At the very start of Case Zero, we are told that there has been a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, and everyone within fifty miles of the zombified city is quarantined. Protagonist, Chuck Greene, just happens to be right behind the boundary line in the small town of Still Creek. We are quickly introduced to Katie, Chuck's infected ? but not zombified - young daughter. Already the player can tell that Dead Rising 2 is going to be very different, at least in the storytelling, than the original. In Dead Rising 1, Frank West is a loner. A solo, freelancing journalist who only cares about uncovering the truth to make a good story. Chuck Greene's main concern, however, is the safety of his daughter.
The story and characters are different, but the skeletal formula of Case Zero's gameplay is mostly similar. The most obvious difference is going to be the Zombrex system. Katie will require a dose of Zombrex every twelve hours. Luckily, she receives a dose in the opening cutscene. The player must then find at least one more dose, as the game lasts about twelve in-game hours. My favorite difference, and I'm sure others love it, is the redone side-mission system.
Instead of an annoying janitor pulling the player out of gameplay through a phone every five minutes to tell him some idiot got himself trapped somewhere, there is a sniper on a roof in the center town. This guy, named Bob, waves at Chuck every time he sees some survivors in need of assistance. In order to talk to Bob though, the player has to climb to the top of the building to talk to him. I do prefer this to being infuriated at the game for interrupting me, but I could see it could get annoying if the game lasted any longer than it did.
Apart from the improved side-mission delivery system, rescuing survivors is a lot less of a hassle because of the updated artificial intelligence. Instead of running into walls and getting eaten in the five seconds without paying attention to them, survivors now act somewhat capable. At least, once they agree to follow Chuck to the safe room. Before then, they can be absolutely ridiculous.
At the beginning of the game, the player rescues a guy who was being chewed on. He requests Chuck bring him to his pawn store, then closes the cage on him. Dick (that's his name, I'm not being rude!) offers to sell him information or the life-saving Zombrex for thousands of dollars. Another couple of survivors refuse to leave until Chuck brings them a broadsword. How they managed to survive for so long, even before the infection, I have no idea. But Chuck, being the most resourceful character since MacGyver, manages to find one. The other survivors simply send Chuck on errands around town in order to go to the safe room. Added to the main goal of finding motorcycle parts around town, makes the game seem like a zombie-themed scavenger hunt.
Above I mentioned Chuck reminds me of MacGyver. This is also because of his skill at combining random things and turning them into deadly (or deadlier) weapons. This makes the game seem more Sam Raimi than Dead Rising as George Romero. And no, that was not a reference to the mall. I say it because Dead Rising 1 was very dark, with decent social commentary. CZ feels more comical, with the idiotic, demanding survivors, and the creatively ridiculous weapons.
There are only five or six side missions in Case Zero, which fit the playtime pretty perfectly. I had just enough time to do (almost) every survivor, and complete the game with the best ending. My biggest complaint about the game was that there was no challenge. In Dead Rising 1, the difficulty came from the psychopaths. Psychopaths were human survivors who either snapped from the stress, or just take advantage of the situation to break the law. The only psychopath in the prequel was the very end boss, and he was pretty damned easy to kill, what with it taking place in a scrapyard filled with weapons and a unlimited health dispenser in the same map.
My favorite bit of CZ was the setting. It reminded me of that opening scene of Dead Rising 1, while Frank flies over Willamette in the helicopter seeing all the chaos. I remember wishing I could go down there and explore the whole town, instead of just hanging around in a mall all day. Case Zero allows the player to explore the town.
Though Still Creek is small, it is a lot more fun to explore. It feels more atmospheric than DR1, which had a gritty, lonesome feeling. Still Creek is more open, both in level design and feel. If Chuck goes to the barrier of the town, he can see the desert go on into the horizon. In Still Creek, Chuck is able to run across rooftops, and see a lot of the town. There is even a quarantine camp filled with zombified soldiers, giving the player a feel of ?wow, the government really screwed the pooch on this one.?
Though Case Zero was different, and really tried to improve the formula, I'm not entirely sure it was worth five dollars. I wish that Capcom included it with Dead Rising 2. I'm a big fan of zombie games and movies, especially when you're able to see the after-results of an entire town, so I don't regret this purchase. For some people, two hours of fun and a look into Chuck's backstory isn't worth the 400 microsoft points. I believe it is, though. Why? Go look at the price of a movie theater ticket.
