Dead Rising Saint Walkthrough/FAQ System: XBOX 360 Another guide by the Yuka Takeuchi Fan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Contents: Phase 1: Versions Phase 2: Story behind the author Phase 3: Story behind the FAQ Phase 4: Storyline of the game Phase 5: Basic controls Phase 6: Things you’ll probably want before taking on the Saint Achievement Phase 7: Things to consider during your Saint run Phase 8: Frank’s special moves Phase 9: Walkthrough Phase 10: Frequently Asked Questions Phase 11: Thanks, Links Phase 12: Closing Phase 13: End Use Control-F and type in "Phase (whatever)" to zip around a bit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 1: Versions -1.0 (February 16, 2008): First version of this guide submitted to GameFAQs. You may feel free to contribute, but my walkthrough is totally complete, having been tested over three playthroughs and written during the last of the three. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 2: Story behind the author Anime geek. Sarcastic bastard. Oblivious dumbass. Lazy good-for-nothing. All are phrases used to describe me, “Yuka Takeuchi Fan”, longtime runner of the website “Yuka Takeuchi Fan’s Severe Waste of Time”. I’m also a longtime gamer, and like to write, so here I am. I warn you NOW- I am not an eloquent speaker, I have a weird grasp on English despite having spoken it my entire life, and I talk way too friggin’ much. I hope that doesn’t get in the way of my attempt to help you out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 3: Story behind the FAQ I’d wanted to play Dead Rising ever since it came out, finally buying an XBOX 360 and said game the day after Christmas in 2007. The premise was something I couldn’t pass up- kick the crap out of zombies in a mall with anything I could get my hands on. To be fair, although Dead Rising wasn’t the only game I bought (and due to a deal at my local GameStop, I actually got it for free), it was definitely the one I looked forward to with the most fervor. It is definitely the game I play the most out of the bunch. I love this game. It’s one of my all-time favorites. If you haven’t played it, it’s got faults, but you still owe it to yourself to play it. It’s got a number of “Achievements”, as do all XBOX 360 games; I’m sure you know how those work. One in particular, the one I’m writing this FAQ for, gets tricky: “Saint”. Your goal: Get 50 survivors out of the mall alive and complete the game. You don’t have much room for error (the max you can get is 53 despite there being 54 “possible”), and in fact, the “true ending” actually makes it a little harder for you to achieve by taking out two of the possible survivors. If you’re willing to forgive my haphazard writing style, I can help you get it with the least possible fuss, though. Whattaya say? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 4: Storyline of the game The city of Willamette, Colorado is our setting. A decently sized town of 53,594 people, it’s nonetheless a boring city, with little to do outside one’s home than to go to the shopping mall and waste time. That’s how it used to be until a few days ago. Nobody knows what has happened. A state of quarantine has been posted along Willamette’s borders, and nobody knows what’s going on inside them. The National Guard has seen to it that nobody is getting in or out. Frank West, a freelance photojournalist, received a tip about this mess. Thinking that a story behind the quarantine will reveal something incredible that could easily propel him to the top of the journalism field, he has chartered a helicopter piloted by Ed DeLuca, who fills him in on the town as Frank bypasses the barricades through the air. Seeing a strange riot in the streets alerts Frank that all may not be as it seems in Willamette. His plan is to stay in the city for three days, then have Ed come back for a pick-up. It’s close to the last instruction Frank is able to give as military helicopters begin to chase Frank’s ride, forcing him to bail out of the helicopter over the Willamette Parkview Mall, allowing Ed to escape. Frank is now stuck in the mall for 72 hours. Nobody will come to pick him up beforehand, and should Frank not be back at the heliport by then, let’s just say that Ed’s not the patient type. Let’s take some pictures. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 5: Basic controls If you have “tutorials” on, Dead Rising will alert you to the many commands you have on a need-to-know basis. Here’s some of the basics. Left control stick: Moves Frank around, or moves your aim around when holding down the R trigger. Right control stick: Rotates the camera angle around Frank. Press it in to set it right behind Frank. X button: Attack with whatever you’re carrying, or punch if unarmed (or if unarmed, hold X for a kick that hits low). A button: Jump. Frank will grab onto and climb up ledges if close enough. Y button: Call to survivors to your location. Use more than once for best results. B button: All-purpose button. Picks up items, talks to other people, and performs special actions with certain other people. L and R shoulders: Switch through Frank’s inventory. D-pad up: Unequip item (if Frank has a free slot). Drops large weapons, or ANYTHING should Frank’s inventory be full. D-pad down: Drop equipped item on the ground. If you leave the area you’re in and load a new one, you’re not getting it back. L trigger button: Take out Frank’s camera. From there… A: Zoom out B: Zoom in X: Take picture Right control stick: Move camera aim R trigger button: Take manual aim. Can be used in conjunction with firearms to shoot, melee weapons (or certain other items) to throw them, and Y to set waypoints. Back button: Immediately bring up the map. Pauses the game. Start button: Pause the game and bring up, what else, the pause menu. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 6: Things you’ll probably want before taking on the Saint Achievement -Be level 50. It’s VERY useful to have all of Frank’s abilities maxed out. Of the reasons why, having 12 life blocks means you don’t have to heal up IMMEDIATELY after taking damage, having all 12 inventory slots available means you can carry around a good deal of weapons, food, and books for both you and your survivors’ use (and trust me, some of those books are quite handy), having max speed means you won’t spend quite as much time “in transit” getting to case files and scoops, and really… do I even need to tell you how doing nearly three times the damage as a level 1 Frank is a useful thing? Doesn’t hurt to have all your special skills in the bag, too. Some are quite useful for keeping zombies at bay- I’ll get into them more in a moment. Throw distance is “meh”, but you’re getting that whether you like it or not. You can PROBABLY pull this off at SLIGHTLY earlier levels (the PP you gain from rescues and bosses will almost assuredly bring you to level 50 at some point during this, anyway), but seriously, if you’re any lower than, I dunno, level 40, really, just wait until you reach 50. Even the early parts of this run have their tricky points. -Zombie Genocider and the Real Mega Buster (RMB). Detailed instructions on how to get Zombie Genocider are beyond the scope of this document, but the basic idea is to run over 53,594 zombies in the Maintenance Tunnels with the cars available inside and outside, GET AN ENDING, and start a new game afterwards. Don’t bother shooting for a high-class ending in the process; you’ll need at least three real-life hours to pull this off out of the six the game provides. I’m sure another guide or something on Youtube will give you the right idea! If nothing else, hell, this game’s all about finding your own way to kick a little ass and save people in the process. You might have a great way nobody else thought of! The reason why you want the Real Mega Buster involves the boss fights. Zombies really are too good for this thing, as they die in one hit from many other items, but you can SERIOUSLY speed through most of the bosses while carrying this- it’s got all the power of the Heavy Machine Gun the Convicts leave you, with none of the hassle of like, BEATING the convicts. As you’ll find, beating the Convicts tends to not have a direct place in the tight schedule you need to follow to score “Saint” anyway. It actually may be a little more powerful than the HMG; while it’s hard to compare for sure, the RMB eliminates Carlito in ONE HIT during your first encounter with him. For the fact that it’s really only useful against bosses, you don’t NEED the RMB, but it really does help shave off a few seconds you may end up needing. Just be careful firing it around your fellow survivors. Pop one in the head with this thing by accident, and you will not be happy with the results. Your mileage may vary during “screw around” games, though (“Take THAT, Ronald!!”). -A good concept of the lay of the land in the mall. The guide arrows that show you where to go (activate your watch, scroll around, hit X) are quite useful and I suggest you have them on whenever necessary. However, that alone really doesn’t compare to honest-to-goodness experience with where everything is in the mall, or at the very least, a willingness to check your map OFTEN. Don’t feel bad if you do the latter- I’m a bit of a mapaholic myself; it pauses the game and lets you keep an eye on your route. Believe me, it’s easier to get disoriented than you think it is, which will waste your time. -A good concept of when scoops occur. This guide will remove that need for you, but here’s the thing. Scoops never activate if you’re in the area where they occur. Say that you’re waiting for “Shadow of the North Plaza” (where you’ll pick up David) and it’s actually a little past time for Otis to give you the call. Well, you’re probably IN the North Plaza. Leave (doesn’t matter where, and both Seon’s and Crislip’s count), and if it hasn’t been too long yet, Otis will give you a ring about David shortly thereafter. If you’re trying to get Transmissionary, I’ll give you a few more tips about it after the walkthrough, as it doesn’t cover two kinds of Otis’ calls (you’ll get all the survivor scoop calls by the nature of my walkthrough) -Several playthroughs of the game completed. Not hugely necessary (I pulled off my first Saint run on my third serious playthrough and I don’t recall having the RMB back then), but it’s nonetheless helpful to know when and where everything occurs. Everything and everyone spawns at a (generally) very specific time, and it’s VERY useful to know when everything happens before it happens. Reading this guide, you’ll do just fine without this step, though- just keep in mind I’m not by any means an expert on when everything occurs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 7: Things to consider during your Saint run -Stay the hell out of Al Fresca Plaza unless absolutely necessary. By “absolutely necessary”, I mean the three scoops you’ll find where you need to yank survivors out of that very location (and one situation where you really don’t have a choice but to bring an unannounced survivor through it, which will take place during the first two of the mentioned scoops). Why, you ask? The place is absolutely jam-packed with zombies, moreso than any place that isn’t the Maintenance Tunnel. Your survivors will not stand much chance of getting through it in one piece, and even early in the game, it’s still quite crowded. If you have no choice but to go inside, tread very lightly and DON’T just try to bulldoze your way through. -Try to complete scoops as fast as time allows. For the most part, I need not say more. This isn’t the case for two particular scoops. These two scoops- “Above the Law” and “Long-Haired Punk”, I believe- have a nasty little side effect that comes into play should you not be quick in completing them. “Above the Law” has four survivors that will slowly dwindle down to ONE should you not get to it quickly enough, and “Long-Haired Punk” has two survivors that follow the same rule (this one, I know from experience- I took a while to get to Paul, and found that Mindy and Debbie both had half their health depleted). I don’t know if this applies to any of the other scoops, but you definitely want to keep these two in mind- and I’ll remind you when we get to those points in the walkthrough (in my walkthrough, this won’t be a problem for “Above The Law”, but it might be a (generally minor) problem if you’re a bit slow on “Long-Haired Punk”). -Eight’s enough. There can only be eight active survivors in the mall at any time, whether they’re currently actually WITH YOU or their scoop (announced or not) is active. If a scoop would push that number over eight survivors, it will either be delayed or not occur altogether, so dilly-dallying is not a smart thing to do. Like it ever IS in this game. This will not be a problem if you’re following my walkthrough, but it’s nice to know anyway… just in case. I hear this can be circumvented, and allow you nine survivors, in the case of Kent’s three-part scoop. However, that’s really just a curiosity that we won’t be worried about during this walkthrough, nor shall I say more here. -You must defeat every psychopath the game throws at you during your run. Every psychopath you fight with the exception of Cletus has at least one survivor at stake (although you could also debate this a bit with Larry, and Brock is the true final boss, so it doesn’t matter with him). In addition, defeating psychopaths occasionally has the added benefit of providing either useful weapons, or giving you a more advantageous position from which you can more easily save future survivors. Here’s a list of what each psychopath provides you. I’ll go into more detail about how to fight them later. Steven: Fought in Case 2-3. The weapon cart isn’t hugely useful (albeit FUN to play with), but you must go through him if you intend on going for ending A- he is unavoidable if you’re going through the Case Files. The Convicts: While it is not an absolute requirement, defeating them makes treks through Leisure Park MUCH easier, especially when trying to drag survivors along. The Heavy Machine Gun is also a nice bonus. Be careful- they DO come back (you can fight them a total of three times), I assume so you can get the Heavy Machine Gun more than once. Adam: YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU BEAT ADAM. Yes, he may only have one survivor at stake, but this survivor will open a shortcut that warps you from Wonderland Plaza’s women’s bathroom to Paradise Plaza’s women’s bathroom, which is VITAL for my strategy. Beating Adam also provides you with a RESPAWNING Small Chainsaw that’s quite simply the best melee weapon in the game for reasons I’ll discuss later. Cletus: Don’t worry, as you can’t do anything about James (Hey, he either dies or never shows up). Defeating Cletus gives you MUCH easier access to shotguns and