Dead Rising

North American Cover Art

***Dead Rising*** (*デッドライジング Deddo Raijingu*) is an action-adventure, sandbox game published and developed by Capcom.

It was first released on the Xbox 360 on August 8, 2006, and was ported to the Nintendo Wii as *Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop* on February 24, 2009. A mobile version of the game was released in 2008 and was re-released with the *Dead Rising Collection.*

*Dead Rising* has spawned several sequels, including *Dead Rising 2*, *Dead Rising 2: Off the Record*, *Dead Rising 3*, and *Dead Rising 4*.

In July 2016, Capcom announced that the *Dead Rising* would be re-released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. A remastered version was released on September 16, 2016 along with *Dead Rising 2* and *Dead Rising 2: Off the Record*.

## Plot

In 2006, photojournalist Frank West is alerted by a source that something is happening in the town of Willamette, Colorado. Flying into the town with helicopter pilot Ed DeLuca, he learns that the town is subject to a military quarantine and observes several violent incidents throughout the town. He is dropped onto the Willamette Parkview Mall's helipad, after asking Ed to return in three days.

Arriving in the mall, he learns that the quarantine is due to an outbreak of zombies. The mall is breached, forcing Frank to take refuge in the mall's security room. With the help of janitor Otis Washington, he travels into the mall. After helping D.H.S. agent Brad Garrison in a firefight against an unknown assailant, the two strike an alliance. Person of interest to Brad, Russell Barnaby is located by the two, hidden in a bookstore. Barnaby refuses to be escorted to safety, forcing the two to return to the security room. Unable to call for assistance due to a communications jammer. Along the way, Frank meets and saves several survivors who are either trapped, injured, or held captive by psychotic survivors ( the main bosses of the game dubbed Psychopaths) who attack Frank. The two later rescue Barnaby from the unknown assailant. Brad is injured, forcing Frank to search for medicine.

In his search, he finds the medicine required to save Brad is in the supermarket but is held by an angry and mad manager named Steve who is holding captive a woman he met during the mall's breach. After killing Steve and saving her the woman rebukes him, mentioning Santa Cabeza. Frank learns from Barnaby that Santa Cabeza was ostensibly a Central American town linked to the drug trade; which distributed drugs that had a zombifying effect. Locating the woman again on security monitors, he questions her. Revealing herself to be Isabela Keyes, sister of the unknown assailant, Carlito, she promises to set up an interview between the two.

Isabela comes to the meeting alone, after being shot in a rage by Carlito. Frank escorts Isabela to the security room, where she reveals that Santa Cabeza was home to an American research facility experimenting on cattle and that Barnaby was its head. Isabela, as a research assistant, was privy to the fact that a species of native wasp was used in an attempt to boost the performance of cattle, but instead had a zombifying effect. The wasps escaped and infected humans, forcing a U.S. military cleanup of all life in the town, with few escapees. Barnaby begins to zombify and attacks Brad's partner, Jessie McCarney, and is killed.

Isabela reveals that Carlito is planning to use the mall as a staging point to spread the parasites across the country, using bombs located in trucks. Brad and Frank disable the bombs. Brad and Carlito engage in a firefight, and Carlito is mortally wounded. Carlito manages to kick Brad out of the room, where he is injured by zombies off-screen. Frank can find him in the tunnels, where he tells Frank not to tell Jessie, and slides his handgun to Frank, implying that he wants Frank to shoot him. He will then fully turn.

Frank locates Carlito being held hostage by an insane butcher named Larry, and after killing Larry he receives Carlito's locket before Carlito dies. The locket causes Isabela to realize the password of Carlito's computer, allowing her to shut down the jammer. However, U.S. Special Forces arrive in the mall regardless, and have cleanup orders. Jessie is allowed to live, but she zombifies. Otis escapes with a helicopter and possible survivors that Frank rescued. Frank returns to the helipad alone, and DeLuca's helicopter arrives, but crashes into the mall's clock tower.

