The equivalent of a B-Movie that never takes itself seriously, Dead Rising 2 is pure, crazy, fun.
Pros: Absurd combat is even better than before; Time system keeps things moving and adds replay value; Psychopaths are fascinating characters
Cons: Inconsistent frame rates; Some bosses come across as cheap; Photography is gone
Chuck Greene has terrible luck. He's lost his wife; his daughter is infected, kept alive only by a drug; and now he's framed for causing a zombie outbreak that is also keeping him stuck inside Fortune City for three days. But as a player, that's a good thing, since it gives us a chance to once again cause mayhem with the undead in Dead Rising 2.
The premise here, like in its predecessor, is that you are stuck in a mall, but can use anything to kill zombies. You can fill your inventory with guns, sure, but chairs, guitars, or hangers can be equally viable options, especially considering what's available. The combat is simple, with usually only two attacks and the ability to throw each item, but the simplicity (and finite life of each item) encourages experimentation with the game's myriad options.
This experimentation is further encouraged by the combo system introduced in the sequel. By using maintenance rooms, Chuck is capable of combining various items into makeshift weapons. Items like spiked bats and drill buckets are only the beginning of Chuck's expanded arsenal, and throughout the game you discover more unique, bizarre, and deadly options for dispatching zombies. The creative killing options that the developers at Blue Castle have produced are pure fun and add to the game's playful atmosphere nicely.
However, even the varied weaponry would be subject to repetition if there was nothing to do, and thus Dead Rising 2 has a couple features to keep you interested. The first is a level up system where killing and completing objectives gains you experience, which in turn gains you levels. These levels add to your health, inventory, attack power, etc. and carry over each time you start the game over, allowing for long term progression.
The other feature is the game's clock. As mentioned before, Chuck only has three days and time is ticking. Story related missions occur at certain times and places, and if you miss them, then you lose the chance to complete the story for the best ending. There are also survivors throughout the mall looking to be rescued in time. Some people have snapped and are terrorizing the mall as well. And Chuck's daughter needs a rare medicine, Zombrex, each day at 7:00AM.
Sound overwhelming? Don't worry, it isn't. The game does a great job of spacing objectives apart so that you always have something to do, but won't be swamped with short deadlines. The game is also less brutal than its predecessor, and you can save in up to three different slots to prevent yourself from running out of time. However, it's unlikely that even the best player will be able to save every survivor and kill every psychopath in their first run, smartly encouraging multiple play throughs since each round will find Chuck at a higher level, and thus stronger.
And dealing with survivors and psychopaths is definitely worth your time. While survivors used to be a pain in Dead Rising 1 because of terrible path finding, the improved AI (and the fact that zombies care slightly less about them) makes survivors much easier to manage in the sequel. Rescuing as many people as you can, within the game's three day limit can be addicting, and their situations are just varied enough to prevent too much repetition.
Psycopaths are less improved and a bit more mixed. Like in the first game, these are people driven mad by the zombie apocalypse, each with their own story, who function as the game's boss fights. The characters are all pretty interesting in a twisted, pathetic way, but the boss fights themselves aren't all that great. The issue stems from the fact that most of the game's bosses have at least one or two cheap attacks that are tough to dodge. This turns many encounters into simple battles of attrition where the player must bring as many strong weapons and healing items as they can find, knowing that they will trade damage with the boss--which is a shame, since the fights provide a good break from the standard zombie fare with interesting back stories to boot.
Despite the morbid situations in which the psychopaths are encountered, it should be noted that the game never takes itself too seriously. All of the writing is over-the-top and presented with a goofy B-movie charm complete with terrible one-liners. The voice actors do a great job of delivering the lines with an intentionally poor quality, and the alternation of calm store music with hard rock and metal (during boss fights) only adds to the charm. Graphics are mostly serviceable, rendering up to thousands of zombies at one time with a pretty good amount of detail. Although the PC version of the game can potentially run the game without any lag, it's important to note that this is unlikely to be the case for most players, and settings will have to be lowered to compensate for the game's inconsistent frame rate. There have been worse optimized games, but Dead Rising 2 requires a beefier PC than one might expect from a console port.
But don't let that discourage you from trying the game out, because Dead Rising 2 is a unique game definitely worth playing. It may not push the medium forward in any significant way, but Dead Rising 2 is always, without a doubt, fun. And at the end of the day, that's what really counts.