sniper rifles (the shotguns in particular being VERY effective for you and survivor alike), at least until Brett, Jonathan and Alyssa take his place, which won’t happen until late in the game. Cliff: Is holding three survivors captive in a room that also holds two useful (albeit not VITAL) books that can ONLY be obtained there. Also drops a machete, which only he possesses. Jo: Is holding four survivors hostage. Defeat her before that dwindles to one. The Hall Family (Roger, Jack, Thomas): One survivor simply won’t join until they’re defeated, and three others will be in the area that are MUCH easier to get out once the sniper family drops. Sorry, Thomas. Sean: Is holding FIVE survivors hostage, and his defeat is one of the possible triggers that removes the remaining cultists from the mall. The Ceremonial Sword is pretty nice too, and if the Brainwashing Tips book he drops is useful to you, by all means, grab it (bit too late to be of major use though, if you ask me- personally, I never use it). Paul: Is holding two survivors hostage (get there before their health drops to critical levels), becomes a survivor himself, and will later on give you as many molotov cocktails as you want and can carry. Kent: Holds a survivor hostage and drops a book that doubles the PP score of any picture you take (Jeez, this would have been nice to have earlier- know that it’s more useful than Ending B playthroughs, though). Just be sure that you’re not late to his meeting, or else you’ll see the MAJOR differences that exist between coming into a Psychopath fight fully prepared and not prepared at ALL. Explanation comes later. Larry: Fought in Case 8-4; you probably won’t fight him if you’re going for ending B. Drops a giant meat cleaver which only he possesses. Brock: Fought at the end of Overtime Mode. If you’ve some this far, he’s the only thing standing between you and your achievement. -You do not need to save absolutely everyone to get Saint. The widely-accepted means to get Saint involve endings A and B, of which B will score you the maximum survivors assuming you know when to let the Case Files expire. I’ll explain that in a few moments. What you DO need to know is that story characters (Brad, Jessie, Otis, Barnaby, Isabela, even Frank) all count. If you’re going for ending A, if you save EVERYONE, you will end 72 Hour Mode with 49 people saved. Check your survivor chart at the end- note how neither Frank nor Isabela are counted as saved? Beating Overtime Mode IMMEDIATELY AFTER will fix that- you’ll end Overtime Mode with 51 people saved. Do not select “Overtime Mode” from the main menu expecting the same results. Ending B, on the other hand, allows you to save the absolute maximum survivors- a grand total of 53. You can NEVER save all 54 people in the chart- the generally accepted course of action (and the one I endorse personally) is to complete either Case 5-2 or Case 6-1. You need to complete AT LEAST Case 5-2, as Isabela will be considered “safe” afterwards. Of the two options I mention, Barnaby will still be among the living if you stop after completing Case 5-2, but Simone will not accompany you unless you have beaten Case 6-1 (Remember, her prerequisite is that Frank is aware of Isabela’s old job as a medical technician- which you learn shortly after Barnaby, well, you probably know based on what I’ve said). Personally, my preference is completing Case 6-1, but it’s up to you. …why don’t you want to go beyond Case 6-1? Oh. Well, at that point, if you go any farther, you’ll lose one of the story characters (your only other option is to royally futz up Case 7-1 and lose the game immediately with NO survivors), and if you go into Case 8’s territory, you’ll lose a second story character. This being said, of the survivors where the plot does not dictate their life, death, or unlife, you can let one die if you’re going for ending A, and you can let three die if you’re going for ending B (four if Barnaby remains alive, but since that fourth will by default be Simone, just consider it three anyway). THAT said… -So who should I consider letting die if need be? First off, keep your personal goals in mind. Do you just want to skate by on the bare minimum, or do you really want to save everyone available to you? If it’s the latter, just skip on down. If it’s the former, here’s some suggestions, which I’ll admit to you straight-up, I have not checked. Mind you, my walkthrough will assume that you have no plans on letting ANYONE die, but the option IS there. Aside from Ronald, these are in no real order. Ronald is far and beyond my number one choice. He’s a colossal pain in the ass to deal with no matter what- you must give him a food or drink item of some sort (he won’t accept mixed juices) just to get him to join, and you’ll later have to do the same thing to ensure he doesn’t complete a mutiny that will take seven survivors out of the game (including himself), which you should understand is not conductive to your Saint efforts. You will undoubtedly be in the middle of a rescue mission during this time, so MAKE DAMN SURE that if the mutiny scoop is active, you get all of your survivors on the Air Duct ledge before you go inside- go back outside without placating Ronald and the mutiny will automatically succeed, leave anyone outside and they will almost assuredly die while you’re dealing with Ronald. Kindell. His personal mutiny has a lot more at stake (about 10 or 12 survivors; I can never remember to check), but all you have to do is talk to him enough times to put it down, and you won’t have much else to do at the time it occurs (in fact, it’s not unreasonable to believe that nobody else will be with you at the time, which means you won’t have to worry about anyone dying on you). Just remember, the same rules apply- once the scoop’s active, once you go into the Security Room, you better make damn sure you’ve placated Kindell’s worry before you go back out, or else you’ll be very, very unhappy with the results. Gordon. I personally don’t have many problems dealing with the timer on him (in fact, he actually fits pretty neatly into my personal route), but a lot of other people find his time of appearance, and his location in Al Fresca Plaza (even though it’s in the first store you’ll find from the Food Court entrance and that’s RELATIVELY safe) to be a bother to deal with. Admittedly, time will get tight in that part of the walkthrough. Aaron. He’s the only survivor that I STILL manage to lose on a fairly regular basis. His appearance in Al Fresca Plaza, the fact that he won’t actually USE most of what you equip on him, and his appearance around other survivors (particularly, Leah and Sophie) that spawn at times where it’s not that helpful to his cause combine to ensure he doesn’t have a good run of things. Don’t try to ACTIVELY kill him, of course, but at the same time, well… don’t be too surprised if he ends up one of the (un-)dead. Paul. DON’T ignore his scoop and TRY to save him if at all possible, but there’s that little matter of trying to put out his little crotch fire before his health depletes that all-important second time around that occasionally just doesn’t go as planned. Should you not have food to heal him up from that little episode, things get even dicier. Tad. Ensures you don’t have to bother screwing around with Kent, whose second mission really can’t come at a worse time. Also saves you the trouble of having to go through Kent’s boss fight, which if you don’t make it to that particular scoop in time, will not yield happy results (you lose Tad anyway, everything you’re carrying disappears, you’re stripped to your underwear and confined to a much smaller area, and your survivors will have to run halfway across Paradise Plaza to get to you should any be around). Yeah, I admit there are survivors that really are a much bigger pain in the ass to deal with than these particular six (Pamela has quite possibly the dumbest AI in the game, Jolie and Rachel both have a nasty tendency to run full- tilt at a cultist they can’t hope to defeat, etc.), but if you’ll notice, most of the listed survivors are relatively isolated- if things muck up, you’ll probably lose that survivor and that survivor alone (Okay, so Aaron just seems to never do what I need him to). Generally, larger groups of survivors won’t give you so much trouble, and if you’re losing said groups, you’ve really got bigger issues. -Arming your survivors. Always try to keep a few weapons on hand to equip your survivors with. You REALLY want to give them weapons that can kill in one shot, should the option be there. Survivors tend to not attack as rapidly as you or I, so why not ensure they make the most of it? Also, keep in mind that no weapon will ever break or run out of ammunition as long as it is in survivor hands. You’d be surprised how much shotgun ammo Nick is able to pull out of his ass. My personal suggestions as far as melee weapons go include such items as katanas, swords, anything with decent knockdown power (such as a lead pipe or 2X4, or especially a baseball bat), or even a small chainsaw (just hope they don’t hit the other survivors too often should any be around). The basic rule I follow is, if it doesn’t knock down, or simply kill in one shot, it’s not good enough. As far as firearms go, shotguns or submachine guns are the way to go. Sure, the submachine gun typically won’t kill in one shot, but you wouldn’t guess that from how survivors tend to use it. Oh, and don’t forget- should you want the weapon back, just equip them with something else and pick your weapon back up. There’s plenty of worthless and/or easily replaceable items in the warehouse you can use for just that before you take your survivors back to the Security Room. May I suggest either the paint cans, or broken mannequin parts, or the lead pipe on the ground? You get the idea. As an aside, you CAN heal your survivors. Just pass a food item to them the same way you would any other item. Just know that they’ll drop anything they may have been carrying before their impromptu dinner. -Waypoints, or “C’mon! C’mon! Follow me! C’mon! Follow me! Follow me! Follow me!” As anyone who’s played this game will tell you, the AI in this game isn’t the greatest. In fact, it can be, and often IS quite stupid. You have two major ways of setting waypoints. One such “waypoint” is to hit the Y button. This “waypoints” survivors to your location, and they’ll follow you around. It also tends to be the most idiot-proof, as survivors will 99 times out of 100 drop whatever they’re doing- attacking a zombie (MUCH less smart than it sounds if you didn’t explicitly plan it), standing and crying, and so forth- and run to you. Noticed my tagline for this section? Yeah. Hitting the Y button repeatedly yields the best results, as it ensures you’re constantly overriding all “Do Not Stay Near Frank” behavior. An ACTUAL “waypoint” can be set by holding in the Right Trigger and pressing Y. Your survivors will GENERALLY attempt to get to the location you set, although you shouldn’t be too surprised if sometimes they either take a weird path to get there (tends to happen if you set a waypoint too far away and it turns out your location wasn’t where you thought it was), or do things they shouldn’t (DON’T RUN INTO THE DAMNED CULTIST HORDE, RACHEL. You frickin’ DESERVED that shanking…). As stated, this is not typically a problem. It’s useful if you want to clear a path in front of you and want your survivors to stay put in a relatively safe spot while you do it. If you gave them enough weapons, they’ll probably defend themselves nicely while you clear your path. If they’re unarmed… work real fast. Do NOT set waypoints in faraway locations where zombies are known to spawn unless you want them to do so right on top of your survivors. You may want to use waypoints to ensure your survivors go into “walk-in” transitions through various sections of the mall. By that, I mean things like, say, the entrance to Wonderland Plaza while going through the Food Court, which has no actual DOOR separating it. Try to send them ahead of you and then walk in yourself to ensure you don’t accidentally leave one or more behind. If you’ve got a “door” transition, the “Run to Frank” option is the better choice. Waypoints will deactivate and survivors will automatically run your way should a cutscene activate while one is set. This normally isn’t much of a problem, but should it be, I’ll alert you when the time comes. -Getting survivors up to the air duct. The moment a survivor’s feet are on the ledge leading to the air duct, they will enter the Security Room along with you, assuming you don’t send them back down for some reason. That said, sometimes the AI will do stupid things while trying to get up there (and it will do so much more often if you have MANY survivors with you). Try this. If you can’t get everyone up simply by having them follow Frank, set a waypoint on top of the ledge. If the survivors are running right into each other, simply run right into them yourself. Frank will harmlessly knock them around a bit and if you’re accurate, it’ll leave enough room for an individual survivor to get up. Repeat as you need to. This is 100% necessary to remember should one of the two “mutiny” scoops be in play (especially Ronald’s), as you won’t be able to just waltz right back out and get them. -DON’T LEAVE MEEEEE! Basically, if a survivor enters your line of sight (typically, when you see the nameplate, Frank can see them, even if YOU can’t), or you activate their scoop (generally through the same means, although sometimes it’ll happen just when passing by), you’ve fully activated them. From that point on, whether they’re in your group or not, they’ll gradually take damage if you are not in the area they appear in. It is slow- they can probably survive two real life minutes without you if they’re at maximum health- but this is something you want to avoid, ESPECIALLY if they’re not in your group yet. If you see a survivor, pick him or her up immediately. If you pass them up and move into another area… Yeah, “D’OH”! As mentioned a few points up, if they ARE in your group, make sure you’re close to your survivors before moving into a new area or else you’ll leave them behind and will have to go back and get them (this will be heralded by their nameplate suddenly appearing on the upper-left of the screen, with their physical bodies nowhere to be found). -Survivors Versus The Zombies! Know how zombies actually attack your survivors. Oddly enough, survivors don’t do too bad a job of fending off their grabs- in fact, although they’ll be stuck in place and thus fair game for other zombies, they don’t seem to take any actual DAMAGE from a grab. You’ll probably have to knock the zombie off of them, though (you COULD also get lucky with a fellow survivor’s attack, but yeah)- they can’t do it on their own. Zombies can do that