Chop, chop, chop and don't stop!
By Ben Salter
When Dead Rising hit the Xbox 360 back in 2006 it was all about hordes of zombies, high-res graphic and the open world of an infested mall. When it was announced that Dead Rising would be coming to Wii, it was met with excitement. Afterall, Resident Evil 4 made a successful transition onto the Wii, so the thought of a "Dead Rising meets RE4" game had Wii fans salivating at very idea of a motion-controlled zombie killing fest. Unfortunately many aspects that made the 360 version so great have had to be cut back for the Wii hardware. While the Wii remake manages to improve on certain aspects - such as gunplay thanks to the RE4 game engine - you can't help but feel that it's a watered down port, where corners had to be cut, resulting is some fun gameplay that could have been so much more.
Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop has you playing as Frank West a freelance Photojournalist who is closing in on the scoop of the century. Confined to a shopping mall infested by zombies, Frank looks to find the truth. Where Dead Rising really shines is the ability to use anything that you find lying around the mall as a zombie-bashing weapon. These range from the more traditional baseball bat and golf clubs, to chainsaws, lawn mowers, guitars and ladders. Some weapons dish out more damage but take longer to move leaving Frank open to attack. The real fun is trying out everything to see what works best and what simply looks awesome; meanwhile a tracker to the bottom right of screen will keep you informed with the exact number of zombies you’ve killed to date.
The introduction of zombie poodles and parrots is quite frankly the worst addition to the Wii version. Enemy variety is one thing, but these annoying creatures appear out of nowhere and hit Frank before you even realise they’re there. After fighting your way through a horde of man eating zombies unscathed it’s frustrating to see your life mater take a hit from something that you didn’t even see. Besides some of the bosses these two creatures are really the only ones that will cause you a lot of trouble. Unlike most of the zombies they will actually charge you and coming from the sky the parrot will often hit you 2 or 3 times before you find it in the gun barrel. The worse part is that they keep appearing ever few minutes - how many poodles and parrots can there be in a shopping mall? These zombie animals have nothing to do with the story, which begs the question, why are they here in the first place?
Other annoying elements include the inability to jump. While the mall looks very open, small ledges or ropes everywhere force you to manoeuvre around a predetermined path. While the 360 version gave you access to an open mall Drop Till You Drop guides you on a much more linear path. It’s obvious that this is Capcom’s answer for the Wii not being able to handle as many zombies, as instead of having a mall full of the undead they force you to take a certain path to keep the zombies plentiful.
Despite these grievances Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop is far from being a terrible game, offering some simple but fun gameplay. The mall is relatively large, and there are heaps of survivors to go and rescue in different areas ensuring there’s plenty to do. It also has a great sense of humour. Frank West can be dressed up in a variety of different outfits and a photojournalist killing zombies with a chainsaw in a pink suit is even more hilarious than it sounds. Killing zombies with obscure items is always sure to put a smile on your face and in some cases is quite assuming. Unlike the 360 version the ability to save after every mission completed means that you have more freedom to explore the mall and do as you please without the fear of loosing a large chunk of progress if Frank were to meet a tragic death.
The new IR controls included for aiming work very well. Gunplay has been lifted straight from Resident Evil 4 and uses the B button to enter gun mode, the Wii Remote to aim and the A button to fire. Shaking the Wii remote is required to reload, shake off attacking zombies and to use the secondary function of some melee weapons. If you manage to stun an enemy, a shake of the Wii Remote will pull off a unique execution move depending on what you currently have equipped as Frank’s melee weapon. While nothing ground-breaking, the controls do their job and the gunplay in particular works very well with the Wii Remote’s pointer capabilities.
The boss battles - especially the later ones - are intense and offer a much greater challenge than the average zombie, although some of them are watered down compared to their 360 counterpart. The first boss encountered is in the food court and in the 360 original he fired at you from atop of the food stalls. In the Wii version he is on the groundfloor, running around randomly firing away. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t have the same stylish feel about it. Most of the bosses Frank comes up against are human psychopaths who clearly do not understand how dire the situation is. The crazed supermarket owner is convinced you’re there to rob him, as does the gun shop manager when all you wanted was some life saving supplies. Sometimes after enduring an endless stream of bullets the human boss will actually make a get away. In these situations the story doesn’t coincide with the corresponding gameplay, but then again Dead Rising takes place in a bizarre world where the janitor will rip you off with a “small fee” of $2000 to use his shortcut. Seriously though, they do realise this mall is zombie infested right?
Unfortunately after extended play progression through, the game begins to become repetitive. Everything you do begins in the same safe area, which means that you have to run down the same corridors and kill the same zombies every time. It doesn’t help that enemies will respawn in the exact same spot almost immediately. I don’t mean only when you leave and re-enter an area, as sometimes they reappeared right in front of your eyes, making killing many of them pointless. In the end it’s a waste of ammo and much easier to just run past them and only killing when you reach an area where it will actually achieve something.
The most bafflingly omission is the ability to take photos. Frank West is a photojournalist, and yet his occupation is completely ignored in Chop Till You Drop, despite the fact that he has a camera around his neck the entire time. To visually document the horrific event was the reason behind Frank arriving at the Willamette mall in the first place. The start of the 360 version had you taking pictures of zombie attacks from a helicopter. This entire sequence has been removed from the Wii version, and in retrospective if I hadn’t already played the previous version the story would have had me lost before the gameplay had begun. Considering the camera-like pointing capabilities of the Wii Remote the decision to completely ignore Frank’s profession makes no sense.
Downscaling the visuals was a necessary transition from the Xbox 360 to the Wii for Dead Rising. The cut-scenes are now FMV sequences, rather than produced by the games engine, resulting in soft-looking cinematics that take an obvious hit when you enter gameplay. They get the job down, and Frank’s character model is decent, however the backgrounds and zombies could have pushed the Wii further towards its limits. A 2D clothes rack is hardly showing off what the Wii can do. Considering how good Capcom made Resident Evil 4 look on the Wii it’s a little disappointing that the same deal of polish was not applied to Dead Rising.
The sounds of mutilating zombies and elevator music is still alive and well. All of the in-game dialogue is presented through on screen text, although voice overs would have been nice considering a large portion of this is Frank communicating using a 2-way radio. The in game sounds are nice and while the metal music in boss fights does contrast with the usual shopping mall tunes it did add to the intensity of the battles.
The Final Verdict
Despite the game’s many flaws Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop is far from terrible. The zombies appear in great numbers, the bosses offer a challenge and the gameplay is fun for the most part. The ideas are fantastic, however the execution doesn’t live up to the expectation, and there are too many small things that easily could have been fixed to make Dead Rising on Wii so much more than it is. For multi-console owners the $30 Xbox 360 release is definitely the superior and recommended version of Dead Rising. In saying that if you haven’t played the original game and are interested in some more mature Wii titles then it’s definitely worth a look. Bashing zombies with obscure items is always fun and the Wii controls work well making it a fun fill-in title, just try before you buy.
Gameplay
6.0/10
Massacring zombies is always fun, but it’s unfortunate that some annoying flaws hold Dead Rising back from being anything more than that.
Graphics
6.0/10
The graphics do the job but nothing more. Capcom showed what the Wii can do with RE4 and it’s a shame Dead Rising didn’t receive the same attention to detail.
Sound
8.0/10
The zombie bashing sound effects are great and the elevator waiting music is a great touch to the shopping mall atmosphere.
Lasting Appeal
5.5/10
Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop will be over and done within 10 hours. It’s a game played best in short bursts so it may feel longer than this if you really drag it out.
Overall
6.0/10