This reminds me of a sad childhood where we had no digibox or skybox for cartoon channels and all i had was Simpsons, Malcolm in the middle and James bond recorded on blank VHS 😢
40:48 This one-liner is actually brilliant because not only he uses “saw” as a pun, the context he uses it in is really great. Seymour says “I’m twice the man you are.” right before getting sawed into two pieces. Chuck saying “I saw what you did there.” acts both as a pun for the saw but also implies what Seymour did, albeit accidentally, is also a pun.
The primary reason why I like Chuck as a protagonist is because his stalwart appearance opposes the dorky one liners. He looks more like a traditional handsome protagonist unlike Frank West. It's not a competition to me, I love both characters. The power fantasy fades when he acts cool when he is by himself when dispatching Psychopaths. I am certain the Kenji Infune provided the design for Chuck's outfit while Blue Castle designed the face. Yellow is a color meant to represent courage while in the US yellow is used as treachery or cowardice. That juxtaposition is how Chuck was the fall guy and is willing to stop at nothing to be a fair man and treated as honorable. The color theory still is in effect because Brad in DR1 had a yellow button up and served as the "traditional" hero archetype, and in his death cutscene with Frank passes the desire for justice to Frank. (The scene which Brad passes his gun to Frank). Frank West was meant to look like a everyday guy while Chuck Greene has a vibrant color which makes him stand out. Both have their appeal toward different crowds. Something I feel like the critique missed was Chuck's development from the Case Zero prequel. Where his personal conviction to protect his daughter is his greatest character trait and primary flaw. Chuck emotionally damages as much as he protects. On a side note, I like how Chuck finds his yellow leather jacket as he dawns it like a suit of armor. Chuck's mighty steed is replaced with a motorcycle. Also, how Arthur's armor is further to emphasize how Chuck is a gallant knight as his the Lady he serves is to his daughter Katey. The prominent use of the number 4 intrigued me. It is because 4 is considered an unlucky number in Japan. With it being similar to usage of the word death. So this would mean that Chuck Greene is a man marked for death, or that he is a bringer of death. I am more inclined to believe he is marked for Death because most of the endings for Chuck are a result of him being killed off in the narrative. The canonical ending is A instead of S, which is where Chuck is attacked by TK in the elevator. With the number 4, it adds to the fatalism to his character in Off The Record and his apperance in Dead Rising 3. The bringer of Death interpretation is based on his Psychopath monologue, where he is morbidly acknowledging the fun to kill zombies. Bringing death to the undead. It is not supposed to be calling out the player, but a wink to how Dead Rising itself has fun with the concept. For me, Chuck is amazing in his apperance because he fulfills Capcom's intrigue to appeal to the Western market, by which a flawed but courageous knight.
really excellent character analysis. if there is one thing that these original 3 Dead Rising games (1, 2, and otr) is they had some real storytelling ambition to go along with the over-the-top gameplay.
@leavemealone I know this is late, but you can get a full suit of armor. You have to save a survivor for the helmet, buy the boots for 2 million, and get the S Rank ending to get the chestplate.
Honestly as time goes on I kind of regret saying some of that stuff. It's definitely cheesy and over the top, but at least it's a hint of the game not taking itself so seriously. Glad you liked it all the same. Cheers bud.
@@Dorkaxe To be completely honest I'd find it weird if people _didn't_ know who Chuck was considering he was being blamed for kicking off the Fortune City outbreak and things like television still worked. Although the fact there aren't more psychopaths like Brandon being so twistedly grateful that Chuck "started" the outbreak and giving them an excuse to let their inner darkness rise to the surface and consume them is a bit disappointing in my opinion. I mean the whole dichotomy of Chuck and the psycho's pre and post-fight banter having him denying it and wanting to find whomever did it while the psycho just refuses to acknowledge it is great in my opinion. I will say I'm kind of sad they didn't do something like having an extremist branch of CURE made of people like Brandon post-outbreak running amok in Fortune City thinking Chuck is some grand revolutionary who took the ultimate step in punishing those who view zombie killing as nothing more than entertainment, a true believer in "the cause," akin to the cultists in the first game is kind of a missed opportunity in my opinion. This is just a rough idea but I feel like it would've been a good way to have CURE play more of a part in the story other than the one boss fight, Stacy's whole character, and the CURE protestor zombies you can find while roaming the map. I feel like it would've been a good way to show more of why CURE is more controversial than you'd expect in the story along with being a good example of how every movement, no matter how well-intentioned, has groups of extremists just waiting for the chance to go nuts. Like I said it's just a rough idea I came up with as I was writing this comment, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like this was tossed around by the devs at some point in DR2's development.
1:05:36 Yes, this would absolutely rip you in half. You'd got a parachute cord getting pulled by a helicopter with Sulivan's top half directly attached to it, and then his lower half in held down to the ground by another tether with his body holding them together in the middle. It's basically the whole thing about a chain being only strong as it's weakest link. But instead of rolled cast iron, that weakest link is soft squishy human flesh.
This is one of the worst reviews I’ve ever seen. Complains about people saying the main characters name and complains about bad guys killing then selves in cutscenes. Nitpick at its finest
slappy can be stunlocked by jump kicking him. once you learn that, he becomes easily the worst boss in the game. also, your firework launcher was to the left by the cleroux collection
Oh wow, good eye! I never saw it there. I wonder if that's why the spear launcher didn't disappear after the first hit. Maybe it's two or three hits then two handed weapons vanish.
@@Dorkaxe I loved doing the jump kick everywhere in this game, it stuns so many bosses and does a lot of damage hahaha. I was surprised when you used the water gun for Slappy, I had no idea that was possible lol.
@@AnnaBerry590 jump kick is great, was very sad to see it go in 3 and 4, way worse there. Happy you liked this video and the first one, I think my later stuff is better, so ideally you'll like the other videos even more lol
I legit stayed up for three days straught punching zombies in the game, because if you kill a certain amount of zombies with only punches you get a shawn of the dead costume and i love that movie
@@adriansalinas6755 Killed 1,000 zombies barehanded, best place for it is the dice green area just outside the exit of the safehouse, the fence around the green area makes zombies unable to grab you but your punches land
Say what you will about Brandon but you cannot convince me it was a perfect musical fit for an Italian restaurant chef and a wannabe cowboy security guard
52:34 Wouldn't be supprised if Stacy was the orginal bad guy twist as that always felt more natural but they changed it to Sullivan because initially he was more antagonistic to the making him a red herring but they walked back on it to create that family dynamic for Chuck Stacy and Katey. 57:11 *Laughs in Metal Gear*
In terms of DR2 reusing artistic elements from DR1, I actually appreciate it more than simply creating new things (with reason of course). For example, similar posters on the wall and same stuff in the music store really sells that the Dead Rising universe exists, and is consistent. I think it's actually more immersive than if none of the fictional culture elements of DR1 carried over, because it just feels like I'm in a real alternate world.
With the combo cards, it's worth mentioning that most rooms have spare items for at least 1 combo weapon. At least on a first playthrough it would be surprising and teach you new combos. The room you pass returning to the safe house gives you nails and a bat, but at that point it's so consistent I don't know why the nail bat itself isn't just sitting there. Sometimes I swing by rooms out of the way because I know it has a specific item I need for a better combo, or sometimes if it's not a room I know and I'm desperate I still swing by to check what it might give me. Items could definitely have more combos instead of just 1 or 2, and lot of the combo items that are there are a novelty. The drill bucket, air horn, and the electric guitar come to mind, even if I would force myself to use the guitar cause I liked it so much. You also can't give combo weapons to survivors. The system needed more work and I'm curious what 3 added or changed. I know you can craft on the fly which changes the room dynamic, but I feel like it would bring about its own issues.
Two women help you at every turn in the story, and two women are side antagonists who fight you to the death, but because they are portrayed sexually they are now objects? I really dont think you understand what objectification really is man...
Probably one of my favorite games featuring zombies and my favorite DR game, Idk what exactly it is (given that I don't like timers in games and I missed it a lot in DR4) but I keep replaying this game over and over, I love it, the characters, the location, the cheesiness, the graphics, the audio, the gameplay, everything. I know there are way better games out there, but this one is very special for me.
I can agree with most of your opinions, but you're pretty heavy-handed in claiming that Dead Rising is sexist. Because female characters are conventionally attractive and, in the case of the sisters, are flirtatious, they're objects? Never mind the fact that you can dress Chuck in whatever your heart desires. Let's just acknowledge that something can be considered gross, overused, and/or distasteful without having to resort to implying that there's some sort of trend of disrespect towards women or that a mostly male writing team somehow has any impact on this perspective (Referencing the point you made in the Dead Rising 1 review).
