Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
Developer(s)	Tose Software
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Director(s)	Yoshinori Kawano
Producer(s)	Minoru Nakai
Series	Dead Rising
Engine	Resident Evil 4 Engine[1]
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	JP 20090219February 19, 2009 NA February 24, 2009[2] AUS 20090226February 26, 2009 EU February 27, 2009[3]
Genre(s)	Survival horror Beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Wii Optical Disc

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (デッドライジング ゾンビのいけにえ, Deddo Raijingu: Zombie no Ikenie) is an open world survival horror beat 'em up video game. It is a remake of Dead Rising from the ground up for the Wii console.^[4] The game was first released on February 19, 2009, in Japan, and later that month in other regions. This game remains the sole title in the series for a Nintendo platform.

Frank West, a photojournalist, journeys to the fictional town of Willamette, Colorado. There, he encounters hordes of zombies and crazed survivors as he attempts to uncover the reason behind the zombie infection.

Gameplay

In Chop Till You Drop, the player character, Frank West, is sent on missions by fellow survivors Otis, Brad, and Jessie. The mall's security room serves as the group's base of operations and is where the missions are engaged. The missions take the player through the main plot and have them rescue the various survivors. Though at times the player is permitted to roam the mall freely without penalty, they are not permitted to do so during a mission. The effect of the missions is to provide a more structured game play experience, a significant change from Dead Rising.

In addition, the camera and photography element has been entirely removed. Books are now purchased from Cletus instead of found in the mall. Also, there are fewer items scattered around the mall that can be used as weapons.

New to the game is a completely redefined firearms element. The player may shoot guns with an over-the-shoulder view where the gun can be aimed with the Wii Remote. The amount of ammunition in the game has been increased to provide more gun-based gameplay.

Differences from Dead Rising

There are several changes to the game from the original Xbox 360 version. The main differences between the two iterations are:^[5]

• Each mission is timed individually instead of having a single countdown clock for the entire story.^[6]
• Minigames are unlockable after the main storyline is completed.
• A few psychopaths from the Xbox 360 version appear as zombies in the Wii version.
• Some survivors from the Xbox 360 version of Dead Rising are absent in the Wii version.
• The player may come across zombified animals, such as poodles and parrots.
• The size of the mall is significantly smaller.
• The abilities to jump and take photos are absent in the Wii version.
• You can change the color of the blood.
• 72 hour mode and overtime is merged.
• A greater Emphasis on guns.

Due to the small budget and development time, and the Wii not having the same level of graphical capabilities as the Xbox 360, fewer zombies can appear on screen (800 zombies could be on screen in the Xbox 360 version at once, but now have to be limited to 100),^[7] but Capcom attempted to retain as many of the Xbox 360 features as possible.^[8]

Development

On July 15, 2008, Famitsu revealed that Dead Rising was being ported to the Wii console to be released on February 24, 2009; the port name was later revealed to be Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Dead Rising: Zombie no Ikenie in Japan).^[9] Capcom decided to port over the game after the Wii port of Resident Evil 4 was critically and commercially well received. The game runs on the Resident Evil 4 engine.^[1]

The game is published by THQ in Australia.^[10] Capcom announced that they expect to sell 500,000 copies of the Wii version.^[11]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 63/100[12] Metacritic 61/100[13] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com C+[14] Eurogamer 6/10[15] G4 2/5 GamePro [16] GameSpot 6.5/10[17] GameTrailers 6.9/10[18] GameZone 6/10[19] IGN 6.9/10 [20] Official Nintendo Magazine 6.8/10[21]

Chop Till You Drop has received mixed reviews and has an aggregate score of 61/100 on Metacritic. X-Play gave the game 2 out of 5 stars, saying that there weren't enough zombies, as well as criticizing control choices, the removal of the photo-taking system, and the odd assortment of minigames. They did praise the Wii Remote aiming for ranged weapons, calling it a vast improvement on the aiming in the Xbox 360 version.

IGN gave the game a 6.9/10, and criticized the graphics saying: "Obviously, Dead Rising had to take a hit in the transition from 360 to Wii. But this isn't even good looking for the Wii, really", and also said that "The story and dialogue are wretched, and a key feature (the ability to take photographs) has been inexplicably removed." GameSpot gave the game a 6.5/10, praising the gunplay saying it's "hard but satisfying" and "same zombie-bashing fun as the original",

References