In Dead Rising, as the name suggests, players took the role of Frank West, a photographer fighting to contain an outbreak of a Zombie virus in the backwater burg of Wilamette. Now, two years later, it is clear that Frank was not completely successful, and Zombiefication has been occurring all over the United States. Dead Rising 2 delivers more of the action adventure/survival horror thrills of the first game. Dead Rising 2 has as its main protagonist Chuck Greene, a star Motocross Rider, and as a result the photography aspects of the first game are gone, but the rest of the gameplay remains similar - a mission-based zombie slaying fest.
The game is set in Fortune City - a fictional pleasure capital, reminiscent of Las Vegas. Dead Rising kept players' pulses racing by forcing them to adapt anything they could lay their hands on as weapons to defeat the zombie horde. Dead Rising takes the same route, but ups the ante with exciting new environments, more zombies to be killed and more blood than ever seen before. This being a gaming city, there's plenty at hand to use to attack the undead - baseball bats, electric guitars, even roulette wheels and slot machines can all be used in your defence. There are more creative weapons too, a moose head can be worn and used to barge zombies out of the way, a drill bucket combines three power drills and a bucket to make a very uncomfortable item of headwear. The paddle saw is a broom handle with a chainsaw at each end - imagine how much carnage that could cause.
While the engine for Dead Rising could draw 500 Zombies at once, the new game can manage a staggering 7,000 zombies on screen at one time. And it's your job to kill them, which you can do by ploughing through them in vehicles for maximum carnage. Dead Rising 2 delivers the most intense zombie slaying gaming experience ever seen.