Remember at the end of Shaun of the Dead when everything's better and Shaun's flicking through the channels? One of the stations he comes across is a Zombie version of It's a Knockout, a game-show that bit players against a gauntlet of obstacles. Dead Rising 2 takes that formula, couples it with the American Gladiator series and the end result is one of the most refreshing competitive multiplayer portions of a game I've come across.

Terror Is Reality is what the fictional game show is called, and one of its shining stars is Chuck Greene. It's not really known why, or how such a TV show exists in the world of Dead Rising 2, nor was it fully revealed to us just how the single-player portion of the game contextually ties to the multiplayer, but we're not complaining because we had an extensive chance to get hands-on with the update, both in single-player form and multiplayer, and can tell any fans of the first game (or just zombie slaughtering in general), this is a massive leap forward, and one most certainly in the right direction.

The single-player demo available to us saw Chuck on the floor of a Vegas casino. It's littered with zombies, weapons, health items (food, drink etc) and a handful of interactive mini-games. There are also a host of weapons strewn about the place, and for the purpose of the event last night, the goal was to not only survive, but equally rack up a zombie kill-count of 500 to win.



There was no context given, and so very little was shown in the way of story, but from my point of view, the biggest shift in gears already presents itself in the differentiation between the first game's protagonist, Frank West, and DR2's Chuck Greene.

West was a character who was in a little way over his head. As an investigative journalist, he certainly had some balls, but Chuck is a gung-ho star. His demeanor, running animations, killing moves and combos all just speak volumes of his confidence and as an extension of the player he helps the kicking ass factor, which invites you, more immediately, to just pick up and start making a bloody mess.

Which is exactly what our available demo was built for. It's clear this was put together as a simple showcase for the game's revamped visuals, zombie numbers, new weapons and to tantilisingly show off a few tidbits of what will likely be important parts of the overall game. For example, West's focus was on photography (no pun intended), while it seems fitting that Chuck's focus is on money (this is Vegas, after all). This was best represented with a few mini-games strewn about the Vegas floor, such as a money-grabbing booth where you had to repeatedly tap the A button to grab as much flying cash as possible. Another was a mechanical bull-ride which utilised a quick-time event series of button pushes. Finish all these and you earn money, which then goes to filling out your PP Points. There're even various wads of cash just lying around for you to pick up, keeping the constant extra flow of PP in check (since this time you're not taking photos all the time).



The new weapons that were given to us included an M16 (which you can now aim and walk with at the same time), a staff with two chainsaws attached to both ends, various gambling tools such as the hook used to rake in chips on gambling tables, wheelchairs, seats, bottles, and just about anything you'd expect to find in a Vegas casino. Of course, it's a no-brainer my favourite new weapon was the dual chainsaw staff, which Chuck swings around with Magic Monkey-style ability. The game does an amazing job of showcasing positional damage; zombies will lose limbs, heads or be simply split down the middles based on a 1:1 point of contact with whatever weapon it is you're doing them damage. A sword, for example, inexplicably lying about the casino floor, will slice and dice with perfect precision - it's something barely any games do, or get right when trying, and so utterly satisfying here.

Once I reached a certain number of kills prior to the time-limit expiring, the demo then gave me a lovely surprise in the form of a dual machine-gun mounted motorised wheelchair, replete with Stephen Hawking comments as you mow down hordes and hordes of the undead. Moreover, coins, sparks, cash and debris are all flying around as you do damage to the environment beyond the lifeless flesh-piles, creating a much more frenetic experience than that of the previous game.

But again, beyond the revelation of cash as the extra PP generator and examples of new weapons, the big reveal here came in the form of the new multiplayer addition. The set up is simple: Four players battle it out across four different events, gather scores for each which are compiled at the end to announce an overall winner.



The events include a small arena where each player is required to place at least three hats on the zombies milling about in the immediate area. Once you've done that, you need to then place an explosive device down a zombie's gullet and run back to one of the two big red buttons to detonate it. The goal, is to keep your hats away from where rival players might be sticking their explosives, while searching out their hat positions so as to blow them up. You gain points each time you explode a zombie whose area of effect also takes out opposition hat-wearing undead.

Another event sees players in big steel balls, the idea here is to find the glowing opponent ball, ram him so that you're now 'it', and when you're tagged, you need to ram your ball into as many of the pinball-inspired energy pillars scattered about the arena. It's a simple case of tapping the X-button to run inside your ball faster, but it's incredibly difficult to stay 'it' for any extended period of time. All the while there are zombies standing idly by, being crushed underneath you into zombie puree when you roll over them.

My favourite event came in the form of players wearing a helmet with razor sharp antlers attached. Press a big red button at the start of the runway you're on a a press comes down with a mammoth host of zombies. Holding down the X-button and running into the host of Zs will then collect them and as soon as you let go, they're catapulted into a scale, of sorts. The goal here is to collect as much zombie weight in the scale to win.



And finally, the events end with a motorbike fixed with chainsaws on both sides (think Buzzsaw from The Running Man) and a velodrome full of zombies in the middle. All four contestants are then set loose on their bikes to saw through the sea of undead and here it's all about multipliers and building up the biggest score. Going to fast will mean too much idle time turning around to go back through the sea, to slow won't give you the multiplier you need, so it's all about finesse.

This is full four-player online competitive and you can bet there's a good chance we'll be seeing more and more insane zombie-slaughtering events arriving in the form of DLC post-release, but the basic set-up is there, and so far it looks and plays awesomely. It'll be interesting to see how the game's narrative set-up works, and also its save system (a major issue with the first game) but so far we're really stoked with the direction its going (especially in the multiplayer addition), and with Capcom head-honcho and Dead Rising father, Keiji Inafune, proclaiming that Japanese gaming is dead and that his eyes are clearly focused on the West, it's a good time to get out your Capcom flag. Stay tuned for more on Dead Rising 2 as it becomes available.

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