Dead Rising 2 Multiplayer Hands On

Terror is Reality is the name of the game in Dead Rising 2’s multiplayer bonanza, and we had a chance to take a look at some of its rather insane games. It’s ridiculous, it’s garish, it’s violent, it’s competitive and it features a crass host with penchant for blurting out some terrible one-liners. The format is quite clearly inspired by American Gladiators with a hint of WWE thrown in, not forgetting, of course, the few thousand zombies to slaughter.

We’re told the game will feature somehow within the single-player campaign, rather than being an entirely separate entity built solely for multiplayer. How this works we don’t yet know but we think there’ll be in-game prizes of some sort to be won, though we are just speculating at this point. Chuck Greene, as an ex-motocross competitor is certainly likely to feel at home in the getup provided by the Terror is Reality costume team.

The suits are as colorful as the commentator’s language and help differentiate between each player whilst allowing for host Tyrone King to pinpoint particular competitors’ actions. Said host is a flashy-looking man with a loudmouthed, gaudy appearance and persona sure to make you cringe. He’s perfect for this arena-based tackathon though and boasts the kind of energy required to excite a crowd of thousands thirsty for undead bloodsport.

The early incarnation of the multiplayer we’re treated to a go of currently allows up to four players to compete within as many games but we’re told the full game will feature much more variation in match types.

Ramsterball sees players rolling round in the arena in massive caged balls, with one player tagged as “it”. Said player gets lit up and is the only one capable of scoring points, which is done by knocking into a massive pillar with a helpless zombie on top. Players become it by knocking into the person who already is, so scoring points is both a rush to the pillar and a desperate scramble to avoid the other contestants. It’s possible to dash out of or into the way by rapidly tapping a boost button.

Headache is absolutely ridiculous to put it mildly, and pits players against each other in an attempt to blend as many undead heads as possible within a set amount of time. This is achieved by grabbing color-coded blenders, 3 at a time, from a central point and whacking them on the heads of zombies scattered around the arena. Only when a player hits their button in the central stand do the blenders activate. Much like you may have seen in The Weakest Link it’s advantageous not to bank points until as many blenders as possible have been placed on heads (that’s the scoring method I’m likening to the program, not the head-blending, though we can all dream…). The Anne Robinson-like threat to your point scoring comes in the form of sticks of dynamite rather than tough questions though, as all players have the ability to whack sticks in the mouths of their opponents’ prepared zombies.

Pounds of Flesh is equally as insane and involves a competition between players to toss the most amount of zombies onto a bouncy platform with the aid of giant antlers attached, of course, to your helmet. Zombies are delivered at a rate of about 30 at a time and when the player runs out a simple whack of a big red button crushes any stragglers before slamming down a new set. The player with the most zombies on at the end of the match is deemed the winner.

Slicecycles, in this incarnation at least, is a final battle meant to help decide once and for all who is victor. A handicap in the form of a late start is delivered to the worst players at appropriately varying degrees. The game is once more an overflowing teacup chock-full of insanity. It revolves around a madcap dash around the arena in which players are tasked with riding around on motorbikes with chainsaws attached to their handlebars in order to rip as many zombies apart as possible.

It starts with just a few undead scattered relatively scarcely across the map with 2 minutes on the clock. If all zombies are defeated within the allotted 2 minutes then a bonus round begins with a rather silly amount of undead dispersed around the arena. Some of these have pink balloons across their heads and act as bonus multipliers.

It’s clear Inafune’s decision to work with Western developers was not just due to his desire to create a more Western-feeling game but also to innovate with the use of violence in DR2 in every way possible.

“What you’re going to see in Dead Rising 2 is definitely more than you can even imagine when it comes to how creative the violence can get,” he says, during the brief few minutes we manage to snatch with him at Terror is Reality’s grand unveiling. “One of the key ways we’ve been able to do that is through working with Blue Castle. The original game was designed and created by in-house Japanese designers, and you’re limited by your own culture in terms of the ideas you can come up with.”

“By working with a Canadian developer we have truly been able to find the best of both worlds, and their ideas for what makes really good horror or violence or a nice blood-splatter effect are slightly different from what we’d be able to come up with on our own in Japan. By having that perfect mix we are able to accomplish something that is very new, and violent in a very creative fashion – even more so than in the original game.”

Crazy.