THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

A tip-off has sent freelance photojournalist Frank West to the backwater American town of Willamette, Colorado. Something strange is happening in the quiet little town; the army has set up a quarantine zone, established blockades on all roads into the suburban city and now patrol the skies with helicopters - but no one knows why. Hostile figures roam the streets and there seems to be some sort of public riot taking place. However, it soon becomes clear to the panicked inhabitants of Willamette that this is no ordinary civil disobedience - the rioters are soulless Zombies! Frank, who has dropped down to the local shopping mall to get a world-changing scoop, now finds himself trapped by hordes of undead - his only hope of survival is to fight for his life in the infested shopping mall until rescue arrives.

MY VERDICT:

Dead Rising - the first game in the Zombie series notable for its humorous weapons and sheer number of on-screen Zombies - has finally come to the PC. 10 years from the original Xbox 360 release, the game has had a few tweaks to ensure it runs as smooth as butter on modern PCs, though sadly, the average graphics and shoddy AI (Artificial Intelligence controlling allies and opponents) have seen no overall. Now, you may think Dead Rising is all stupid antics in a Zombie-comedy type setting. In truth, this is partly true as there are many funny and unbelievable elements, including the 'amusing but oh, so real' story or the completely absurd appearance of a bunch of escaped convicts, cruising around in an armed marine-green Humvee. However, the game is only as wacky as you want it to be: don't want to pick up a over-sized stuffed animal and repetitively knock stupid Zombies over with every swing? Then grab a metal pipe instead and start caving in skulls. Another thing I love about the game is the innovative real-time system where, when Frank has to survive in the infested mall for three days, he actually does have 72 hours (game time) of Zombie-slaying ahead of him, and, believe me, with literally thousands of the dead littering the concrete halls, staying alive is no easy feat. The Zombies are, despite being fairly bland looking to modern standards, are pretty much the most realistic incarnation of the living dead I have ever seen in a video game. They stumble around clumsily, regularly changing direction, constantly miss timing lounges or falling over low obstacles, including other Zombies. Some of them have knives or handguns, things they do not understand but are unwilling to drop. They appear like pathetic lost souls - exactly as they should - and clearly only have one goal; the need to eat the flesh of the living. When they grab onto Frank to bite, they will not let go without a struggle, unwittingly allowing more to join the potential feeding frenzy. The disgusting hordes will even amble towards dead humans, falling onto their bodies in an attempt to get at untainted meat. I could go on and on, praising this landmark Zombie game for hours, denoting streams of text to its epic splendour. Instead, I will round up with this closing statement; if you love Zombies or Zombie games and you missed Dead Rising when it first came to the Xbox 360, buy the PC remaster and buy it now!