Well let me just say this first off.. anyone who is a fan of the whole Dead Rising franchise will definitely love Dead Rising 2: Case West because it brings back Frank(and his camera), the main character from the original Dead Rising game. With that said I didn’t even like Dead Rising 1, but loved this game and CAPCOM is doing a great job with the approach they are taking with the franchise in my opinion. Dead Rising 2: Case West is a stand alone arcade game for the Xbox 360 that continues the story of Dead Rising 2 with twists and turns as Frank West enters the story fighting along side of the Dead Rising 2 main character Chuck Greene. It is an interesting yet good approach to release a stand alone arcade game rather than just DLC for Dead Rising 2. This way people that don’t own Dead Rising 2 can still get in on the action which is endless amounts of fun as you combine parts to make super weapons and take on hoards of zombies with the ability to where some pretty damn ridiculous clothing if you want.

Dead Rising 2: Case West starts off as Chuck Greene and Frank West meet up, Chuck being an ex motocross superstar and Frank being a journalist with a snap flash, still camera. Chuck has been framed for the apocalyptic zombie mess and they try to work together to survive of course and clear Chuck’s name from being framed as the bad guy. The game is co-op just like Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (arcade prequel to Dead Rising 2). It’s online co-op only and player 1 (host) is always Chuck Greene and player 2 is always Frank West. You can play the game by yourself leaving Frank with AI capabilities but this game is way more fun playing with a friend or even a random person that tries joining your game which will have to accept or deny via phone call on the d-pad. You just have to remember that communication is nearly a necessity for plenty of reasons like asking for help and the fact that you can not enter a new area with out your partner being close by. So mic-less players go die! Ok well that was harsh but main point is that co-op play is where you are going to get the most out of this game and that can require good communications skills.

Double Trouble

Between each main mission, you might have to rush to complete the next one or have plenty of time to go on a Zombie killing spree. There are also Survivors in the game that require you to rescue them helping you level up and just making you a good guy with morals. Plus saving them all gets you an achievement but it is in between missions that survivors are the best to be saved as some of them require you to do some pretty interesting, time consuming tasks. One guy needs certain weapons, while another needs a couple of punches to the face while a lady needs a couple of organs.. yes.. organs, fresh and refrigerated in coolers. The great thing about Case West is that the survivors do not need to be escorted back to the safe room once you save them, unlike Dead Rising 2. This makes things a lot easier on you and saves you time as I remember the wounded survivor from Dead Rising 2 that walked like a snail and could not be picked up. There are also some new enemies in Case West called Zombie Hoarders that have stun batons and take you for a Zombie for some reason, but are not to hard to take out unlike the Hazard Suit Soldiers that have Impact Hammers, will a lot of health. I would avoid them unless you are going for the achievement to kill 5 of them.

Now aside from numerous combinations of items to create super weapons that give you extra ‘PP’ (which is basically XP but PP is just funny to say) that can be made in Dead Rising 2 found in the game, there are also new super weapons and items to combine in Case West. This feature is one of the coolest and most unique features in Dead Rising 2 as well as the arcade titles. Here are all the new super weapons Case West gives you.

Sterilizer
Chemicals + Syringe Gun
Zap N’ Shine
Floor Buffer + Electric Prod
Shocker
Defibrillators + Medical Tray
Lightning Gun
Blast Frequency Gun + Electric Pro
Reaper
Sickle + Katana Sword
Impact Blaster
Impact Hammer + Blast Frequency Gun
Laser Gun (Special Weapon)
Laser Sword (Gems + Flashlight) + Lightning Gun (Blast Frequency Gun + Electric Pro).

Frank is back.

Making all these will net you an achievement and make you a Zombie killing professional. You start the game off at level 40 and must reach level 50 to max your health, attack damage, learn new moves and more as well as netting you another achievement. No matter what character you play as you can take pictures of anything, anywhere which is cool and photographing all the ‘PP’ symbols in the game will get you another achievement not to mention that you can take some pretty cool pics of zombie attacks. There also cameras everywhere and taking them all out will get you another achievement. But aside from all those achievements the game is great and I really can’t say anything bad about it because it’s so much fun and the story has some major twists, turns and surprises. Playing Dead Rising 2 will give you a little more insight into these as well as one surprise from the original Dead Rising. This really brings the plot to a fantastic closing point at times through out the story while the end of the game,.. well let’s just say this won’t be the last we’ll be seeing of the Chuck and Frank duo.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.