Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii)

A zombie hack-fest that just manages to stand on its own, somewhat wobbly legs.
3/3/2009 7:42 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

From the first time it was shown, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop didn't exactly receive a warm welcome from the press. Most observers immediately and justifiably compared the game to its inspiration -- 2006's Dead Rising on the Xbox 360 -- and found this new port wanting. Kotaku's hands-on preview roundly derided the game's largely empty corridors and called the Wii port a "terrible, terrible idea." A VG Cats comic declared in a fake ad that Chop Till You Drop was the "same game [with] half the content!" Even a writer at fan site GoNintendo said it felt like Wii owners were "getting a raw deal" with this new version of the game.

I have to take these previews at their word, frankly, because I don't have much experience with the Xbox 360 version of Dead Rising. Call me a delinquent game critic if you must, but aside from a five-minute demo at a local GameStop, I never found the time to kill thousands of mall-based zombies until I played Chop Till You Drop. While this means I can't offer up the point-by-point comparison that fans of the original might be looking for, it does mean I can go into this review with fresh eyes, seeing the Wii version for what it is rather than for the Xbox 360 version it can't claim to be. Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is its own game, and one that has to stand or fall with or without the albatross of its popular predecessor hanging around its neck. Despite the system-to-system comparisons that will keep fanboys arguing well into the next generation, the only question that matters for millions of Wii-only gamers is this: Is Chop Till You Drop a fun, satisfying game in its own right?

The answer is slightly more "Yes, with a but" than "No, with a maybe."

Despite all the pre-release belly-aching, the number of zombies threatening flyboy photojournalist Frank West in the corridors of the Parkview Mall is far from small. There are often dozens of undead mall-walkers milling about on-screen at any one time, usually congregating at natural bottlenecks in the floor plan and forcing Frank to fight his way through rather than simply weave his way around. The slow-moving zombie proletariat, as I like to call it, is aided by manic attack parrots; rabid, lunging zombie dogs; and other, more powerful creatures that force themselves on Frank with frequency and urgency. Sure, there are some stores in the mall that look painfully empty, and there are times when a large group of zombies will literally just stand there scratching themselves instead of attacking Frank, who happens to be standing just a few feet away. But while the zombie hordes don't exactly inspire the sense of overwhelming terror the game was no doubt going for, they definitely represent an imposing threat, especially if Frank isn't properly armed.

And that's quite a big "if," if you're playing the game correctly. The real appeal of Chop Till You Drop, and the main reason to consider the game, is the ability to tear through the not-quite-overwhelming hordes with an overwhelming variety of improvised weaponry. Some players might go for the visceral thrill of cutting through entire hallways of zombies with a chainsaw or lawnmower. Others might prefer zipping past or bowling through them with a bicycle or shopping cart. Still others may prefer to take massive swings at individual undead with a samurai sword or baseball bat. Yet others might go crazy with a well-placed soccer ball to the face or an oversized beach umbrella/shield. Whatever your style, there's sizable fun to be had just searching for new weapons and new ways to dispose of the shambling shoppers.