Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop

Dead Rising was a huge launch title for the Xbox 360, and after a few years it’s finally made it to the Nintendo Wii. Has it survived the transition?

The idea behind Dead Rising is very simple: zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. All trapped in a huge shopping mall and running toward you. You must smash, chop, dismember your way through the undead hordes as you travel around the mall rescuing survivors.

One of the best things about the original was the sheer number of enemies on-screen at any one time. In busy areas you couldn’t see anything but zombies there were so many of them, and it made for an exciting game.

This has, surprisingly, survived largely intact in the Wii version. While there aren’t perhaps quite as many zombies it’s still an impressive number for Nintendo’s technically inferior console and at times the game is as frantic as it was on the Xbox 360.

Sadly though there are other areas where Chop Till You Drop has been cut. As well as the huge number of zombies another part of Dead Rising’s appeal was the vast selection of weaponry that meant you could pick up just about anything lying around the mall and use it to bash in a zombie’s head. For some reason there are now fewer quirky weapons, and more guns, and shooting a zombie isn’t as satisfying as squashing it with a shopping trolley.

The cool photo mechanic has been completely excised as well. The main character is a photo journalist and in Xbox version you got rewarded for taking particularly daring or funny snapshots. Presumably the Wii doesn’t have the memory to cope with this, but it’s a shame this is no longer present because it was a great deal of fun.

Another aspect where Chop Till You Drop is desperately lacking is with the visuals. Like many Wii titles its graphics just don’t match up to the other consoles, even to a game that’s three years old.

Verdict 6/10

Next to the Xbox 360 version Dead Rising Wii is seriously lacking, with lots of features missing and weak visuals. Taken on its own merits it’s a extremely enjoyable zombie-smashing romp.