuss the outsourcing of the development of Dead Rising 2, a continuation of a game in many respects aimed at the West but characterized by strong Japanese roots. Capcom's first original game for Xbox 360, at the time the first next-gen platform and therefore doubly insidious territory for the publisher, who was working on a new technology and for an even more "alien" audience, the first Dead Rising has remained in the minds of many players, generally impressing itself in some way with anyone who has tried it.

It is a game that looks west on many aspects, starting from the setting to get to the obvious quotes of the classic film production of the horror genre, zombie sub-genre, and yet also of a title with a purely Japanese heart, resulting in a mixture of suggestions , inspirations and intentions that contributed to building its own identity, clearly distinguishable from the rest of the videogame production. As mentioned in other locations, Dead Rising is a true cult, a rough gem with its unrefined gameplay yet consistent with its premises, over the top but not incapable of capturing the player in the meshes of its plot, in the intertwining of the insane characters and in the empathy that indissolubly binds to the always ironic Frank West, the protagonist not by chance recently pushed by Capcom to appear on several occasions as one of the most famous characters in the rich book of protagonists of his historical productions. The premises of Dead Rising 2 could easily make the fans of the first chapter turn up their noses, therefore, starting from the choice of a "gaijin" development team like the Canadians Blue Castle and, in large part, also for the choice of the new protagonist, the son of a declared intent of opening to the West by Capcom. And so from the awkward and modest Frank West we moved on to the blond and undoubtedly Yankee Chuck Greene, from an overly curious photographer we now find ourselves interpreting a tough-looking biker with a mission to accomplish, an undoubtedly more orthodox hero. In truth, as we will see, even without West's Japanese-style enthusiasm, even the new protagonist will be able to be appreciated by the public, just as the adventure that will unfold in front of his feet will probably be able to convince all those who loved the first chapter. , and not only.

A man with a mission

The story is now known: after the disturbing events of Willamette the strange zombifying infection has spread to other areas of North America, affecting various cities including the lively and bubbling Fortune City, a sort of Las Vegas now stormed by the horde. of living dead. With the irreverent and satirical spirit towards society that unites this game to certain cinematographic productions of the genre, we witness the opposing and drastic reactions of the people towards the apocalypse, between ruthless initiatives such as the show "Terror is Reality", or rather a reality show where zombies are slaughtered by the hundreds by competitors aboard armored motorcycles, and attempts to rehabilitate the living dead through protest groups to defend their rights. Both elements, however, will be touched closely in the story of Chuck Greene, which is somewhat more structured than the one that characterized the first chapter, at least as regards the main character. Through the crafty but appreciable system of the downloadable episode Case Zero was explained before the launch of Dead Rising 2 how Chuck Greene found himself on the streets of the city in question and why he is adamant about money and Zombrex, the drug that delays the zombie transformation his daughter continually needs. As in the first chapter of the series, even more markedly, the impact with the living dead is direct and drastic. There is not so much the tension of waiting for the manifestation of the horror, here the threat is always looming and overwhelming in numerical terms, the terror derives from the mass, it is a feeling born of quantity rather than quality, so to speak. Within a few minutes we witness the prologue and we are immediately in the middle of the action, with citizens not yet infected to save, others infected to help and crazy survivors who, as per Romerian tradition, probably represent the most disturbing aspect of evil. present in Fortune City. The narration of the events proceeds rather tightly between one mission and another, with the story divided into main "cases" to be pursued but, as a feature of the series, a completely free approach to the objectives to be completed based on the player's priorities and basically to his conscience. On the other hand, besides the zombies, time is the main threat to be dealt with, having Chuck 72 hours to save his daughter, solve some problems for himself and his cronies in misfortune and leave the city sooner. of the arrival of the military. Once again, therefore, the zombies do not present themselves as the most formidable enemy.

So many cases for Chuck Greene

As if the horde of ravenous zombies and a sick daughter to save were not enough, Chuck will have to deal with a wide range of problems that will rain down on him already in the first hours of the game, forcing him to a lot of extra work to be able to get off at least one part of the trouble. Those who played the first Dead Rising will know well the feeling of overwhelming helplessness in the face of too many human cases to follow, here increased exponentially, with the exploration of Fortune City free as in a sandbox, except for the main guidelines that carry on. the narrative structure, it is up to the player to decide how many secondary cases to follow to rescue as many civilians as possible or simply discover some more background on the events that took place in the city. The problems, as mentioned, are mainly two: the lack of time linked to the need to complete the missions within a given limit and obviously the immense amount of zombies who, albeit without a personal fury towards Chuck, will do everything to get in the way. between the protagonist and his goal, often leading us to strike blows in a desperate way in an attempt to make our way through the stream of undead. Occasionally, as a stylistic code of the series, the action turns towards the clash with the bosses, who are generally men who escaped the contagion but definitely tried from the psychological point of view, or the aforementioned madmen far more dangerous than the "simple" living dead. It is not only the good heart of the players that pushes towards the grind of rescuing other wretches who have been besieged by zombies, but rather the greed in collecting extra points. The "prestige points" are used to increase Chuck's experience as in a real RPG, complete with leveling up and expansion of skills, in this case represented by special "cards" capable of providing instructions on how to carry out attacks special or create new and surprising weapons by merging multiple objects, essential elements to be able to continue in the game, consequently making it highly advisable to rescue as many missing as possible.