Yeah not a fan of some of my early work on this channel, and the sexist talking points are among the takes I regret the most. I feel like I could have worded how I felt much better, and if I had made the DR videos nowadays, I would have definitely put more thought and effort into it. I mean, to put it in perspective, back then I had like 40 subs, had no idea what I was doing, made the video in like a week, and didn't even watch Dawn of the Dead at that point. Like, wtf past Dorkaxe lmao
@@Dorkaxe You're fine, mate! Honestly, a majority of your points are either well thought out (Like how you broke down the details of Willamette Mall's atmosphere and store layouts) or at least chalked up to personal preference (Like keeping the theme of Chef Antione classic Italian instead of metal, which, on a side-note, is probably an indicator that he's no longer a jolly chef but a crazed man that cooks slop). It's honestly hard to convey what points you might still have regarding these games in general, so maybe a follow-up at some point might be nice. Maybe there are details you didn't initially catch or maybe certain bosses grew on you. Maybe there's a story mode element in either game that makes more or less sense looking back. Your channel, but I'd be interested! :D
@@daddy-odizzy5180 There is a part of me that wants to do a re-review of sorts, especially of the first game. Maybe at some point I can do a full DR 1-4 video with better quality audio and better perspective.
@@Dorkaxe Oh ok, that helps me a lot. I was really bothered by all the sexism points. My wife liked and laughed at those and enjoyed them, and my best friend loves that kind of stuff (both women). The super exaggerated walks for the two women cracked us up. I we don't want all these things taken out of gaming. The sex negative perspectives i've been hearing online are an odd social gaming pressure and results in a kind of soft censorship. Like talking to a person missing a pretty big point about the campy nature of the story. I'll watch the rest of these reviews understanding you were new and maybe a little captured by the online discourse at the time, that'll help me be more open minded to you in the future. Good luck and good video.
About the levelling system, I found it mostly fine. Chuck moved at a manageable speed and at one end of the royal flush plaza (and I think the other) you can get a wheelchair pretty easily and there's a store with skateboards right next to the safehouse which was definitely appreciated with Chuck's early game walking speed. I agree with the combo card complaint with levelling up. It got a bit frustrating that the game seemed to give you them more frequently than giving you better stats. But, it didn't really hinder my overall experience of my first run. I pretty easily got the true ending on my first run, missing one psychopath, failing to beat two others and saving 40 of the 50 survivors. It was difficult but more than possible. And I think it would've been possible to save everyone. Maybe I got lucky. I do think a faster running speed would've still helped the early game feel nicer and helped me keep up with the deadlines for side missions I missed. Edit: Love your idea for calling for non-marked survivors to let you know where they are. Even and "I'm up here" would be nice for Jasper 😂
I eventually mention in my Chop till you Drop video that I never realized the skateboard trick. I feel silly for complaining about speed so much since they had a really interesting workaround that utilized the inventory management system.
@@Dorkaxe yeah, I think it's a pretty clever design choice tbh. Sacrificing one or two inventory slots for skateboards and speed boosts in that early game probably makes understanding balancing the inventory with different kinds of items easier for the player at the start too. I think. I like stuff like that. Teaching the player things using the mechanics 😂
I only noticed for the 1st time through watching this, if you fail the Bibi mission it will briefly display the “defected” status before she detonates the explosive.
14:50 This was by far the most bitter pill to swallow when I returned to these games years after initially playing them. Thankfully though if you play these games "as intended" you are never really forced to come to this realization until the game is already almost over since rescuing survivors, killing psychopaths and doing the story keep you occupied for a majority of the time you spend playing.
19:25 Looks like an AI is playing lol Puts down spear to pick up spear. Walks into room puts spear on table Picks up spear turns around throws it at zombie What was the point lol?
45:10 "Pointlessly fast." It's supposed to make the fight more alarming and also you probably haven't played Manhunt, but he moves exactly like the boss Piggsy from that game intentionally as a reference.
I very much enjoyed this review and I'm so glad to see people talk about this game to this day. I loved playing Dead Rising 2 when I was little and I always seem to look back on how I would always rage at the game when I'd die to a psychopath, every time I load up the game. And as a matter of fact, I even just recently achieved S rank, and I was so elated when I finally beat it, knowing that I finally got to enjoy my favorite game to the fullest. This game really stands out to me in the series and really hits home because of how it was just a part of my childhood. I get how people would prefer Frank over Chuck, but I absolutely loved Chuck as a character. I feel like the addition of Katey and going back to the safe house to give her zombrex adds even more to the already jam-packed amount of things you can do. I also love the different endings and outcomes you could take, like choosing to give TK zombrex or not, or saving different survivors or not. I love the different amount of tasks you can do as well, with the choice to do them or not. Overall, 10/10 review, subscribed.
I totally feel the same way about this game. I never understood why people didn't like Chuck so much. It does make sense that people see his tough guy persona as robotic, but I found it really interesting when you see his persona shatter at different points in the game. Especially in alternate ending cutscenes, like when Katie dies :(
39:35 No what actually happened to you there specifically is an unfortunate clip glitch where sometimes items fall through the ground. It can even rarely happen when you drop and item. Sometimes even survivors can clip through the ground, but there's a failsafe implemented where they instantly teleport right next to you if this happens.
I think both are pretty difficult with the starting slow movement speed to do it level 1. Level 50 I'm sure it probably is easier since more areas are connected. Since the mall is smaller, it seems more suited to the slow starting speed.
The amount of times he complains about the oversexualization of women is kind of annoying like. Yeah we know it's all there but jesus christ just stop saying it
The similar looking store look the same because they are. They’re the same stores from dead rising 1. They’re not copy and pasted for no reason it’s because it’s a chain location.
1. Pick and use skateboard before entering safe place 2. Zombrex in the game is more than enough. You must find it and finish some side missions 3. Use jump kick to stun slappy 4. You must use leadership magazine when saving injured survivors. 5. Instead of walking use pushcarts, wheel chair, skate board or drink quick step before traveling.
I still don’t know why Chuck is so slow as even in DR1 you had two speed upgrades. At max the game feels like a slog in comparison. Still fun but that decision makes me wonder to this day.
@@cloverismydog7820 But vehicles were always a fair trade even back in OG. It took up an item slot and even big items you could simply push always had that utility. Not saying you’re wrong it just feels weird trying to emphasize that via reduction. Specially since you’re just about as limited with vehicles here like in DR1.
Great review! DR2 vanilla is my personal favorite entry of the series but I can understand why many fans prefer the original. Still, I'd like to defend certain aspects that I think don't deserve the level of criticism they receive. "Chuck Greene is a bad protagonist/Frank was better" - I can understand this complaint. Chuck is a very stoic character and he doesn't have the camera mechanic that Frank has. That said, I'd argue that outside of memes, Frank doesn't have much of a personality wither and Chuck's desire to keep his daughter from turning into a zombie is a more endearing and engaging goal than Frank trying to get a scope, especially when the first DR didn't handle the mysterious aspect all that well imo. I also think having a character as deadpan as Chuck being in such absurd situations is very amusing. "The combo weapons stop you from experimenting with normal weapons" - Two words: Mini Chainsaws. Well, those and The Real Megabuster. Sure, DR1 didn't have has many different kinds of OP weapons, but they still existed and any player trying to be as efficient as possible would just beat Adam one day one, get the three magazines for the chainsaws, and be set for the rest of the game. I'd argue that the combo weapons requiring a weapon bench, and needing two specific weapons, adds to the time management heart of DR since it still requires you to plan out your routes. Overall, I may like DR1's atmosphere more, but DR2 is just more consistently enjoyable. The AI isn't a nightmare to deal with, the controls for your barehanded moves are more sensible, and DR2 has better pacing, imo. DR1 has too much downtime, especially on days three and four.
Very good points. I agree Chuck has much better motivations, and can definitely see what you mean about his deadpan contrasting well the over-the-top surroundings. I just think Frank was better written/delivered. It sounded more natural. Frank being trying to get a scoop was eh, but it also makes perfect sense and fits with the story. I can see what you mean with the combo weapon point, it's just not appealing to me, and if anything you could argue removing the mini-chainsaws/edged weapons magazines would balance it out a bit. Be prepared for a salty DR3 video coming soon lmao
@@Dorkaxe Oh, I'm definitely expected it to be salty. DR3 was a clear drop in quality, and DR4 is even worse. I wonder how different the team at Capcom Vancouver was for DR3/4 because I thought they had a pretty clear understanding of what made DR1 work when they made 2/OTR.
@@WaddleDee105 I don't know about any changes within the team structure, but my bet would be that they weren't a great fit for the series, and we kinda got lucky that they tried to stick so close to the DR1 feel for the sequel. If their vision for this franchise was DR3 and beyond, then I call DR2/DR2OTR a fluke tbh.
@@Dorkaxe I dont know if I agree about them getting lucky. My main reasoning is the blender in Americana casino and skateboard shop in royal flush. Both are close to the safe room. You can get skateboards from the shop. The bar is stocked with wine and vodka which makes it easy to stock up on quick steps and painkillers. Both make low level time management so much easier. Dr2 definitely lost what made the first game special but if I'm only talking about the gameplay it's a night and day improvement.
Ya I'm just gunna say it this is an L video DR2 is amazing I think even better than 1 can't wait for the DR1 remake tho hopefully they make a DR2 remake aswell.
