Review - Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

Capcom's Dead Rising 2 is a fun but flawed experience, marred by poor boss fights, loose controls, long load times, and some repetitive gameplay. These are legitimate issues that hurt an otherwise good time. There were also fan complaints that Dead Rising 2 was a worse game because it didn't star the previous game's hero, photojournalist Frank West. A year after its release, Capcom decided to listen to fans and touch up the game in several ways, but instead of releasing a free patch or cheap DLC, they went with a full retail release sold at $40, in which gameplay is modified and Frank West replaces Dead Rising 2's Chuck Greene, showing what would have happened in Fortune City if he were there instead of Chuck. Capcom gets a lot of flak for the retail updates to their fighting games, but those generally change enough of the game and introduce enough new elements to feel legitimate. Off the Record does not; it's a glorified add-on sold for way more than it ever should have cost.

Review - Dead Rising 2

Dead Rising 2 is the second game in Capcom's open world, zombie fighting action series. The first game, inspired by George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, sets the player down in a mall overrun by zombies with a time limit in which to uncover the truth, rescue survivors, and live to tell about it. Dead Rising 2 follows a very similar path, this time putting players in Fortune City, a miniature version of Las Vegas that made it big after Vegas itself was destroyed. The result is a game that takes the concepts of the original and refines them, telling a more serious story while not abandoning the sillier parts of the first game.