Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop Wii Review
The original Dead Rising on Xbox 360 was one of the first real showcases of the graphical and processing power of ‘next-generation’ consoles. Allowing you an extreme amount of freedom to roam around a zombie-infested shopping mall, and featuring a jaw-dropping amount of zombies on-screen at once, it felt like something that could never have been achieved in previous generations.
It comes as no surprise that this abridged Wii port is inferior in every way to the original game. What is more disappointing is that Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is inferior to many other Wii games also.
CTYD follows the same plot as the original game, although it fails to set the scene even half as well. Reckless photojournalist Frank West is investigating why the small town of Willamette has been sealed off by the National Guard, and soon finds himself trapped in huge shopping mall that is swarming with the undead.
Except in this version of the game, the player doesn’t get to take any photographs, and the zombie horde is more of a mild irritation than an actual apocalypse. You rarely see more than a dozen of the infected former humans that dotted around the mall at any one time, and the pop-in is so bad that a zombie will often not appear until you’re standing right next to him.
It feels like the whole mall is filled with some kind of eerie fog that makes areas seem deserted unless you’re actually standing in them. It doesn’t help that the visuals are so drab and grainy that the whole game is actually repulsive to look at, and not in a good way.
Any possibility and purpose for exploration has also been removed, as there are no side-quests, and Case Files can only be played through in a linear order. The next dribble of plot is not gifted to you until you’ve completed several missions to escort survivors back to the safety of the security room.
The original game also gave an overall time-limit for gameplay, tasking you with doing everything you could in the 72 hours before your rescue helicopter returned. It created a great tension between the desires for exploration and time management. In CTYD your time for completing each mission is recorded, but this simply goes towards calculating a grade for every task. Getting the best grades does reward you with special weapons and clothing however, providing some incentive to playthrough quickly.
The challenge of navigating and battling your way through the mass of zombies is also absent, as your enemies are usually present in sparse enough numbers that you can simply run between them with no fear of being attacked. Further negating any difficulty is the fact that zombies drop ammo and money when killed, meaning you’re never short of a gun to use.
It comes as a shock to realise that CTYD utilises the excellent mechanic of Resident Evil 4, as when you pull out a firearm, the classic over-the-shoulder view becomes a behind-the-back view. For some reason, Frank’s own body obscures the majority of the screen, making aiming an exercise in frustration.
The controls leave a lot to be desired. Although aiming is performed with the Wii Remote’s pointer, the aim camera can only be adjusted with the analog stick. This leads to a lot of annoyances when trying to kill the zombie parrots and poodles that for some reason are everywhere within the mall. Whilst the regular zombies are easy to beat down with any object you can get your hands on, these frustrating animals are almost impossible to melee, and you’ll find yourself resorting to simply running past them.
Part of the enjoyment of the original Dead Rising was the sheer variety of objects that could be used as weapons, often with hilarious results. The limited animations of the zombies, the relative low number of weapons, the abundance of ammo and the ease of simply avoiding zombies remove yet another plus point from the original game.
Frank can no longer climb upon objects or run through the water in the parks, and many corridors are simply blocked off. As there is nothing interesting to find in the game this restrictiveness is probably a good thing anyway. Frank also no longer learns new wrestling moves as he levels up, (although these can bizarrely later be purchased) and having to press the Z and A buttons together to open doors and talk to people adds a brown lining to this cloud of acid rain.
The battles with the bizarre and varied psychopaths have been reduced to simple affairs that see the insane survivors running back-and-forth or in circles around you, while you stand around shooting them in a state of almost zen-like boredom.
If I was forced to find one positive thing to say about Chop Till You Drop it would have to be that at least it contains the vaguely intriguing plot of Dead Rising. Sadly this is spoiled by some the fact that some of the cuts and changes that have been made in this port result in many of the cinematics not making sense.
The best ‘blooper’ has to be when an unknown character who has never appeared in the game previously pops up randomly in a cut scene, only to get killed moments later by a former gun shop owner. You then proceed to shoot this psychopath many times, before for some reason saving him from being eaten by a zombie. He then appears to forget that you were trying to murder each other moments earlier and opens up his gun shop for business so that he can sell you weapons in the middle of Armageddon…
Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop feels like a cloning experiment that’s gone wrong. Instead of resulting in a perfectly healthy copy of a once-great individual, you’re left with an abhorrent gelatinous mess of bones, hair, flesh, teeth and faeces. It has managed to somehow destroy everything that made the original Dead Rising great, and become not just a terrible port, but a terrible game.
