PC Gamer - January 2012

REVIEWS

Humans are the real monsters. And the messiest.

GRAVE
DISAPPOINTMENT

You only have to suffer a little of Terror is Banality in the intro.

Whereverpossible, wefinisheverygamebefore finalizing thereview. Wereview eachgameonits ownmeritsandmatchit toareviewer who’sa passionateexpertinthefield. Theprimaryaimof thereviewssectionistohelp youmakebuying decisions. Assuch, we’llreview content ofall typesinadditiontothelatest big-namereleases. How we review Our scoring system explained

0-30% Intolerable A crime against gaming. Whether it’s bugs or bad design, this should be shot on sight.

31-45% Weak Serious flaws ruin any chance this game has of offering sustained fun.

46-60% Mediocre A very ordinary game, quickly forgotten. Think twice, even if you find it cheap.

61-75% Fair

A decent effort that, but for a little more polish, coulda been a contender.

76-89% Good Enjoyable, well-made, and entertaining—just falling short of true greatness.

DEAD RISING 2: OFF THE RECORD joins its
zombies in an undead yawn by Richard Cobbett

90%+ Editor’s Choice A glowing example within its genre of excellence in design and execution.

Last year’s Dead Rising 2 is a great game that lets you combine gems and a flashlight to create a lightsaber and ride a bike with mounted chainsaws through a zombie army. And Dead Rising 2: Off the Record—well, it’s a game that lets you pay $40 to do exactly the same all over again, only with the first game’s hero, cynical journalist Frank West.

As a full reimagining of Dead Rising 2, Off the Record could have been great. Frank is a far more entertaining character than DR2’s Chuck, and the zombie-filled Fortune City is a great place to give him a new adventure. Too bad that’s not what Capcom did.

What we get instead is a simple rehash of DR2, from quests to bosses to almost the exact same plot. There’s a bit of rewritten dialog to explain Frank’s presence and let him snark at people, a few sections where you use his camera to gather evidence, and a new, sillier ending, but these minor changes are few and far between.

Frank’s camera is integrated into the main
game too, though the fun of using it soon
ebbs. Your pictures are scored by content, in
such categories as horror, drama, and erotica
(don’t ask) and award you with experience
points. For the first hour, there’s great fun to
be had in posing good shots. Then you
realize the XP you’re getting is practically
worthless and you never bother again.

A game scoring 80% or more
is eligible to receive the PC
Gamer Editor’s Choice award.
The Editor’s personal seal of
approval means we think the
recipient is a truly great example of its genre.

PC Gamer’s 10 Latest and Greatest

◆ Price $40 ◆ Release Out now ◆ Publisher Capcom ◆ Developer Capcom ◆ Multiplayer 2-player co-op ◆ Link www.deadrising-2.com ◆ ESRB M