Zombie Nation

by Ward Knippling

Fun factor: Fun

Worth to: Buy/Rent

The Wii version chops some features and adds a few awkward elements, but it rises to the challenge and stands tall as a decent zombie action-fest port

Frank West is a man’s man. He’s seen it all, mostly wars, but he’s the freelance photojournalist you turn to when the going gets tough. We haven’t seen much of Frank since Dead Rising was released for the Xbox 360 back in 2006, and with a sequel coming for the 360 soon without him, I was starting to wonder if he went to Iraq to cover the conflict. But now he’s back on the Wii, in a good way.

The Wii chops a few features, but it doesn’t drop

First things first, Chop Till You Drop isn’t a sequel and as far as the story goes does not break any new ground. The game is as close to a direct port of the 360 game as could be made for the Wii. That said, there’s obviously been some downgrading in the graphical department. It’s still a beautiful looking game, especially for the Wii, but the difference from the original game is apparent. There are less enemy designs, so you’ll see a lot more of the same zombie than before, and the noises can become repetitive, however the soundtrack is still decent.



Another thing that was omitted to make space is the camera. Frank West still carries his camera around with him everywhere, but you never actually get to use it. It isn’t a huge problem, but it sort of distracts from the experience a bit. When using the camera in the 360 version, you get a feel that Frank is just an average Joe stuck in a shopping mall that is infested with the undead. He doesn’t have trained military experience; he’s just a photographer. The game is no longer real-time either. In the 360 version, time passes as you play the game, giving you limited time to unravel the mystery before your chopper arrives on the third day. Dead Rising: CTYD plays like RE4, meaning the entire story is scripted and you cannot skip missions. It takes away from the challenge a bit, but it also makes it simpler to get all of Otis Washington’s missions done without worrying about missing an important story mission.

The game was made by the people who handled Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, and there are many similarities. Holding the Z button and giving the analog stick a flick will cause Frank to flip a one-eighty, and the gun mechanics are almost entirely identical. Heck, even the reload and map functions are nearly identical.

Pop goes the zombie (and his annoying parrot)

Because the Wii doesn’t have the processing power of its competitors, there are a lot of pop-ups as far as enemies go. This can be rather annoying when you enter an area, think you’re covered from behind, and then get attacked by a zombie that popped up after you turned your back on it. It’s a small price to pay, however, because the Wii can’t handle the number of zombies on screen that the 360 can offer. The pop-ups serve to make it feel like there are just as many zombies. And even with the Wii’s limited power there are still a lot of zombies flooding the Willamette Mall. A LOT of zombies.



One addition I didn’t like was the inclusion of zombie parrots and zombie poodles. The poodles aren’t so bad, considering they are a nice little throwback to the Resident Evil series, but the parrots are downright annoying. They’re hard to hit and nearly impossible to get rid of (especially during the night missions). And how did so many parrots find their way into a mall in Colorado anyway? How did they all get infected? You meet the parrots and poodles (officially) where you would have met the convicts in the original game, and given the two I’d take the convicts any day. The convicts do show up, but you defeat them in a God of War style button press sequence rather than just the free-for-all that it used to be.

Speaking of that, many of the game’s finer bosses were excluded. The characters themselves are there, but they are only super zombies. I’m talking about the enormously fat security guard, the psycho ’Nam vet, the rival photojournalist. They all appear as super zombies, and you defeat them over and over and over again. It would have made the game better just to include these unique, and sometimes emotional fights, but it is understandable that space needed to be saved. And luckily many of the boss fights are still there, like the chainsaw juggling clown, the grocery store manager and a few others.

Wiimoting done right

Combat is where the game shines. Chop Till You Drop makes excellent use of the Wii’s unique controls, mainly because it doesn’t overuse them. When wielding a shovel, just give the remote a flick and Frank swings more powerfully. When holding a baseball bat, sometimes an action sequence will appear telling you to shake the Wiimote, which will cause Frank to wind up his swing. Shake the Wiimote to launch a bowling ball, knocking over and killing multiple enemies. The only qualm I had with the controls was that because the A button (alone) is used to attack with your sub-weapon, you need to press Z+A to interact with survivors and pick up new sub-weapons. But that’s easy to get used to after a while. Most of the psychopaths return, and are just as crazy as you remember. From a clown juggling chainsaws to a crazed grocery store manager, these are survivors who lost their marbles and attack anyone who comes near them.



The hardest thing in the game to get used to has a certain cheap feel to it. In the 360 version, after some practice, you can run through Paradise Plaza without ever getting hit by a zombie. In the Wii version you’re almost always taking a hit out of nowhere (normally a flying parrot) which makes you drop a weapon, stumble, get swarmed, and have to resort to your shotgun or a queen parasite just so you can breathe. In a sense that makes the game feel more like a zombie movie, but when I have to go save someone and I’m being stopped dead in my tracks by a zombified parrot, the experience kind of loses a bit of its charm.

Gunplay is almost always a better option when escorting a survivor, thanks to the pop-ups. In the 360 version all of the zombies are right there in your face. You grab a giant umbrella and mow them over, your hostage right behind you. Try that in the Wii version and you’ll always either get hit by a zombie that popped up after the others were knocked out of the way, or have to go back for your survivor. Because of this, you’ll be happy to know that nearly every zombie in the game is holding some kind of ammo for you to pick up.

Summary

With a kicking soundtrack, fun controls and an amazing story, there is no reason why Wii gamers shouldn’t pick this one up, especially if they missed it on the 360. If this is Capcom’s way of telling Nintendophiles they (Capcom) are sorry about Resident Evil 5 not making it to the Wii, then I’d say it’s a pretty damn good apology.