DEAD RISING 2

 PLATFORMS: PS3, XBOX360, PC

GENRE: ACTION ADVENTURE

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4GHz / AMD Athlon X2 at 2.2 GHz or better
Video Card : 512 MB VRAM - NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS / ATI Radeon HD 3850 or better
Memory : 2 GB RAM
Hard Disk : 8.5 GB of free Hard Drive space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Direct X : 10.0
Controls : Keyboard & Mouse
Installation : DVD-ROM Drive
Other : Internet Connection required for activation

Note: Internet connection required for game activation.

Dead Rising 2 is good. Very good, in fact. I felt like I needed to get that out right away.
Dead Rising 2, the sequel to 2006's breakout Xbox 360 hit, puts you in the leather jacket of one Chuck Greene. Once a motocross superstar, Chuck's now a dude whose wife was gobbled up by zombies years ago. His daughter is infected from the same incident, but a daily dose of Zombrex keeps the virus at bay. To makes ends meet, Chuck is a contestant on Terror is Reality, a TV show where players knock off the undead for bucks. Well, after a show, there's a mini-zombie uprising, Chuck's framed for it, and a bunch of survivors hole-up in the Fortune City safe house to await rescue in three days. Chuck needs to clear his name, get his daughter meds, save survivors from the area and slay psychopaths before the military rolls in to clean up the mess.

Still, the biggest addition is the ability to create combo weapons. Dead Rising has always been about picking up whatever you could – an umbrella, a sword, a sandwich board – and using it to beat the undead back to death. That's still here, but now you'll collect combo card by leveling up and keeping your eyes peeled for posters. In turn, these cards will show you how to take two items (a fire extinguisher and a watergun, for example) and combine them at a maintenance work bench to make a super weapon (a gun that freezes zombies solid). Aside from being rad, these weapons take longer to break -- as every weapon eventually does -- and earn you lots of experience points.

Again, Dead Rising 2 has issues. It’s not the smoothest game and it can feel like the last one, however that doesn’t mean a thing when the game’s this much fun. Using a car battery and a Street Fighter mask to electrocute the undead and a set of knives and a pair of boxing gloves to make Wolverine claws are all great times. Watching Chuck get covered in blood as he slays thousands of zombies, changing outfits so that one minute you’re in a toddler clothes with a LEGO head and the next you’re in a sundress, and listening to completely whacked out boss stories – that’s what I remember about Dead Rising 2. Any issue the game might have just falls to the backburner.