That's great to hear, thanks! Probably not OTR, but 99% likely for DR3, at some point. Probably won't be for a while. I don't want to get burned out with zombies and not appreciate it. I hear OTR is very VERY similar to DR2, and it plays just as poorly on PC, so I wasn't sure if it was worth it.
So hype he did another video! And looking forward to the 3rd and 4th game reviews. If I could suggest. Not off the record even if you didn’t make the video. I’d say it’s too similar but case zero and west could make for a nice half hour video in the meantime of other content so u don’t get burned out doing the next games in the series! :)
I played Dead Rising 2 back when it came out and liked it, even if I struggled with the difficulty at the time. Lots of years later, I tried playing the PC port of the original Dead Rising, but couldn't get into it for some reason, even though I liked a lot of it. Your video on the original is what got me to play and complete the game, and now I came back to check out the sequel as well. Overall, I enjoyed my time with these games and I appreciate these videos both for your overview, as well as the entertainment and comments on everything. My point is: good videos, thanks for making them and convincing me to try the original Dead Rising again :)
That's awesome to hear, man, seriously. I really like DR1 and 2, and I'm happy you've given them a shot. I agree the PC port for DR 2 isn't great. I talk about it in my DR2 OTR video, basically I had to use an xbox 360 controller, which felt awful. It also crashed quite often, which isn't ideal no matter what, but especially with the DR save system. If you do give DR2 some more time, I'd recommend the 360 controller and saving whenever possible.
I'm not gonna start with the talk about women being objects, but idk if the people is implying that in the game, I'm not saying its good to make womens just blank slates, but the female characters do got personalities other then just being sexy, plus, its a 2010 game, its 13 years old, imagine if it came out in 2023, yeeeeah, wouldn't go well, I'm not throwing shades at you, it kinda annoyed me a bit because it sounds like what a Twitter user would complain about, again, no shades, you're video is very good and I'm a dead rising fan as well, and I hated how in dead rising 4, they didn't add psychopaths because the butthurt gamers would get offended by their portrayal of mental health, welp, hope they're happy because we got boring maniacs with no personalities, and the 3rd time, no shade, video is fantastic, its just that small comment it bothered me but it didn't hinder me from liking the video, keep up the awesome work! xD
Dude I loved this and the first video. I’m shocked you don’t have thousands of views if not hundred thousand. Great work and professional critique. Keep it up man. There will always be people who watch and some like me who will acknowledge the effort put into videos. Thanks for the entertainment today!
@@Dorkaxe np thanks for 3 hours of content to watch! Def gonna watch some non dead rising reviews. Saw u did Star Wars OG battlefront review so I’ll check that out
Oh also the Cure Protestor can easily be manipulated with a gun. If you dip in and oit of the bathroom door he will keep turning around to chase you then run away, but never get close to you because when you cross the door's threshold it essentially tells the boss you're leaving or something. Figured that out eariler today.
When it comes to the zombie bride, there's one line that would have been better there. "May death do you apart" instead of "You may now kiss the bride".
1 will always be my favorite since playing it when I was 11 in 2007, but man does this game come close. I remember being so excited for it. It was my first year of high school and pretty sure I got a D in Microsoft office class because of this game. Good review my guy. I didn't agree with all of your points but I appreciate the love, work, and effort you put into these reviews. I mean one could even say these reviews are "FANTASTIC"
In regards to the psychopaths there was usually a way to make the fight easier in or near the area you fight them, for the chef you had the right idea using ranged weapons to interrupt his healing if you look on the shelves there are stacks of plates which you throw like a frisbee and hold 10 or 30 plates in a stack you were supposed to use those to fight him. As for the Slappy fight in the toy store there are bags of marbles that if you throw in front of him he slips and falls so you can beat him on the ground this makes the fight much simpler. I can't recall any of the tricks for the other ones since I haven't played in years but I remember that almost all has something like that to them.
Great review! I was going to watch your review of this game first since it's what I grew up playing and never got to play the first one, but I took your recommendation and watched your review of the first Dead Rising before this one. It made everything you said make a lot more sense. I had no idea they had to make this game from the ground-up. Very interesting stuff! 😊
some things you missed (still watching the video so there may be more to add) the shops prices being overpriced is done on purpose, the shops are ran by looters, they aren't going to be giving fair deals to people are they, but you can bring the prices down by 10/20% if you have the bargaining 1 and 2 magazines, following this, you mentioned katey presumably just dies in the cutscene (off screen) but you missed one of the other cutscenes that plays when the timer for 'find katey zombrex' or 'give katey zombrex' expires, this is a scene where katey again is off screen with stacy turning around to see katey having turned into a zombie (this is again off screen but you can hear some slight zombie noises) stacey then looking shocked followed by side stepping out of the room.
You can’t shit on the game for how you had to open the map to navigate. You can set a waypoint and the arrow points to it Instead of the objective your logic is flawed in that regard
13:27 ... Okay the zombie mask is a separate item first off. That's dubbed the "Goblin mask." Secondly, you didn't pick up on that Street Fighter reference? You make an electric weapon out of it because that's the face of Blanka from Street Fighter who has electrical capabilities. Not knocking you if you didn't know, but I'm surprised.
Having an angle in this game about rights for zombies is such a missed opportunity. The rights group could have very easily been shining light on the American health care system, because Zombrex is quite literally a life-saving medication, like an EpiPen or insulin, but the result of someone not getting Zombrex is literally a crisis because they become a zombie and can infect other people and cause an outbreak. Narratively, this should have been a layup. The first Dead Rising didn't have an issue with pointing out America's unhealthy relationship with food and over-consumption of meat, but these guys are afraid to throw some shade at Big Pharma and the general US health care system? HUGE missed opportunity. I mean, I guess the whole plot kind of does that with the whole, "Starting an outbreak to make more Zombrex" thing but it seems like the protestors had a much clearer and more reasonable role they could play.
Late comment but I'm currently replaying the DR games and happened to find this video. To me this is the best game in the series, I like the characters and story and the gameplay is a lot tighter than in the original. The "romance" between Chuck and Stacey is hinted at during a few cutscenes throughout but it's very subtle and sadly not fleshed out enough to warrant the ending, I know it's a random thing to comment about but I tend to like a good romance in my games. For me it's decent, especially because I like the characters, as mentioned, but it could have been made a bit more obvious during the campaign.
I think Chucks running speed is why they put the store with skateboards right next to the safehouse hallway. Once i realized that was there i always just skated up & down that hallway. Ps4 port has DLC clothing & there is a pair of running shoes that really increase his speed.
Yeah the skateboard is a big oversight I had imo. I eventually figured it out and praised the skateboard in my Chop Till You Drop video since it's such a genius tradeoff idea. Sacrificing 1 inventory slot for faster movement is so clever
I know Im late but I was able to kill Randy on my first playthrough at level 23 or something by jumping over the pews and isles to buy myself time to heal. Also because survivor AI is massively improved you can turn any boss fight into a joke regardless of your level by getting 3 or more survivors and giving them all guns which arent hard to find if you know where to look. For example I did Slappy at a low level for my first playthrough in under a minute by picking up the angel lust band and giving them all assault rifles from the mercenaries robbing banks at that time (If youre not doing the main quest you can give there is also the gun shop in palisades plaza and the lmg in yukitan). While I distracted Slappy with my bat they formed a firing line and melted him in seconds. Was extremely satisfying for a boss who always gave me trouble playing this as a kid.
There's a reason there were more than a few videos _literally_ called "Survivor Death Squad killing X psychopath" when DR2 and DR2:OTR came out. I think that, personally, the survivors having the capability to absolutely fuck psychopaths when grouped up is, while realistic, a tad too powerful. This is why I probably would've made it so that any survivors you were currently escorting just despawn or "hide" when you fight a psychopath. That's just my opinion on this specific matter, I'm not a game designer and I can see why the devs decided to course-correct so hard from the near totally brain-dead AI of the DR1 survivors. Although I'm pretty sure that the "Death Squad" survivors wasn't intentional since they either would've done something to balance it against the improved AI the surivors have, along with doing something in the marketing with it, _or_ making sure players can't do it outside of potentially glitching the game. tl;dr: DR2/OTR survivors are great with melting psychopaths, depending on the group size and what you arm them with. And they might just be a tad bit _too_ good in my opinion, although players who like steamrolling bosses with groups of survivors are totally fine to do so.
Good video, but I think that the reason Sullivan didn’t leave them outside was because he wasn’t the one who controlled the doors, I’m pretty sure that it’s just a standard emergency procedure. Since he has the security uniform on he had to keep up his cover and acted like the cop of the safe room. At least I think it is.
