Dead Rising 2 is an action-adventure video game developed by Canadian company Blue Castle Games, published by Capcom, and released between September and October 2010 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. It is a sequel to Dead Rising, and is the second entry in the series of the same name. The game features a number of new features and improvements to its predecessor, including multiplayer options.
The game's story see players controlling Chuck Greene, a former motocross rider, who finds himself at the centre of another zombie outbreak taking place in a casino resort and shopping complex in Nevada, and becomes involved in uncovering the truth behind it. Not only must he survive against the zombies roaming the complex by scavenging weapons and supplies, along with rescuing survivors caught up in the incident and dealing with crazed psychopaths, Chuck must also ensure that his young daughter receives regular treatments of a medication that prevent her from becoming a zombie herself, after being bitten by her mother during a previous outbreak in Las Vegas. Like the previous game, players must complete major missions to advance the story, but can undertake optional tasks and explore the complex, with various endings available depending on actions taken during the main game.
The game's success led to it receiving two downloadable episodes - one being a prologue to the main story, the other taking place moments after achieving its canonical ending - along with a remake entitled Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, while as part of the Dead Rising's ten year anniversary, a ported version of the game was released in September 2016 for PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Gameplay
The player controls protagonist Chuck Greene as he fights off hordes of zombies while accomplishing specific missions. The game includes several new objects that can be used to attack the zombies. Up to 7,000 zombies can be seen onscreen at the same time.
Dead Rising 2 allows players to manufacture their own custom weapons at various points in the game by collecting items and combining them together in maintenance rooms scattered across the game map. The player also has the ability to unlock "combo cards" that reveal weapons that can be combined together. Such combinations include the "Hail Mary", a hand grenade duct taped to a football, "Dynameat", a stick of dynamite duct taped to a piece of meat, the "Paddlesaw", two chainsaws duct taped to a kayak paddle, and "Spiked Bat" which is a baseball bat with nails hammered through the item.
Like the first game, boss fights are represented by 'psychopaths', people who have either been driven insane by the zombie outbreak or are taking advantage of it to fulfill their cruel desires.
Multiplayer
During the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Capcom revealed that the multiplayer of Dead Rising 2 takes the form of the in-game reality TV show "Terror Is Reality" in which players will act as contestants in a fictional gameshow. Four players participate in multiplayer, competing against each other for the most kills inside an arena full of undead. Players can use weapons and vehicles including human-sized hamster balls and chainsaw-equipped motorcycles. They also will be able to prevent other players from scoring by using various forms of "dirty" tactics.
Chuck Greene joins the reality pay-per-view gameshow "Terror is Reality" to get money for his daughter's Zombrex. (Zombrex being a medicine which prevents infected humans from turning into zombies as long as it is taken once daily.) Terror is Reality (TiR) is hosted by Tyrone King (TK). Players compete with players all over the world online, and earn money for their character at the same time. The show consists of three minigames, including "Zomboni" (driving a car that makes zombie juice and players have to shoot the juice to the target to get points), "Bounty Hunter" (players snipe zombies and they can earn extra points by hitting the jackpot), "Stand Up Zomedy" (players put flowers, sticks, and dresses on the zombie, earn more points by getting all three of items in one zombie), and so on. Finally, the major game in TIR is "Slicecycle", where players drive motorcycles to slice up zombies for points. The winners and participants get money for their participation points from the games.
It was confirmed during Captivate '10 that cooperative gameplay for the story campaign will be available and according to Blue Castle Games there will be an online co-op mode. Both players will play as the main character, Chuck Greene, and will be able to earn experience and keep the items they collected throughout the game—but only the host player will be able to save the game's progress. A host can invite a friend to join the current game by sending out an invitation; if the friend accepts, a confirmation icon will be displayed and the host can allow the player to join in. Non-host players can drop in/out of a co-op game anytime they like. When the players become separated, a tiny animated Chuck Greene icon will appear at the bottom of the game screen. The icon will show what the other player is up to—attacking, being assaulted by zombies, etc. If a player is taken down by zombies, he will be able to call the other for help to revive them. The player will use food to revive the dying partner before his health runs out.