too, just, well… Okay. What can actually damage survivors are zombies’ bashing/cutting/whacking attacks (it’s all in what they’re carrying). Granted, individually, the damage inflicted is pretty low, but if there’s enough zombies surrounding the survivor, they’ll be stuck in place while eight or so zombies take rapid turns slapping him around. Death will come more quickly than you think. And be careful while clearing zombies away from survivors; sure, that chainsaw will rip the zombies apart, but your survivors won’t like it much more. In fact, if you can manage it, use Frank’s unarmed attacks to repel zombies for this purpose. I suggest the double lariat for large groups, and either the jump kick or somersault kick for single zombies that have a survivor in their grasp. -DO NOT trifle with the cultists. The cultists appear roughly around noon on Day 2 (that’s about 24 hours into 72 Hour Mode)- their appearance will be foreshadowed by the sudden appearance of purple fliers all over the mall (should the game load up anything that isn’t Paradise Plaza past that time), and will officially be in play once you head into Paradise Plaza at the listed time. You’ll see a cutscene with Sean, and I’ll explain everything else later; you want to know why you don’t want to screw with the cultists. They carry weapons on them, although luckily they’re generally slow to pull them out. That’s good, because their knives cause a good amount of damage, and tear large chunks of health out of your survivors. If you start in on a cultist, FINISH THE JOB, or else he may pull out a stick of dynamite and charge at you with it. The damage is about the same, but splash damage is never fun for a survivor. Since they have a fair deal more health than your average zombie, it may take a bit more work than you’re used to, although a small chainsaw will simply rip right through them- expect to have to hit a few twice, though. As everyone else will warn you, their most dangerous move is a strange dust they can blow into your face. As with everything else, they delay before actually using it, so move fast. You don’t want it to hit- if it does, you lose all your items, you’re stripped to your underwear, your survivors will be in the same area they were in before you got hit (which almost ensures they’ll die before you can make it back), and you’ll have to carve your way through about 16 cultists before you can get back to your regularly scheduled game. This sucks. Don’t let it happen. Don’t trifle with the cultists. -Books. Assuming your main goal is to get Saint and win the game, know what books are the most important to your cause. Here’s a few suggestions. Criminal Biography. Probably the best weapon book there is. Even if, for whatever reason, you DON’T plan on using the Small Chainsaw, this particular book triples the lifespan of edged weapons, many of which are either one-hit killers or deal heavy damage. The Katana particularly comes to mind due to its relatively common nature. Found in Sir Book-a-Lot in Wonderland Plaza. Engineering. Again, normally used simply for the Small Chainsaw boost, but a lot of tool-type weapons are quite painful to zombies (lead pipes and 2X4s are particularly useful early on, before you have access to Small Chainsaws or your other real badass weapons). This book triples their lifespan. Fun to bring to Crislip’s. Found in Bachman’s Bookporium in Paradise Plaza. Entertainment. Pretty much SOLELY used for the Small Chainsaw boost for all “not screwing around” purposes. Still, can’t argue with ANOTHER lifespan tripling for that bad baby. However, if you don’t want to pick up all three books for that one weapon (which respawns as soon as you leave Wonderland Plaza, anyway), this is the one to leave behind. Also found in Bachman’s Bookporium in Paradise Plaza. Survival. Doubles the healing power of all food and drink items Frank uses. It’s integral to getting ANYWHERE in Infinite Mode, which I’m not covering, but hey, you can’t go wrong with this effect anywhere else. Considering that wine is easy to come by if you know where to go, this book will make it restore 10 life blocks. You don’t need the other Health books. You can pick this one up after defeating Cliff. The other books have their uses, but these are the only four that are hugely useful for the purposes of this guide. Remember, the durability tripling stacks. If you have two books for your Small Chainsaw, it’ll last nine times as long. All three, it’ll last twenty-seven times as long, which may very well last you the whole game for a SINGLE chainsaw. Personally, I think that’s overkill, as you’ll be going through Wonderland Plaza a lot anyway, but the choice is yours. -Watch where you’re aiming. For the most part, I think it’s obvious as to why you might not want to injure your own survivors. It’s just that since many of the game’s better weapons deal massive, sometimes INSTANTLY FATAL damage to survivors, I think it’s important to remind you of such things. A good rule of thumb to follow is this- if it’s a weapon that destroys the head of a zombie, it’s a weapon you want to be VERY careful using around survivors- it won’t tear their heads off, but it’ll still insta-kill them if they take a direct hit in the head with it. Firearms capable of this include the shotgun and Real Mega Buster. Melee weapons capable of this include… well, a LOT of things. Sledgehammers (not the swing where you hold down X and break the knees of every zombie in the area), rocks, bowling balls, dumbbells, and other such items are things you really don’t want to wield too flippantly around survivors. For everything else, really, whatever seems to damage everyone else the most will damage your survivors the most. Do don’t go swinging that Small Chainsaw around like a loon simply because you can. -Saving. You can always save at the beginning of each Case File, and of course you can save on the Security Room couch after you return from a survivor dropoff. Don’t forget, if you plan on using the Wonderland Plaza-Paradise Plaza shortcut a lot (here’s a hint, yes you do), you can also take a moment to save while in the bathroom, either before or after you’ve made the shortcut, should you feel the need. Save smart- if you’re not sure you can pull off a rescue in time to see whatever Case File you’re at (assuming you haven’t made it to your particular target Case File), don’t save- see if you can pull it off in time first, to save yourself the annoyance of restarting the whole game rather than a segment of it. -Queens: Available to you (assuming you can find them) after the 6:00 PM Warehouse cutscene on Day 1, these things can be very useful; they’re basically grenades that kill every zombie in the area (as long as they too aren’t infested with a Queen) while leaving humans alone. Just remember that the larvae they drop at night will be glowing green and attempting to jump-bash you for microscopic damage, albeit microscopic damage that will knock you around a little. You can use them in two ways, remember- you can either just press X to throw it at your feet and clear some room around you, or you can throw it with the Right Trigger and X to clear a nice chunk somewhere in front of you. Remember- Queen carriers will SLOWLY wave their hands into the air, not attacking or moving at all (although they’ll barf blood into Frank’s face and stun him if you just stand still in front of one), will have a Queen visibly attached to the back of their necks, will be all zombie “life” that’s left standing if you throw a Queen into their area, and count as Outtake photos, should you be unsure of how to detect them. Eventually, you’ll recognize them on sight, so don’t worry! If you’re a fan of mixed juices, the “Nectar” juice (easily created in Paradise Plaza’s Colombian Roastmasters with two of the infinite Orange Juices that rest RIGHT NEXT TO THE BLENDER) will allow you to summon a Queen at will, assuming the effect from an earlier Nectar has worn off (it takes a few moments- don’t use twelve Nectars in rapid sequence and expect to have twelve Queens afterwards). Oh, and of course, you have to have seen that cutscene I mentioned, otherwise you just restore six health blocks (hey, lose some, win some). -Autotargeting? Frank, if in range of an enemy, can be instructed to attack or fire at its location simply by standing still and tapping the attack button ONCE. Frank will autotarget the nearest enemy, and he’s pretty good at it, too (guess all that time covering wars came in handy, y’know?). This is pretty useful since most enemies aren’t fast enough to move out of the way, and you can clear some SERIOUS crowds out with certain weapons this way- especially with firearms! Word of warning though- Frank won’t aim up or down at ALL unless you use manual aim. Don’t forget though, hold the button and he’ll just continue to attack where he was before (in the case of automatic weapons), and of course, you know what happens when you hold the control stick and attack. -Otis’s calls. Yeah yeah, Otis’s calls are annoying and come in at the worst possible times, DEAL WITH IT. Like it or not, his calls are the only way to activate the vast majority of the scoops, so be sure not to miss them- you don’t want to miss a call and leave a survivor hanging, do you? Of course not. Why, if you’re especially vigilant, you may even score “Transmissionary”. Now if you’re real good and you behave yourself, I’ll give you hints for that after the walkthrough. …Okay, less mean. Look, the thing of it is, Otis’s calls always come in at VERY specific times. I’ll be mentioning them. So you don’t have to feel as taken by surprise as everyone in the human world seems to be every time they take Otis’s calls and could theoretically make it to safety before taking them. No need to worry! Do worry about this though. If you’re in an area where a scoop actually occurs at the time it occurs, Otis won’t call you about it until you leave the area. This also applies if an unannounced scoop is scheduled to take place, but yeah. (Example: If you’re in Paradise Plaza at 2:00 PM on Day 1, when Otis is supposed to call about “Cut From The Same Cloth”, he won’t actually do so until you load a new area that isn’t Paradise Plaza.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 8: Frank’s Special Moves Frank himself is a more effective fighter than you’d think. As I’m sure you know, this includes times where he just doesn’t have a fun, sharp toy in his hands to play with. Yes, some of his moves are better than others, and you’d probably like to know about that. So let’s go over what they do. If I list PP bonuses, you only get them if you score an actual KILL on a ZOMBIE opponent. Jump Kick: While jumping, hit X. Ever play “P.O.W.”? When this connects, it sends zombies FLYING for what’s got to be about forty or fifty feet, knocking down anything the flying zombie impacts. It’s a good move to clear a small path (it doesn’t knock down MANY zombies), and it does a fairly high amount of damage (you can normally kill a zombie in one hit during daylight hours, although it sometimes just a little more to finish it off). However, it almost never kills at night, and it’s a bad move to use in highly populated areas- the kick has a very narrow range in which it hits, and anything you land next to will probably grab you while you’re recovering from the landing. Overall, a good move. Just keep in mind that its ease of activation is best not taken as an open invite to use it wherever and whenever. GREAT for knocking a zombie off a survivor, though- you hit, it goes flying, and your survivor is free to go. Mind, I almost guarantee you’ll hit your survivor in the process, but you’ll deal minimal damage. Zombie Ride: While running toward a zombie, hit A. If timed correctly (run too close and Frank will just freeze for a moment while bumping into the zombie, run too far away and you won’t pull it off), you will climb on top of the zombie and stand on its shoulders. If other zombies are close by, you can walk across them, albeit a little slowly. It’s necessary to earn an Achievement I won’t elaborate on, it DOES bring you out of harm’s way in a zombie crowd, and it can set up an easy Knee Drop if you end up using it on lone zombies. To be honest, you’ll probably activate Zombie Ride by accident more often than you’ll activate it on purpose. May as well use your accidents to score easy Knee Drops, but other than that, this is a utility move that will neither largely help nor hurt your cause. Kick Back: While grabbed, repeatedly hit forward on the left control stick. Breaks a zombie’s grip on you and knocks it forward a short distance, knocking down whatever else may be in front of you. Not recommended to use. If you must break out of a zombie’s grasp with a special move, you have better options. Flying Dodge: Tap a direction on the left control stick twice. Frank will quickly dive and roll in the direction you perform this move in. There’s a small delay at the end of the move while Frank gets up from the roll, so make sure you don’t just aim it out of one zombie horde and right into another. Another move you’ll probably activate more often by accident than anything else, but it DOES have a few specific uses. Escaping the paranoid gunshop survivors, anybody? Not a move you’ll have any specific NEED to activate regularly. Again, a utility move that’s not going to swing the odds too far in your favor either way. Power Push: While grabbed, repeatedly hit left or right (you can alternate them) on the left control stick. Tosses a zombie a short distance to the side while breaking its grip, see “Kick Back”. Also not recommended to use. Again, if you must break out of a zombie’s grip with a special move, you have better options. Football Tackle: While pressing the left control stick down, tap A. Frank charges forward a short distance and knocks zombies up into the air and back about half as far as a Jump Kick. Sounds a lot better than it is in practice, as whether you connect or not, you’ve got a nice long recovery time waiting for you at the end of the move. Good thing you really can’t activate it accidentally- you have no reason to use it except for pure fun every once in a while. Scores you 30 PP. Try it against a wall sometime for a cheap laugh. And to think Frank doesn’t take any damage! Judo Throw: While grabbed by a zombie, repeatedly hit back on the left control stick. Of the three moves you can use that isn’t the “flail wildly on the control stick until the zombie is no longer clinging to Frank” maneuver, this is by far the best of the bunch. It won’t do much to get other zombies off of you, but it DOES flip the zombie that WAS grabbing you right over your shoulder, AND kills it to boot (100 PP, if you care). Nice, isn’t it? You don’t NEED to use this, but eh, if you remember to do it when the time comes, have at it. Double Lariat: While pressing the left control stick