Stuck in Willamette Parkview Mall, you are Frank West, a freelance photojournalist. Armed with your camera and any everyday shopping item you can find, you must attempt to survive for 72 hours.

The mall is infested with zombies and the only way to figure out the truth behind the outbreak is by finding ‘case files’. These files are found by completing tasks throughout the game and unveil the main plot. There are also many optional side missions that give you bonuses, and a better idea of what’s really going on.

In Dead Rising, every 12 hours in game equals 2 hours real-time. This real-time structuring has good qualities, like knowing exactly how long a game will take with no deaths, and watching the changing scenery from night to day. But there is one big negative. In correlation with the time, the save system is easily the biggest issue this game has. Only one memory slot is available to you which means you only have one chance to save, in most games this is alright, but Dead Rising has both optional and mandatory saves. The mandatory saves usually happen when you encounter a boss, which may leave you with only a small amount of health and/or few weapons, which ultimately will lead to your death. Also, due to the severe time schedule, if you don’t make it to a case file in time, you screwed.

Personally, the save system in Dead Rising forced me to start the game over again, multiple times.

The mall has over 80 stores and multiple attractions, including a rollercoaster and public park. These stores range from toy stores to gun shops. There are many different sections of the mall, all of which are accessible to Frank, and the zombies. These sections include, but are not limited to, multiple parts of the mall which are themed, an amusement park, and a parking garage.

Found throughout the mall are objects that can be used to defend yourself against the zombies. Some of the more deadly ones are firearms, sharp bladed weapons, and motorized weapons. While some objects like jewelry, sports equipment, and child’s toys can also be used to ward off zombies. There are also objects that can simultaneously be used as a weapon, and as transportation. These include skateboards, shopping carts, lawn mowers, bikes, motorcycles, and cars.

The first thing you’ll notice about all these weapons is how they sound. The voice acting may not be anything special, but all weapons have unique sounds to them. From flattening a zombie into the ground with a sledge hammer, to plowing hundreds upon hundred of them down with a vehicle, the audio for the weapons is exceptional.

The graphics are also very impressive. You’ll feel like you in a typical American mall when you see what Parkview looks like. Scenery such as fountains and trees, loads of different stores, and thousands of objects really make you feel like you’re truly stuck in a mall. Both humans and zombies alike are quite remarkable and very realistic. But this is one of the few times I’ll drift from my usual position, as the really remarkable thing is the sheer number of zombies. Hundreds of zombies can be seen on screen and interacting with their environment at any one time. This is highlighted in the parking garage when you’re driving, numerous zombies can be killed and at the same time even more appearing, eagerly awaiting you front bumper.

But there are some flaws, such as framerate drops and loading issues. Each section forces you to wait about 30 seconds in the loading screen before you can play again. Aside from being annoying, if your in zombie trouble all you have to do is pop in a doorway and the trouble all of a sudden stops when you enter the new area.

And lastly in terms of visuals, the text in Dead Rising is far too small for anyone with a Standard Definition TV (aka most of this planet). While not necessarily a huge problem, parts of the story were ignored by me because of the headache I had with all the squinting I was doing.

The storyline is where we hit another bump in the road. Aside from a save system that makes it damn near impossible to play through the game, the story in general is very weak. Bosses and side missions do add some flavour, but when you get to them (if you can get to them) they become tedious and very repetitive. The whole photojournalist thing comes into play only for achievements, as the use of the camera is without one.

Another major issue would be the games longevity. Dead Rising is singleplayer-only with absolutely no option for multiplayer or co-op. After one play through, you may be inclined to go back again for achievements, but even these are relatively dreary, all achievements are worth 20 points, always. This game is just dying for some co-operative play and mini games could have easily been added. It was definitely a worthy rental, but given the fact that its singleplayer only, and that you may not even be able to complete the singleplayer because of the save system, in no manner will Dead Rising ever get my $60.