Dead rising is a zombie fanatics dream. Many games have emulated GTA’s sand-box style game play, but few have successfully lived up to their hype. Dead Rising is definitely not a game to disappoint, and Capcom have created an instant classic.

Storyline

The storyline is the usual zombie style- there’s an unexplained outbreak, with answers you must uncover. The player takes the role of Frank West- a freelance photo journalist, driven to the town of Willamette due to rumours of the biggest story of his career. However, the instant he arrives, everything is not what it seems, from the heavy National Guard presence outside the town, to the strange rioting acts around the city. Once arriving at the Willamette mall, Frank befriends a government agent called Brad and his partner Jessie. Frank also meets Otis, one of the surviving employees of the mall, who the player will become very used to throughout the game. I won’t uncover much about the plot, but it does contain plenty of twists to keep it interesting throughout.

OVERALL STORY: 7/10

Game play

The very basic core game play is to simply survive 72 hours (3 days) within the mall. Speed is of course sped up – an in game day is about 2 hour’s real time. EVERY mission in the game is entirely optional, even the main storyline. The entire mall is available right from the start of the game. Few games have this true sandbox style game play. Even in Grand Theft Auto some missions were required to be completed before more content was unlocked, but that’s not the case here. The story missions themselves are relatively entertaining, but you will most likely just play them for the storyline. Missions involve either killing someone, saving someone or a combination. There are a few exceptions, but generally each mission has a similar feel. In addition to the storyline missions, optional missions can be obtained from Otis via a walkie-talkie, or just by being in the right place at the right time. These missions, similar to the main missions, usually involve killing someone or saving someone. Although, unlike some of the storyline missions, some of these are generally well thought out and interesting. One example is another photographer, who you meet each day to be tasked with a different photo challenge (more on photos later). There are three playable modes, though the main 72 hour mode is the most interesting, and I won’t spoil the other two for you.

You will meet over 50 fellow survivors in the game, and they are divided into 2 categories: survivors and psychopaths. Survivors are people who have somehow managed to make their way to the mall. You can have up to 8 survivors follow you at any time, and though you are supposed to escort them to the mall security room (one of the few safe areas in the game), they can be useful in drawing attention away from yourself, as well as providing additional firepower. You can use basic commands which tell them to follow you or stay put, but leaving them too long tends to get them killed. Their Intelligence isn’t particularly great, and they tend to run into objects and only attack when they themselves are being attacked. Psychopaths are people who due to the zombie outbreak have become insane, and come in many different forms. These include a crazy clown with dual wielded chainsaws, an arsonist who thinks everyone is making fun of him, and 3 criminals who have escaped from the local prison and acquired a military jeep. Early on in the game these bosses can be very challenging, but each have a weakness, are interesting to fight, and provide gruesome cut scene when you kill them! The game features a simple RPG style system, where earning enough PP (Prestige points) boosts you up to the next level, providing a new skill or power-up, such as new hand-to-hand moves or extra health. These new skills are randomly generated, so you may get an awesome head ripping move at level 17, then get a health boost for the next 2-3 levels. You can earn PP by killing bosses, saving people, performing special moves or special interactions. The most unique, however, is to take photos. Being a journalist, Frank has a camera, for proof of his story. Take a photo and the game will register several different factors, such as how many zombies, survivors etc are on screen, and assign it to a category. These include Brutality for particularly gruesome scenes, to erotica for sexual themed photos (weird- who would of thought of zombies as sexy?). Some objects and characters have PP stickers attached to them, taking a photo of these things can provide a huge PP boost- sometimes gaining you several level ups when just starting. At the start of the game you are very weak- you probably won’t be able to stand up to many zombies and you certainly will have a hard time killing the game’s psychopath bosses. Once you gain higher levels however, you will become almost unstoppable- at level 50, the games highest level, a kick can kill a zombie! Perhaps the main attraction in Dead Rising is the zombies. Many other zombie games, such as Resident Evil, have a few zombies in an area who aren’t much of a challenge. Dead Rising, on the other hand, has a swarm engine, and there can be up to 800 zombies on screen at any time. This can make for some jaw dropping encounters, as you are literally knee deep in the undead. Your fists are usually pretty rubbish to use against them, unless you have unlocked special moves. So how do you deal with so many damn zombies? Simply, use whatever is at hand.