down, tap X. One of the best unarmed moves Frank gets, without question. If you are surrounded by zombies, this move will fix that in a hurry. Frank will spin in place with his arms out. Ever played Final Fight and used Haggar’s special move? You know what this does. Causes a lot of damage and generally kills zombies outright for 50 PP each kill, which considering the amount of zombies you’re probably trying to get away from you, adds up. You can aim it a bit by tilting the left control stick in whichever direction you’d like to aim it. Do be careful, Frank CAN be grabbed at the beginning and end of the animation (and in some unlucky cases, during, should a zombie manage to time a lunge juuuust right) Watch out- if you do this move with a weapon equipped, two things will happen. One, the spinning will cause the weapon to repeatedly smack/slice/slash/whatever the zombies around you. Two, it’ll fling the weapon across the room, out of your inventory, and probably too far out of your sight to find without a massive search. Unless you’re using the Double Lariat with a weapon you really, REALLY do not need any more, unequip your weapon before you use it. That said. Surrounded? Unequip your current item. Double Lariat. Smile. Do be careful. You’ll knock down survivors. Roundhouse Kick: The moment you land from a jump, press X. Alternately, under the same scenario, hold down on the left control stick and press X for a leg sweep. Setting up AND timing this thing is such a pain in the ass that I can almost NEVER get it to work when I need it. Take that to mean what you will. It’s too bad, because when it DOES work, it turns out that Frank has Chuck Norris’s power in his right leg, because it really just kills zombies dead whenever it connects. The leg sweep has a bit of crowd control power, but not enough of it to consider training like hell to use it. Fun move, but awkward to use and in the end… It’s really one of those moves that’s fun for shits and giggles and best used for that alone. The standing version of this nets you 10 PP per kill, the sweep gets you 30 PP per. It CAN be used to combo-attack at the end of a Jump Kick or Somersault Kick. That’s always fun. Lift Up: Stand in front of an enemy, then press X + A. (I’m pretty sure you can be running at the enemy to do this as well, if you don’t yet have Disembowel). Afterwards, press X again to throw the enemy. Picks up zombie, survivor, cultist, and soldier alike, hefts them over Frank’s head, and from there you’ve got two options. Walk around with them for a bit to set up a throw, or haul off and throw. You’ll move around a bit slowly if you’re carrying something, and if you’re hit, you’ll drop whoever you’re carrying- the enemy won’t take damage in this case. If that doesn’t happen and you throw your captive as you’re intending, if it’s not a survivor, congrats. You’ve just scored an instant kill on your foe AND knocked down anything nearby. Kills scored through thrown enemies are not uncommon sights. You’ll score 70 PP for using this. Knee Drop: While in the middle of a jumping animation (NOT falling), press down on the left control stick and X. Frank will drop like a rock on top of anything he’s above and deliver a painful knee strike. This is almost an assured kill on a downed zombie. Hell, even if the zombie’s standing, it does a lot of damage, although a kill isn’t a guarantee on a full-health zombie. It can hit more than one zombie, although they’ll need to be in very close proximity for such a feat. Any kills net you 10 PP. Nonetheless, it’s a good move, easy to use, and great for knocking zombies off of survivors, provided you don’t mind the fact you’ll probably hit your survivor (for minimal damage) for SURE, and knock them down, too. It’s also, as I said, a nice follow-up to a Zombie Ride you weren’t intending on. Just don’t try to use it in large crowds; that would be stupid. You can also use this move to completely negate falling damage, no matter what height you use it from. Suplex: While standing behind an enemy, press X + A. (I’m pretty sure you can be running at them to do this as long as you don’t also have Face Crusher) It takes a while to execute, but luckily you’re immune to all damage during the windup of this move- during which you can aim where the sap you’re holding is about to be thrown. Once thrown, your ex-foe (yeah, it always kills assuming it wasn’t a survivor) will knock down anything that’s behind you. And you get 300 PP too! Did I mention it always kills the unlucky bastard that got thrown? Wall Kick: While jumping toward a wall, hold a direction away from the wall on the left control stick to aim the kick, and press X to actually execute it once you’re pressed against the wall. It’s a LITTLE tricky to aim, but it looks MASSIVELY cool, generally kills a zombie instantly upon contact, blasts through zombies, AND nails you a 50 PP bonus per kill. It even negates falling damage just like the Knee Drop! How sweet is THAT? Not as much so as you think. You’re not always around walls, and if you miss your attack, you could be in for it. And remember, thanks to the laws of physics, Frank can’t exactly bounce parallel to the wall, so you can’t aim it ANYWHERE. Let’s not worry too much about this for the purposes of a Saint run due to the limitations, but for goofing off- oh hell yes, this is a choice move. Hammer Throw: While standing at or running toward an enemy’s side, press X + A. Forget the Jump Kick, THIS is the end-all-be-all of path-clearers as far as Frank’s unarmed moves go. Too bad you can’t just execute it at will like said Jump Kick… Ah well. The button command above actually grabs your foe, and you’re allowed to aim where you’re about to fling the enemy- much faster so than the Suplex. So you know, I can’t speak for the cultists’ knives or Special Forces’ guns, but zombies aren’t gonna grab you while you’re aiming this. Once you’ve got your foe where you want it going, let ‘er fly with the X button. Every entity standing between you and a LONG distance away will get knocked down by your hapless victim’s flailing limbs, and said knockdowns deal a LOT more damage than you’d think. Kills from a flung enemy are not uncommon sights. Just know that you’ll knock down survivors in that path as well, albeit for a lot less damage. If the enemy you actually flung dies from this (it’s not common), that’s 100 PP for you. TOTALLY worth it to use when you’ve got the opportunity. Don’t go out of your way to use it, but it’s definitely a move that has serious use if you know what you’re doing. Neck Twist: Stand at a fallen zombie’s upper half, then press X + A. Yeah. I’m pretty sure ripping a zombie’s head off is an instant kill. Too bad you don’t often come across single zombies that you’ve knocked down, because that’s about all this is good for- and really, if you’re using this attack, it’s to score 300 PP while looking frickin’ sweet in the process. Use it for fun, not for seriousness. There are SURVIVORS you need to help, dammit! Giant Swing: Stand at a fallen zombie’s lower half, then press X + A. Kills whoever’s thrown and knocks the hell out of any zombies that are stupid enough to approach during the swinging process, usually also for a kill. Another move that’s made a bit less useful by the fact that it’s not always easy to come by a downed zombie that isn’t actually too dead to use it on. Be careful; if you’re spinning that zombie right round a bit too long, you’ll be dizzied upon letting go. The zombies don’t give a shit about playing fair. See where I’m going with this? It’s a bit too slow to use for much but fun, as fun as it really is. Not a recommended move to use with survivors about for reasons I really shouldn’t have to explain (if I need to, by all means, try it yourself so I can laugh in your face). Face Crusher: While behind an enemy (you must be moving toward it), hit X + A. It’s hard to get behind most enemies, but if you can swing that, this move instantly kills any enemy you use it on, and generally does the same for any unfortunate zombie bastard standing between you and the animation’s endpoint. It looks incredibly badass, too. You’re invincible until the animation concludes. Great move- if you get in a situation where you think it’ll be useful, have at it! And the 300 PP bonus… Who’s complainin’? Disembowel: While in front of an enemy (you must be moving toward it), hit X + A. This move’s ALSO great, is ALSO totally badass, and ALSO instantly kills all non-boss enemies it hits. It’s the frontal version of the Face Crusher, although you can’t hit more than one thing with it. It’s really too good for most zombies, which die in one hit through a LOT of means (although you CAN use it to cancel out a zombie’s grab), most of which are capable of hitting other zombies in the process. However, against cultists and ESPECIALLY the Special Forces, it is invaluable. The fact that you’re invincible during the entire animation isn’t gonna hurt your cause, either- especially on Special Forces soldiers. Another easy 300 PP for your efforts, too. Somersault Kick: Jump straight up, then immediately hit X. It takes some practice to get the timing down, but it’s a GREAT move for knocking zombies off of single survivors (and even if you goof the timing, you’ll probably still nail a Jump Kick). It doesn’t deal much damage at all to survivors and doesn’t knock them down, making it even better to that end. Good thing that your survivors aren’t prone to the instant decapitation a zombie will typically feel. 10 PP. Karate Chop: Hit X while standing still while a zombie is in attack range, as well as anywhere but your front. Knocks zombies down and away from you, removing either a limb or a head in the process. It’s nice, but it doesn’t do anything for your normal, “zombie is in front of Frank” punches, and doesn’t have a whole lot of direct use. I suppose if you want to aim it, you can slap a zombie right off of a survivor this way. It’s not always that accurate, though. Trivia: If you beat a zombie to death with Frank’s normal punches, and not this move, you score 30 PP. Zombie Walk: While unarmed (requires a freed-up equipment slot), hold down X. It’s fun to play with- 99.9% of non-Queen-carrying zombies will leave you alone as long as you have it active- but it’s not too useful for our purposes. You can’t attack while doing this and you move very, very slowly (yet some of the zombies have this nice, lurching walk that’s about as fast as a slow run, go figure). There’s a few animations for standing and walking you can use- switch between the two actions to get new ones. For our purposes, as stated, it’s useless. It won’t do anything to help out with survivors, and the slow movement isn’t going to help you worth damn-all in that regard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 9: Walkthrough NOTE!!!: I am writing this walkthrough assuming you are going for Ending A, which includes Overtime Mode. If you’re content with Ending B, just complete up to 5-2 or 6-1 (depending on whether you’d rather save Barnaby or Simone), then ignore the case files entirely afterwards- also note you’ll never have to deal with the Special Forces if you go for Ending B. Day 1: Don’t Lean Too Far Forward: Not much to do during the helicopter ride; can’t exactly get to level 51, y’know? Really, unless you want the bonus PP for some reason, you can just skip on past the ride with the Start button if you’d like. Heliport of the Not Dead Yet: There’s nothing of any importance to do on the Heliport unless you absolutely must talk to Carlito, but if you have the Real Mega Buster waiting for you in the Security Room, go pick it up. Head on down to the Entrance Plaza using what will very soon become a sealed door. Yes, sometimes even I see the air duct sealed and go “wha?” during this sequence. The wonders of routine! By the way, in the Security Room, see the monitor cutscene or don’t. It doesn’t matter. All Hell Breaks Loose, Yadda Yadda: No sense wasting time. Just do what you know you have to, and head over to the pile of benches and other assorted goodies that will shortly become very useful. Once the 70-year-old Lindsay easily overpowers Freddie and Chris, both of whom are about half her age, and allows every zombie outside to enter the mall (let’s not ask questions about how they are so quickly able to open the shutter inside the Entrance Plaza, or how so many get in during the twenty seconds the cutscene lasts), it’s your choice whether or not you want to grab a few baseball bats and 2X4s, or to just run like hell to the stairs like Ving Rhames (better known as “Brad Garrison” in the confines of this game) tells you to. I suggest, however, that you simply run like hell to Brian’s location- he’ll be near the fountain, on the right side of it and slightly behind in relations to where you’re facing when the action starts. He’ll die quickly, and having that nameplate still above his head for the short time he’ll last is a nice indicator as to where you can loot his shotgun. Grab his shotgun, then flee to the stairs. If you CAN’T find it, no big loss, but it’s nice to have for the time being- you won’t be fighting Cletus for a while yet, so it could be useful. Time spent here WILL count against you in relations to the rest of the game, and although nothing important will happen for quite some time, no sense being a slowpoke now. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do for any of the people down here. Trust me. I picked Mark up using the Lift Up skill, made it all the way up the stairs while still carrying him, and he STILL counted as dead afterwards. I guess he suffered a fatal heart attack during the cutscene. Poor bastards. They’re Always People-Sized: Well, you know the drill, meet Ving- er, Brad and Jessie, Otis seals the Entrance Plaza route off at Brad’s request, Brad goes through the air duct to look for something. After the cutscene, attempt to go out the air duct, fail as Otis stops you long enough to give you a map and a transceiver (I HEAR you groaning out there), then go out the air duct. Photographer on the Roof: Before anything else, take a picture of the air duct’s opening (the game will alert you if you took this picture; read the photo score assessment) and set it to “keep” in your picture viewer. If you have an old air duct picture from a previous game, erase it; it’s useless to you. You’ll want that fresh picture later in the game. That being done, pick up Jeff and Natalie. I always bring Jeff over to Natalie before taking either back to the Security Room so I can get the Photo Op, but that’s just me. It’s not necessary, but it’s not like you’re really strapped for time right now, so you should do it too. C’mon, don’t you want proof that marriage sometimes works out great? It’s so heartwarming in this land of unhappy couples and a high divorce rate… Once they’re safe, save if you like. You won’t get the benefit of a save break for a while, and one survivor you’re going to deal with soon has a nasty habit of not surviving the trip in my experiences. SAFE: Jeff Meyer SAFE: Natalie Meyer Total: 2 survivors saved Case 1-1: With Jeff and Natalie safe, you don’t have anything else to do for a while, so you may as well take care of your first case file. For trivia reference, I never use the elevator to go into the warehouse; Knee Dropping from the ledge using the route near where Natalie was is just way faster. Talk to Jessie in the warehouse cutscene (he’s covered wars, y’know?) for a handgun, which as you’ve probably found in previous playthroughs, is only useful when you don’t have anything better and you’re still at a low level. I say to just drop the damn thing. Case 1-2: I suggest you take just a moment to grab the katana that’s on the orange awning outside Colombian Roastmasters; just jump out the window to get to it. It’ll be useful later no matter your plans (and if your plans involve fighting the next boss with it, don’t use it yet if you value its durability). As always, cross Leisure Park and head over to the Food Court. You can waste a little time getting there, as you won’t have much to do immediately following Case 1-2 and you won’t want to bother going through Al Fresca Plaza more than twice. I DEFINITELY suggest going in to grab the Maintenance Tunnel Key either now, or after you take in your first group of survivors. Whichever you choose, it only takes about two or three minutes to pull off, so you’re not losing any real ground. If you don’t know exactly where that is, there’s a room in the Maintenance Tunnel roughly in the middle of the map- there’s an actual door that blocks off a small room; go inside and to the back. Whether you do so or not (and really, I suggest you just do it now, it’ll kill time that you currently have a lot of), your main goal is to reach the Food Court, and you’ll be set upon by Carlito once you go inside. BOSS: Carlito Keyes, first encounter You get a free handgun at the start of this fight. Do with it as you will; in my case, that’s “drop it”. Do you have the Real Mega Buster? Fire it at Carlito once. Fight over. You win. Since you might not have it, since you’re level 50, you can afford to take a little damage and Carlito doesn’t have THAT much health. Just climb up the boxes behind Carlito’s location, bait him into firing at you while hiding behind the cover of the walls (keep an eye on him with the camera controls), wait for him to reload, and go in for a few slashes with your katana. He will undoubtedly get in a roundhouse kick or two on you in the process, but you can take the hits. Stay on his ass; it’s not gonna take much. If you’re worried about your health, you’re in a FOOD COURT- just pick up anything you can find- I suggest one or more of the six wine bottles lying around Chris’ Fine Foods. If it takes you all the food in the Food Court to get through this fight, this is not the guide for you. Case 1-2 clear. Consider bringing some of the food here along with you, I mean hey, you never know. Try to have everything I’ve mentioned so far done and be in Al Fresca Plaza by 4:00 PM or else things will get a bit tricky. Case 1-3: Before you move with Brad to Al Fresca Plaza, there’s a Submachine Gun on top of the Chris’ Fine Foods sign; I suggest you grab it as it will be useful for a survivor you’re about to pick up. Also, stay on the alert for Otis’ call about Kent if you haven’t taken it already (“Cut From the Same Cloth”, you might not have if you’ve been quick; it occurs at 2:00 PM). If you were fast to this point, all you have to do is go through Al Fresca Plaza with Brad. I suggest that you remove zombies out of his path for him or else he’s going to give you a visual demonstration as to why the normal handgun is pretty much useless. During your trip, make damn sure you pick up the Submachine Gun in the fountain, as it will also be useful for a second survivor you will soon pick up. Once you’re in the Entrance Plaza, let Brad do his thing and fail to convince Barnaby to come along. Case 1-3 clear. Brad will leave you on your own at this point. He’s Just a Bill: You probably have a LOT of time to kill and now’s as good a time as any to do this, if not the best time altogether- you’re going to pick up Bill, who is not announced in any way, shape or form, and in fact the only clue you get to his appearance is the ten or so zombies ambling about in front of “In The Closet” on the second floor. Kill them and head around back, where several cardboard boxes are stacked. I suggest Knee Dropping them. You’ll find Bill behind them. Talk to him, wait for him to find that zombies invaded sometime between two days ago and now, and he’ll join you. Give him one of the Submachine Guns you picked up earlier; he’s good with it and won’t waste time complaining or crying while he should be shooting. If you don’t have your katana from earlier, I suggest picking up some form of bladed weapon from Ned’s Knickknackery- a third survivor you will soon come across will be wanting it. You most likely have the time to do this. Hell, get several- your inventory can handle it right now. Right now, you’re probably going to be doing some waiting. You’ll get a call about Burt and Aaron’s appearance in Al Fresca Plaza at 4:00 PM (“Barricade Pair”), and you have nothing else to do until then. Kill time however you like until then, but stay in the Entrance Plaza. In fact, if you REALLY want to be productive, continue to wait until 5:00 PM to activate Leah (“A Mother’s Lament”) so you can just snag both in one go through Al Fresca Plaza. If you’re getting REALLY bored and have absolutely nothing else to do for upward of ten or fifteen minutes, you can try to just take Bill across Al Fresca Plaza and into the Food Court right now, and just hang out until 4:00 or 5:00 PM. Burt, Aaron and Leah all show up closer to that end of Al Fresca Plaza anyway. Hacking Through Al Fresca Plaza: Whichever you choose, I’ll assume you waited, go into Al Fresca Plaza when the time is right. Consider picking up another Submachine Gun should one have appeared in the fountain since your last score. You want to pick up Burt and Aaron first; Leah is safe from attack where she appears. Waypoint Bill so that he’s in front of Weber’s Garments and he’ll help clear out the zombies (help him out a bit if it’s REALLY thick). You don’t want Burt and Aaron to get hung up on the barricade they made, so get everything out of the way through whatever means. Just try not to step inside until you’ve cleared everything out. Unequip your weapon and go inside afterwards. Burt will think you’re coming to get him and will attempt to slap you around with a baseball bat. You’ll have to actually fight back- it takes six punches and a bit less if you decide to use some of your other moves (don’t try to hurt him too badly, and if I need to explain why, go swan-dive off your roof). Afterwards, talk to Burt a few times. He and Aaron will join you and run to the waypoint you set. Burt fights as effectively as Bill- give him a Submachine Gun. Aaron is distraught and doesn’t attack very often, if at ALL most of the time- still, you want to give him a nice, one-hit kill, possibly bladed weapon to defend himself with in case he does. A katana will work nicely if you have one. Once they join, head over to Riverfield Jewelry to go pick up Leah (if you didn’t wait for her to appear, just wait in the Food Court with Bill, Burt and Aaron until Otis calls). Waypoint your group just outside, and help them clear out zombies a bit if you want to- they’ll take care of most of them without many problems unless the concentration of zombies is just too thick. Leah is the reason you want to arm up your survivors for now- she can’t walk worth half a damn and you’ll need to carry her around. While this means that as long as you keep moving, Frank is incredibly unlikely to be hurt, the same cannot be said for Bill, Burt or Aaron (especially Aaron), and also not for a survivor you will almost assuredly be running into in a moment. Once all four are in tow, head out, go into the Food Court, and wait outside the doors to the Leisure Plaza until 6:00 PM. Equip your Real Mega Buster if you have it. Is it 6:00 PM yet? It IS? Leave. Bad Boys, Bad Boys: Sorry, Sid. We knew your complete non-appearance in the Notebook boded ill for your cause. Once control returns to you, if you don’t have Leah in your grasp, fix that immediately, and run right to Sophie as fast as you can (you may want to detour just around that pool of water in front of you on the off-chance someone gets hung up, who else would it be in my experience but Aaron?). Everyone will probably follow without incident, and in fact, you should have Sophie with you WELL before the Convicts reach your position (you’ll have to talk with her while on the move, be sure you trail her JUST long enough to see “Sophie Richards joined!” or else she’ll continue running aimlessly, even if you kill the convicts). Run to Paradise Plaza’s entrance, clear out the zombies as quickly as you can, and go inside. Should you be unlucky and have to fend off the Convicts (since you have survivors with you, escape is not an option right now), you have two options. You have the Real Mega Buster: Shoot each of them once to kill them instantly. Since they’ll probably be circling you, you’ll have to either aim true (and mind how the shots don’t travel instantly) or try to find a better position from which to fire. You don’t have the RMB: Got that shotgun I told you to get from Brian’s corpse a while ago? You have 20 shots and you’ll have to make them count. Take out the gunner first- stealing his Heavy Machine Gun will make dealing with the remaining two MUCH easier, as their attacks from that point on are limited to running you over or the passenger’s pathetic attempt at hitting you with his bat. Oh, that and the Heavy Machine Gun kicks ass. They’ll be a lot easier later on, when you probably won’t have anyone with you. If you don’t run into the Convicts during your mad dash, DON’T GO LOOKING FOR THEM. You can do this later on, but right now, it’s just not smart. Impromptu Photography Class, starring Kent Swanson: The odds are very high it’s past 7:00 PM (if it isn’t yet, it WILL be very shortly), so watch the cutscene and reactivate any waypoint you may or may not have afterwards. Remember, from this point until dawn breaks again on EVERY day, zombies will have more health than they used to, so watch out if you’re using attacks that are not immediate one-hit kills. Time is running low on “Cut From the Same Cloth”, so now’s the time to go see Kent. The doors from Leisure Park are close to the stairwell leading to Colombian Roastmasters, so lead your survivors up, waypoint them inside so you can talk to Kent without annoyance, RE-waypoint them after the loading screen, and do as Kent tells you. 500 PP shot: Kent will kneel while taking a picture. 700 PP shot: Since you’ve probably played this before, a comparison will help. He’ll basically perform Gil’s outtake pose, just without the wine bottle. In other words, the slower of the two poses he’ll do after taking a picture- he’ll pump his right arm (your left) in front of his face. Photo Op (unnecessary): Snap a shot of Kent’s personal Jump Kick. You don’t HAVE to get this one, but since he deliberately moves into an area with zombies in it after the 500 PP shot, he’ll probably use it at least once. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Afterwards, Kent will tell you to get pictures for him- your goal is to get an EROTICA photo worth 500 points or more, as Kent doesn’t really make it clear what he wants from you until the second time you see him, which, as I’m sure you’ll appreciate, is a bit on the late side. You should probably already have one if you’ve played through the game a time or two (Cheryl’s request late in the game will pretty much ensure an easy score of over 1,000 points), assuming you’ve been using the “keep” button in your Picture Viewer. And you should be. Should you not have one for whatever reason, fear not! You can still get one between now and then, and I’ll help you when the time comes. The Best Little Warehouse in Willamette: Kent’s squeaky-voiced ass satisfied for the time being (seriously, his death scream is hilarious, later, you should make sure you hear it in full- but now is not the time), fight your way over to the warehouse door, and go in. As soon as the cutscene concludes, you will now find zombies infested with Queen wasps around the mall. I’m sure you know how to use them, but as a reminder, since I have mentioned it in the tips earlier- if you use it while the zombies are in “night mode”, and by this point, they HAVE to be- the larvae that drop from some of their dead bodies will be glowing green and will attempt to leap at you. The damage is insignificant, but it DOES hurt you. Pick up Leah and walk your survivors over to the elevator door. There’s always been a zombie carrying a Queen standing point after the cutscene in my experience (BUT ONLY NOW!); by all means, go right ahead and relieve it of its burden (for that matter, check the zombie that one of the survivors will probably knock down while you grab Leah- while writing this, I found it too had a Queen). NOW! For right now, there shouldn’t be anything in the elevator. Later on, this will never be the case. For future reference, just waypoint your survivors a short distance in front of the elevator, kill everything inside, then call ‘em in. For right now, just the “call ‘em in” part will suffice. However, if you want to be safe, by all means, waypoint them. You never can tell. Once everyone’s in range and sight, take the elevator up, and get your survivors to safety on the air duct’s ledge. SAFE: Bill Brenton SAFE: Burt Thompson SAFE: Aaron Swoop SAFE: Leah Stein SAFE: Sophie Richards Total: 7 survivors saved Case 1-4: All you need to do to clear the final part of this case is to go into the part of the Security Room where the monitors are. The cutscene will do the rest. I suggest saving if all has went well to this point. “Always be prepared”: You’ve got a while before the next Case File is upon you, but you’ll get a scoop (“Out of Control”) at 9:00 PM. There’s no timer rush to get that scoop done, and if you’re equipped for it, this is probably a good time to have a chat with Cletus, so you can equip your survivors a little better than is normally readily possible. Let’s go do that now! Oh, but before you do so, make SURE you either have a Real Mega Buster OR several Submachine Guns OR are willing to wait and use a Small Chainsaw. A shotgun may work too if you want to use that, but you probably won’t have enough ammo to take him out if you went after the Convicts… although, if the Convicts are still alive, the Heavy Machine Gun is also quite useful for the fight- but you may want to