Written by: Mark

 

 

 

In September 2006 Capcom released what proved to be at the time one of the most anticipated Xbox 360 releases in the form of Dead Rising. The game saw you take on the role of journalist Frank West who was trapped inside a zombie infested shopping mall and bore an uncanny resemblance to the classic George A. Romero movie Dawn of the Dead.

 

As anticipated as the game was it would be fair to say that as playable and fun as it was there were just too many flaws including the woeful save system and almost unreadable text to name just two. This stopped the game from reaching the classic status despite being groundbreaking in the sheer amount of action on screen at any one time.

 

 

Now more than two years later Wii owners get their own taste of the Dead Rising games with the uniquely titled Dead Rising: Chop till you drop which promises a more fun take on the zombie game phenomenon which has seen many recent releases seeing the player battling the undead.

 

 

Hmmm now where do I start with this game. I suppose I have to say that I should be reluctant to continually make comparisons between the Wii version and the Xbox 360 version however I feel that despite the differences in game titles the actual game is pretty much the same. Therefore despite the Wii’s less superior graphics and processing power I will be making comparisons throughout the review to highlight the changes.

 

More than two years after the 360 version was released it is fair to say the Capcom have ironed out some of the things that was wrong with the 360 version for the Wii game but this has come at the expense of the loss of some key gameplay elements. This obviously has it’s positives and negatives and these differences certainly make the Wii version more accessible for gamers of all abilities.

 

 

The first noticeable difference is that the Wii game utilises the motion sensing controls pretty well with a combination of both Wiimote and nunchuck used throughout the game. These controls are not only used for moving your character around but also used in similar ways to Capcom’s other major Wii success Resident Evil 4 in that through a combination of pointing the Wiimote and button pressing the characters interact with a variety of weapons pretty well.

 

Secondly is the much more user friendly save system which now gives you the option to save at very regular intervals rather than only being able to save on one occasion that was present on the 360 version.

 

For me this can only be seen as a good thing and takes away a massive amount of repetition which certainly took away a lot of the enjoyment of the original game.