80%PC

Dead Rising 2...man what a game. Definitely an improvement in terms of the first one, especially in the gameplay department. It still has its share of jank, but it's a great game in its own right. The Combo Weapons mechanic is super fun and promotes creativity for the player. The Co-op, while laggy, is super fun and adds a lot of fun to the overall experience. The new Mall is visually exciting and has a lot you can do (especially gambling given where the story takes place.) Some of the psychopaths are good, some of them kinda suck, I won't lie...but that SOUNDTRACK IS FIRE! And of course, with multiple endings and so much to do there's plenty of replay value.

The story's...okay. It's different from the first game and it works, but it's pretty predictable if you're paying attention enough and it did hurt the experience for me a little because once the game ramps up at the end I went "Of course it was them! I literally was saying that at the beginning of the game!"

Chuck, while not being my favorite protagonist of the series (yeah, yeah, Frank fan) is one of the best video game Dads out there...the other characters are great too, but Chuck and Katey's dynamic is probably one of my favorite aspects about the game because of how wholesome it is...though Rebecca Chang exists too, so, yeah.

All in all, it's a great game! I'm not sure it'll be my favorite in the series once I'm done with them all, but I'm glad to have experienced it. I recommend playing through co-op, personally, it makes the game way more chaotic but fun.

70%Xbox 360

Also completed Case Zero in Apr 2016 and Case West in December 2019.

80%PlayStation 3

Pretty solid game that I replayed MANY times and enjoyed it every single time.

70%PC

7.5/10

Glitchy? Yes. Stupid? Yes. Fun? Also yes.

Play it with a friend.

70%PC

Un joc destul de enervant, povestea e ok mi sa parut un pic aiuria partea in care vine armata sa te salveze si mor aproape toti si trebuie sa te bati cu ala singur care a mai ramas + ca jocuri cu zombi mi se par in general niste prostii, gameplay-ul e destul de greu si iti face 1 milion de nervi daca nu salvezi toti supravietuitori, dar daca ii salvezi pe toti iti ia foarte mult timp sa il termini dar e mult mai usor fiindca ai level mare care iti da viata mai mare etc, este interesant gameplay-ul fiindca poti sa iti combini armele si armele sunt destul de haioase, Ai-ul destul de slab, grafica excelenta pentru anul 2010 cu o harta micuta dar plina de lucruri interesante, un minus pentru dialogurile fara sunet si nu poti sa iti schimbi butoanele cu care te joci

70%PC

I sorta' love it/I sorta' hate it. The gameplay is satisfying when using melee weapons and combining weapons, but pretty awful when using anything ranged. The human enemies you fight - the psychos - are all pretty fun with the exception of the last fight, which is a nightmare. It's a game that's fun to pick up and play, but kinda' nerve wracking when you're running around the mall trying to complete certain missions on time or rescuing survivors. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's held up since the 2010's.

85%Xbox 360

Great game.

65%PC

ok, game i had fun but rekomend getting it in a sell for a good price.

80%PC

Killing hordes of zombies with a huge variety of improvised weaponry isn't a genre present anywhere else. It's a great game to just mess around in, picking up random clothing, smashing zombie heads in and fighting away psychopaths.

90%PC

Classic game from my childhood and still the best zombie title I've ever played. So corny and weird, but enjoyable all the way through.
The series is downhill from here.

100%PC

The story was amazing. the map is good. the characters are iconic. This is the best dead rising game of the series. the weapon are great and funny and sometime it give a wink to other franchise like star wars with the lightsaber. the mission were so fun to play. The bosses were just hard enough. not like the first game that was way to hard. Will definitely replay the game from time to time

60%PC

Don't have controller support.

70%PC

7.5/10
Dead Rising 2 is an interesting game for me. I grew up with the series, but it has only been till recently that I have actually beaten them (apart from dead rising 3 when the xbox one came out), mainly being that I was more interested in roaming around and exploring the mall, rather then actually doing the main story. Playing this game, I strongly believe that Dead Rising 1 is easily better, but dr2 is still better then dead rising 3. The series in general never got better as time went on for the series, as they were never able to capture the same magic of dead rising 1 imo.

