Chuck Greene has found himself in an awful situation. His young daughter was bitten by a zombie a few years back and requires a daily dose of the wonder drug Zombrex to prevent her from turning into one of them. But just as pressing as his family issues are the legal troubles swirling over his head. Zombies are now a controlled menace in society. People who are unfortunate enough to be infected are locked away so they can’t go around chomping on necks willy-nilly. But someone has unleashed a horde of undead monsters into the gambling town of Fortune City and framed poor Chuck Greene in the process. The story in Dead Rising 2 is a lot more personal than in the first game. You have to continually hunt for more doses of Zombrex to keep your daughter alive while searching for the truth that will clear your tarnished name. It’s a situation that makes Chuck an immediately sympathetic figure, and his caring demeanor is a welcome reprieve from the abrasive star of the previous game, Frank West.
The story does a fine job of embracing stereotypes from zombie movies. The cast of characters, including a volatile security officer and sultry news reporter, have an over-the-top acting style that makes it enjoyable to see what ridiculous thing will spew from their mouths next. It’s a tongue-in-cheek approach that never takes itself too seriously. This sense of humor is pervasive in the game, and best exemplified by the wacky wardrobe you have access to. During your time scouring Fortune City, you find a wide assortment of outfits to change into, and your fashion style is carried over to the cutscenes. This may seem like a small feature, but it makes the story so much more enjoyable. The mood during these cinematics is usually bleak and overly dramatic, but when Chuck Greene struts in wearing a servbot helmet and a Hawaiian grass skirt, it’s difficult to keep a straight face.
That effervescent creativity bubbles over into the combat. The biggest addition to Dead Rising 2 is a crafting system that lets you combine certain objects to create gloriously over-the-top weapons. You can duct tape a machete onto the end of a push broom, affix a machine gun to the arm of a robotic bear, or light your boxing gloves on fire with a spurt of motor oil. It’s a fantastic and ridiculous system that gives you a plethora of goofy ways to vanquish your undead attackers. The combinations are preordained, so you don’t have the freedom to create whatever wacky ideas you have in your head, but there are plenty of unique gadgets to go around. You can create these special weapons just by tinkering in tool sheds until you come up with something that works, but to unlock their full potential, you have to earn combo cards. You get these cards by leveling up, killing psychopaths, reading posters, or rescuing survivors, and they not only supply the recipe, but they also give you access to its special attack. This forces you to scour the environment and complete objectives, so you have to work to take advantage of the best weapons instead of just using them from the beginning of the game.