At least the costumes are always fun even if the gameplay in four was bad so there's that playing dress up is kind of like a mini game in of itself I will always praise dead rising series for it's customization where as in other games thew will make you pay for every single costume even though dr4 is a real stinker
Dead rising 2 is a solid game, no matter how similar it is to the first. It was the first one I played so obviously, that has a impact on my opinion. But replaying it a decade later. It's still my top 5 favorite game. The main character although wasn't Frank, is good in my opinion. I know a couple people who don't like him and I don't really understand why. The approach Blue castle took with having a kid felt really cool in my opinion. Combo weapons were great, the map (just like the first game) made me really confused when first playing it. Story is good enough. Psychopaths were great. The money system is for sure something I love and made the game better in my opinion. In my opinion OTR is way better. But it isn't that much different than DR2
I kinda like that chuck doesn't kill any psycho himself The dude doesn't want or need to put these people down they just need to fuck off and let him clear his name/ get some zombrex
Just a mention that for the helicopter fight you can use projectile weapons to kill it like the bow or the arm cannon and it’s super super easy bc every shot counts as a hit
Metal music is actually very fitting for the magicians. between the metal music & their looks & personalities they reference all the most famous Las Vegas magicians. Siegfried & Roy, Penn & Teller, & Criss Angel :)
I remember playing this game in co op and scrambling to try to complete all of the quests without running out of time. My friend and I would always grab a wheelchairs, since you can run while pushing them
Im sorry, but Terror is Reality is incredibly fun. It was pretty much my favourite part of DR2, and played it all the time when the game was new. I'm genuinely sad that I cant find lobbies anymore.
I don’t understand why people don’t like the combo weapons except when it pertains to anything after off the record. the combo weapons spice up the gameplay cuz sometimes you don’t wanna be using a dud ass item
I think it's because the whole thing of Dead Rising 1 was you can pick up pretty much anything and use it to kill shit; like weights and food plates, frying pans and flower pots, and shit like lawnmowers lawndarts. Completely mundane shit that you could actually imagine having killing power. As you can imagine having mass death dealers outside of the regular weapons, like guns or the various blunt and bladed weapons, probably ruffled the feathers of the hardcore mega-fans turned purists after combo weapons and especially combo vehicles became series staples. Along with the combo system taking a decent size bite out of the series' realism and the more grounded reality the first game had, minus a few of the psychopaths and bonus rewards from completing side stuff like the laser sword and real mega buster. I don't necessarily agree with those sentiments but I can understand where the hardcore DR1 fanatics come from when they say they don't like the combo system. Especially when you take into consideration just how wacky shit gets in the later entries, which almost seems to parallel the combo system being upgraded and further expanded upon. I'm not blaming the weirdness on the combo system, don't worry. What I _am_ saying is that adding something like the combo system allowed for the devs to peel away the more grounded aspects the first game initially layed down. To be honest I _like_ the combo system but I can understand the perspective of those who don't.
Imagine if the entire Dead Rising franchise was developed by Japanese programmers. I bet the series would be as good as the Resident Evil series. Many consider the first as equal and it was Japanese developed.
These are probably my favorite Psychos. While I did love the seven sins fights in dead rising 3 (even though my brother deleted the game from his Xbox one for being “too dumb”) I love that most of these bosses are Vegas stereotypes. And some are sympathetic. Carl is a workaholic who buried himself in his work, Ted was bullied relentlessly and sees no problem feeding “not nice people” to snowflake and Brent (slappy) finally got a girlfriend only for her to be figuratively and quite literally ripped away from him
I actually like dead rising 2 more than the first. Sure chuck isnt as cool as frank. But the gameplay just feels better and i oroves all the things that got to in the orginal.
I hope we get either a new Dead Rising game that goes back to the basics of the first 2.5 games or they remake them with a big graphical upgrade and other additions. Of course I'd prefer actual new games, but after playing 3 and 4, I don't trust them to get 5 right at all.
I a have a feeling that the reason why they show most bosses killing themselves is to not make chuck look like a bad person, and yet they still show him splitting Sullivan in two after his fight
Me again lol. Another great analysis! DR2 was the first I played in the series. I remember buying it brand new when I was in 7th grade. I picked up the original DR1 a year or two later, but DR2 was my favorite for the longest time. It wasn't until I was much older (when the PS4/PC ports for DR1 came out) where I started to respect the first game, and even play it more than DR2. DR2 still holds a special place in my mind due to nostalgia, but there are aspects of the first game that I prefer over the second and vice versa. A few other points: - I think DR2 actually continues the plot in a well-executed way without deviating too far from the first or relying too much on it and playing it safe (like a good sequel should). However, it seems like the studio wanted to make this more "actiony" than the first game by having crazier psychos, metal themes for these psychos, comedic one liners, and pointless sexual innuendos. At times, it felt like playing through a cool, cliche action movie. As a preteen/teen, I liked it lol but looking back the sexual tones feel wayyy unnecessary and distracting. - I still prefer DR1 Frank over Chuck. For one, as I hinted at before, Chuck feels like a standard action hero: brooding tough guy who says one-liners. Frank was just a dude. Another point is that Frank actually had development. At first he just cares about the story, but near the end he cares about exposing the truth and getting others to safety. Chuck stays the same throughout the game. - Lastly, the psychos. For some reason, as a kid, I loved them (probably bc they're more of a challenge unlike DR1 where you could just use a small chainsaw). Looking back, I still stand by my statement that DR1 had the best psychos. Other than a few examples, DR2's psychos are more cartoonish and crazier, taking away some of the realism. Also, with a few exceptions, the psycho themes aren't nearly as good as DR1. Instead, the studio used one performer (Celldweller) for a majority of the psycho themes. I guess crazier psychos= crazier music?
Dead Rising 2 is very good, and if anything I may have undersold how genius of an idea the zombrex dosage was. I've come around to Chuck after seeing Frank 2.0 and Nick Ramos, so he's not awful or anything, just cheesy. OG Frank is still the best, yeah I agree. In terms of psychos, nothing touches Adam the Clown for me, personally, but Chuck and Evan in OTR come close, since we can sympathize with them a bit. DR2 i liked Bibi since she was so weird, and the magicians had such a fantastic opening cutscene, i gotta give them credit.
Very well done review as always lots of good points brought up and very fairly done nice job! Now I have wonder if "severing scientist" is a real job....lol I also agree it would be been really cool if they explored the idea of killing zombies as they were once people, maybe that will be explored in later games? lol
56:33 i dont think im the first one to point it out but theres a button on the winch that Chuck used to hook onto the chopper that forces it to move into a position that makes it easier to throw stuff, i think it takes more damage during that time too, makes the fight much easier than it looks like you were making it
0:55:25 nice spelling error, Dork.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear
“I saw what you did there” lmfao those one liners tho
@@iim4xii129bruh ur here to lol
Fun fact. Carl, the mail carrier Psychopath, is voiced by the same voice actor as Edd from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
This reminds me of a sad childhood where we had no digibox or skybox for cartoon channels and all i had was Simpsons, Malcolm in the middle and James bond recorded on blank VHS 😢
That means this shares the same universe
And Light Yagami is the mascot psychopath
His name is Sam Vincent and he voices Double D for people who are lazy.
Double D wasn't the same after his parents sold the floor
40:48 This one-liner is actually brilliant because not only he uses “saw” as a pun, the context he uses it in is really great. Seymour says “I’m twice the man you are.” right before getting sawed into two pieces. Chuck saying “I saw what you did there.” acts both as a pun for the saw but also implies what Seymour did, albeit accidentally, is also a pun.
I like the puns as it seperates chucks personality from franks
The primary reason why I like Chuck as a protagonist is because his stalwart appearance opposes the dorky one liners. He looks more like a traditional handsome protagonist unlike Frank West. It's not a competition to me, I love both characters.
The power fantasy fades when he acts cool when he is by himself when dispatching Psychopaths.
I am certain the Kenji Infune provided the design for Chuck's outfit while Blue Castle designed the face. Yellow is a color meant to represent courage while in the US yellow is used as treachery or cowardice. That juxtaposition is how Chuck was the fall guy and is willing to stop at nothing to be a fair man and treated as honorable.
The color theory still is in effect because Brad in DR1 had a yellow button up and served as the "traditional" hero archetype, and in his death cutscene with Frank passes the desire for justice to Frank. (The scene which Brad passes his gun to Frank).
Frank West was meant to look like a everyday guy while Chuck Greene has a vibrant color which makes him stand out. Both have their appeal toward different crowds.
Something I feel like the critique missed was Chuck's development from the Case Zero prequel. Where his personal conviction to protect his daughter is his greatest character trait and primary flaw. Chuck emotionally damages as much as he protects.
On a side note, I like how Chuck finds his yellow leather jacket as he dawns it like a suit of armor. Chuck's mighty steed is replaced with a motorcycle.
Also, how Arthur's armor is further to emphasize how Chuck is a gallant knight as his the Lady he serves is to his daughter Katey.
The prominent use of the number 4 intrigued me. It is because 4 is considered an unlucky number in Japan. With it being similar to usage of the word death. So this would mean that Chuck Greene is a man marked for death, or that he is a bringer of death. I am more inclined to believe he is marked for Death because most of the endings for Chuck are a result of him being killed off in the narrative. The canonical ending is A instead of S, which is where Chuck is attacked by TK in the elevator.
With the number 4, it adds to the fatalism to his character in Off The Record and his apperance in Dead Rising 3. The bringer of Death interpretation is based on his Psychopath monologue, where he is morbidly acknowledging the fun to kill zombies. Bringing death to the undead. It is not supposed to be calling out the player, but a wink to how Dead Rising itself has fun with the concept.
