I picked up my copy on Monday and I have been having a ton of fun with it. Having not played the first DR I wasn't sure what to expect but man is this game good! Here are some thoughts (possible spoilers):
Weapons
The most striking and enjoyable thing about this game is that EVERYTHING CAN BE USED AS A WEAPON! Yes, EVERYTHING. Pick up a bottle of ketchup and squeeze some onto a zombie. Watch them look at their chest in confusion before impaling them in the stomach with a pitchfork and hoisting them over your shoulder like a sack of trash. Jam a dinosaur mask onto a zombies head, aim your circular saw and decapitate said zombie. Or how about going into a restaurant kitchen, finding a frying pan, heating the frying pan on a stove and then jamming the scorching hot frying pan onto a zombies face. The possibilities are endless but things really get over-the-top with the new Combo Card system.
Any item with a wrench icon can be combined with another item. As you level up, save certain survivors or find posters to take inspiration from you will unlock Combo Cards. These cards will give you the specific formula needed to create a weapon of mass carnage! So go ahead and combine diamonds with a flashlight to create a light saber. Watch limbs fly and blood shower as you cut through the zombie horde. Fancy fire? Boxing gloves + Gasoline = DING DING, ROUND OVER! The great thing is that you earn PP when using combo weapons which help you level up faster (and therefore unlock more moves and combo cards). Another important point is that you don't need to have discovered a Combo Card in order to create combo weapons (the proper combo card icon will appear for these weapons once they are unlocked through leveling etc). This really encourages people to experiment and get creative :)
Zombies and Psychos
This game is all about zombies and more then any other zombie-themed game they really are the star of the show. The are tons of different character models and literally hundreds on-screen at at any given time. Some reviews have mentioned slowdown but in my 10 hours of playing I have only experienced this once and it lasted approx. 1.5 seconds. The best thing about killing zombies? Dismemberment physics! There are so many ways to chop off an arm, hack off a leg, smash a head to smithereens. Zombies can be cut vertically, horizontally and everything in between. The first time you split a zombie in two (down the middle) with a souped up cement saw and see their body slowly separate is truly a priceless moment. But then so is running over a crowd a crowd of zombies with a lawnmower with blood showering over your character and body parts flying everywhere. There is a lot of gruesome killing in this game and each kill will bring a smile to your face
Psychos are a different breed altogether. These are human characters that are literally insane and each presents a unique boss fight. I don't want to spoil anything so let's just say each one has their own unique personality and each introductory cut-scene will have you laughing hard. Something I found very cool is that these mini-bosses are optional. If you came to the fight unprepared you can come back to take them on later if there is still time (everything being tied to the in-game clock). A lot of there guys I stumbled upon by complete accident and that is a major factor that makes DR2 so interesting, there is a surprise around every corner! I am near the end of my first (of many) playthroughs and I have only defeated/discovered a fraction of the psychos populating the game world. There is a lot to see and do in DR2 and you will NOT see it all the first time through. If one of these guys is giving you a lot of trouble don't worry. Come back on your next playthrough (when you are at a much higher leve)l and kick the crap out of them!
Against the Clock
The premise of the story (without spoiling anything) is a zombie outbreak and the inevitable military intervention. The military will arrive in 72 hours and everything is linked to the clock. You wrist watch will become your best friend as you learn how to manage your time and figure out the most efficient order to complete quests. When I first read previews of the game I was a bit uncertain about this mechanic. After all, what if I just wanted to have fun and not worry about time running out. Well here is how it works. If you miss a story mission you will be presented with 3 options:
Load
Restart Story
Continue Playing
Loading will obviously take you back to your last save point. Restarting the story will allow you to restart while maintaining your level and any combo card you have acquired (I did this twice on my first playthrough, relatively close to the beginning). If you continue to play, side missions will continue to be available so you can still rescue survivors, fight psychos or ignore everything and simply kill zombies! AT ANY TIME you can choose to restart the story and carry over any character leveling you have done. You can play this game anyway you like, the choice is yours.
Now assuming you want to see the story and how things unfold (I focused my first playthrough on the story) you will need to be conscious of the clock. This mechanic not only makes sense in the context of the story but adds a real sense of urgency and intensity that I have rarely felt in gaming. There were a couple a instances where I was frantically running toward my objective wondering if I would make it in time! It also means I was ignoring a lot of the side quests and psycho battles which already had me excited about my next playthrough. Any game that can have you planning and anticipating your next playthrough long before you are done your first is pretty special.
I will be back later with more thoughts (at work right now). In the meantime I encourage anyone who is a fan of either action games or zombies (who doesn't like zombies?) to pick this game up. You will not be disappointed!
Terror is Reality - Spending Cash
The multiplayer portion of the game is called Terror is Reality. The set up is a pay-per-view special where killing zombies in creative ways is the name of the game. There are 9 events with each having it's own special intro and you can expect some funny color commentary as you slay the undead. Each "show" has 4 players and 4 rounds. The last round is always the same with the first 3 being randomized. There are both Ranked and Unranked options. This simple premise is surprisingly fun. It gets very competitive and when there are only a few points separating 1st to 4th place your adrenaline will get pumping (mine does anyway lol). The best thing about TIR is that the money you earn can be carried over to the single player game. Your money is directly linked to your performance and mimics the total pints earned for each show. In other words, if you finished with 70,000 points then you just made $70,000. This mode is the most efficient way to earn large amounts of money which you will most definitely be wanting to spend in the single player experience.
See, there are pawnshops scattered around Fortune City selling all kinds of fun stuff. Each pawn shop has it's own unique items and you will definitely want to discover them all. One of the first things that caught my eye within 30 minutes of my initail playthrough was a sports car on display in one of the malls. I immediately ran towards it to see if I could hop in but was met with the following message: LOCKED. So where are the keys? In one of the pawn shops of course and they cost $500,000! I am on my second playthrough now and finally earned enough money to unlock the car. Cost? $500K. Joy to be had driving through a shopping mall and running over hundreds of zombies? PRICELESS! Oh, and this is one of the cheaper items you can buy so chances are you will be playing a lot of TIR :)
