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Any Dead Rising fan would know that Dead Rising: Case Zero is now available on the Xbox Live marketplace. It is the arcade prequel to Dead Rising 2. I have never been a fan of Dead Rising, I play the demo for the first game as “stress relief” but I didn’t plan on getting Case Zero. The trial was very fun though, I bought Microsoft points and bought Case Zero. It is 400 Microsoft points, five dollars (US). The game runs on the same engine as Dead Rising 2, has countless weapons, the ability to combine a number of those weapons, a large town to explore with a long number of stores to explore and even a place to buy items with money you find in the game.

Plotline: In Dead Rising: Case Zero, you take on the role of Chuck Greene, he is the main protagonist in both Dead Rising: Case Zero and Dead Rising 2. You and your daughter are stuck in a small town on the way to Las Vegas, Nevada. Your daughter is infected with the zombie virus all though she is not zombie, she is infected. It is up to the player to save his daughter, escape the town and kill a lot of zombies!

Gameplay: If you know Dead Rising, you know that you can use almost anything in your environment as a weapon. Everything from kitchen knives and even your two bare hands too guns, chainsaws and even cars! In Dead Rising: Case Zero, you can combine these weapons to make deadly combos that give you achievements and extra points. These combos include a bat with nails in it, fire bottles (Molotov cocktails) and many more! There are also food and drinks that you find in the game, you can eat these to restore your health. There is also zombrex, it is a vaccine for the zombie virus. You need to provide zombrex for your daughter in the game. This mechanic is not frustrating nor does it put any dent in the gameplay like the mechanics of the first Dead Rising did.

Dead Rising: Case Zero is a full arcade game, even though the game itself is short, you can restart the game but still have all of the pp (player points) and level-up rewards. This is very helpful because you often don’t have time to level up even once without restarting the story. Even though you lose a lot of progress, leveling up is the main priority to have a rewarding game experience.

Sound: Dead Rising: Case Zero lacks in sound, voice acting itself is good but the sound effects lack. When a weapon breaks, it has this strange cartoonish sound I have NEVER heard before. The sound of bullets is very quiet and each shot is exactly the same. Melee weapons are better but all sound the same, as does a zombie being stabbed. The is not a huge problem though, but it is worth pointing out. 

Overall: Dead Rising wasn’t the best game in the world, it had flaws like frustrating boss fights, poor shooting controls and timed gameplay. Dead Rising Case Zero fixes most of those problems. I am not particullarly excited for Dead Rising 2, but I have had hours of gory fun with Dead Rising: Case Zero. If you like a zombie game that is only five dollars (US) and can be bought on your xbox, go with Dead Rising: Case Zero