For me, Chuck is amazing in his apperance because he fulfills Capcom's intrigue to appeal to the Western market, by which a flawed but courageous knight.
really excellent character analysis. if there is one thing that these original 3 Dead Rising games (1, 2, and otr) is they had some real storytelling ambition to go along with the over-the-top gameplay.
@leavemealone I know this is late, but you can get a full suit of armor. You have to save a survivor for the helmet, buy the boots for 2 million, and get the S Rank ending to get the chestplate.
Damn that was a nice analysis of Chuck as a character
That number 4 thing makes a whole lot of sense now…
This comment is better written and more insightful than anything in the video.
Dead Rising 2 was my favorite one I liked Chuck and everyone's obsession with saying his name. But this is a very good review.
Honestly as time goes on I kind of regret saying some of that stuff. It's definitely cheesy and over the top, but at least it's a hint of the game not taking itself so seriously. Glad you liked it all the same. Cheers bud.
I agree with everything you just said lol
@@Dorkaxe To be completely honest I'd find it weird if people _didn't_ know who Chuck was considering he was being blamed for kicking off the Fortune City outbreak and things like television still worked. Although the fact there aren't more psychopaths like Brandon being so twistedly grateful that Chuck "started" the outbreak and giving them an excuse to let their inner darkness rise to the surface and consume them is a bit disappointing in my opinion. I mean the whole dichotomy of Chuck and the psycho's pre and post-fight banter having him denying it and wanting to find whomever did it while the psycho just refuses to acknowledge it is great in my opinion.
I will say I'm kind of sad they didn't do something like having an extremist branch of CURE made of people like Brandon post-outbreak running amok in Fortune City thinking Chuck is some grand revolutionary who took the ultimate step in punishing those who view zombie killing as nothing more than entertainment, a true believer in "the cause," akin to the cultists in the first game is kind of a missed opportunity in my opinion. This is just a rough idea but I feel like it would've been a good way to have CURE play more of a part in the story other than the one boss fight, Stacy's whole character, and the CURE protestor zombies you can find while roaming the map. I feel like it would've been a good way to show more of why CURE is more controversial than you'd expect in the story along with being a good example of how every movement, no matter how well-intentioned, has groups of extremists just waiting for the chance to go nuts. Like I said it's just a rough idea I came up with as I was writing this comment, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like this was tossed around by the devs at some point in DR2's development.
1:05:36 Yes, this would absolutely rip you in half. You'd got a parachute cord getting pulled by a helicopter with Sulivan's top half directly attached to it, and then his lower half in held down to the ground by another tether with his body holding them together in the middle. It's basically the whole thing about a chain being only strong as it's weakest link. But instead of rolled cast iron, that weakest link is soft squishy human flesh.
Muskles and tendies
This is one of the worst reviews I’ve ever seen. Complains about people saying the main characters name and complains about bad guys killing then selves in cutscenes. Nitpick at its finest
“Can a grandpa do this?”
This is probably one of the worst critiques anyone has ever made this game ngl
slappy can be stunlocked by jump kicking him. once you learn that, he becomes easily the worst boss in the game. also, your firework launcher was to the left by the cleroux collection
Oh wow, good eye! I never saw it there. I wonder if that's why the spear launcher didn't disappear after the first hit. Maybe it's two or three hits then two handed weapons vanish.
@@Dorkaxe I loved doing the jump kick everywhere in this game, it stuns so many bosses and does a lot of damage hahaha. I was surprised when you used the water gun for Slappy, I had no idea that was possible lol.
@@AnnaBerry590 jump kick is great, was very sad to see it go in 3 and 4, way worse there. Happy you liked this video and the first one, I think my later stuff is better, so ideally you'll like the other videos even more lol
I legit stayed up for three days straught punching zombies in the game, because if you kill a certain amount of zombies with only punches you get a shawn of the dead costume and i love that movie
WAIT, REALLY?!
@@adriansalinas6755 yes, i love shawn of the dead so i stayed up as a kid just to do it
@@AquaFan1998 how much do i have to kill?
@@adriansalinas6755 Killed 1,000 zombies barehanded, best place for it is the dice green area just outside the exit of the safehouse, the fence around the green area makes zombies unable to grab you but your punches land
You did not just diss Celldweller….
Say what you will about Brandon but you cannot convince me it was a perfect musical fit for an Italian restaurant chef and a wannabe cowboy security guard
@@OrpingtonFeller it added to the intensity to the fight
@@robanator9083 still an awful fit. It's not like they could'nt achieved similar vibes with a more fitting sort of theme.
@@OrpingtonFeller also if you pay attention to the lyrics they fit the character
52:34 Wouldn't be supprised if Stacy was the orginal bad guy twist as that always felt more natural but they changed it to Sullivan because initially he was more antagonistic to the making him a red herring but they walked back on it to create that family dynamic for Chuck Stacy and Katey.
57:11 *Laughs in Metal Gear*
In terms of DR2 reusing artistic elements from DR1, I actually appreciate it more than simply creating new things (with reason of course). For example, similar posters on the wall and same stuff in the music store really sells that the Dead Rising universe exists, and is consistent. I think it's actually more immersive than if none of the fictional culture elements of DR1 carried over, because it just feels like I'm in a real alternate world.
With the combo cards, it's worth mentioning that most rooms have spare items for at least 1 combo weapon. At least on a first playthrough it would be surprising and teach you new combos. The room you pass returning to the safe house gives you nails and a bat, but at that point it's so consistent I don't know why the nail bat itself isn't just sitting there. Sometimes I swing by rooms out of the way because I know it has a specific item I need for a better combo, or sometimes if it's not a room I know and I'm desperate I still swing by to check what it might give me. Items could definitely have more combos instead of just 1 or 2, and lot of the combo items that are there are a novelty. The drill bucket, air horn, and the electric guitar come to mind, even if I would force myself to use the guitar cause I liked it so much. You also can't give combo weapons to survivors. The system needed more work and I'm curious what 3 added or changed. I know you can craft on the fly which changes the room dynamic, but I feel like it would bring about its own issues.
Two women help you at every turn in the story, and two women are side antagonists who fight you to the death, but because they are portrayed sexually they are now objects? I really dont think you understand what objectification really is man...
Did you know the overtime ending isn't the canon ending? The elevator ending is the canon ending.
Capcom confirmed both endings are canon. My guess is that it depends on what platform you play on.
Is Case west an exclusive on a particular console or something?
@@dragonmist9963 exlusive for xbox
@@arthurmorgan7398 but case west is part of the story going into the rest of the series. The events are brought up in 3 and 4.
@@nickelakon5369it’s still exclusive
This feels more like a DR2 hit piece than an objective review
I wouldn't go that far, but it's not a great video, def.
Probably one of my favorite games featuring zombies and my favorite DR game, Idk what exactly it is (given that I don't like timers in games and I missed it a lot in DR4) but I keep replaying this game over and over, I love it, the characters, the location, the cheesiness, the graphics, the audio, the gameplay, everything. I know there are way better games out there, but this one is very special for me.
I can agree with most of your opinions, but you're pretty heavy-handed in claiming that Dead Rising is sexist. Because female characters are conventionally attractive and, in the case of the sisters, are flirtatious, they're objects? Never mind the fact that you can dress Chuck in whatever your heart desires. Let's just acknowledge that something can be considered gross, overused, and/or distasteful without having to resort to implying that there's some sort of trend of disrespect towards women or that a mostly male writing team somehow has any impact on this perspective (Referencing the point you made in the Dead Rising 1 review).
Yeah not a fan of some of my early work on this channel, and the sexist talking points are among the takes I regret the most. I feel like I could have worded how I felt much better, and if I had made the DR videos nowadays, I would have definitely put more thought and effort into it. I mean, to put it in perspective, back then I had like 40 subs, had no idea what I was doing, made the video in like a week, and didn't even watch Dawn of the Dead at that point. Like, wtf past Dorkaxe lmao
@@Dorkaxe You're fine, mate! Honestly, a majority of your points are either well thought out (Like how you broke down the details of Willamette Mall's atmosphere and store layouts) or at least chalked up to personal preference (Like keeping the theme of Chef Antione classic Italian instead of metal, which, on a side-note, is probably an indicator that he's no longer a jolly chef but a crazed man that cooks slop). It's honestly hard to convey what points you might still have regarding these games in general, so maybe a follow-up at some point might be nice. Maybe there are details you didn't initially catch or maybe certain bosses grew on you. Maybe there's a story mode element in either game that makes more or less sense looking back. Your channel, but I'd be interested! :D
@@daddy-odizzy5180 There is a part of me that wants to do a re-review of sorts, especially of the first game. Maybe at some point I can do a full DR 1-4 video with better quality audio and better perspective.
