Dead Rising: Play it to Death and Back Again

In Dead Rising you play the character Frank West, a photographer looking for the scoop. What scoop? An outbreak in a little town called Willamette in Colorado, population 53,594 undead. Possibly, rather, more than likely a military cover up, Frank enters to get the true story.

This game is the reason I bought a XBOX 360. I am a diehard zombie enthusiast and was so excited to see a game like this come out. Killing zombies and hanging out in a mall, it's every girls dream! Since you are trapped in a mall, you have the advantage of using just about anything for a weapon. Anything from guns to knifes to CD's and trashcans. Anything will work to take the un-dead out.

You have three days to get the scoop on what's going on in Willamette Mall. Each day in the game is equal to 2 hours of play time. There are specific missions you have to do at certain times on specific days. Other then that, you are free to roam as you please.

The best part about this game is you can pretty much do what you want. Of course there are missions or "scoops" to get for you to recover the true story, and of course there is a time limit, but other than that, travel through out the mall hacking and slashing at anything that gets in your way!

Along with getting the scoops to complete your story, there are many other things you can do. To unlock different items or activities you have to finish certain tasks. Any and everything from knocking over 10 zombies with a bowling ball to surviving in the mall for 7 days straight. That is 14 hours game time, unstopped! Make sure you have lots of snacks and even someone to help you for breaks with this one, trust me.

When you get the true ending you will have unlocked Infinite Mode. This is the place where you just go and kill zombies while trying to survive. The difference here is that you actually can starve to death, and the food does not replenish. There is enough food to take you the whole 7 days, or 14 hours, but you have to use it wisely.

The Infinite Mode is my favorite way to play because I don't take orders from anyone. I want to kill zombies and do my own thing. Use this mode to rack up Prestige Points ( PP) to up your level. Also use it to get some of those items unlocked. Psychopaths will be in different areas during this mode then they were during regular game play, so look out!

If you are a fan of figure it out yourself games, zombie movies or killing zombies with unusual objects, and who's not? This game is for you! It is fun from start to Infinite Mode. Plus there is always something you didn't or couldn't do and need to go back after getting you level to 50 and achieving the Mega Man Blaster that takes out zombies and psychopaths in one blast, so you can go back and do it with ease.

So even after you beat the game, there are tons of activities to do. So when you see the happily ever after, don't put your controller down, adventure some! Step out of the chains of regular adventure games that make you stick to a certain path and make your own.