CAN I GET MY PICTURE TAKEN WITH THIS ZOMBIE? NO? THEN WHAT’S WITH THE CAMERA?!
I kind of rolled my eyes when I first received this game from Matt. I played it for a few minutes and immediately wrote it off as a crappy port of the Xbox 360 favorite. A day or so later I decided to play through so I could effectively write a review. Much to my surprise, I found that although it was far from a perfect game, Dead Rising: CTYD was actually pretty damn fun to play.
I do all these editorials on this site with themes of patience and not judging a book by its cover. I’m glad I took my own advice for once. So click on the link to see if you should or shouldn’t make a rental/purchase (and what to expect if you do).
I’ll get this out of the way first: this game looks great for a Wii title, but it’s not anywhere close to it’s 360 counterpart. The framerate is solid, which was a worry for me at first, but there are jagged edges and a pixelated ‘trying-real-hard-to-be-3D’ look abound. The graphics still manage to look great considering what’s being asked of them. The in game cutscenes make a return as pre-rendered but are nice to see regardless (even though they are a bit fuzzy looking). Frank constantly walks around like he soiled his pants after pulling something in his lower back. This is actually quite amusing but detracts from the whole ‘I’m really a badass’ thing he is supposed to be pulling off. Luckily you can still get the silly outfits so the walk seems almost fitting (especially in ill-fitting children clothes – heh).
Headcount of the zombies has dropped quite a bit in this port, but honestly, that was to be expected. New enemies such as zombie poodles and grenade-dropping parrots make an appearance as well as tazer-toting zombies and zombies that are eerily good with a firearm. Considering the lack of quantity, I’d call them a welcome addition, though I’m sure they will annoy the hell out of some people. Oh well.
I’m glad to say that the sound has made it through unscathed. All the pipe-to-head interactions sound as they should. Even zombies bumping around with road cones on their heads sounds real. Voice acting is as corny as it used to be, but I never thought that would get changed anyways. Zombies moaning in pitch black still makes my skin crawl.
The controls are where the game comes together and falls apart at the same time. This time around emphasis has been taken off of the melee weapons and been placed firmly on the firearms – which struck me as odd considering the name of the game. Unlike the original, once a weapon is purchased it can be kept indefinitely. And while ammo used to be scarce, now it is far more plentiful – which of course makes for better blasting. Some people might be put off by this shift if it wasn’t for the fact that the gunplay is the best aspect of the game and is outstanding fun. Melee weapon controls aren’t too shabby either – but not nearly as en engaging as they used to be.
The flip side of things is the curious lack of a jump button – this makes avoiding zombies in the mall like avoiding herpes in Thailand – unnecessarily tough. And while there aren’t as many enemies on screen as there once were - CTYD attempts to make up for it by funneling them through hallways narrowed by stacks of boxes – which half works during the day. However going about your business at night is a chore when you can’t see the boxes until they have you cornered by zombies. Close to a solution, but not close enough it seems. At least there are multiple save slots this time through – something that bothered the hell out of me in the first release. And though you used to be able to tackle multiple missions at a once, now you have to make constant stops at the security room for new assignments. I’m not really sure what Capcom and TOSE Software were thinking when they implemented that change. It just slows the pace of the game down even further, especially the ever annoying ‘fetch this person’ segments.
Oh, and one more thing. What’s with the camera? The photo taking aspect was removed – which is no big deal really, but why is this guy running around with that hunk of plastic and metal strapped around his neck? Couldn’t be bothered to take that out people? Nice work. Weirdos.
I’m always happy to see a more mature variety of games come to the Wii. Games such as Dead Rising: CTYD may be in great variety on other platforms – but the Wii is still in an M-rated drought. So bring em’ on I say.
If you already own Dead Rising for the 360 you won’t want to bother – although you might want to rent a day or two for the intriguing Nunchuk controls. For anyone else, rent first, but keep in mind that a purchase wouldn’t be too far fetched. Just wait for the price to drop if you can.
You’ll get over the camera thing. I promise.
Overall: 6.5 out of 10
Why you put him in little children’s clothing… worries me BJ.
So as a Wii title this still doesn’t stand well on its own? Is that because of the precedent set with the 360 version?
Yea go release it for the Wiik, fuck all of us that own REAL consoles like the PS3. Go port it to that weak excuse of a video game machine…
The Wii does seem to be getting more than its fair share of games not available to other consoles. I sold mine after getting the PS3 but the graphics just didn’t compare and once the novelty of the interactive controls wore off, it was in my opinion, a poor console.
Keep launching these games though and I may have to rethink.