@@Dorkaxe Oh ok, that helps me a lot. I was really bothered by all the sexism points. My wife liked and laughed at those and enjoyed them, and my best friend loves that kind of stuff (both women). The super exaggerated walks for the two women cracked us up. I we don't want all these things taken out of gaming. The sex negative perspectives i've been hearing online are an odd social gaming pressure and results in a kind of soft censorship. Like talking to a person missing a pretty big point about the campy nature of the story. I'll watch the rest of these reviews understanding you were new and maybe a little captured by the online discourse at the time, that'll help me be more open minded to you in the future. Good luck and good video.
About the levelling system, I found it mostly fine. Chuck moved at a manageable speed and at one end of the royal flush plaza (and I think the other) you can get a wheelchair pretty easily and there's a store with skateboards right next to the safehouse which was definitely appreciated with Chuck's early game walking speed. I agree with the combo card complaint with levelling up. It got a bit frustrating that the game seemed to give you them more frequently than giving you better stats. But, it didn't really hinder my overall experience of my first run. I pretty easily got the true ending on my first run, missing one psychopath, failing to beat two others and saving 40 of the 50 survivors. It was difficult but more than possible. And I think it would've been possible to save everyone.
Maybe I got lucky. I do think a faster running speed would've still helped the early game feel nicer and helped me keep up with the deadlines for side missions I missed.
Edit: Love your idea for calling for non-marked survivors to let you know where they are. Even and "I'm up here" would be nice for Jasper 😂
I eventually mention in my Chop till you Drop video that I never realized the skateboard trick. I feel silly for complaining about speed so much since they had a really interesting workaround that utilized the inventory management system.
@@Dorkaxe yeah, I think it's a pretty clever design choice tbh. Sacrificing one or two inventory slots for skateboards and speed boosts in that early game probably makes understanding balancing the inventory with different kinds of items easier for the player at the start too. I think. I like stuff like that. Teaching the player things using the mechanics 😂
I only noticed for the 1st time through watching this, if you fail the Bibi mission it will briefly display the “defected” status before she detonates the explosive.
14:50
This was by far the most bitter pill to swallow when I returned to these games years after initially playing them. Thankfully though if you play these games "as intended" you are never really forced to come to this realization until the game is already almost over since rescuing survivors, killing psychopaths and doing the story keep you occupied for a majority of the time you spend playing.
19:25
Looks like an AI is playing lol
Puts down spear to pick up spear.
Walks into room puts spear on table
Picks up spear turns around throws it at zombie
What was the point lol?
45:10 "Pointlessly fast." It's supposed to make the fight more alarming and also you probably haven't played Manhunt, but he moves exactly like the boss Piggsy from that game intentionally as a reference.
40:50 it's worth noting this boss can also shoot a gun out of your hands if you enter aimed mode
I very much enjoyed this review and I'm so glad to see people talk about this game to this day. I loved playing Dead Rising 2 when I was little and I always seem to look back on how I would always rage at the game when I'd die to a psychopath, every time I load up the game. And as a matter of fact, I even just recently achieved S rank, and I was so elated when I finally beat it, knowing that I finally got to enjoy my favorite game to the fullest. This game really stands out to me in the series and really hits home because of how it was just a part of my childhood. I get how people would prefer Frank over Chuck, but I absolutely loved Chuck as a character. I feel like the addition of Katey and going back to the safe house to give her zombrex adds even more to the already jam-packed amount of things you can do. I also love the different endings and outcomes you could take, like choosing to give TK zombrex or not, or saving different survivors or not. I love the different amount of tasks you can do as well, with the choice to do them or not. Overall, 10/10 review, subscribed.
I totally feel the same way about this game. I never understood why people didn't like Chuck so much. It does make sense that people see his tough guy persona as robotic, but I found it really interesting when you see his persona shatter at different points in the game. Especially in alternate ending cutscenes, like when Katie dies :(
I like Chuck and Fortune City, and found the story fun to play than listen to. Great review.
he actually called a blanka mask a zombie mask, he doesnt know one of Sf most famous characters, the fuck he knows about games?
39:35 No what actually happened to you there specifically is an unfortunate clip glitch where sometimes items fall through the ground. It can even rarely happen when you drop and item. Sometimes even survivors can clip through the ground, but there's a failsafe implemented where they instantly teleport right next to you if this happens.
Wait what? I found it sooo much easier than the first one to complete every side mission in a single run.
I think both are pretty difficult with the starting slow movement speed to do it level 1. Level 50 I'm sure it probably is easier since more areas are connected. Since the mall is smaller, it seems more suited to the slow starting speed.
@@Dorkaxe for some reason I feel like they gave more time to do the side missions
The amount of times he complains about the oversexualization of women is kind of annoying like. Yeah we know it's all there but jesus christ just stop saying it
The similar looking store look the same because they are. They’re the same stores from dead rising 1. They’re not copy and pasted for no reason it’s because it’s a chain location.
Chuck is my favourite character in DR.
Love his sort of seriousness and deadpan reactions.
38:09 I'm willing to look past that problem because it's an absolutely amazing song
1. Pick and use skateboard before entering safe place
2. Zombrex in the game is more than enough. You must find it and finish some side missions
3. Use jump kick to stun slappy
4. You must use leadership magazine when saving injured survivors.
5. Instead of walking use pushcarts, wheel chair, skate board or drink quick step before traveling.
I still don’t know why Chuck is so slow as even in DR1 you had two speed upgrades. At max the game feels like a slog in comparison. Still fun but that decision makes me wonder to this day.
I think it’s to make the vehicles more powerful/faster
@@cloverismydog7820 But vehicles were always a fair trade even back in OG. It took up an item slot and even big items you could simply push always had that utility. Not saying you’re wrong it just feels weird trying to emphasize that via reduction. Specially since you’re just about as limited with vehicles here like in DR1.
You were supposed to jump kick Slappy to knock him down then attack him. It's a really easy fight that way.
I love your dead rising series I watched these back when they came out and I still rewatch them from time to time
Great review! DR2 vanilla is my personal favorite entry of the series but I can understand why many fans prefer the original. Still, I'd like to defend certain aspects that I think don't deserve the level of criticism they receive.
"Chuck Greene is a bad protagonist/Frank was better" - I can understand this complaint. Chuck is a very stoic character and he doesn't have the camera mechanic that Frank has. That said, I'd argue that outside of memes, Frank doesn't have much of a personality wither and Chuck's desire to keep his daughter from turning into a zombie is a more endearing and engaging goal than Frank trying to get a scope, especially when the first DR didn't handle the mysterious aspect all that well imo. I also think having a character as deadpan as Chuck being in such absurd situations is very amusing.
"The combo weapons stop you from experimenting with normal weapons" - Two words: Mini Chainsaws. Well, those and The Real Megabuster. Sure, DR1 didn't have has many different kinds of OP weapons, but they still existed and any player trying to be as efficient as possible would just beat Adam one day one, get the three magazines for the chainsaws, and be set for the rest of the game. I'd argue that the combo weapons requiring a weapon bench, and needing two specific weapons, adds to the time management heart of DR since it still requires you to plan out your routes.
Overall, I may like DR1's atmosphere more, but DR2 is just more consistently enjoyable. The AI isn't a nightmare to deal with, the controls for your barehanded moves are more sensible, and DR2 has better pacing, imo. DR1 has too much downtime, especially on days three and four.
Very good points. I agree Chuck has much better motivations, and can definitely see what you mean about his deadpan contrasting well the over-the-top surroundings. I just think Frank was better written/delivered. It sounded more natural. Frank being trying to get a scoop was eh, but it also makes perfect sense and fits with the story.
I can see what you mean with the combo weapon point, it's just not appealing to me, and if anything you could argue removing the mini-chainsaws/edged weapons magazines would balance it out a bit.
Be prepared for a salty DR3 video coming soon lmao
@@Dorkaxe Oh, I'm definitely expected it to be salty. DR3 was a clear drop in quality, and DR4 is even worse. I wonder how different the team at Capcom Vancouver was for DR3/4 because I thought they had a pretty clear understanding of what made DR1 work when they made 2/OTR.
@@WaddleDee105 I don't know about any changes within the team structure, but my bet would be that they weren't a great fit for the series, and we kinda got lucky that they tried to stick so close to the DR1 feel for the sequel. If their vision for this franchise was DR3 and beyond, then I call DR2/DR2OTR a fluke tbh.
@@Dorkaxe I dont know if I agree about them getting lucky. My main reasoning is the blender in Americana casino and skateboard shop in royal flush.
Both are close to the safe room. You can get skateboards from the shop. The bar is stocked with wine and vodka which makes it easy to stock up on quick steps and painkillers. Both make low level time management so much easier.
Dr2 definitely lost what made the first game special but if I'm only talking about the gameplay it's a night and day improvement.
ngl, the "I saw what you did there" one liner was on a level so bad that it circled back around to become funny.
Ya I'm just gunna say it this is an L video DR2 is amazing I think even better than 1 can't wait for the DR1 remake tho hopefully they make a DR2 remake aswell.
So far,i'm really liking this. I hope you review OTR and 3 :)
That's great to hear, thanks! Probably not OTR, but 99% likely for DR3, at some point. Probably won't be for a while. I don't want to get burned out with zombies and not appreciate it. I hear OTR is very VERY similar to DR2, and it plays just as poorly on PC, so I wasn't sure if it was worth it.
