Dead Rising

Dead Rising
Genres	Survival horror Beat 'em up
Developers	Capcom (2006-9) Blue Castle Games (2010) Capcom Vancouver (2011-)
Publishers	Capcom (2006-11) Microsoft Studios (2013-)
Creators	Keiji Inafune
Platforms	Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, iOS
Platform of origin	Xbox 360
First release	Dead Rising August 8, 2006
Latest release	Dead Rising 4 December 6, 2016

Dead Rising is a series of zombie survival horror beat 'em up video games set in an open world created by Keiji Inafune. It was originally developed by Capcom until Blue Castle Games (now known as Capcom Vancouver) took over developing the franchise.

Setting

The games in the franchise take place in fictional cities, although real cities are mentioned, the first game takes place in a small Mall in the town of Willamette, Colorado. The prequel expansion for the second game "Case Zero" happens in Still Creek a small town near Las Vegas, while the main game takes place in Fortune City, a Casino Mall, the epilogue downloadable content "Case West" takes place in a Phenotrans Facility nearby. The third game takes place in Los Perdidos, California. "Dead Rising 4" takes place again, in Willamette with a zombie outbreak happening in the "Willamette Memorial Mall" which was constructed to honor the victims of the first game outbreak.

"Phenotrans" is a multimillion dollar pharmaceutical company. It creates and distributes "Zombrex", a medicine which can, if taken daily, prevent an infected person from turning into a zombie. The company serves as the main antagonist of the series. There are also organizations like C.U.R.E. (Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality) which fight for the rights of the zombies.

Protagonists

Frank West

Voiced by Terence J. Rotolo (Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2: Case West, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3), TBA (Dead Rising 4), Peter von Gomm (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars), Rikiya Koyama (Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Project X Zone) and portrayed by Rob Riggle (Dead Rising: Watchtower.

The protagonist of Dead Rising, Frank West is a freelance photographer and photojournalist who has covered many world events, wars, and other big stories. Looking for the next big scoop, he stumbles onto some strange events happening in the small town of Willamette, Colorado. While not the most polished and professional person in his field, he is strong, genuinely kind and decent, and always operates on instinct. Not your typical journalist, Frank is capable of handling himself in combat and helping other survivors to safety.^[1]

Chuck Greene

Voiced by Peter Flemming and portrayed by Victor Webster (Dead Rising: Endgame). The main protagonist of Dead Rising 2. He is a former motocross champion and an extremely resourceful mechanic, able to repair and construct anything he can imagine. Chuck is frequently under pressure to find the money to buy Zombrex (a daily medication that suppresses the zombification process) for his daughter Katey, who was bitten by her zombified mother during a previous outbreak in Las Vegas. Chuck arrives at Fortune City, Nevada, to take part in Terror Is Reality, a controversial sports entertainment game show where contestants kill zombies for cash prizes.^[2]

Nick Ramos

Voiced by Andrew Lawrence. The protagonist of Dead Rising 3. Nick is an orphan-turned-mechanic who works for Wrench O' Rama in the city of Los Perdidos. While he has excellent mechanical skills, Nick has difficulties formulating plans and acting under pressure. Many details of his life remain a mystery, but a distinctive physical trait is a tattoo of the number 12 on his neck. Despite his shortcomings, Nick is a friendly young man who holds his friends in high regard, especially his boss Rhonda, who is about the closest thing he knows to a mother. Nick also has a crush on a girl named Annie.^[3]

• ^1 Frank West is the protagonist of Dead Rising and Dead Rising 4, and also appears in the downloadable content Dead Rising 2: Case West, and the film Dead Rising: Watchtower. In his non-canonical appearances, Frank West is the main protagonist of the remakes Dead Rising: Chop till you Drop (Wii remake of the original Dead Rising) and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (remake of he second game), the mobile game, and also being a playable character Dead Rising 3: Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha.
• ^2 Chuck Greene is the main protagonist of Dead Rising 2 and all of its downloadable contents, and appears on Dead Rising 3, he also appears on a cameo in the film Dead Rising: Endgame. In the non-canonical appearances, the co-op player of Dead Rising 2: Off the Record always controls Chuck, within the same game a second Chuck appears as a psychopath having gone crazy after the death of his daughter, Chuck is also playable in the downloadable content Dead Rising 3: Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha.
• ^3 The co-op player of Dead Rising 3 controls a character called Dick.
• ^4 Chase Carter is the protagonist of the films Dead Rising: Watchtower and Dead Rising: Endgame.

Video-game series

Aggregate review scores
As of November 19, 2013.

Game	Metacritic
Dead Rising	(X360) 85[4]
Dead Rising 2	(PS3) 80[5] (X360) 79[6] (PC) 78[7]
Dead Rising 3	(XONE) 78[8] (PC) 70[9]

Gameplay

The games work within a 72-hour schedule which happens in in-game time, every event happens within an specific hour, similar to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The story happens within a city infected by hordes zombies, each subsequent game has allowed for more zombies to be displayed on screen, at the same time.