If you’ve never played the original game, some of the flaws may not be as apparent, and your experience will be that of a poor game, rather than a terrible one. So if you only own a Wii, feel free to add another two points to this score.
An absolute rotting putrid corpse of a videogame…
Developer:
Capcom
Publisher:
Capcom
Genre:
Action Horror
Players:
1
Age rating:
18+
24 comments ↓
Andrew Vrba
April 1st, 2009
Inferiority is in the eye of the beholder. And this review is inferior to dog shit.
Seth
April 1st, 2009
You’re quite right about inferiority being in the eye of the beholder, at least most of the time..
Looking at your DeviantArt page it seems that you enjoy less freedom, less weapons, linear gameplay, overuse of guns, less zombies that instantly respawn behind you and meaningingless immersion-breaking story. And that’s great because it’s your opinion.
But try to be a little more constructive with your criticism next time, don’t go looking for a review to help you justify your $40 purchase, and then get insulting when it doesn’t confirm your opinions are 100% valid.
Have fun with your fourth playthrough!
Steve
April 1st, 2009
WHY OH WHY OH WHY
Could be the worst port ever, not only clumsily dummed down but unneccasirily broken too.
LOL at Cletus opening the gun shop.
Did they mess up the Supermarket guy too?
FatPuffin
April 2nd, 2009
PMSL at the constructive criticism from mr vrba – just as well he’s not writing the reviews otherwise we’d be a bit short on copy!
Andrew Vrba
April 2nd, 2009
I’m not saying that there is nothing wrong with this game, but I know a “I played it for a half hour, then wrote this.” He even made some stuff up!
Seth
April 3rd, 2009
I won’t lie and say I completed it, but I played it for five hours and it didn’t get any better. I still feel that my criticisms are valid.
Andrew Vrba
April 3rd, 2009
I’ll admit that I was harsh.
Criticisms are one thing, but some of your “facts” about the game need some serious rewriting, as they are grossly inaccurate.
Thomas
April 3rd, 2009
Battlezone should have won
Seth
April 3rd, 2009
Which facts do you find to be inaccurate, Andrew?
Bear in mind though, with a lot of modern games there are many issues that are quite random. People can have quite different gameplay experiences in regards to visual and gameplay bugs and glitches. I can only write about what I experienced.
Same thing happened with Alone in The Dark. That game was so horribly broken when I played it, but we had commenters that said that they had no issues at all.
Andrew Vrba
April 3rd, 2009
Well the aiming system doesn’t present the problematic issues described. Maybe I’m just that good, but I can do long distance pin-point shooting with the pistol Jessie gives you.
The only “control issue” I can attest to is that sometimes the heavy(flick remote) attacks don’t register.
You CAN explore, at your leisure. Case missions only continue if you enter the area where you need to be.
You are half-right about the wrestling moves. You don’t get them upon leveling up, but you do gain the capability to buy them instead.
The issues with zombie aggression, and ammo abundance is difficulty level dependent. Easy is just that…easy. The only “It’s too easy” sentiment I can agree with is some of the psychopath battles. Adam can be a decent challenge on any difficulty, where as Cletus and Steve are pushovers.
The “pointless grades” Otis gives you come with prizes if you do well enough. Everything from re-spawning melee weapons, to clothing items that have special effects. I’ve even unlocked the occasional hidden mission. The game also has extra mission modes which reward you with even better stuff.
Your bit about the “blooper” made no sense to me, I had no idea who that guy was on the 360 version either. Just some guy who got fed buckshot. *shrug*
The game isn’t great looking graphically, but if you’re playing on an HD set it’s not going to look as good as on an SDtv.
While certain inferiorities ARE indisputable, the game is only inferior in every single way, if you thought the original was a masterpiece, and liked it the way it was.
Here’s some problems that you didn’t even mention.
-Melee weapon sounds from the remote speaker sound very weak.
-”Gore” for certain moves is gone in even the US version. Disembowel just produces blood.
-Survivors can no longer be armed to help you fight.
-Many load screens.
-Certain boss fights are gone.
-Only one ending.
-Cutscenes are no longer real time.
-Bowling pin zombies in the driving mini-games.