EDIT: If you could please, PLEASE give me some feedback it would be much appreciated. I'd really like to improve my writing/reviewing skills, and any help would be great.
The story and characters are different, but the skeletal formula of Case Zero's gameplay is mostly similar. The most obvious difference is going to be the Zombrex system. Katie will require a dose of Zombrex every twelve hours. Luckily, she receives a dose in the opening cutscene. The player must then find at least one more dose, as the game lasts about twelve in-game hours. My favorite difference, and I'm sure others love it, is the redone side-mission system.
Instead of an annoying janitor pulling the player out of gameplay through a phone every five minutes to tell him some idiot got himself trapped somewhere, there is a sniper on a roof in the center town. This guy, named Bob, waves at Chuck every time he sees some survivors in need of assistance. In order to talk to Bob though, the player has to climb to the top of the building to talk to him. I do prefer this to being infuriated at the game for interrupting me, but I could see it could get annoying if the game lasted any longer than it did.
Apart from the improved side-mission delivery system, rescuing survivors is a lot less of a hassle because of the updated artificial intelligence. Instead of running into walls and getting eaten in the five seconds without paying attention to them, survivors now act somewhat capable. At least, once they agree to follow Chuck to the safe room. Before then, they can be absolutely ridiculous.
At the beginning of the game, the player rescues a guy who was being chewed on. He requests Chuck bring him to his pawn store, then closes the cage on him. Dick (that's his name, I'm not being rude!) offers to sell him information or the life-saving Zombrex for thousands of dollars. Another couple of survivors refuse to leave until Chuck brings them a broadsword. How they managed to survive for so long, even before the infection, I have no idea. But Chuck, being the most resourceful character since MacGyver, manages to find one. The other survivors simply send Chuck on errands around town in order to go to the safe room. Added to the main goal of finding motorcycle parts around town, makes the game seem like a zombie-themed scavenger hunt.
Above I mentioned Chuck reminds me of MacGyver. This is also because of his skill at combining random things and turning them into deadly (or deadlier) weapons. This makes the game seem more Sam Raimi than Dead Rising as George Romero. And no, that was not a reference to the mall. I say it because Dead Rising 1 was very dark, with decent social commentary. CZ feels more comical, with the idiotic, demanding survivors, and the creatively ridiculous weapons.
There are only five or six side missions in Case Zero, which fit the playtime pretty perfectly. I had just enough time to do (almost) every survivor, and complete the game with the best ending. My biggest complaint about the game was that there was no challenge. In Dead Rising 1, the difficulty came from the psychopaths. Psychopaths were human survivors who either snapped from the stress, or just take advantage of the situation to break the law. The only psychopath in the prequel was the very end boss, and he was pretty damned easy to kill, what with it taking place in a scrapyard filled with weapons and a unlimited health dispenser in the same map.
My favorite bit of CZ was the setting. It reminded me of that opening scene of Dead Rising 1, while Frank flies over Willamette in the helicopter seeing all the chaos. I remember wishing I could go down there and explore the whole town, instead of just hanging around in a mall all day. Case Zero allows the player to explore the town.
Though Still Creek is small, it is a lot more fun to explore. It feels more atmospheric than DR1, which had a gritty, lonesome feeling. Still Creek is more open, both in level design and feel. If Chuck goes to the barrier of the town, he can see the desert go on into the horizon. In Still Creek, Chuck is able to run across rooftops, and see a lot of the town. There is even a quarantine camp filled with zombified soldiers, giving the player a feel of ?wow, the government really screwed the pooch on this one.?
Though Case Zero was different, and really tried to improve the formula, I'm not entirely sure it was worth five dollars. I wish that Capcom included it with Dead Rising 2. I'm a big fan of zombie games and movies, especially when you're able to see the after-results of an entire town, so I don't regret this purchase. For some people, two hours of fun and a look into Chuck's backstory isn't worth the 400 microsoft points. I believe it is, though. Why? Go look at the price of a movie theater ticket.
EDIT: If you could please, PLEASE give me some feedback it would be much appreciated. I'd really like to improve my writing/reviewing skills, and any help would be great.