A couple summers ago, Capcom joined photojournalism and zombie-slaying in eviscerating matrimony, and Dead Rising became one of the early-ish Xbox 360 titles to be the darling of critics and consumers alike. With this year marking its re-release on Wii, those of you who missed the original (if any) should check it out. You play Frank West, the world’s only photographer with less brains than the mall full of zombies into which he descends for his deathly-exclusive scoop. You have (initially) 72 game hours to uncover the cause of the outbreak, but you’ll more quickly uncover the fact that every zombie is hungry for a Frankfurter. To prevent your own death, you need to take pictures, kill zombies, and complete missions by saving the few (un)lucky surviving mall-rats. You’ll earn Prestige Points and go up levels, learning new moves and generally bettering your chances of not dying. Pick up all the mass-produced crap a mall can offer and use it to kill an endless supply of zombies, be it home hardware, medieval weaponry, lawn mowers, bicycles, benches, even food (which you can also cook and eat).Dead Rising might not– well, let’s be honest. It WILL not look as good on the Wii as it did on the Box, which had splendid model detail, great animations, and vibrant lighting that will be lost. But it will add motion controls… you’ll have to wait and see how it stacks up. There never was, and may never be more to do in any other video game. Capcom does a great honor to source material Dawn of the Dead and its ilk, surpassing the entertainment value of them all.

Posted on August 25th, 2008 by katie