The first Dead Rising blew me away.  I was hooked the second I felt the overwhelming presence of the zombie horde and the pressure of the timer.  We were still entering the Xbox 360's lifecycle, and between Dead Rising and Lost Planet, Capcom was delivering exactly what I wanted from the "next generation" promise.  The games were new, unique, technically impressive, and addictive.  Capcom understood.  At least, that is what I told all my friends. 

I talked a few friends into getting the demo or a rental, but I was immediately disappointed by the results.  They never said they hated Dead Rising, but it was obvious that the temporary nature of both delivery methods meant that Dead Rising never had the chance to sink its undead claws into them as it had done for me.  My outward enthusiasm started to dwindle.  I still loved Dead Rising, but it slowly became a guilty pleasure that I kept to myself.  Soon all my friends were caught up in Gears of War, and Dead Rising went into my history books as a masterpiece that only I had understood.

I was worried my friends' blasphemy would tarnish my enjoyment of any sequel, but Dead Rising 2 had me at "fully realized prequel DLC for only 5 bucks."  Case Zero, and then the game itself, instantly reminded me why I had loved the precursor.  In a world of vanilla copy cat titles, Dead Rising 1 and 2 stood out for their uniqueness.   

Not many games can be proud of enemies that are mere annoyances, and allow the player to choose between literally mowing them down or zigzagging through them on the way to the next objective.  Even fewer games can match the sheer scale of weapon selection that Dead Rising has, and none of those allow for the combination of mundane household objects, turning them into weapons of mass destruction.  Many games have timers, but none of them use it to build the intensity that the Dead Rising series accomplishes.  All of these things made Dead Rising and its sequel stand out for me, but they pale in comparison against the most unique thing that Dead Rising does: make the player their own enemy. 

Video games have lied to us.  They tell us we can always be the hero; we can always 100% save the day.  A game may give the illusion of choice, but usually it is just a fork in a narrative road that converges on the same final ending.  Often only one choice is given, and it is saved for the last five minutes of gameplay where the only impact is a different end cut scene.  The Dead Rising series, however, is different.  Choice exists the entire time, and the game dares the player to stray from their path every step of the journey.  You can always have fun, but you have to focus if you want to be the hero.

In Dead Rising, you can choose to save strangers, you can save your daughter, you can save yourself, or you can just enjoy the robust environment.  Doing all of it, however, is near impossible.  If a checkpoint is missed, and a plot line is lost, the player only has themselves to blame for being unable to resist all the distractions that Dead Rising offers.  Being overwhelmed by too many options, however, may lead the player to blame themselves.  This is something we gamers aren't use to, and it raises awkward emotions.

As much as I love Dead Rising 2, I've found that I have had a very hard time recommending it to friends.  I will gush about how awesome I think the game is, but my mini-reviews always end the same.  "I love it!  It's so amazing!  Ehhh you might like it.  Maybe not."   No matter how much fun I have in the game, there is some weird hiccup in my thought process where I worry other people might not "understand" it.  Apparently I am not the only one in this position.  There have been dozens of positive reviews, but like myself, many of them qualify their enjoyment. 

"We loved it from start to (stupid) finish, though the many reasons others might not are plain to see and completely understandable."  games(TM)

"Dead Rising 2 comes with a long list of unfortunate problems, but if you're the type to look past those issues and love a good challenge, this game is actually awesome."   -GiantBomb

"Murdering zombies in creative ways is immensely entertaining.  Before we get into that, let me save you some suspense: If you didn't like the original Dead Rising, there won't be much to sway your opinion in Dead Rising 2."  -Joystiq

While some weird part of my brain may think that I need to temper my respect for Dead Rising 2, in reality it has evolved from its predecessor and made itself into a damn fine game. It abandoned photography in favor of weapon creation, and in doing so moved the leveling system closer to the action of the game.  The game received two additional save slots - plenty enough to avoid the "stuck" scenarios of the first game, but few enough to leave tension. The survivors have been upgraded with the ability to actually survive, and ferrying them back to the safe house has turned from a chore to a fun challenge, or even a tool that can be used to kill various other enemies in the game.  The biggest flaw of the first game was also laid to rest, and the designers wisely implemented text messaging as a means of telling the player about optional side quests.   Sorry, Otis.  Buy a QWERTY phone. 

Overall, Capcom and Blue Castle Games made an amazingly fun and unique experience.  For some reason, however, I was still holding back my enthusiasm.  Maybe I wasn't talking favorably about it because part of me felt burned by my friend's frosty reception of the first game.   Maybe it was because I worried people would have a hard time choosing between the main plot line of Dead Rising 2 and combing a wheelchair with a machine gun.  Or maybe it is psychological; maybe I was self conscious about liking a zombie-slaughter simulator too much, and I need to listen to Ken Levine and get over whatever self deprecating nature our industry has developed.

Whatever the case, I think I have gotten over whatever issue I had on supporting this game. 

I really like you, Dead Rising 2, and I don't care who knows.