The zombies are sparse at random times, in random places. <- I’ll file that under the anomalies you’re talking about. Same with the fade-in distance. Never had any fade in on me any closer then about 30-40 feet away. Ironically I had fade-in occur in the 360 version when I was in the grocery store, and al fresca plaza. Fade in is how both games keep replenishing zombies, it’s just not as obvious in the 360 version.
Steve
April 3rd, 2009
Hey Andrew thats for taking the time to really explain what you meant instead of just bashing a review. If more people were like you the internet would be a nicer place.
It’s great your able to offer a subjective review of the game, as this reviewer has done.
Andrew Vrba
April 3rd, 2009
Yeah, sorry about blowing up in my first post.
Andrew Vrba
April 3rd, 2009
OH! To answer your question about if they messed up the Supermarket guy. Remember how his boss fight was way too hard on the 360? Well it’s too easy on the Wii. Now the Prisoners fight is completely different. You only fight them once, and it’s a QTE battle! Like Krauser and Leon’s knife fight in RE4.
Seth
April 4th, 2009
Thanks for your input Andrew. I’ve made some minor changes to the review based on your comments.
Unfortunately I DID experience the issues that I mentioned with the aiming and the fade-in. If you didn’t have these issues, then I’m pleased that your gaming experience was better than mine.
In my opinion this game is still vastly inferior. But I’m always happy to discuss it.
Andrew Vrba
April 4th, 2009
Alright, and I’ll show more tact in future inaugural posts.
Koltaw
May 11th, 2009
I understand most of the reviewers criticisms, as I was disappointed with CTYD (compared to the original). I do find it amusing though that what he calls a blooper in the game is actually a mistake by him. The cut scene before the fight with Cletus is identical. The guy who says “mister we need guns!” is also in the 360 version.
Maayybee a little bit of research before you write something?
Seth
May 11th, 2009
I am aware that this cut-scene is the in 360 version… The character of James also appears out of nowhere in the 360 version too, which was annoying, but in the Wii version what makes it even more meaningless is that Cletus proceeds to sell you guns afterwards. That was my main point.
In the 360 version this cut-scene could be considered merely bad editing, but in the Wii version, the opening of the gun shop renders this part of the plot nonsensical.
Other cut-scenes that appear in the 360 version, also make no sense in the Wii version. For example, in the first battle against Carlito on the Wii version he fights you on the ground, yet when the cutscene starts he is magically on top of the roof…
Maayybee read the review properly before making sarcastic comments?
Steve
May 11th, 2009
I just love how they took everything unique about Deadrising and changed it for zombies dropping money and ammo to buy guns.
Surely theres no more perfect way to miss a point?
ChrisM
May 21st, 2009
This review is very wrong. Obviously the “blooper” thing has already been mentioned by someone.
I find it INCREDIBLY biased and unprofessional for you to make the blanket statement that this game is “inferior in every way”.
You forgot to mention improvements such as multiple save slots and more enemy variety. Guns are actually useful in the Wii version, and can be reloaded.
Also, try playing the game on Hard mode! There are more zombies and they are more aggressive. Sure, there’s pop-in as you mentioned, but at least the game is plenty of fun and you will be surrounded by zombies a lot.
Oh, and there’s really no reason to be complaining about guns and too much ammo ruining the game. Nobody is forcing you to use guns.
Even though the game no longer has a ticking clock the way the Xbox 360 version does, you still have to play the game quickly if you want to see all the missions and boss fights, even though the game does not tell you that are missing things. So if you want to truly complete the game and rescue everyone, you still have to play quickly just like the 360 version.
Steve
May 22nd, 2009
Yup… it has zombie parrots and poodles as opposed to the less preferable serious approach of just zombies and psychopaths…
Seth
May 22nd, 2009
There is no such thing as an unbiased review. So I see no problem in expressing my opinion that all the changes to this game make it inferior to the original.
Saying that you should try and self-impose limitations on yourself such as completing the game quickly and not using the abundant guns, misses the point.
And as Steve says, if ‘enemy variety’ consists of poodles and parrots then I’d rather stick with a huge variety of zombie skins anyday.
dude
June 14th, 2009
holy crap! how can you write a review like this! sure compared to the original its not as good but overall its atleast an 8 star game! the poodles and parrots make it a little more of a challenge in the park when you have to track the parrots or hack the poodles. plus the better you do the more extra stuff you can get which makes the game fun and challenging!!!
caca
December 22nd, 2009
puto ponele mas puntaje
al juego puto de mierda
samyb123
December 23rd, 2009
looks good for a ds game but not a wii game