Dead Rising

Dead Rising is a 2006 action-adventure game developed and published by Capcom originally for the Xbox 360. The game’s story follows wartime photojournalist Frank West, who becomes trapped inside a shopping mall in the town of Willamette, Colorado, during a deadly zombie plague. West must uncover the truth behind the plague before a rescue helicopter arrives in three days to evacuate him.

Description

Players can operate the game in one of two modes. 72 Hour Mode is the main mode and the only one available to players to begin with, in which the main objective is to investigate the Willamette Parkview Mall within three days, before Frank can be rescued by helicopter, completing a series of “Case Files” – major missions that, when completed, advance the game’s main story. If the player fails a Case File, the game does not end, allowing the player to merely explore the mall instead until the mode is up, though failure to comply to certain conditions (primarily associated with Case Files) will result in earning a different ending.

Completing all the Case Files by the time 72 Hour Mode is over, unlocks “Overtime Mode” which players automatically begin, where the main objective to complete has Frank given one more day to complete an additional set of objectives within the mall. The second mode, ∞ (Infinity) Mode, is unlocked after completing Overtime Mode and allows players to roam around the mall in sandbox mode without any time limit, with Frank trying to survive as long as possible. To survive in all modes, players need to find and seek out weapons scattered around the mall that they can use against the zombies.

Over 250 items are available to use in combat; they can be found anywhere, such as in stores, and fall under two categories, melee and ranged, with all ranging from the powerful, to the near-useless. The weapons and other items are firearms, sports equipment, children’s toys, furniture, construction tools, electronic devices, and various bladed objects. Frank can carry only a limited number of weapons – baseball bats, 2×4 planks, hammers, pistols, shotguns, and so forth, though he can carry multiple versions of the same type.

He can use them only a limited number of times before he must find new ones, as melee weapons eventually deteriorate and break, while guns must be discarded when out of ammunition. Some weapons can be changed by the environment – frying pans can be heated on a stove both to increase damage and grant access to a special move – while others are large objects that Frank cannot store in his inventory and which he will drop if he picks up or switches to another item. Many of the less useful weapons exist purely for humorous effect.

For example, the toy Megabuster, from Capcom’s Mega Man, shoots tennis balls; traffic cones are put over a zombie’s head, causing it to stumble about blindly. Items other than weapons are available. Frank can try out various outfits from the mall’s clothing stores – such as a Special Forces uniform, wrestling boots, a hockey mask and X’s armour from the Mega Man X franchise. He can carry around certain books that can confer bonuses, such as increasing the durability of weapons. He can consume food and drink scavenged while exploring to recover health, or blend them together to make different “juices”, which have temporary effects on the player.

In Infinity Mode, players need to eat food to stay alive, as Frank’s health drops every 100 seconds. They cannot access the supermarket within the mall, and food items are limited, but they can acquire weapons and food items from all characters; survivors are hostile to them in this mode. Photojournalist Frank West is alerted by an anonymous source that something is occurring in the town of Willamette, Colorado. Flying into town via helicopter, Frank learns that the town is in the midst of a quarantine invoked by the U.S. military and observes several violent incidents throughout.

Wanting to cover the story, Frank asks his helicopter pilot to return in three days and is promptly dropped off at the town shopping mall helipad. Upon entering the mall Frank learns that the quarantine is due to a mass zombie outbreak, which managed to infect a majority of Willamette’s population. Eventually, the mall is breached by zombies, forcing Frank to take refuge in the building’s security room. With the help of janitor Otis Washington, Frank is able to safely travel through the mall.

After helping DHS agent Brad Garrison in a firefight against an unknown assailant, the two strike an alliance. A person of interest to Brad, an elderly man named Russell, is currently locked in a bookstore. Russell refuses to leave the store however, leaving Frank and Brad to return to the security room. While back in the security room, the two realize that they are unable to call for assistance due to a communications jammer.