Saint's Rising, or...Dead Row

At the request of Nikoda, I come back to my blog to discuss Dead Rising and Saint's Row.

First up, Dead Rising. A game which I bought, got to play for precisely 2 or 3 hours in one day, and then had to let it sit on my shelf for two and a half weeks while I waited for my Xbox to be repaired. So let me tell you, when I finally did get to play it again, I played it for about 6 hours straight, and then another 6 hours the following day. It's one of the most polished games I've ever played. The controls are nice and tight (although the camera can get a bit wonky in tight areas, a problem which has plagued absolutely every third person game ever), the story is interesting and different (even if you've seen Dawn of the Dead, apparently), the voice acting is damn good, and the graphics are knock your socks off amazing. Especially when there are hundreds of zombies onscreen, all looking different and shuffling differently, with no drop in frame rate.

Let's break it down. Things that are good:

Melee combat. Who hasn't wanted to knock someone's head off with a home run swing? Or crack them in the face with a 2x4? Or chop them in half with a chainsaw? Dead Rising lets you do that to any zombie you meet. Awesome.

Story. When you have a game that almost requires you to play through it more than once, the story better be good. This one is, from what I've seen of it.

Voice acting. No familiar voices here, but they're all really well done. I can't really pick a bad one out of the bunch.

Photography. It's not only a great way to boost your skills in the early game, but it's actually kind of fun blowing a zombie's head off and snapping a pic real quick of the geyser of blood.

Graphics. Easily the best looking game on the 360 so far. Specifically during cutscenes, where the character models and facial expressions can be shown off.

Things that are bad:

Ranged combat. Especially against non-zombies. The gunplay just isn't very well done. I would have preferred an ever present cursor when holding a ranged weapon (or maybe at all times, since you can throw almost every melee weapon in the game, too). Hitting an extra button in order to shoot accurately is a pain in the ass, and makes it so you can't move and shoot at the same time. Bad, bad design, which brings me to the next point.

"Boss" fights. Zombies are human. Or at least, they once were. So I should be able to take their heads off with a sickle, or bisect them with a chainsaw. That makes sense, and I'm glad I can do it. What doesn't make sense is having to fight a supposedly regular human who is nearly immune to every type of attack, whether it be a sledgehammer, lead pipe, pistol, or shotgun. I don't care who you are, if you take a rifle round in the forehead, you're dead. If you take a full load of buckshot in the chest at point blank range, you're dead. If a ten pound sledge slams into the side of your skull, you're dead. Make the "boss" fight challenging in some other way then simply allowing them to cheat, because that's bullshit.

Non-agression in the security room. The security room is your safe haven from the slavering zombies in the mall. It's where you take surviors back to, and it's your base of operations for the entire game. But dammit, if I get frustrated by the zombies or a goddamn "boss" fight, I want to be able to take it out on those bastard survivors! I especially want to kill Otis.

Otis. I hate you, Otis. I hate you with a fucking passion, with every fiber of my being. I don't give a shit what part of the mall I'm in, who's trapped where, what color shoes match my jacket, or what you had for dinner last night. I don't fucking care, Otis, so stop fucking calling me on the goddamn transceiver!

Final verdict: Should be in everyone's collection. Even with the bullshit, it's still a ton of fun to spit in a zombie's face, and then burn it off with a red-hot skillet.

Next we have Saint's Row. Everyone says it's just a copy of GTA: San Andreas, but I don't care. Furthermore, I disagree. Sure, they might have a similar tone and similar elements, but the game itself is quite a bit different. There are a larger variety of missions, much better progression, a better driving model, and a better combat model.

Things that are good:

Free aiming. Finally, a cursor that allows me to aim where I want to shoot, anywhere I want to shoot. No more lock-on, auto-target bullshit that makes me aim at a civilian behind me instead of an enemy in front of me.

Car handling. Cars actually handle differently, instead of just having different speeds, like "slow" or "fast."

Voice acting. Lots of names here, although I had to look at the instruction manual to place a few of them. Very well done.

Story/missions. Varied, fun, and interesting. Lots of different things to see and do.

Graphics. Probably the second best looking game on the 360. Very nice.

Things that are bad:

Auto-fail conditions for missions. So fucking frustrating when the mission tells me I failed, even though I clearly didn't. As an example, if I fail a mission because someone "got away" even though I can still see their car. Bullshit.

No body armor of any kind. At least, none that I've found. Although your health will regenerate eventually, if you're infiltrating an enemy stronghold and they all have sub-machine guns, you can get ganked really quickly. It's also aggravating when some asshole pulls you out of the car and blows you away while you're on the ground, helpless. But I'm nitpicking.

Final verdict: Fucking awesome. Again, as with Dead Rising, even when it's pulling bullshit, there's fun just around the corner.