Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop Preview for the Nintendo Wii

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop Preview for the Nintendo Wii

Mall of Madness

October 10, 2008 – The jury’s still out as to what it is exactly that makes zombies so darn appealing, but they are. Gamers can’t seem to get enough undead action, and Dead Rising was an unabashed romp of mindless skull-crushing fun. Originally making its mark on Xbox 360 roughly two years ago, Capcom is now bringing some of that zombie goodness to Wii. Rebooted as “Chop Till You Drop,” Dead Rising will port over with a new approach that caters to the hardware. Get ready to pop some waggle caps into zombie heads!

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop screenshot

In Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop you’ll play as freelance photojournalist Frank West. Frank gets a lead on a story that takes him to the suburban town of Williamette, where he discovers a zombie infestation. In a dash to find a safe haven, Frank makes his way to a nearby shopping mall, but once there, he realizes the nightmare’s only just begun.

Dead Rising on 360 offered a somewhat open-world adventure (albeit within the confines of the Williamette shopping mall) in which players would have to make their way through hordes and hordes of undead in order to survive a 72-hour rollercoaster ride through zombie hell. Making use of the many items Frank would come across within the mall’s shops, he could clip heads with gardening shears, spray a zombie face full of shotgun lead, or even make a display of misplaced affection by whacking undead shoppers with a giant and cuddly Teddy bear.

Of course, one of the game’s greatest feats was in the sheer number of zombies onscreen at a given time. Literally hundreds and hundreds of undead could litter an environment at once, something that really highlighted the notion of what it meant to be “next-gen.” So, how do you bring all that to a system that doesn’t quite sport the same raw horsepower as Xbox 360?

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop screenshot

One of the obvious hits to the Wii version of Dead Rising seems to be in its graphics. Not only are the visuals a noticeable downgrade in terms of fidelity, but so far we’re not seeing nearly as many zombies onscreen at once. Will Capcom omit certain gameplay portions of Dead Rising, such as driving through outdoor areas of the mall that were heavily populated with undead? That’s still an unknown. However, even indoors, Chop Till You Drop doesn’t seem to throw nearly as many enemies at you at once – a highlight of the original game. In addition to whatever loss in visuals the Wii might suffer, Capcom has hinted they will be streamlining the use of various items and weapons. Whereas before, you had a ton of items that might serve only specific functions, the Wii iteration appears to offer fewer items that can perform several functions/attacks.

But it’s not all downgrading when it comes to bringing Dead Rising to Wii. In addition to a new camera perspective, á la Resident Evil 4, Chop Till You Drop will also feature a host of Wii-centric, motion-based combat and gameplay. Melee attacks can be executed by either pressing the A-button or waggling the Wii Remote. You’ll move Frank around using the Nunchuk’s control stick, with a constant behind-the-back view of the action. Additionally, should an undead shopper get their grubby paws on you, you can shake them off with a simple waggle of the Wii Remote. If the Wii version of Dead Rising offers even half the whacky gizmo’s to toy with as the original, then we very much looking forward to seeing what Capcom dreams up in terms of motion-based zombie slaying.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop screenshot

Another area where Capcom promises to excel on Wii is in Dead Rising’s save system. In the previous version, you got one save slot, and story related events kept players moving at a steady pace, leaving little time to stop and smell…the roses. In Chop Till You Drop, Capcom promises a better, more forgiving save system that will give players a bit more freedom to explore and simply fool around. Other minor additions include new enemies such as the zombie parrot and undead poodle.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is slated for release sometime later this year, and though Capcom have been showing the game off at recent events such as Nintendo’s Fall Media Summit and this year’s Tokyo Game Show, we’ve still only seen a small portion of what the final product has to offer. Admittedly, there are always reservations that accompany just about any Wii-port, but the system could always use a few more zombies. Considering Capcom have taken the time to rework the game in a way that has a track record of playing very well on Wii (see Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition), we remain skeptically hopeful for Chop Till You Drop.

Game Features:

  • Utilizes the same engine as Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition.
  • New level of interaction: aim and fire guns, swing and throw weapons, and shake off zombie attacks with added Wii Remote functionality.
  • Huge environment: expansive indoor and outdoor areas of the mall provide a variety of different locations to explore.
  • Improved save functionality allows for more seamless gameplay.
  • Hoards of enemies on screen at once resulting in non-stop, pulse-pounding action.
  • Anything in the mall is at Frank’s disposal.
  • Grab environmental objects like umbrellas and benches to use as improvised weapons.
  • Snatch items from different stores to use as weapons, including golf clubs, lawnmowers, frying pans, and more.
  • Consume food and drink to revive health.

  • To top