I Will Never Finish Dead Rising

I picked up a relatively well-known game called Dead Rising recently, figuring I'd play through it once and put it aside. As yet, I haven't passed the first day in game. This is not because of some design flaw rendering me incapable of advancing, nor is it from extreme difficulty. No, this is because for the first time in quite a while, I'm playing something I don't feel compelled to advance in to see the end of some story with more plot holes than supporting characters.

To elaborate, Dead Rising is pretty much hundreds of zombies in any given area of a shopping mall in which you are trapped, lumbering toward you or any nearby survivors. Ideally, you're saving these people and going to the next plot critical mission. I have yet to figure out anything more than this, because I immediately focus on the nearest park bench and use it as a battering ram to clear a path to the hardware store, in which various gardening implements are kept. These in turn get me to the antique store, where breaking open a display case provides an assortment of battle axes. From here, I pretty much run into the hordes until my weapons are all broken, at which point the cycle begins again. I basically start a new game with the best intentions, only to turn it into a next-gen Smash TV.

The only sticking points I have are related to the interface. Some people have complained that the text is unreadable on standard definition (as opposed to HD) televisions. They are partially correct. The fonts used in the game are entirely too small. People with larger TVs will have an easier time, but smaller TV sets, even in HD, will output text much smaller than is easy on the eyes. The save system, too, is a bit harsh, at first. You are allowed one save file, and if you save yourself into a corner, with not enough time to complete a mission, you have to restart the game with all of your stats carrying over. Given the game can be completed in 8 hours, start to finish, if you know when to save and have the game character built up enough, this is not a huge design flaw, just a moderate inconvenience.

For what it's worth, I do know the plot goes in fairly interesting directions, albeit very derivative of the Resident Evil series. I also know that there are enemies besides mindless zombies (I've even run into some escaped convicts and a chainsaw wielding clown in the sections I've been repeating since I started playing the game). I'll have to be content with what I gain from it from repeating the first three hours ad nauseum, though, because once you have a battle axe in a mall filled with zombies, there's only one thing you can do, and it's not seeking a narrative.