Fair enough
Surprise. I did Off the Record anyway. czcams.com/video/5uNMbey3exQ/video.html
@@Dorkaxe whaaaat! Well i'll take any new DR content in 2021
So hype he did another video! And looking forward to the 3rd and 4th game reviews. If I could suggest. Not off the record even if you didn’t make the video. I’d say it’s too similar but case zero and west could make for a nice half hour video in the meantime of other content so u don’t get burned out doing the next games in the series! :)
39:37 you can see the FireWork Launcher blending into the baseboard of the shops window.
Great critique overall!!!
I’m sorry but it pains me hearing you call the blanka mask a zombie mask 😂
I played Dead Rising 2 back when it came out and liked it, even if I struggled with the difficulty at the time. Lots of years later, I tried playing the PC port of the original Dead Rising, but couldn't get into it for some reason, even though I liked a lot of it. Your video on the original is what got me to play and complete the game, and now I came back to check out the sequel as well. Overall, I enjoyed my time with these games and I appreciate these videos both for your overview, as well as the entertainment and comments on everything.
My point is: good videos, thanks for making them and convincing me to try the original Dead Rising again :)
That's awesome to hear, man, seriously. I really like DR1 and 2, and I'm happy you've given them a shot. I agree the PC port for DR 2 isn't great. I talk about it in my DR2 OTR video, basically I had to use an xbox 360 controller, which felt awful. It also crashed quite often, which isn't ideal no matter what, but especially with the DR save system. If you do give DR2 some more time, I'd recommend the 360 controller and saving whenever possible.
This guy seems overly sensitive towards stuff and seems kind of woke.
I'm not gonna start with the talk about women being objects, but idk if the people is implying that in the game, I'm not saying its good to make womens just blank slates, but the female characters do got personalities other then just being sexy, plus, its a 2010 game, its 13 years old, imagine if it came out in 2023, yeeeeah, wouldn't go well, I'm not throwing shades at you, it kinda annoyed me a bit because it sounds like what a Twitter user would complain about, again, no shades, you're video is very good and I'm a dead rising fan as well, and I hated how in dead rising 4, they didn't add psychopaths because the butthurt gamers would get offended by their portrayal of mental health, welp, hope they're happy because we got boring maniacs with no personalities, and the 3rd time, no shade, video is fantastic, its just that small comment it bothered me but it didn't hinder me from liking the video, keep up the awesome work! xD
Honestly I prefer dead rising 2 over 1, but I love both
I love them both as well, which will nearly be outright stated in the next video lol Thanks for the response.
Agreed
Dude I loved this and the first video. I’m shocked you don’t have thousands of views if not hundred thousand. Great work and professional critique. Keep it up man. There will always be people who watch and some like me who will acknowledge the effort put into videos. Thanks for the entertainment today!
Dude that means so much, thanks a lot!
@@Dorkaxe np thanks for 3 hours of content to watch! Def gonna watch some non dead rising reviews. Saw u did Star Wars OG battlefront review so I’ll check that out
I played this game so much back in the day and somehow never noticed the suicide pattern for every boss
Oh also the Cure Protestor can easily be manipulated with a gun. If you dip in and oit of the bathroom door he will keep turning around to chase you then run away, but never get close to you because when you cross the door's threshold it essentially tells the boss you're leaving or something. Figured that out eariler today.
When it comes to the zombie bride, there's one line that would have been better there. "May death do you apart" instead of "You may now kiss the bride".
1 will always be my favorite since playing it when I was 11 in 2007, but man does this game come close. I remember being so excited for it. It was my first year of high school and pretty sure I got a D in Microsoft office class because of this game. Good review my guy. I didn't agree with all of your points but I appreciate the love, work, and effort you put into these reviews. I mean one could even say these reviews are "FANTASTIC"
My goodness, you shouldn't have been allowed to play that at 11. Wtf were your parents thinking?
In regards to the psychopaths there was usually a way to make the fight easier in or near the area you fight them, for the chef you had the right idea using ranged weapons to interrupt his healing if you look on the shelves there are stacks of plates which you throw like a frisbee and hold 10 or 30 plates in a stack you were supposed to use those to fight him. As for the Slappy fight in the toy store there are bags of marbles that if you throw in front of him he slips and falls so you can beat him on the ground this makes the fight much simpler. I can't recall any of the tricks for the other ones since I haven't played in years but I remember that almost all has something like that to them.
Great review! I was going to watch your review of this game first since it's what I grew up playing and never got to play the first one, but I took your recommendation and watched your review of the first Dead Rising before this one. It made everything you said make a lot more sense. I had no idea they had to make this game from the ground-up. Very interesting stuff! 😊
It’s absolutely fascinating how close DR1 and DR2 came to inventing Souls-like combat independently
some things you missed (still watching the video so there may be more to add) the shops prices being overpriced is done on purpose, the shops are ran by looters, they aren't going to be giving fair deals to people are they, but you can bring the prices down by 10/20% if you have the bargaining 1 and 2 magazines, following this, you mentioned katey presumably just dies in the cutscene (off screen) but you missed one of the other cutscenes that plays when the timer for 'find katey zombrex' or 'give katey zombrex' expires, this is a scene where katey again is off screen with stacy turning around to see katey having turned into a zombie (this is again off screen but you can hear some slight zombie noises) stacey then looking shocked followed by side stepping out of the room.
Am I the only one who calls Reed and Roger Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly?
You can’t shit on the game for how you had to open the map to navigate. You can set a waypoint and the arrow points to it Instead of the objective your logic is flawed in that regard
“Chuck just seems so carefree about every thing”
*cuts to shot of Chuck wearing nothing but heart boxers* 😂
A lot of nit picking going on, pointless things to complain about.
especially the combo weapons which is like the best thing in DR2 he said he hated it 🤦♂🤦♂
I love cheese and the cheesiness of Dead Rising is perfect for me. The one liners absolutely slay me
Bro loved the video you explained everything perfectly and it’s just nice to revisit the game appreciate your work man and keep it up just subbed!
13:40 "Combining a lead pipe with a rocket launcher gives you firework rockets"
13:27 ... Okay the zombie mask is a separate item first off. That's dubbed the "Goblin mask." Secondly, you didn't pick up on that Street Fighter reference? You make an electric weapon out of it because that's the face of Blanka from Street Fighter who has electrical capabilities. Not knocking you if you didn't know, but I'm surprised.
Can't believe you didn't mention Light Yagami as Slappy's VA.
My God id never noticed that before but listening back to it I can't un hear that
Having an angle in this game about rights for zombies is such a missed opportunity. The rights group could have very easily been shining light on the American health care system, because Zombrex is quite literally a life-saving medication, like an EpiPen or insulin, but the result of someone not getting Zombrex is literally a crisis because they become a zombie and can infect other people and cause an outbreak. Narratively, this should have been a layup. The first Dead Rising didn't have an issue with pointing out America's unhealthy relationship with food and over-consumption of meat, but these guys are afraid to throw some shade at Big Pharma and the general US health care system? HUGE missed opportunity.
I mean, I guess the whole plot kind of does that with the whole, "Starting an outbreak to make more Zombrex" thing but it seems like the protestors had a much clearer and more reasonable role they could play.
Jeez youre really going on your opinion and all this criticism is just youe opinion 🤦loser
Late comment but I'm currently replaying the DR games and happened to find this video. To me this is the best game in the series, I like the characters and story and the gameplay is a lot tighter than in the original.
The "romance" between Chuck and Stacey is hinted at during a few cutscenes throughout but it's very subtle and sadly not fleshed out enough to warrant the ending, I know it's a random thing to comment about but I tend to like a good romance in my games. For me it's decent, especially because I like the characters, as mentioned, but it could have been made a bit more obvious during the campaign.
Need I remind you Chuck is a dad. So the cheesy jokes are totally justified.
I think Chucks running speed is why they put the store with skateboards right next to the safehouse hallway. Once i realized that was there i always just skated up & down that hallway.
Ps4 port has DLC clothing & there is a pair of running shoes that really increase his speed.
Yeah the skateboard is a big oversight I had imo. I eventually figured it out and praised the skateboard in my Chop Till You Drop video since it's such a genius tradeoff idea. Sacrificing 1 inventory slot for faster movement is so clever
The painkiller combination health item was so busted. Beer+Beer=health/damage reduction.
I know Im late but I was able to kill Randy on my first playthrough at level 23 or something by jumping over the pews and isles to buy myself time to heal.
Also because survivor AI is massively improved you can turn any boss fight into a joke regardless of your level by getting 3 or more survivors and giving them all guns which arent hard to find if you know where to look. For example I did Slappy at a low level for my first playthrough in under a minute by picking up the angel lust band and giving them all assault rifles from the mercenaries robbing banks at that time (If youre not doing the main quest you can give there is also the gun shop in palisades plaza and the lmg in yukitan). While I distracted Slappy with my bat they formed a firing line and melted him in seconds. Was extremely satisfying for a boss who always gave me trouble playing this as a kid.
