Frank West is a freelance photojournalist on a mission, he wants the world to know his name you see, he wants everyone to know him as the man who got that story, the biggest story that there ever was and guess what?, you are going to help Frank get his story in a small town in the middle of nowhere, the only problem is there are thousands of zombie’s planning to stop you in your tracks.

You start the game in a helicopter flying over the small town where you are planning to get your big scoop, this is a good way to practice your photography, which you will need to do if you want to have the best pictures around. As you fly further into town you start to notice that all isn’t as it should be, for one the army seem to have closed off the road and even more bizarrely closer to the town centre there are zombie’s ripping out people’s inside’s, not your general day at the office I would say. 

You soon direct your chopper pilot to land at the nearest helipad, which happens to be on top of the shopping centre, the pilot is unable to hang around with you due to being tailed by three army helicopters who have taken exception to you being there, however it is made clear that you must be back 72 hours later in the same place if you want him to pick you up again.

You are then left to go through the door on the roof, this leads you to the security room where you can find a safe place to save the game and change your clothes, following the path you will then be lead to the shopping centre entrance. The main shopping area only seems to host humans at first, however it isn’t long before the hundred’s of zombie’s outside break through the barrier’s and into your safety zone and this is where the fun begins.

There are plenty of choices for you to make in the game, do you go after the big story by following the collection of cases you must solve to get to the truth? do you try and get the scoop over the other’s in your profession by following the clues that come in over the radio? do you try and rescue the civilians by taking them to the safety of the security room or do you just go on a zombie killing rampage? Whatever you decide to do just remember that you only have 72 hours in which to do so, otherwise you will miss your ride and end up stuck in a shopping centre full of zombie’s until you either kill them all or join them as a slow brainless killer.

Now everyone loves to kill zombie’s, which is just as well because the more you do this the stronger your character will become thanks to the prestige points system which Capcom have implemented into the game. Prestige points (or experience points as you may know them) are gained by killing zombie’s, rescuing civilians or taking good photographs, the more Prestige that you gain the stronger your character will become, this will enable you to learn new moves such as being able to wrestle zombie’s to the ground or crush their heads, you also become stronger which means that you can survive longer when being attacked and run away faster from the hordes of enemies that are after you.

The combat system in the game is excellent, you can use almost anything you find lying about to the kill zombie’s, at one point I even found a soccer ball which I used to smash a zombie in the face, brilliant. The weapons range from baseball bats and guns to lawnmowers and propane canisters in fact there are just too many to mention but each has it’s own devastating effect to the enemy.

The zombie’s themselves usually act differently from each other, this makes for good entertainment like when they fall out of cars, into the water feature or downstairs and if you want too you can even put a bucket over their head so that they can’t see you, just make sure you take a picture of that one.

As well as the Zombie’s the game also has Boss characters, defeating them means you are able to raid their shops for weapons as well as gaining the prestige points you need to make your character stronger, however defeating them is not easy and you may have to run back from the toilets (the save point) a few times before you manage to do it.

The only disappointing aspect of the game in my opinion is the save system, basically you are only given one slot in which to save your game, so once you have saved it at a particular point (such as the bathroom or security office save points) you will not be able to go back to an earlier scenario, therefore if you get killed you will find yourself running back to where you met your death from the place you last saved the game. On the positive side when you are killed the save system gives you the option to save the experience your character has gained and restart the game this way, if you choose this option you will find it a lot easier to get through the game as you will be stronger than if you were start from scratch.

Dead Rising is a great game, graphically it is Capcom’s best work, there is comedy value all around and for anyone who has always wanted to be locked in a shopping centre armed with a just baseball bat and having to face hundred’s of zombie’s it’s a dream come true. If you love movies like Dawn of the Dead or even the comical Shawn of the Dead then you will love this game, it’s best point is that it makes you want to come back for more and that after all is what the great games do.