Important Note to PC Users: The PC version has, as of time of writing, various technical issues if you’re not in a specific operating system and configuration. The PC version is playable and most of this review’s text applies, but the issues may require some users to do some creative troubleshooting; they will get their own page at the end of the review.

Talk to anyone who played the original Dead Rising and chances are they’ll praise the scope of the game, trapping you in a mall with a horde of zombies and tons of weapons (from guns to swords to random things like soda cans, jewelry, etc.) to protect yourself. Some of them would also point out real flaws, such as an unforgiving learning curve, most guns being of very questionable value, and the numerous survivor escort missions suffering from terrible AI. Dead Rising 2’s title should tell you all you need to know; it’s a zombie survival game just like the original Dead Rising, but with new content, a new location to play in, and numerous fixes to the previous game’s flaws.

While this is a third-person action game just like the first Dead Rising (and the controls are almost unchanged), that just means the focus is on ’More.’ More detail in the world, more weapons to use, more activities to do on the side, more variety in locations, and so on. The primary focus is still on fighting your way through zombie hordes and rescuing survivors, but since this game takes place on the main Strip of Fortune City (essentially "Las Vegas Mk. II") you get a much wider variety of places to visit and things to do. The good news is that you really do have a lot more variety here, but on the other hand most of your time will be spent leading survivors to safety and resolving the main story missions. Since you’re on a time limit, repeat plays will probably be required to see everything; I can’t imagine being able to go through all of Dead Rising 2’s content in your first attempt.

Dead Rising 2’s biggest draws would be improvements, new weapons, and online play. The improvements range from subtle tweaks, to game-changers like survivors being much easier to deal with this time around. While a few of them may require very close protection, most of them can competently follow you to safety if you just beeline for the exit; at worst you may have to turn around once or twice to clear really thick zombie crowds for them but they otherwise take care of themselves. The transceiver from the original game is back, but no longer forces you to stop and accept phone calls; instead merely tapping the button once gives you info on new missions and you only have to accept (very short) calls for urgent, story-critical missions. While you’re still on a time limit and going to have to hustle, you’re no longer getting bogged down in calls while fighting and having to save survivors who are too stupid to live; this makes the game orders of magnitude more fun.

Of course, missions and calls and survivors probably aren’t the main reason you play a Dead Rising game. You’re there to kill zombies, and the sequel gives you lots of great ways to do it. Old favorites like the sledgehammer and chainsaw return, while other old weapons have been tweaked (you can move while aiming most guns, for example) and a host of new ones have been added. The most noteworthy of these are the Combo Weapons, which take two seemingly normal items and duct tape them together into something more impressive. Some of these are just meant to be efficient killers, such as adding knives to boxing gloves to let you slash through foes quickly. Others are situation-specific such as a wildly inaccurate ’rocket launcher’ that can fire up to seventy-five shots in a row... not very useful for small groups of enemies, but amazing when used on crowds. Then others are just meant to be fun, like taking an electric guitar and hooking it up to more power so you can kill zombies by rocking too hard.

Online play is another big perk. While Dead Rising 2 is perfectly enjoyable as a single-player game, having a friend around is even better. Co-op lets one player be the host, while a friend can join in to either help them out with story missions or you can work together on clever ways to kill zombies. There are a few missions where a friend will be a huge help, and no shortage of laughs to be had if you’re just sandboxing together with things like racing tricycles through zombie crowds, setting up large explosions, and more. There is also a set of sports-themed mini-games that can be played online called Terror is Reality, though they’re very short and forgettable after just a few sessions; the only reason to bother is that Ranked Matches in TiR can earn you money to be used in the main game.

Overall, Dead Rising 2 did most of what it should. It offers the same sort of experience the original game does, but fixes most of the problems. Missions aren’t as frustrating this time around, guns are more viable (though you’ll still want plenty of close-combat weaponry too), the boss fights are mostly interesting, and you have tons of places to explore plus plenty of fun ways to kill zombies plus online co-op is a lot of fun. That said, this is Dead Rising 2 in a very blunt way; it’s the first game with more content, polish, and most of its problems fixed. I was fine with that and greatly enjoyed this sequel, but it won’t win over anyone who didn’t like the core idea of the original game. On the other hand, if ’Dead Rising, but better!’ appeals to you then this is definitely worth your time.

Next: PC version concerns