There's a reason there were more than a few videos _literally_ called "Survivor Death Squad killing X psychopath" when DR2 and DR2:OTR came out. I think that, personally, the survivors having the capability to absolutely fuck psychopaths when grouped up is, while realistic, a tad too powerful. This is why I probably would've made it so that any survivors you were currently escorting just despawn or "hide" when you fight a psychopath. That's just my opinion on this specific matter, I'm not a game designer and I can see why the devs decided to course-correct so hard from the near totally brain-dead AI of the DR1 survivors. Although I'm pretty sure that the "Death Squad" survivors wasn't intentional since they either would've done something to balance it against the improved AI the surivors have, along with doing something in the marketing with it, _or_ making sure players can't do it outside of potentially glitching the game.
tl;dr: DR2/OTR survivors are great with melting psychopaths, depending on the group size and what you arm them with. And they might just be a tad bit _too_ good in my opinion, although players who like steamrolling bosses with groups of survivors are totally fine to do so.
Good video, but I think that the reason Sullivan didn’t leave them outside was because he wasn’t the one who controlled the doors, I’m pretty sure that it’s just a standard emergency procedure. Since he has the security uniform on he had to keep up his cover and acted like the cop of the safe room. At least I think it is.
Can't wait until you get to DR4. Those reviews never get old.
It might be a while, but I'm looking forward to it! I hear it's an absolute standout in the series.
@@Dorkaxe Just watched both of your DR reviews and now I'm a subscriber. I prefer longer review/analysis so your channel is right up my alley.
@@Dorkaxe You may need to hold onto a drink whilst you play that
Just sayin' as a heads up
@@Cruddy129 I think its safe to say based on his experience, he was prob being sarcastic
At least the costumes are always fun even if the gameplay in four was bad so there's that playing dress up is kind of like a mini game in of itself I will always praise dead rising series for it's customization where as in other games thew will make you pay for every single costume even though dr4 is a real stinker
Dead rising 2 is a solid game, no matter how similar it is to the first. It was the first one I played so obviously, that has a impact on my opinion. But replaying it a decade later. It's still my top 5 favorite game. The main character although wasn't Frank, is good in my opinion. I know a couple people who don't like him and I don't really understand why. The approach Blue castle took with having a kid felt really cool in my opinion. Combo weapons were great, the map (just like the first game) made me really confused when first playing it. Story is good enough. Psychopaths were great. The money system is for sure something I love and made the game better in my opinion.
In my opinion OTR is way better. But it isn't that much different than DR2
12:09 i love how in DR3, you can find slowed down, redone version of the song in a survivors house in Sunset Hills
I kinda like that chuck doesn't kill any psycho himself
The dude doesn't want or need to put these people down they just need to fuck off and let him clear his name/ get some zombrex
Just a mention that for the helicopter fight you can use projectile weapons to kill it like the bow or the arm cannon and it’s super super easy bc every shot counts as a hit
Metal music is actually very fitting for the magicians. between the metal music & their looks & personalities they reference all the most famous Las Vegas magicians. Siegfried & Roy, Penn & Teller, & Criss Angel :)
I remember playing this game in co op and scrambling to try to complete all of the quests without running out of time. My friend and I would always grab a wheelchairs, since you can run while pushing them
Im sorry, but Terror is Reality is incredibly fun. It was pretty much my favourite part of DR2, and played it all the time when the game was new. I'm genuinely sad that I cant find lobbies anymore.
Dead rising 2 is THE ONLY worthy sequel. Dead rising 3 is the last one worth playing
The leon fight is best suited by having guns. Having guns ranged weapons is the best way to deal with him since hes always driving and rarely stops
23:26 bro is scaring the child
This is my favorite game in the franchise
(the TRUE ending is actually refusing to give TK zombrex btw)
I don’t understand why people don’t like the combo weapons except when it pertains to anything after off the record. the combo weapons spice up the gameplay cuz sometimes you don’t wanna be using a dud ass item
I think it's because the whole thing of Dead Rising 1 was you can pick up pretty much anything and use it to kill shit; like weights and food plates, frying pans and flower pots, and shit like lawnmowers lawndarts. Completely mundane shit that you could actually imagine having killing power. As you can imagine having mass death dealers outside of the regular weapons, like guns or the various blunt and bladed weapons, probably ruffled the feathers of the hardcore mega-fans turned purists after combo weapons and especially combo vehicles became series staples. Along with the combo system taking a decent size bite out of the series' realism and the more grounded reality the first game had, minus a few of the psychopaths and bonus rewards from completing side stuff like the laser sword and real mega buster.
I don't necessarily agree with those sentiments but I can understand where the hardcore DR1 fanatics come from when they say they don't like the combo system. Especially when you take into consideration just how wacky shit gets in the later entries, which almost seems to parallel the combo system being upgraded and further expanded upon. I'm not blaming the weirdness on the combo system, don't worry. What I _am_ saying is that adding something like the combo system allowed for the devs to peel away the more grounded aspects the first game initially layed down. To be honest I _like_ the combo system but I can understand the perspective of those who don't.
Imagine if the entire Dead Rising franchise was developed by Japanese programmers. I bet the series would be as good as the Resident Evil series. Many consider the first as equal and it was Japanese developed.
Maybe he let them in the safe house thinking he could get people to do jobs for him, not realising it would be people who would work against him.
These are probably my favorite Psychos. While I did love the seven sins fights in dead rising 3 (even though my brother deleted the game from his Xbox one for being “too dumb”) I love that most of these bosses are Vegas stereotypes. And some are sympathetic. Carl is a workaholic who buried himself in his work, Ted was bullied relentlessly and sees no problem feeding “not nice people” to snowflake and Brent (slappy) finally got a girlfriend only for her to be figuratively and quite literally ripped away from him
I actually like dead rising 2 more than the first. Sure chuck isnt as cool as frank.
But the gameplay just feels better and i oroves all the things that got to in the orginal.
You actually lost slicecycles?
I hope we get either a new Dead Rising game that goes back to the basics of the first 2.5 games or they remake them with a big graphical upgrade and other additions. Of course I'd prefer actual new games, but after playing 3 and 4, I don't trust them to get 5 right at all.
I a have a feeling that the reason why they show most bosses killing themselves is to not make chuck look like a bad person, and yet they still show him splitting Sullivan in two after his fight
Me again lol. Another great analysis! DR2 was the first I played in the series. I remember buying it brand new when I was in 7th grade. I picked up the original DR1 a year or two later, but DR2 was my favorite for the longest time. It wasn't until I was much older (when the PS4/PC ports for DR1 came out) where I started to respect the first game, and even play it more than DR2. DR2 still holds a special place in my mind due to nostalgia, but there are aspects of the first game that I prefer over the second and vice versa. A few other points:
- I think DR2 actually continues the plot in a well-executed way without deviating too far from the first or relying too much on it and playing it safe (like a good sequel should). However, it seems like the studio wanted to make this more "actiony" than the first game by having crazier psychos, metal themes for these psychos, comedic one liners, and pointless sexual innuendos. At times, it felt like playing through a cool, cliche action movie. As a preteen/teen, I liked it lol but looking back the sexual tones feel wayyy unnecessary and distracting.
- I still prefer DR1 Frank over Chuck. For one, as I hinted at before, Chuck feels like a standard action hero: brooding tough guy who says one-liners. Frank was just a dude. Another point is that Frank actually had development. At first he just cares about the story, but near the end he cares about exposing the truth and getting others to safety. Chuck stays the same throughout the game.
- Lastly, the psychos. For some reason, as a kid, I loved them (probably bc they're more of a challenge unlike DR1 where you could just use a small chainsaw). Looking back, I still stand by my statement that DR1 had the best psychos. Other than a few examples, DR2's psychos are more cartoonish and crazier, taking away some of the realism. Also, with a few exceptions, the psycho themes aren't nearly as good as DR1. Instead, the studio used one performer (Celldweller) for a majority of the psycho themes. I guess crazier psychos= crazier music?
Dead Rising 2 is very good, and if anything I may have undersold how genius of an idea the zombrex dosage was. I've come around to Chuck after seeing Frank 2.0 and Nick Ramos, so he's not awful or anything, just cheesy. OG Frank is still the best, yeah I agree. In terms of psychos, nothing touches Adam the Clown for me, personally, but Chuck and Evan in OTR come close, since we can sympathize with them a bit. DR2 i liked Bibi since she was so weird, and the magicians had such a fantastic opening cutscene, i gotta give them credit.
Great channel man thanks for all this content
Very well done review as always lots of good points brought up and very fairly done nice job!
Now I have wonder if "severing scientist" is a real job....lol
I also agree it would be been really cool if they explored the idea of killing zombies as they were once people, maybe that will be explored in later games? lol
56:33 i dont think im the first one to point it out but theres a button on the winch that Chuck used to hook onto the chopper that forces it to move into a position that makes it easier to throw stuff, i think it takes more damage during that time too, makes the fight much easier than it looks like you were making it
Fun fact : dead rising 2 sold 3.10 millions copies , 1 million more than dead rising 1. For me Dead rising 2 is better than Dead rising 1