Isabela arrives, but Frank passes out. Isabela realizes that Frank has been infected by the wasp larval parasite. Frank gathers supplies for a drug that can suppress the parasite, and discovers an exit from the mall created by DeLuca's crash. Isabela learns from Carlito's computer that he has manufactured the drug before, and used it on fifty infected orphans, spreading them across the country. After exiting the mall, Frank encounters the cleanup operation's commander, Brock Mason, who also commanded Santa Cabeza's operation. The two fight, until Mason is knocked into a crowd of zombies.

Frank and Isabela escape from Willamette, but Isabela is taken into custody as a perpetrator of the incident. Frank manages to report on the incident and Santa Cabeza, but the truth of Carlito's orphans remain unknown.

## Endings

###### Endings (Dead Rising)

Dead Rising features six endings. The ending that the player achieves is dependent on their actions throughout the three days spent in Willamette with the canon ending being given upon completion of all Case Files and Overtime Mode.

## Game Modes

### 72 Hour Mode

The main story mode in Dead Rising, it follows Frank's three-day adventure in Willamette. The game has six different endings, depending on Frank's actions.

Completing 72 Hour Mode with Ending A will unlock Overtime Mode.

### Overtime Mode

Overtime Mode is unlocked by completing all case files in the game and achieving Ending A. If these conditions are met, then the game will continue on after 72 Hour Mode or can also be played directly through the main menu.

Completing Overtime Mode will allow the player to see how Frank and Isabela escaped Willamette. Completing Overtime Mode will unlock Infinity Mode and provides the player with the canon ending of the game.

### Infinity Mode

Infinity Mode is unlocked after completing Overtime Mode. Infinity Mode is a survival sandbox mode, where Frank is now pitted against psychopaths as well as survivors. The player must last as long as they can before they are killed or starve to death.

## Development

###### Development History (Dead Rising)

Despite the game's similarities to Romero's *Dawn of the Dead*, Capcom asserted that the concept of "humans battling zombies in a shopping mall" is a "wholly unprotectible idea" under the present copyright laws. While the company wanted to have the game follow on from its other zombie-centered game series, its development team opted to design the game with a more comical view of zombies in the horror genre, particularly in the way that players interacted with the zombies in the game, allowing them to be able to do anything against them in terms of what weapons they could use against them, while they also based the mall upon the stereotypical design of American shopping malls. One particular area that was keenly worked on by the team was the number of zombies that could appear onscreen during the game in order to give the feel that it was a major outbreak; when *Electronic Gaming Monthly* reviewed the game, they reported that up to 800 zombies could appear on screen at once. As the development team consisted of members who had worked on Capcom's role-playing video game *Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter*, it helped greatly in incorporating one of the game's elements borrowed from it, towards the developing the mechanics structure of *Dead Rising* - the ability to roll over anything earned in terms of experience, levels and abilities, towards making a new playthrough, was implemented so that players would have a sense of responsibility for their decisions and actions.

After making changes to the beta of the game, a playable demo was released via the Xbox Live Marketplace on August 4, 2006, prior to its release over the next two months.

#### Soundtrack

*Dead Rising Original Soundtrack* was released in Japan on March 30, 2007, in a 2,000-copy limited edition, bundled with a T-shirt. It was packaged with a T-shirt that showcased Frank, Isabella, and an outline of the mall. A non-limited edition of the same soundtrack was released on June 20, 2007.

#### Downloadable Content

Soon after *Dead Rising* was released in the United States, Capcom released nine downloadable "keys" to Xbox Live Marketplace that would unlock different lockers in the Security Room, providing the player with nine new outfit options, adding three more keys for players to download and use on May 31, 2007.

## Reception

*Dead Rising* received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Most reviewers commended the "sandbox"-style of gameplay, the amount to explore within the mall, and the sheer number of ways to kill the thousands of zombies. GameSpot stated it was "a great piece of entertainment", while two reviewers on Australian video game talk show *Good Game* gave the title a 6-7/10 score. However, general consensus amongst reviews was towards criticizing the game's save system mechanic and the AI of the survivors; while IGN considered the game to be "one of the more unique and entertaining titles on the Xbox 360", its review notably indicated that improvements were needed with both the save system and NPCs, along with offering "a more forgiving story progression, and tighter controls". One point of contention in reviews was the operation of the game's transceiver, specifically on how persistent it is when ringing, how vulnerable Frank is while answering any calls on it, and how if the telephone call is somehow interrupted (such as being attacked), it would end abruptly and be repeated again when the player answers the transceiver a few seconds later and hears Frank being scolded by Otis for disrupting him; the use of the transceiver in the game led to numerous gamer-oriented webcomics and blogs parodying the use of it. Despite this, Capcom reported around 500,000 copies had been shipped out in the first month after its release, and one million copies worldwide by the end of 2006. It received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

