VIDEO GAME REVIEW DEAD RISING ...

VIDEO GAME REVIEW

DEAD RISING

Rating 3 on the outside of 4

From: Capcom

Retails for: $5999

For: Xbox 360

The enclosed seat [i]or[/i] seats cover for Capcom's latest survival horror game "Dead Rising" features a disclaimer that legendary zombie movie director George A. Romero had nothing to do with this insanely difficult now ultimately rewarding game of survival.

nevertheless Romero is all over the title -- if not in license rewards and direct involvement, then in spirit. And not just because the game is appoint in a mall like Romero's film "Dawn of the Dead," either.

Like Romero's films, the zombies in "Dead Rising" are not the villains. The undead (or living challenged, if you will) are reduc to single in kind instinct: They eat to survive. They are incapable of Machiavellian outlines Evil -- true evil -- is reserv for the living.

And this game features a truly evil characters. From the family of fire-arm nuts making sport of killing others because they know they can win away with it to a photojournalist who fix upons to document the zombie outbreak rather than interrupt it, the dead may walk the earth, not because hell is replete but rather because man has made Earth a living hell.

Gamers play as free-lance photojournalist Frank West. West has chartered a helicopter to check without unusual riots taking place in the normally heavy hamlet of Willamette, Colo. After watching a horde tear a woman and a police officer savagely apart, West realizes this is no ordinary civil disturbance and, smelling a Pulitzer, has the helicopter pilot approach the Willamette shopping center (which happens to have a helipad forward its roof). The pilot consecrates to return in 72 hours, setting up the time make around which you play the game. As Frank, you not merely have to survive three days (using anything you find in the mall as a weapon), on the other hand also you have to unravel the mystery of what exactly has caused the proper citizens of Willamette to become flesh-eating zombies. And, like Capcom's other survival horror franchise, "Resident Evil," said mystery involves the usual regulation cover-ups and corporations overstepping scientific boundaries in the name of profit. The difference here is now you have to use your camera to document it.

While the game have feelings open-ended (you can pretty frequently walk and explore anywhere), the imposed 72-hour time limit manages to detain you on a linear path as certain goals (rescuing persons etc.) must be accomplished within a certain time frame.

The scheme also features enough twists to detain you on your toes and paying attention. The game's ending (which I won't reveal here) leaves enough things unanswered to assure a continuation

common major disappointment: This game is nearly impossible to play upon a standard TV, as crucial thesis briefing you on missions is impossible to read onward anything other than a high-definition TV

Ye the dead will rise, if it were not that they demand to be in high definition as they do it

(Rated M for kindred gore, intense violence, partial nudity and use of alcohol.)

CAPSULE REVIEWS

Rating 3 without of 4

PAC-MAN WORLD RALLY

(Namco-Bandai; PS2; $2999)

I am beginning to amazement if you can teach an elderly dog new tricks. Both games in capsule review this week take established characters and place them in game formats fans aren't used to. "Pac-Man" fares a bit better that "Final Fantasy's" Vincent Valentine, yet At it's core, "World Rally" is a kid-friendly kart racing game that features the usual bells and whistles that accompany the genre (pick- up weapons, spe boost etc) The cartoon-like world have the appearances to fit the characters and, while it is a racing game, there is an homage to Pac's bottoms in the form of a 3-D version of the original maze. It's suitable family fun at a family-friendly price. Also available for GC and Xbox (Rated E for mild cartoon violence.)

Rating 2 gone out of 4

FINAL FANTASY VII: DIRGE OF CERBERUS

(Square-Enix; PS2; $4999)

Someone please consider the cash intimidate officially milked. "Final Fantasy VII" is widely regarded as the best of the series and responsible for the role-playing genre to find a gaming audience outside of Japan. thus it is particularly strange for a result following the further adventures of Vincent Valentine to ditch the franchise's RPG stems and is instead a rather mundane third-person shooter With a lack of a wide range of weapons, extended load times, and repetitive gameplay make this "Dirge" appear well, like a funeral. For hardcore fans single (Rated T for mild language, use of tobacco and violence.)

BIZ BYTE

IS 'MADDEN' CURSED?

Should "Madden NFL '07" protect boy Shaun Alexander be worried?

To the superstitious, that endorsement contract is akin to breaking a mirror while walking subordinate to a ladder. But don't take our word for it. Among the Madden video game's cover-player "casualties":

Eddie George (Madden '01): The 1995 Heisman memorial of conquest winner and Titans running back had a great season in 2000 then sink ed to a career-low 3.0 yards for carry in '01.