The melee combat system, consists on using everything as a weapon, most of the items in the game can be used, as a weapons some are very effective, but others are comedically inefficient, weapons constantly break forcing the player to constantly use different weapons. Dead Rising 2 introduced a "Combo Weapons" system, where the player can combine certain items into more powerful weapons, some of which are over the top. (Ex: A lightsaber is made by combining a flashlight and jewelry.)^[10] Dead Rising 3 enhanced the mechanic by introducing "Combo Vehicles" allowing players to combine items with vehicles and even vehicles with other into more powerful vehicles. (Ex: A motorcycle with a chainsaw creates the "slycycle" a motorcycle with 2 chainsaw at the sides.)^[11]

Players can Level up by performing mission objectives, which consist on progressing on the main story, rescuing and leading survivors to the safety by guiding them the safe-house, and also fighting psychopaths whom are civilians who went crazy after the zombie outbreak. Leveling up increases the health-bar, walking speed, unlocks melee combos, reveals weapon combinations.

All games feature multiple endings, completing all the missions in the main story is the only way to get the true ending. Since the second game all games feature online 2 player coop multiplayer, although "Dead Rising 4" introduces 4 player co-op.

Customization allows the player to use different clothes, spread all around the mall, whom vary from a sports fan attire, to pajamas, to dresses, to a male stripper outfit, to a Megaman cosplay.

HUD

The game displays the Health bar, the Level, the number of zombies killed, depleting bars telling how much time until each mission becomes unavailable, the current item (which turns red when the weapon is about to break).

Main Games

Dead Rising (2006)

The first game in the Dead Rising series. The game centers on Frank West, a photojournalist who ends up trapped in a shopping mall in the fictional town of Willamette, Colorado, that is infested with zombies. Players can use everything as a weapon. The game story works in a 72-hour clock.

Dead Rising 2 (2010)

• Case Zero (2010):

An Xbox 360-exclusive download, available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It was released a month before, the main game. The download serves as a prologue for Dead Rising 2, set a few years before the main game.

• Dead Rising 2 (2010):

The second game in the Dead Rising series. Set in the fictional casino town of Fortune City, Nevada, five years after the events of Dead Rising, the game follows former motocross champion Chuck Greene trying to clear his name after being framed for starting the outbreak in Fortune City, while simultaneously trying to keep his infected daughter alive with "Zombrex", a drug that lags the zombification process. The "72 hour" system returns. The major gameplay improvement over its predecessor is the Combo Weapons system, allowing Chuck to combine certain items by using crafting tables, survivors A.I. was also improved. The Main story can be played in 2 player online co-op, where the second player controlling a second Chuck. Players can earn money by playing the online multiplayer mode "Terror is Reality". Downloadable Content:

• Case West (2010):

A second Xbox 360-exclusive download, available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The download serves as an epilogue for Dead Rising 2, Chuck with the help of Frank West, go to a Phenotranx facility to get evidence to clear Chuck's name.

Dead Rising 3 (2013)

The third game in the Dead Rising series. Set ten years after Dead Rising 2, the story follows a young mechanic named Nick Ramos and his attempt to survive a massive zombie outbreak in the fictional city of Los Perdidos, California. The "72 hour" system returns. Combo Weapons can be fused anywhere, as crafting tables were removed, the crafting system was also expanded by introducing "Combo-Vehicles". While there is no sandbox mode, like in "Off the Record", similar challenges can be found during the Story Mode. Survivors were upgraded to be able to use "Combo Weapons". Like in the previous game, the main story can be played in 2 player Co-op Online Mode the second player controls a character named Dick. It is exclusive for Xbox One.

There are 5 downloadable contents, the first 4 are known as The Untold Histories of Los Perdidos each focuses on exploring the zombie outbreak in Los Perdidos depicted in the main story, through the point of view of a different survivor, Nick met during during the main story. The player controls those survivors instead of Nick. The fifth expansion, is the non-canon Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha, it focuses on beat'em up action.

• Operation Eagle (2013):

The story of Adam Kane, a Special Forces Commander on a mission to capture the president. He is psychopath, whom Nick kills in the main story.

• Fallen Angel (2013):

The story of Angel Quijano an illegally infected survivor. She seen on the main story as part of Annie's group of survivors.

• Chaos Rising (2013):

The story of Hunter Thibodeaux a biker seeking revenge on he people who incarcerated him. He is a psychopath, whom Nick kills using a molotov cocktail in the main story.

• The Last Angel (2013):

The story of a ZDC agent, searching for the truth about the outbreak.

• Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha (2013):

It features four-player co-op, players can control Frank West, Chuck Greene, Katie Greene, and Nick Ramos, it also features exclusive costumes whom serve as an homage to other Capcom franchises.^[12]

Dead Rising 4 (2016)

The fourth game in the Dead Rising series. The game features an older Frank West, returning to Willamette, Colorado during the Christmas season,^[13] where the newly constructed "Willamette Memorial Mall" has fallen under another zombie outbreak. "Combo weapons" and "Combo Vehicles" return, Camera mechanics from "Dead Rising 2: Off the Record" also return. The game will introduce an exo-suit Unlike previous games, the "72 hour" time system has been dropped, in order to encourage exploration. The main story can be played in 4 player Co-op Online Mode, instead of just two players.^[14]

Remakes

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (2009)

A remake of the original Dead Rising for the Nintendo Wii. Many things were cut from the original game because of the Wii's limited console capabilities. It features motion controls.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (2011)

A non-canonical remake of Dead Rising 2, which replaces protagonist Chuck Greene, with Frank West (the protagonist of the original game), and also features a "new" plot with some slight alterations. Fortune City remains mostly the same, but now adds a new place, a small alien thematic park called "Uranus Zone". The "72 hour" system returns, but the game also adds a "Sandbox Mode", where Frank can explore Fortune City without a time limit, and also complete challenges which require the players to use their creativity and crafting the necessary weapons to succeed. More Combo Weapons were added. Camera mechanics from Dead Rising 1 also returned improved. Both the main story and the sandbox mode can be played in 2 player Co-op Online Mode, with the second player controlling Chuck.

Mobile Game

Dead Rising Mobile (2010)

A spin-off released on iOS on December 9, 2010. It received poor reviews.^[15]

Compilations

Dead Rising Collection

Dead Rising Collection is a compilation for Xbox 360 containing all the games from the Dead Rising franchise released on Xbox 360: Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2 and its downloadable content Case Zero & Case West, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. It was released on March 7, 2014 exclusively in Europe.

Dead Rising Triple Pack (2016)

Triple Pack is a compilation pack featuring the original Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 13, 2016. Physical copies of first two games were released on September 13, 2016 and September 27, 2016 (North America Only) respectively.^[16] The ports themselves where praised; but the collection was criticized for not in including Dead Rising 2 expansions Case Zero and Case West. Each game includes all of its DLC costumes.^[17]

Film series

Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun

In 2010, a Japanese film based on the Dead Rising universe titled Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun was released directed by Keiji Inafune. The film featured a new cast of characters set in the same world as Dead Rising.^[18]

Dead Rising: Watchtower (2015)

Legendary Digital Media released a digital feature film titled Dead Rising: Watchtower directed by Zach Lipovsky. Crackle conserved the initial US rights of the film and while it was internationally distributed by Content Media Corp.^[19][20]

Principal photography began in Vancouver on September 30, 2014 with Jesse Metcalfe, Dennis Haysbert, Virginia Madsen and Meghan Ory joining the cast.^[21] On October 20, 2014, Rob Riggle was announced as Frank West, along with Harley Morenstein as Pryo, Aleks Paunovich as Logan, Keegan Connor Tracy as Jordan, and Carrie Genzel as Susan.^[22] The film takes place between Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 3.

Dead Rising: Endgame (2016)

The sequel, Dead Rising: Endgame was released on Crackle in Spring 2016 with Metcalfe, Haysbert and Tracy returning for their roles from the previous film, with Victor Webster as Dead Rising 2 hero Chuck Greene, and Billy Zane, Marie Avgeropoulos, Ian Tracey, Jessica Harmon, Camille Sullivan as new characters.^{[23][24][25][26]} The film takes place between Dead Rising: Watchtower and Dead Rising 3.

Future

Jesse Metcalfe told Digital Spy that depending of the success of the second film Crackle is debating, between continuing the franchise with a third film or developing a Crackle Original series, that would be in real time action, in the style of 24, but with zombie drama like The Walking Dead.^[27]

In other media

Appearances in other game franchises

Playable

• Frank West is a playable character in the fighting games Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 , with his special moves revolving around the use of zombies and the makeshift weapons from Dead Rising.^[28] He has special dialogue with Nova, the Hulk, and Spider-Man, the latter of which he tries to compete with as a rival photographer.^[29]
• Frank also appears as one of the characters at player's disposal in the tactical role-playing game Project X Zone, where he is paired with Hsien-Ko from the Darkstalkers series.^[30]
• Frank West also appears as a multiplayer character in Capcom's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition,^[31] and in the sequel, Lost Planet 2.^[32]

Easter eggs

In Valve's add-on content "The Passing" for Left 4 Dead 2, a message from Frank directed to Otis appears among other pop culture messages graffitied on the wall of a bar.^[33]

References