use it on Adam instead. I stress preparation so heavily for this fight as Cletus is VERY tricky to beat if you’re not equipped to do so. A Wild Cletus: Cletus resides in the Huntin’ Shack in the North Plaza. Let’s go there. If you plan on using Submachine Guns to fight him and you didn’t get the two you gave to Bill and Burt back, hit the Food Court first, then MAYBE Al Fresca Plaza if you don’t think 100 shots is enough to do the job. Afterwards, take the Leisure Park route to get to North Plaza (doing what you will with the Convicts should they be around), hack and slash your way through the zombie-choked corridor that separates you from the gun store, and prepare to fight. BOSS: Cletus Samson Ouch. Sorry James. Don’t worry, there’s nothing you can possibly do to save him. This fight has a number of ways it can play out depending on what weapons you plan on using. First, I should let you know how Cletus fights, as it may be useful if your weapons are not. Don’t bother trying to melee him with most weapons, as you can’t easily hit him unless you’re behind the counter, which will simply provoke Cletus to lift you up and toss you back over, and probably bust a 12-gauge shell in your ass afterwards. That shotgun he carries holds six shots, after which he must pause to reload. He may pause to drink a bit of wine after successfully shooting you, while you’re on the ground. That’s a Photo Op if you’re willing to take the risk. You CAN try to swipe guns and wine from behind the counter if you’re fast, but know that Cletus will almost assuredly throw you back over as mentioned. But hey! Free shotguns and sniper rifles, my friend. Anyway! Real Mega Buster: Stand. Fire. Four shots will take Cletus out. Heavy Machine Gun: Similar to the Real Mega Buster minus a few wasted shots on invincibility frames. Submachine Gun: RUN OUT THE DOOR, kill any zombie in the area, hide on the left side of the store, take manual aim, and wait for Cletus to make himself visible. Fire away; he shouldn’t shoot back. Small Chainsaw: You can actually reach Cletus from the FRONT of the counter with this thing, although you won’t always hit, so prepare to take a few hits yourself. Swing away and hope for the best! Shotgun: Go with the typical technique of hiding behind the store displays so that Cletus’ chances of hitting you are lowered greatly, wait for him to reload (count the shells, buddy), and return fire. Then return position. Just about anything else: Grab a shotgun from behind the counter. See above. Anything else just doesn’t really work. Rollercoaster… of Death: With Cletus’ defeat and subsequent highly ironic death (Ouch. Sorry, Cletus), you now have access to three shotguns, two sniper rifles, and as many handguns as you may want (none). They will typically only respawn if you’ve already used them up, if I’m not mistaken. The shotguns ESPECIALLY make great weapons to hand over to survivors, so keep a few around if space permits. I’ll go over some alternate plans later should you choose to save defeating Cletus until later; just know you want to do it at some point. If you DID defeat Cletus, make sure you’ve got three shotguns. Save if possible after defeating Cletus. Still, it’s undoubtedly close to (if not past) 9:00 PM, so take the call from Otis regarding the Space Rider (“Out of Control”). If you miss any scoops, do not let it be this one, as the results are so useful it’s not even funny. Try to hit Wonderland Plaza before 10:00 PM so you can just take care of Greg’s request without any issue, but it’s not a gamebreaker if you don’t; it’ll just complicate things with Yuu and Shinji ever so slightly. Assuming you’re coming in from North Plaza, take the west set of stairs up to the second floor. There will be a few cop zombies near the bookstore that are there every time you load the area, and they’re clearly there so you aren’t totally without guns (they all carry and drop handguns), but really, you don’t need to worry about them for the purposes of this walkthrough. However, their instant fire capability MAY be to your advantage while fighting the next boss. Grabbing one may not hurt if you remember you won’t need it afterwards. Your target is the Space Rider, on the west side, where you’ll find a console to examine. If you pass by Sir Book-a-Lot on the way (if you’re coming from North Plaza, yes, you will), go ahead and grab the Criminal Biography book in the back now. Equip your best weapon beforehand (hint: that would be the Real Mega Buster if you have it). Examine the console. You’ll be interrupted in one of the cooler cutscenes Dead Rising has to offer. BOSS: Adam MacIntyre If you don’t know what to do, Adam is a bitch. Even if you DO know what to do, he can still be a bitch. First of all, stay the hell away from him. Meleeing Adam is never smart. In the rare event you don’t eat two chainsaws and take considerable damage TRYING, he’ll probably block your attack and instantly destroy your weapon in the process. Stick to your guns in the literal sense for this fight. I could go into an exhaustive list of what Adam does to attack, but there is no reason, because you do not want to get within short range. You want him to do one of two things he’ll do at long range (assuming he doesn’t try to close the gap). The first thing he’ll do may be to throw a few knives at you. As long as you move sideways, he won’t connect. The second thing, which you want him to do, is to start blowing up a balloon. SHOOT HIM to make him drop it, SHOOT THE BALLOON to make it blow up in his face, damage, and stun him (if you’re close, you’ll be stunned too), and SHOOT HIM SOME MORE to deal damage until he recovers from the stun (you can melee him while he’s stunned- you might also be an idiot). If he’s not stunned, expect him to block anything you do, be it firearm or melee. Seriously. That balloon is what you’re waiting for, and you want to use firearms exclusively. Expect the fight to take a little while; Adam doesn’t like to cooperate with those balloons. I do hear you can bring a Heavy Machine Gun into the fight, fire constantly, and hope the tick damage he suffers while blocking finishes him off, but I haven’t tried it personally. Worth a shot? You be the judge. Cue the Hallelujah Chorus: Once you see the awesome cutscene of Adam’s death, grab the Small Chainsaw off the ground, then examine the console like you were attempting to do before Adam’s interruption. You’ll stop the Space Rider, and through the magic of plot device, Greg will show up on the next carriage in. Since the area reloaded through the cutscene of Greg’s arrival, pick the new Small Chainsaw off the ground so you can have two. The Small Chainsaw is the best melee weapon in the game if you pick up the right books (huge damage, nice range, cleaves through MANY zombies with one swing, can be stored in your inventory, lasts two seconds shy of forever), so you’ll definitely want a few. Talk to Greg a bit, then follow him to his shortcut in the bathroom (if you get too far behind or ahead, he’ll signal you over- that’s a Photo Op- now get back to him). Take the shortcut. If you were fast, wait in Paradise Plaza’s bathroom (and take a moment to give Greg a shotgun) until you get the call (“Japanese Tourists”), which will happen at 10:00 PM. Take the call, then take the shortcut again. Beats “Learn Japanese Through Hentai”: Once in Wonderland Plaza again, head up to Sir Book-a-Lot and waypoint Greg either just inside or just outside. Doesn’t matter which. Yuu and Shinji will be inside, but they don’t speak English. Luckily, you can work around that. There’s a book, “Japanese Conversation”, right behind the counter. Grab it and talk to Yuu. It takes some convincing to get them on your side (after all, Frank’s Japanese sucks, and if you don’t believe me you can ask Shinji), but they’ll join without real incident. Oh, and when Frank says “Come, no come, decide quickly, please”, whip out your camera- when the two bow, that’s a Photo Op. Once both join, drop the Japanese Conversation book and replace it with the Criminal Biography book should you not already possess it; the former is now useless. If you fought Cletus, give both a shotgun. If not, give ‘em the best weapons you have that you can afford to hand over for the time being. Sure, a katana may be stereotypical, but damn if it isn’t effective. By the way, if you don’t find the fact that their voice clips are all in perfect English to be at least worthy of a chuckle, there’s something wrong with you. Return Loop: You have nothing else to do in Wonderland Plaza (the next scoop comes at 11:00 PM, and it won’t time out for quite a while), so you may as well just take Greg’s shortcut and make your way across Paradise Plaza, and head to the Security Room from there. Not much that needs to be said. You’ll be close to Bachman’s Bookporium during this time, so if you feel like grabbing the Engineering and/or Entertainment books for your Small Chainsaw, by all means, do so. SAFE: Greg Simpson SAFE: Yuu Tanaka SAFE: Shinji Kitano Total: 10 survivors saved Ooooh, Foreshadowing: The next scoop will come at 11:00 PM, as I said (“Shadow of the North Plaza”, and since you have PLENTY of time to pull it off, you can spare a few moments grabbing books for your Small Chainsaws if you haven’t already. Seriously, it’s worth it to have at least two books. 900 swings is nothing to sneeze at, my friend (let alone the 2,700 for all three books- despite that, you run through Wonderland Plaza so many times that all three is somewhat overkill). Go ahead and activate a cutscene with Brad while you’re in the Security Room, just go into the monitor room; you’ll activate it sooner or later anyway. You probably already got the call not long ago (if you didn’t, just go into the mall, Otis will let you know what you need to in short order), so just go right over to the North Plaza. Even though you have the shortcut open, continue the process of Paradise Plaza <-> North Plaza transfers across Leisure Park. It’s a little easier on you (if you stick to the walls outside, zombies typically don’t bother you), a bit faster, and you can deal with the Convicts when they reappear. For this particular case, if you want to restock on shotguns (or you still need to defeat Cletus), you’re closer to the gun shop and don’t have to keep an eye on David in the process. Once inside, seriously, just activate your watch’s targeting arrow to find David, it’s a lot easier than listening to any directions I could ever give you. You’ll find him soon enough. David takes some convincing to join, as his leg is injured and he doesn’t want to burden you. Note what he says about a crazy guy in the supermarket- you’ll actually be meeting that guy later on. Frank will offer to support him (it’ll work exactly as transporting Leah went, except instead of carrying him, he’ll hang off of your shoulder), and David will happily join afterwards. Feel free to steal his food if the trek’s left you hurting; he won’t be using it. Quite frankly, the trip back is a breeze no matter which route you decide to take David back to the Security Room using (you’re dealing with one survivor that you can directly lead around), so I’ll just assume that went without incident. I do warn you, though- if it’s past midnight, the Convicts will be back. If you’re worried about them, take the Wonderland Plaza shortcut while transporting David. SAFE: David Bailey Total: 11 survivors saved It’s probably past midnight. Consider this Day 2. Taking Ed’s Advice: You have some time to kill, so go back into the mall. Consider taking out the Convicts, as it will be a while before anything of interest happens- may as well do SOMETHING productive. In fact, you have nothing at all you NEED to do for the next six hours in-game- the next case file starts at 6:00 AM and you don’t have anyone to save between now and then. So do what Ed said- kill some time in the shopping mall! If you have any other achievements you’d like to work on or just feel like kicking a little ass, now’s a fine time to do it. May I suggest practicing some of Frank’s unarmed moves? Lots of fun to be had in the process, let me tell you. Case 2-1: Otis will call you at 6:00 AM. No lollygaggin’ now, as you won’t have but a few moments more to get back to the Security Room and talk to Jessie. Do so. Case 2-1 clear. The game will allow you to save, do so if you wish (hint, you probably do). Sure, you could have just hung out in the Security Room from about 5:30 AM or so until the case activated, but what the hell’s the fun in that? Go follow Brad to the Entrance Plaza. Squeal in giddy glee, as once you get into the warehouse, Otis will call to inform you that the shutter that once blocked all Paradise Plaza <-> Entrance Plaza travel is now open. May I suggest utilizing it? Case 2-2: As you may have expected, a boss fight is waiting for you in the Entrance Plaza. Hi Carlito! BOSS: Carlito Keyes, second encounter Barnaby will be hanging around way in the back; you may safely ignore him for the purposes of this fight. Word of advice, unless you’re packing a Real Mega Buster, which will defeat Carlito in two hits, long-range combat is NOT recommended. Sure, close range will see you getting bopped around by that huge sniper rifle he’s carrying, but that doesn’t take away TWO LIFE BLOCKS PER HIT, which is more than I can say for the bullets. Yes, crazy as it sounds, you need to melee Carlito to death if you aren’t packing an RMB. A Small Chainsaw is the best of your available options, but a katana won’t do too badly if need be (enter Ned’s Knickknackery should you lack one, and why not give the battle axes a try if they’re your speed instead?). Just remember to zigzag around a lot as you run up to Carlito’s position so he has a harder time shooting you. I suggest using the west side of the second floor to approach Carlito so you don’t have to run straight at him. This won’t be too tough a fight, though. Victory will see your automatic return to the Security Room and the completion of Case 2-2. Barnaby is now counted as safe, which I won’t factor in to your survivor count. Case 2-3: Brad’s sick as a result of the gunshot wound (Okay, it makes sense; it happens to people in real life. Still, how’s that explain all the gunshots Frank’s suffered just being shrugged off? Must’ve drank enough wine to dull the pain…), so you’re going to go to Seon’s Food & Stuff in the North Plaza to pick up a First Aid Kit. Take whatever route you wish; just know you’ll be getting a call from Otis at 7:00 AM (the “Lovers” scoop- we can take care of that a bit later), and you’ll want to consider picking some shotguns out of the Huntin’ Shack for later use- not against the upcoming fight, rather for a really, really tricky survivor run that’s coming all too close. Getting back to the point, I never directly instructed you to go to Seon’s earlier, but you may have either stopped in or passed by