The game has literally hundreds of different weapons, ranging from ranged weapons like pistols and shotguns, sharp weapons such as chainsaws and Katanas, blunt weapons such as bowling balls and benches, to the downright obscure such as handbags and bags of flour. Almost everything you can see is a weapon, and simply experimenting with all the different weapons is immensely fun. Wondered what whacking a zombie with a guitar is like? Go to the music store and grab one. Want to hit zombies in the face with golf balls? Grab a club and start driving. The sheer amount of weapons makes the game really unique, and very fun to play. Vehicles can also be used in the malls small outside area, but handle rather clunky and are not as interesting or inventive a weapon as a toy laser sword. Food is also littered around the mall to refill your health, and can also be mixed in blenders to create unique juices that can do things such as improve your speed or make all zombies in the area attack you. Overall, the game play is top notch in dead rising.

OVERALL: 9/10

Graphics

Being a launch title, the graphics may have aged slightly but are still technically outstanding. Few other games can boast about the sheer amount of enemies it can have on screen, and this is the games graphical standout. The games textures and models are good across the board, though there are some occasional muddy environment textures and there is a small amount of slowdown in the games finale. some blocky animations take away from the games generally fantastic visuals but overall this is a great looking game.

OVERALL: 8/10

Sound

I seriously do not believe that any other game has better Foley work than dead rising. Every weapon has a unique and satisfying sound, making them even more pleasurable to use. Voice acting is of a high standard, though voices are only used in cut scenes and the player is reduced to reading text though out most of the game. The music for boss battles is varied and fitting, including Rock, Rap and other music forms. The only music letdown is the mall music – like a real mall’s music, its insanely annoying and repetitive, but you could just play your own music through the 360’s music menu, which is just as good I suppose.

Final Verdict

Dead rising is a truly original game, with unique features and game play. Graphics and sound wise the game is pretty impressive, and the game is simply very fun to play, though the missions can occasionally lack variety, and poor Ai do let the game down sometimes. If you love zombies, violence or just want something to loosen your anger, Dead Rising is the game for you.

FINAL GRADE: 8/10

Although Assassin’s Creed has beautiful visuals, repetitive game play hampers what could otherwise be hailed a gaming classic.

Storyline

The start of the game sees you playing as Desmond Miles, a bartender from the near future. This may seem strange, as this game was shown in the previews to be set during the crusades, several hundred years ago. Well, this is sort of the case. It seems that Desmond is a descendant of Altair, a famous Assassin during the Crusades. Desmond has been kidnapped by a group of scientists, who strap him into a machine, called the Animus, and read his memories for an unknown reason. The player plays as Altair during these memory periods, and when not strapped into the machine you play as Desmond as he walks around his cell figuring out what the heck is going on. The plot is certainly interesting and fresh, but does get quite silly and lacks a definitive ending. I don’t want to spoil too much for you, but lets just say when the credits start rolling you’ll probably be thinking “Huh!? It’s over!?”.

OVERALL: 6/10

Game Play

When you first enter the Animus, you are given a quick tutorial for the basic controls, and then thrust into a cave to learn about the games unique free running movement. This is one of the games greatest implemented features. Holding the right trigger puts Altair into ‘fast’ mode, and running up to a wall or running to the edge of a building’s roof will make him jump. It’s a little tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be jumping off buildings and climbing epic movie style. The first level, set in Masayef, the home of your assassin order, serves as the final tutorial, and teaches you the basics of combat, completing missions and also let you get acquainted with free running. After this, it’s off to your first assassination. The areas in Assassin’s Creed are divided into several sections and cities. There’s Masayef, Damascus, Acre, Jerusalem and the Kingdom. All but the Kingdom are very large, detailed cities, thought that’s not to say the kingdom isn’t. It’s littered with small villages and military camps for both the Saracens and the Crusaders. Bizarrely, despite the fact the game is set during a war, neither faction is ever seen attacking each other, save for a scripted encounter later in the game. The world isn’t entirely open to you, and this (for some reason) includes the cities. When you receive a new mission, a small area of the city and kingdom is opened up to you, until you finally get near to the end of the game, when the entire game area is available to roam about freely. The excuse for this is that when you reach a barrier your ‘memory cannot be accessed’. It is strange, but I guess it prevents people from exploring the world too early. The cities are all unique and seem to have their own lighting effects. My personal favourite is Acre, the only crusader owned city, because it has the most unique architecture. Around these cities are thousands of inhabitants, but only few are available to interact with in side missions. Guards also litter the cities, and acting suspiciously can get you involved in a pretty fierce fight – or flight, depending on your play style. AI is incredible on guards at times, as they too have some minor free running abilities, and can give you a good chase even across rooftops.