Story/Character
The story was simply... meeehhhh. My god it is simply worse then dr1 in so many ways. It is a change in tone as it tries to be a serious game, but then puts in way too many sex jokes and other humors to be practically a comedy. The other aspects like the characters were pretty short in terms of character development, and apart from few, were very one-note, which to be fair was also like the dr1 characters, but the worse story and tone made them overall worse for me. Yes also the obvious, chuck greene is a worse character then frank west yes, but imo he is still a pretty interesting character in terms of his daughter's relationship, but he is spouting out one liners and can overall be a bit plain in character development for a huge chunk of the game other then to be confused the whole game.

Gameplay
The gameplay is still the best part of the game like any dead rising game. the combo system was an amazing addition. While it did have some flaws, as it made using ordinary weapons less needed since it was easier to stack on the more stronger weapons, and the fact that it isn't as creative as in dr3, it still struck a good balance, and wasn't butt fuck broken like in dr3. The best part of the game was actually the gas zombies, they were a huge threat in the game and made roaming around that much more fun, as it became stressful whenever they surrounded me and added tension to the game as my character grew much stronger.

Music
Good overall. The mall themes were really good, and the boss themes were good as well. I will still use the Willamette mall theme for my call ringtone, and while the ost isn't something I will go back to listen on my own time, it was still pretty good to listen to and didn't feel like an aspect that hindered the game too much.

Nitpicks/last positives
-Gun combat with other soldiers was ass, poor controls and being stun locked was hella annoying
- Guns were omega nerfed in this game, they don't feel as impactful as in dr1
-Psychopaths are still really good in this game, as they should be. Still has the issue of being a slap fest till you win since you can't really easily dodge their attacks without doing stocking a ton of food to soak up the damage, or using a gun from a range to take them out.
-Overtime sucked in this game, just became a fetch quest and was nowhere near as good as dr1 overtime.
-Once again gas zombies kicked ass, easily a highlight for me in this game.

Conclusion
Dead Rising 2 was still a joy to play through. Looking back at the series it is a bit of a shame to realize the pattern of the games getting worse and worse, but the gap between dr1 and dr2 compared to dr3 and dr4 is still pretty large imo. Dead Rising 2, is still worth to play, especially if you have a friend as this game introduced coop, but man did it go bad from here in the series.
7.5/10 (8 if overtime didn't suck)

80%PC

Awful game.

90%PlayStation 4

Dead Rising 2 is a perfect Sequel. Every issue that surrounded Dead Rising 1 was fixed in this game. The main issue in DR1 was a half-baked villain that was shoved at the end of the game, and the ending felt really unsatisfied, that felt rushed. Thankfully the Devs for DR2 took their time and give the Villians in this game a proper character arc, and a motivation arc that is easy to understand that made sense in the world of Dead Rising. The pacing and structure of the story in DR2 were constructed perfectly. The game had a natural flow and a proper conclusion.

In Dead Rising 2 Case Zero I mentioned that Chuck was a better Main Character than Frank West. After completing the DR2 main game, I still believe that Chuck is the better character. The father and Daughter dynamic felt pure and realistic. Chuck's previous life before the zombie Outbreak has a purpose to the main plot of the game. The way he interacts with the cast in DR2 felt more organic and had a proper flow. Everything was done right to make a strong main character.

The new implementation of the combo weapons system was done brilliantly. It helped create many unique and interesting ideas of new weapons to use against the zombies. Plus giving 2X PP for every zombie kill was a nice feature. Plus I loved they implemented a poker system in the game. It helped pass the time when I had to wait for the next case to unlock.

Having the DR2 setting based in Vegas was such a great idea. Vegas felt alive, with all the casinos, flashy neon colors, stadiums, malls, and the dirty adult entertainment business. This is how you build a game world!

The Devs didn't disappoint with the Psycotpaths. They managed to find a way to improve upon the first game. Their motivations felt realistic based on the game setting in Vegas. Their deaths were massively improved and made sense ad realistic. Plus the Soundtrack was also improved also.

As for the downsides for DR2.

There's None!

Go Play Dead Rising 2! It's totally worth it.

60%PC

Not as good as the first one, worse map, less interesting mission structures, lot of standing around and waiting for something instead on a constant push and pull that the first game had as it came to the missions. Fine game but I don't even think I'll play Off the Record and just jump to 3 when the time is right.

70%PC

Definitely better than the first
Decent story
Better graphics and gameplay

70%PlayStation 3

Played this game for a small amount of time with open interest - never enjoyed the overall premise because I wanted the game to be possible without the timer to force decisions. Still a fun zombie killing game, never played the first so the story component was uninteresting.