The combat system is extremely basic, rendering Dead Rising 2 closer to scrolling fighting games in this respect than survival horror. It is simply a matter of hitting left and right, with different combos that can be performed and two different types of attack for each weapon, usually one fast and one "loaded". Therefore, the choice of the weapon itself becomes fundamental, as its offensive capacity significantly transforms the effects of attacks, with the obvious consequence that combined weapons are much more effective than normal ones. It should also be noted that the objects deteriorate over time, making it necessary to replace them quite frequently within the inventory. There are not many traditional weapons in the arsenal available to Chuck, even the second chapter remains faithful to the line drawn by the progenitor and allows us to use as a potential weapon practically any object that is stolen from the numerous shops, offices and casinos of Fortune City , with often decidedly hilarious effects, especially when used in conjunction with the extravagant items of clothing also available on the shelves of shopping centers.

Xbox 360 achievements

Also from the point of view of the unlockable objectives Dead Rising 2 has remained faithful to the original, presenting all achievements of equal value, from 20 points. This means that in total there are 50 objectives to be achieved, and being many of these disconnected from the main plot and obtainable through particular performances, the undertaking of the complete collection of 1000 Gamerpoints is rather difficult.

A little tired, but better

Proof of facts, in the midst of the zombie horde, Dead Rising 2 faithfully repeats the formula created by his predecessor without contributing anything significant, but his work is above all one of refinement and evolution at different levels. Those who feared a distortion of the original spirit can rest assured, this second chapter is yes more concessive towards the player, but the anguish of not being able to rescue all the survivors or to solve the case within the time limit has remained unchanged, not to mention the deliberately archaic rescue system that forces long and dangerous crossings to reach the coveted public bathroom. If anything, the problem may be excessive fidelity to the original model, which in any case does not stand out that much for a complex and deep game action, especially if carried out for the 7-8 hours (without considering the failed attempts) necessary to conclude the story. To vary a bit, Capcom has decided to enrich the playful offer by inserting a multiplayer mode that can entertain for a few hours but that struggles a bit to take off, simply offering the possibility of playing cooperatively with a partner (in which case simply witnesses the appearance of another player without any justification from a narrative point of view) or some mini-games for up to 4 players at the same time.

Options not really fundamental but undoubtedly appreciable to increase the longevity and variety of the action. The other point of view according to which Dead Rising 2 adopts the best meaning of the "more of the same" formula is the graphic system that forms the background of the game, based on the new version of the proprietary MT Framework engine which also in this case manages to stand out very well. One of the most striking slogans during the game's promotional campaign was the presence of "7000 zombies simultaneously on screen". Obviously it is difficult to verify the actual amount of bodies dangling in the streets, but they are certainly very many and the effect is impressive, especially considering the relative stability of the framerate (except in some cases where the crowding is really excessive). Beyond the quantity, also qualitatively there is a substantial evolution compared to the first, still immature chapter, with more advanced polygonal models and more defined textures, whose vision is further enhanced by the choice of a colorful and varied city like Fortune City. While not one of the most impressive titles on the technical side, it certainly holds the record in terms of shock from the amount of enemies simultaneously on the screen. The audio accompaniment continues in the game of opposites, contrasting the terrifying situation with the typical mall or casino-style tunes, only to turn to the most extreme Japanese-rock when the action undergoes the surges, in particular in correspondence with the clashes with the bosses.

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The feared bastardization of the original Dead Rising formula, the one that made it a true cult in this generation of consoles, has not actually occurred. Dead Rising 2 is simply an evolution of the first chapter, which amplifies and improves the original experience in almost every part, starting from the graphics to get to the breadth of the game area and the greater care in the narrative sector. The new evolutionary dynamics of the protagonist are excellent and the introduction of multiplayer is interesting, albeit not fundamental. The defects are basically the same that could be ascribed to the first chapter: a certain simplicity and repetitiveness of the background in the game action and, albeit mitigated, that hardcore spirit that makes it quite difficult to complete all the open "quests", with much of a tough rescue system. The innovative thrust of the progenitor has inevitably subsided, compared to which Dead Rising 2 also lacks a bit of charisma, but all in all it gains in balance and, not least, in fun.