Weapons are limited in Assassin’s Creed. There’s a sword, short sword, throwing knives and coolest of all, a hidden blade. Your fists can also be used, but fist fights are rare. The game’s combat system is based on counter attacks and button timing. There are several different moves that you unlock as you progress through the game, but the only one you are likely to use is the anti counter move, as it is easy and very effective. When you kill an enemy, you are rewarded with a gruesome and satisfying animation, ranging from simple stabbings to neck breaking to impaling a blade in their skull. I found that these never got old, and are still incredibly awesome to watch. Unfortunately, this counter system makes the combat incredibly easy, even when faced with dozens of opponents. The enemies do not attack you when you’re knocked to the ground, and only one will attack you at a time. Most of them just stay out of the way until you come to them. Enemies have a tendency to run away, unless there is a lieutenant with them.The general combat is fun, but simple.

Perhaps the biggest letdown for Assassin’s Creed is the missions. Before you are allowed to proceed with a mission, you must gather intelligence. These Intel missions include pick pocketing, interrogating, eavesdropping and talking to informants. Eavesdropping is entirely effortless, and consists of sitting on a bench and zooming in on a bunch of people. The pick pocketing missions can be done in a matter of seconds, and the interrogation missions consist of just beating the crap out of someone until they talk. The Informant missions are the most interesting, and come in two forms. The first is collecting a series of flags in a time limit. Usually they are in a row of free running combo’s and not particularly hard. The most interesting are the timed ‘mini assassinations’. You usually have a few minutes to take care of targets in the nearby vicinity. These missions are truly assassin like, as you cannot be spotted. The mission’s lack of depth is not their main problem, however. For each assassination, the missions are almost identical, just in different areas with different people. The actual assassinations are no different, and only really become interesting near the finale. The lack of stealth is also puzzling- no matter how quiet you kill your target, you always end up having to run away from the entire city whose telepathic abilities have revealed that you’ve just killed someone. It’s a shame, as a true assassin wouldn’t be noticed. Around the cities there are other mission types as well, which also get repetitive. Around each city are citizens in need of rescue, and helping them provides you with a few people who stand around and block guards when you’ve pissed them off. I personally did not like this, as it detracts from the more movie-like feel of some of the battles. There’s also a Templar knight hunt and flag hunting, but these feel like a bit of an afterthought. Most interesting is the view point missions, which are actually pretty much essential anyway. In each district of a city and in the kingdom are high points to scale. Reaching the top of these enables you to synchronise your map, and reveal any missions in the surrounding area. I felt myself climbing them for the breathtaking views found at the top, but if you do not care for this you will need to climb them anyway.

AI is dodgy on occasions. For example, in the kingdom, if you are running on your horse, the guards instantly decide your evil and will try to kill you. It’s strange and ruins the atmosphere a bit, as I’m sure there is no speed limit for horses in the desert. Another is if you just kill someone and stand next to their body, but “blend” (looks like your praying) next to the body, the guards will be none the wiser, despite the fact you’re the only one in the area who is armed at all. But when you stop “blending”, the guards wake up and attack you. It really doesn’t make sense, and ruins the atmosphere of the game on occasions. So, fun, but flawed.

OVERALL: 6/10

Graphics

Assassin’s Creed is definitely one of the best looking games released on the 360 so far. Everything is beautiful, from the models to the shadows to the completely natural animations. Everything is damn near perfect. Well, almost. There are some occasional graphical glitches, including dead bodies bouncing around the place and some incredibly bad slowdown during the more intense scenes. The developers certainly crammed in as much visual awesomeness as they could, and it is indeed a joy to watch. One bad point is the game’s HUD. It detracts from the medieval feel, and can be annoying. I personally play the game without the HUD, which I feel improves the atmosphere greatly. Overall, the games not too bad in this department.

OVERALL: 9/10

Sounds

The sound is above average in this game. Voice acting is fairly good, but the characters themselves are not really memorable and as such, neither are their voices. The sounds of the cities are realistic, and give even more of an authentic feel to the game. Sword combat sounds great, with the predicted twings and twangs as swords clash, as well as the meaty sound followed by a blood curdling scream as another enemy falls victim to your swords. Overall, good but could be better.

OVERALL: 7/10

Final Verdict

Assassin’s Creed is a game that we all so desperately wanted to be good, and it is good on many levels. Unfortunately, is also fails on many levels, including repetitive mission structure, a confusing story and some average sound. So, although Assassin’s Creed has beautiful visuals, repetitive game play hampers what could otherwise be hailed a gaming classic.

FINAL GRADE: 6/10