One notable complaint that *Dead Rising* received, was from players who ran the game through either a standard-definition or small high-definition set, only to find themselves having difficulty reading the on-screen text, an issue caused due to Capcom deciding to develop the game exclusively for high-definition televisions, particularly as it had been touted as one of the first truly "next generation" titles available for the Xbox 360.

#### Awards

Along with being ranked #2 in gaming magazine Gamesmaster's Top 50 of 2006, *Dead Rising* won several awards:

* IGN awarded the title "Most Innovative Design for Xbox 360" in its Best of 2006.
* GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2006 awarded the game with the honors of "Best Action Adventure Game", "Best Sound Effects", and "Best Use of Xbox 360 Achievement Points".
* The 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards awarded it with "Game of the Year".
* *X-Play* awarded it with "Best Original Game" of 2006.

## Legacy

### Chop Till You Drop

A remake of *Dead Rising* was released for the Wii in February 2009, titled *Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop*, and was developed by Capcom and published by THQ in Australia. Built upon the same engine used for the Wii version of *Resident Evil 4*, which had been positively received by reviewers, the remake incorporated additional features to that of the Xbox 360 original, including the use of an over-the-shoulder camera approach and utilizing the motion control system of the Wii Remote, yet lacked some of the features of the original, including showing large number of zombies on screen and the photography system. The Wii version ultimately earned mixed reviews, though was praised for having an improved aiming system to that of the original.

### Handheld Versions

In 2008, Capcom Interactive Canada released a hand-held spin-off of the game for mobile phone, announcing on 4 October 2010 that an iOS version of the game was also announced. In this version, players have access to a new game mechanic in which they can call upon their friends via Twitter and Facebook to help revive them, with their refusal causing them to appear as a zombie within their friend's game, while complex operations in the game are performed through context-based buttons. Similar to Infinity Mode in the console version, the game features a hunger meter, with Frank now required to eat food within the mall in order to survive. The hand-held spin-off was generally well received by reviewers, earning a B+ from 1UP.com, and a 7.3/10 from IGN, with praise given for staying true to the sandbox design and plot of the Xbox 360 version, despite being pared down for the smaller screen and platform.

### Sequels

Following the game's commercial success, plans were made to create a sequel, with it aimed to operate on multiple platforms. On 28 September 2010, *Dead Rising 2* was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows, and while it followed the basic setup of gameplay mechanics as the original, it featured a new character, a currency system, a weapon creation system that involved finding "Combo Cards" to know what to make, and online multiplayer modes, including zombie-killing minigames and two-player cooperative play, whilst also featuring improvements to address some of the negative feedback that *Dead Rising* received. Since its release, two downloadable episodes were released for the game - one a prologue set before the main story of *Dead Rising 2*, the other taking place after it and featuring Frank West, who is also controllable in it - and a re-imagined version was released in October 2011, with a new story and Frank West being the main protagonist.

The game eventually spawned two more sequels, developed by Capcom's Canadian branch, Capcom Vancouver - *Dead Rising 3* was released on 22 November 2013 for Xbox One and on 5 September 2014 for Microsoft Windows, while *Dead Rising 4* was released on 6 December 2016. Capcom Vancouver was also developing another sequel to the franchise, which was cancelled when the studio closed down in September 2018.

### Remaster

On 18 July 2016, Capcom announced that work was underway for a remastered version of the original *Dead Rising*, alongside its sequel *Dead Rising 2* and its spin-off title, aiming for these to be released for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, prior to the release of the fourth game in the series. These were released on 13 September that year, both separately and in a bundle pack, with the developers improving the game's graphics to high-definition, increasing the number of save slots and improving the frame-rate.