90%PlayStation 3

Story 7/10
Level Design 10/10
Characters 8/10
Gameplay 10/10
Graphics 8/10
Music/Sound 8/10
Voice Acting 7/10

Difficulty NORMAL

Overall 95%

80%PC

79/100

90%PlayStation 3

In my opinion this was the best Dead Rising game in the series. I loved playing this game but the true ending was locked behind dlc that was only available on the xbox 360.

70%PC

Klobig und sperrig, Punkt!!! Nur wegen "Canon" versvollständigen gespielt, OTR war die bessere Version und selbst das ist heute dann doch schlichtweg zu "klobig & sperrig".... Bock auf DR4 jetzt!

80%Xbox 360

Dead Rising 2 is a ton of fun, so much that its numerous problems (limited combo opportunities, sometimes frustrating "bosses", a really punishing save system with only three save files available) couldn't detract me from having a blast playing it.

50%Xbox One

Dead Rising 2 is a decent game, and can be fun if you just play however you want to, as long as you get to the main objective. I say that because there's a timer for every objective you get, and if you want to complete them all it will get very stressful.
The story is alright, it doesn't make much sense but alright whatever; it's a game where you slaughter zombies with items combined into crazy weapons.

Pros

- You can combine mostly anything you can pick up into weapons/power-ups with food.
- Plenty of clothing to combine into something unique to you.
- Zombies!
- Probably more that I can't think of right now.

Cons
- Your character will occasionally drop whatever item is equipped (for instance if your character throws up), which is VERY frustrating especially during boss fights.
- The time restraints is the true enemy in this game.
- You will get grabbed by zombies constantly unless you have a special outfit equipped.
- No sprint button.
- Loading screens appear basically everywhere.

Althought I disliked certain things about Dead Rising 2, I liked a part of it. You should definitely check it out if zombies, roguelike gameplay and combo weapons is your thing.

100%PlayStation 3

I have nothing to complain about. As far as capcom dialogue goes, the game is almost passing. The online component is pretty solid. This is defiantly a top ten pick for me.

80%PlayStation 4

Still a pretty good effort but it's no DR1.

Boss and level design really took a hit here. Survivor AI improvements might make up for it for you but YMMV.

60%PC

award for most obvious plot twist, surprise they were evil the whole time.

80%Xbox 360

It makes all the necessary improvements from the first game, but keeps enough "jank" to make it feel like a Dead Rising game. One could just break down the whole game into fetch quest after fetch quest, but there is enough world here to use the basic mission design and allow the player to swim in the sandbox...which in and of itself is pretty fun. Boss fights are (occasionally) challenging and the serious tone of the story is hilarious. Fun game, quality sequel.

80%PC

This game started of looking really interesting, and then I was unleashed into the malls and found it very difficult and I didn't quite get what the game wanted from me. Then I realised that I got to keep all my levels and skills when I restarted. That's when the fun started!

Playing this game in Nvidia 3D, no doubt made this game massively more enjoyable for me. Seeing hordes of hundreds of zombies, wading through them while chopping them up, putting buckets on their heads and kicking them over never got boring. The story, although rather flaky, is told in an excellent manner and keeps you pushing on to find the truth, and get to the end game.

Loads of fun to be had here, a very solid 8/10

90%PlayStation 3

8'8

70%Xbox 360

Good combat for the most part. Cheap hits from zombies is kinda annoying though. Fun story, the timer is kinda off-putting.

80%Xbox 360

---
+ herrlich viel schwarzer Humor
+ viele Ereignisse gleichzeitig mit geringen Slowdowns
+ verschiedene Waffenkombinationsm

60%Xbox 360

fun ideas are squashed under poor design

70%PC

The game story is okay, gets boring real fast though. The loading screens really annoy me and the real-time really limits the fun (Whenever I had fun killing zombies, the next thing I know is that I ran out of time to do this quest or do that quest.) A lot of weapons and things to due in this game, and the graphics are awesome.

80%No Platform Specified

Again, Dead Rising 2 has issues. It’s not the smoothest game and it can feel like the last one, however that doesn’t mean a thing when the game’s this much fun. Using a car battery and a Street Fighter mask to electrocute the undead and a set of knives and a pair of boxing gloves to make Wolverine claws are all great times. Watching Chuck get covered in blood as he slays thousands of zombies, changing outfits so that one minute you’re in a toddler clothes with a LEGO head and the next you’re in a sundress, and listening to completely whacked out boss stories – that’s what I remember about Dead Rising 2. Any issue the game might have just falls to the backburner.