during that dead time earlier. Well, when you arrive this time around, note that the place is currently free of zombies. Even from the outside, it’s plain to see nothing’s inside. Strange strange. Go inside. Otis will call and tell you where to go- there’s a door between the seafood counter and the meat counter. Before you go there, feel free to heal up and stock up on items so you can heal up later as well. Attempt to open the door once fully prepared, and seriously, watch the cutscene, it is badass. Then you fight another boss. BOSS: Steven Chapman Okay, can ANY of you tell me you’d ever have expected to see a supermarket manager as a boss in ANY video game, EVER? This game kicks so much ass. By the way, isn’t it made nice and clear that this dude was the guy who injured David’s leg? I thought so. The MOMENT control returns to you after the cutscene, see the direction Steven’s coming at you from? Go the other way and hide off to the side of the aisle to lure him out. Firearms aren’t really good for this fight because Steven’s got a shotgun of his own- and he’s damn good with it, too- but melee works quite well PROVIDED Steven’s wide open from the back (it takes him a moment to turn his “Al Bundy Cart of Death” around to hit you back). Small Chainsaws are of course the way to go, and will defeat Steven in a matter of seconds (Three hits? Yes please). Anything else will probably work, but from a time and damage perspective, you can’t do much better. If you find yourself badly hurt somehow (you shouldn’t, if you’re doing this well so far, Steven is pretty easy), you’re in a supermarket. I think you are capable of finding health boosters in here as a being of abstract thought. Watch the cutscene if you’d like, Steven’s last speech is pretty cool. Quote for Ross- “He Shoots, He Scores”: Now that you have the Pharmacy Key, you can actually enter the Pharmacy and get the First Aid Kit you came here for. It’s easy to get to, so I won’t bother telling you how. Exit Seon’s. You’ve got bigger fish to fry for the moment. Go straight to Wonderland Plaza. Stick to the west side of the second floor. You’ll get a call at 8:00 AM for another scoop (“The Hatchet Man”), which you’re going to want to save for later- the next two survivors will be enough of a pain in the ass to get to the Security Room, and you’ve only got 15 real-life minutes to pull this off- it’s not enough time to do both scoops properly before the next case file activates. You’re looking for “Run Like The Wind”, which isn’t far from where you fought Adam earlier. Go inside and to the south side of the store- it’s pretty isolated, so zombies shouldn’t come after you. You’ll find Tonya and Ross. Prepare to spend a little time convincing both to go with you (also note how Tonya mentions Ross getting shot trying to protect her; we’ll run across his assailant later), and for shitsakes, do NOT give Ross a handgun when he requests one unless you want to lose two survivors in the blink of an eye (Ross… yeah, read the tagline. Tonya will refuse to follow you afterwards). Talk to Tonya instead to keep everything going all hunky-dory. They’ll both join, and Ross will act exactly as a male version of Leah, if he’s not actually SLOWER. Seriously, this guy is hurting, and can barely move without your help (although, amusingly, he can still throw a decent straight, and he climbs up to the air duct ledge as easily as any other). I suggest giving Tonya a katana if you have it- hell, since you don’t have any sort of POWERFUL backup this time around, I’d go so far as to give Tonya a Small Chainsaw; you have one right across the walkway waiting for you anyway. Head to Greg’s shortcut, and get a new Small Chainsaw along the way if you haven’t already. Be aware that at 9:00 AM, you’ll get a call from Otis about another survivor (“The Coward”). Be ready for it. Take Tonya and Ross over to the Security Room with the typical M.O, and while you’re at it, talk to Jessie to complete Case 2-3. You have about five real-life minutes to kill before the shit hits the fan, so I suggest treading lightly and being damn prepared. While it is POSSIBLE for you to rush over and yank Gordon out of Al Fresca Plaza, your chances of success are not high when it comes to pulling that off before the next case starts. Seriously. Just leave him be for now. In fact, I’d just stay put in either the Security Room or the warehouse (and if you’re looking for Transmissionary, do the latter). The bloody MOMENT 11:00 AM rolls around, take that call, then run like hell to the Security Room if you’re not already there (if you are, just… stay there) One more thing. Remember how you’ll need a 500-point EROTICA photo for Kent in an hour? Do you have one? If not, now’s the time to get it. Jessie will be sitting next to Brad. Get a good, close shot of her face, breasts, and crotch in the same shot (I had Brad vaguely in the shot, as well, although I’m not sure if that counts). That was good for 700 points. Try to get that to ensure no “mishaps” in case I’ve got the requirement wrong. Save it and keep it. You can always replace it with either a Zombie Jessie shot (I have one that’s 857 points) or a Cheryl shot (easily good for 1,000+ during her request, and if you’re looking for irony points, I have one that’s over 3,000 points as a result of slaughtering the boss version of Kent in a previous game and stealing his camera book) later on. SAFE: Tonya Waters SAFE: Ross Folk Total: 13 survivors saved Case 3-1: Get psyched. Case 3-1 itself is a gimme- just show up and watch the cutscene, and you’re done. It’s getting through all the scoops in time that’s going to prove much, much harder- in fact, I think calling this the trickiest survivor run of the lot is not being harsh. Oh, and the game gives you the opportunity to save. For the love of all creation, TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY. Teenagers Are Idiots: Step one in our little game… You’ll hear someone screaming for help just outside the warehouse door the moment Paradise Plaza loads. There’s a girl named Pamela who’s freaking SURROUNDED by zombies that you’ll have to clear away. In the absence of a Queen, Double Lariat away like your name’s Mike Haggar. Just do it QUICKLY, talk to her QUICKLY, and blast through the glass with whatever you’ve got after “Pamela Tompkins Joined!” The girl inside is her sister, Heather. Talk to her and she too will join you. Set a waypoint near the warehouse door- they’ll go around the moat to do so, but they’ll do as you ask. Any other means will lead to much frustration. Do NOT attempt to take them anywhere but straight back to the Security Room; Pamela is a damned moron and will assuredly frustrate you to no end with her antics if you lead the two anywhere else, but that’s not the real issue. THIS is the real issue- the next part of this run will see you meeting eight survivors total, which I’ve mentioned is the most you can have active in the mall simultaneously. You NEED all eight survivors and you NEED all eight slots ready. The Tompkins twins both count against that if you don’t grab them NOW. Pull this off before 11:50 AM for the best results. SAFE: Pamela Tompkins SAFE: Heather Tompkins Total: 15 survivors saved Piss off(,) Kent: You literally have 15 minutes to get everything from here to the next case file done. Try not to panic. Get to Colombian Roastmasters next. Your timer will be at critical levels for this scoop (Kent shows up at noon and won’t wait around for long), so reach Kent as quickly as you can (if he’s not in the café, just follow the sound of gunshots) and show him your EROTICA photo. If all goes well, Kent will sulk, ask for one more contest, and leave. Also at noon, you’ll get a call from Otis about some guy in a restaurant (“Restaurant Man”). We need to get to the North Plaza as FAST AS POSSIBLE, so we’ll be taking the Leisure Park route- don’t step too close to Jill’s Sandwiches (which is right next to the entrance to Leisure Park) because you do not want to fully activate Ronald just yet. You do, he dies, because we need to get him LAST out of the group you’ll be carting around, simply because his scoop has the most time remaining and I doubt you want to truck his fat ass into an upcoming boss fight. Guerilla Warfare: Head STRAIGHT to the North Plaza and head STRAIGHT to Crislip’s Home Saloon. Ouch! You walk into a boss! BOSS: Cliff Hudson Cutscene-wise, yikes. And you thought Steven was one messed-up hombre. Cliff is actually smart enough to know that standing in front of you leads to pisspoor results. In fact, he starts the fight RIGHT BEHIND YOU!! Unless you want to see a REALLY cool attack where he grabs you, lifts you up and impales you on his machete (which hurts less than you might guess), I suggest turning around and hitting him with a Small Chainsaw swipe like, immediately. He’ll dodge out of the way and probably slash you immediately after your attack connects, but you do what you have to. He’s probably going to then head for one of the small hatches all around the store, which he can jump into (Photo Op, work FAST) in order to warp to one of the OTHER small hatches. Try to zap him with either an RMB shot or two, or a shotgun blast while he’s running away. He will, almost without fail, begin hucking either smoke bombs (which stun you) or pipe bombs (which explode you) at you from the top of one of the shelves. If you try to climb up to his level, he’ll just drop down, so this is also a good time to seek him out and try to peg him with either RMB or shotgun fire from below. If he decides to run at you and cut you open, use the Small Chainsaw on him. The fight will switch back and forth between these steps until he drops. Hopefully it won’t take long; Cliff’s fighting style is very good at draining what little time you currently have to get your tasks in order. …huh, in the end I guess Cliff wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Sad little cutscene, really. Now steal his machete. Military Extraction: Head straight to the empty store right next to Crislip’s, open both doors to ensure nobody gets hung up, and talk to whomever you please. The result is the same; all three people (Josh, Barbara and Rich) will join you. None are that great at fighting (Rich probably being the best of the three), but nonetheless, I’d give Rich and Barbara shotguns, and Josh the machete you just grabbed. See why I had you pick up those shotguns before fighting Steven a while ago? Grab the Survival and/or Wrestling book if you want, but if you grab only one, it’s gotta be Survival- and if you don’t pick one up now, it’ll still be there later. For now, choose quickly, you’ve got a Gordon to save. Chasing a… I’m not sure I can say that on GameFAQs: Go around the outside rim of Leisure Park to ensure that your three new buddies don’t run into too much trouble. You’re going to the Food Court; two scoops take place on opposite ends, one of which isn’t announced. Gordon is first, of course, as he has an actual timer, and MY, it’s getting low. Go into Al Fresca Plaza, set a waypoint inside McHandy’s Hardware, unequip your weapon, and jump over the counter to talk to Gordon. Do so, but immediately hold down X to kick him once. Talk to him again. He’ll join you (you HAVE to attack him just a little to get him to listen to you). Jump back over and do your “Follow me!” waypoint, as Gordon will probably never make it over otherwise. Just yoink a lead pipe off the ground or something and hand it to him; he probably won’t do any actual attacking with it, but just in case, right? Now! Run like hell back to the Food Court (by the way- if, at this point, you don’t have any food or drink on you, get something, and I mean ANYTHING; you’ll need it in just a moment), and into Wonderland Plaza from there! Frank Bugs Bunny: Two screams you’ll hear indicate that all is not well in Paradise Plaza. Set a waypoint near, but not TOO near, the bunny statue you see two people hanging from. Both of the hanging people (Nick and Sally) are Photo Ops as long as they’re still hanging. Get to work clearing out the zombies; if you have any Queens around, I can hardly think of a better time to use them. After you clear out the zombies, throw something at both people to knock them down (one of the many Hunks of Meat that WILL be lying around are a fine choice) and talk to them to add them to your cause. Although you can’t do anything about Sally, equip Nick with a shotgun if you have one. If you don’t, get one from Barbara and give it to Nick. Run run run to Greg’s shortcut. By the way, why yes, as mentioned in the tips, those purple flyers DO bode ill for nearby times. Morir Es Vivir… Wait, Wrong Capcom Game: Meet Sean and the cultists. The cutscene results in you being pitted against about 20 or so cultists. Carve them down QUICKLY with a Small Chainsaw, and yes, you want to kill them ALL. Rescue Jennifer; don’t bother equipping her. Go in Jill’s Sandwiches after tearing down the barricade with your Small Chainsaw, feed Ronald’s fat ass with whatever food item you’ve got on you (and take a picture of his laugh for a Photo Op); don’t bother equipping him either, and tear ass for the warehouse. I suggest using the path that takes you past the bathrooms and the toy stores rather than the path with the bridge, which is quite choked with zombies at this point. Time for your next case file is getting REALLY tight, and in fact, fully expect to be taking Otis’ call about it at 3:00 PM. If you’re having trouble getting all your survivors into the air duct, just go in without the hung-up survivors and sort things out once you activate Case 4-1. That will give you a few hours’ leeway in the matter as opposed to a couple of minutes, speaking in Dead Rising time (real-life, you may literally only have seconds to go). I’m sure they can survive seven seconds without you. I’ll pretend you saved them all now. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody if you didn’t. SAFE: Josh Manning SAFE: Barbara Patterson SAFE: Rich Atkins SAFE: Gordon Stalworth SAFE: Sally Mills SAFE: Nick Evans SAFE: Jennifer Gorman SAFE: Ronald Shiner Total: 23 survivors saved And if you didn’t have Tour Guide before, you’ll have it when you pick up Ronald, assuming nobody died along the way, or you didn’t shoot Ronald in the face for being a jackass. Case 4-1: UGH, that was a pain in the ass. Wait to save until you’ve gotten any straggling survivors into the Security Room, for thank goodness, you currently have nothing else to do. Well, aside from the case file, of course. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!!: UGH, spoke too soon. I hear that this is because my little madcap survivor run earlier goofed with the eight-survivor limit the game has going, but Otis will immediately call and activate “Above the Law” the moment you set foot inside the warehouse. I suggest you rectify the situation. Let’s do that. Unusually Aggressive COPS: You have a little time before anything bad starts happening to the girls’ health, so it might not hurt you to stock up a bit. Go to the North Plaza if you want shotguns (one of the survivors you’ll soon run across could use one, and they aren’t too bad on one of the upcoming boss fights- and make sure not to go too far west if you aren’t ready to take on the case file’s boss), the Food Court if you want a Submachine Gun (which either the same guy or another survivor could use) and/or food in the form of booze bottles. If you don’t want to chance it, just hit the food court; you don’t need your survivors FULLY armed for this operation, but SOMETHING would be nice. If you neither need nor want any of these things, simply use Greg’s shortcut to jet straight over to Wonderland Plaza, where you’ll find the “Lovely Fashion House” on the second floor, east side of the area. Look around just a bit before you actually enter- if you note that Kelly, Lilly or Janet are missing, be sure to double-check to make sure you just didn’t notice, but if you do and it turns out they really ARE missing, it’s time to reload your game. You took too long getting here. Guess Capcom still has the same “progressive” view of the police it’s had since Edi.E. BOSS: Jo Slade Tonya mentioned Ross trying to protect her from someone. I imagine Jo is that someone. First, melee is the way to go here, simply because you don’t want to chance getting anybody that ISN’T Jo hurt, and the area provides way too much cover. And watch where you’re swinging your melee weapons, for the same reason. She’s really not that difficult, although she can absorb quite a bit of punishment (hey, for the Small Chainsaw, six swings is quite a bit), and that stun gun she carries will leave you on the floor long enough for her to either attack one of the four girls (most likely Kay), or perform a wince-worthy crotch-stompin’ combo on Frank’s male ass. She DOES have a handgun, but she uses it so rarely it’s not worth worrying about. Takin’ a Leak: Untie everyone, equip Kay with a Submachine Gun or not (if you want to save it for Wayne later or didn’t bother grabbing one), and head over to the bathroom where Greg’s shortcut is. It’s up to you as to whether or not to arm Kay otherwise if you don’t give her an SMG, as she’s a bit overaggressive and may start fights you don’t want her to. Now you wait for 5:00 PM to roll around. Otis will call three times (“The Woman Who Didn’t Make It”, “Antique Lover”, “Mark of the Sniper”). Ensure you get all three calls. This is the entire reason I wanted you to at the very least clear Case 2-1 way back when; there will be four survivors in the Entrance Plaza that you can reach quite easily with the shutter up, and ALSO because something annoying is going to happen that will require that bag of chips on the Entrance Room floor. Got all that? You CAN take your survivors back to the Security Room now, but I just bring them into the Entrance Plaza with me- really, they won’t be in any real danger for the following bits, and time will be getting tight to complete the next case file near the end of this- taking one trip to get all eight available survivors (including the four you have now) inside instead of two trips of four each is the better option, I feel. Deck The Halls: The MOMENT you go into the Entrance Plaza, there’ll be a cutscene. Poor Thomas. I still say Roger looks vaguely like Evil Stephen Colbert and Thomas like David Cross. BOSS: The Hall Family (Roger, Jack, Thomas) If you left anyone behind, be sure you go get them before you go up the stairs to the second floor, or else Wayne will go fully active while you’re trying to sort out girl troubles. Afterwards, waypoint everyone right in front of Wayne’s location (just listen for the sobbing). Fighting the Hall Family is a bit like battling Carlito like you did in Case 2-1, except there’s three of them, none have melee attacks, and their shots do MUCH less damage. Firearms aren’t really a good idea to use unless it’s a shotgun (the spread still stands a decent chance of hitting them even if you’re not aiming it) or a snap shot from your Real Mega Buster while VERY momentarily standing still- they’re faster to the draw than you are, the others are still firing away at you while you’re aiming at one of them, and well, yeah. Roger’s shots almost always connect, Jack is a bit less accurate, and Thomas rarely lands a hit even at his version of point-blank range. Use their total lack of melee attacks to your advantage. They’ll just run away from you if you get too close so they can take aim, so don’t let them. Stay on them with the best melee weapon you possess (hopefully it swings fast enough for them to not just dodge) and you’ll do okay. Should one of them hit you, there’s a chance that if two of them are close together, they’ll high-five each other. That’s a Photo Op if you recover from the hit fast enough. Wayne will not join you unless all three are down. Sorry Thomas. Steal their sniper rifles if you want them. Four Play: Talk to Wayne after the Hall family is defeated, and he’ll join you. Give him either a shotgun or an SMG. Next on the agenda is Floyd, as he’s nearest by, so get everyone to Ned’s Knickknackery and waypoint them outside. Floyd takes a LOT of talking to convince, but just stay at it. He’ll join your cause. Keep in mind that Floyd CAN be carried, but he IS capable of running short distances. If you don’t make him move too far too fast, he’ll do fine on his own. (In one game where I was screwing around, he actually wound up beating a zombie to death with his bare hands- go, old-timer! I make it a point to save this guy every game no matter what I’m doing. Floyd is just that awesome.) Snag a weapon or two, and head outside; your next stop is “Gramma’s Kids” on the first floor. Just waypoint your current flock of survivors back to front of the escalator on the second floor to save you some problems during this step. It’s likely that 7:00 PM has come, so take Otis’s call about ol’ fat-ass Ronald’s attempted mutiny. Any food or drink item that’s not a mixed juice will suffice, but why give him anything good? There’s a bag of chips in front of the escalator on the first floor, or another bag of chips you’ll find right in front of Jolie in “Gramma’s Kids” that will do the trick in just a few moments. Once inside the store, talk to Jolie until you can do so no longer. Go ahead and leave; Jolie will decide to follow you. Don’t deactivate your waypoint; just clear out any zombies that could theoretically grab Jolie. That being done, you can head to “Ladies’ Space”, which is on the second floor, east side. Zombies will not be getting in your way. Once you’re at “Ladies’ Space, wait for Jolie to catch up; Rachel cannot be approached through any other means and MUST spot Jolie. They’ll run to each other, hug (Photo Op!), and after a short conversation, Rachel will join you. Okay, that’s all four Entrance Plaza survivors, which brings you to eight. No choice for you but to head back to the Security Room. Rocks against Tanks: There’s a pretty high chance that either Jolie or Rachel will get stupid and attempt to attack the cultists that will undoubtedly be near the warehouse entrance. I’ve seen Janet do it a time or two as well. They’ll do this no matter what kind of waypoint you set. Most importantly, they won’t win. YOU need to kill off all the nearby cultists before something bad happens. Aside from that, nothing too eventful happens that will impede your progress to the Security Room, unless… Warnings Without Snippy Taglines: Do you have any sort of food item or drink item whatsoever? Do you have all your current survivors ON THE AIR DUCT LEDGE? If you answered “no” to either question, don’t go into the Security Room before both issues are rectified. Ronald will take seven survivors out of the game (himself, Bill, Burt, Aaron, Sophie, Pamela and Heather) if you leave without satisfying Ronald’s ungrateful ass, and talking with him takes so long that you’ll likely see everyone outside die if they didn’t come with you. If you answered “yes” to both questions, go into the Security Room, shut Ronald up, and now’s a good time to save if all went well. You have plenty of time to beat the next boss, but if things go wrong I doubt you feel like going through the whole process twice. SAFE: Kay Nelson SAFE: Lilly Deacon SAFE: Kelly Carpenter SAFE: Janet Star SAFE: Wayne Blackwell SAFE: Jolie Wu SAFE: Rachel Decker SAFE: Floyd Sanders Total: 31 survivors saved Case 4-2: You probably have around 15 real-life minutes to go to the North Plaza, outside Seon’s, and fight the next boss. While you MUST defeat this next boss before the timer runs out on the case file, it shouldn’t take more than a minute, so whenever you decide to prepare to restock and re-arm, be it before or after the fight (remember your list- shotguns, food, Small Chainsaws)- fine by me either way. If it’s “before”, just remember you’ve got a boss, if it’s “after”, mind the time frame of the NEXT case file. MY advice? Hit the Food Court for some wine, then go to Wonderland Plaza for a freshly-respawned Small Chainsaw- and go to the North Plaza from there for the boss… BOSS: Isabela Keyes Isabela’s not too hard to defeat; doing so without taking a hit or two is a bit harder, especially if you’re going the melee route (which actually IS fairly viable, as her motorcycle tends to get hung up on scenery a lot). Just be warned that said melee route will get you knocked around by her motorcycle a few times. Firearms work pretty well if you’d rather go that route- shotgun blasts will probably hit from the spread, the RMB, well, c’mon, it’s the RMB, and should she be charging right at you no matter what gun you’re using, a hit will make her swerve just to your side, ensuring she won’t hit back (unless you hit her as she was pretty much right on top of you). She DOES have a handgun she’ll use if she’s aware she’ll never hit you with her motorcycle, but the damage is negligible. After defeating Isabela, watch the cutscene. You can use her motorcycle yourself afterwards (bonus- it’ll respawn too!) from here until the end of the game. Do what you will; the next case file isn’t far away (12:00 AM), but PROBABLY not so far away you can’t spend a little time goofing off; nothing you can feasibly take care of right now will happen. Just know where and when you need to be. If you’re going for Transmissionary, may I suggest waiting for Otis’ call in Crislip’s? Heh heh, I’m sure you can find ways to kill time in THERE. Day 3 is upon you. The Midnight Hour Is Close At Hand: Two things will happen as midnight (y’know, 12:00 AM) rolls around. One: Kindell will show up in the North Plaza. If you were waiting for Otis’s call anywhere else, he’ll be here the next time you load the North Plaza (including from Seon’s or Crislip’s). If you haven’t activated Case 5-1 yet, do that before you talk to Kindell; he’ll be fine. In fact, he’s basically right in front of the door, so you won’t need to really look for him. Two: Otis will call you about the cultists (“A Strange Group”). We’ll deal with them after we’ve taken care of Case 5-2. Case 5-1: Once you reach the meeting point at the right time, a zombie will attack Isabela. Do whatever’s necessary to knock the zombie off of Isabela before Isabela is killed. Don’t worry, her health will be fully restored after the attack and you’ll be allowed to save afterwards (this also clears Case 5-1). Case 5-2: Isabela must be carried in a manner that’s basically like Leah from earlier; she’s not half-immobile like Ross was, but she’s still very slow if she’s not being carried. Of course, should she die, although she shouldn’t (the Convicts actually will have respawned by now, and the cultists are still around- but both are suppressed for the time being, so you don’t have to worry about either group), you fail the case. Kindell should still be right outside, so ignore Carlito’s announcement and get him to join you while Carlito yammers on. Watch out; the spread of the shotgun he carries is likely to hit you a few times, which causes you to drop Isabela, so be ready for it. Aside from that, Kindell can really take care of himself without too many problems. You have plenty of time to make this next trip, but there’s no sense being a lazy goof-off now- just head across Leisure Park to get to Paradise Plaza, and as always, sticking close to the building is the way to go. Once in Paradise plaza, note that the place is pretty packed with zombies near the bridge area, so take the path between the stairs and the bridge to ensure that Kindell doesn’t get into too much trouble. You don’t need to actually get Kindell up on the Security Room ledge should you have completed all Case Files to this point (of course, he needs to be on the rooftop). You, Isabela and Kindell will all go in automatically once near the ledge. Watch the cutscene. Isabela is technically safe from now until the end and will count in your final survivor totals, but we’ll worry about that later on. SAFE: Kindell Johnson Total: 32 survivors saved Frank West: Judge, Jury, Executioner: You really don’t have enough time to hit the theater to take care of Sean and save the five people there. They’ll have to wait for a little bit. Remember, now that you’ve taken care of Isabela, the cultists will now be in the mall again, and the Convicts will also be back. One survivor not too long from now is best taken across Leisure Park, so you’ve got a little while- I suggest taking out the Convicts. This time around, they won’t come back once defeated, so play around with their HMG and Humvee if you think you’ll miss them later. Otis will call at 2:00 AM with a request from Floyd (“Floyd the Sommelier”); he’d like some wine to help calm everyone’s nerves with. Floyd’s in no rush to get it, though, so take your time. Just go see Floyd in the Security Room when you have the time and some wine. Remember- be back to the Security Room by 3:00 AM (or wait in the warehouse a bit until Otis gives you the call about it, hey, it’s your prerogative). Case 6-1: Show up to the Security Room. Case 6-1 completed. Oh no, Brad shot Barnaby in the face! Hey, you do what you have to. Like saving. Feel like you have to? Do it now. Abusing The Elderly: You’ve got a while before the next case file, and if you don’t intend on getting Ending A, at this point, you no longer have to give a shit. However, for everyone else, I’ll pretend you do. It really won’t make a difference. Time to put an end to the True Eye cult, so head on over to Colby’s Movieland, and look for theater 4. It’s actually going to be behind about 20 or so cultists and there’s no way around them, so kill them all with whatever you deem fit. I suggest picking them off with the Real Mega Buster, but the Small Chainsaw works just as well, really. Go into Theater 4 after that’s taken care of. BOSS: Sean Keanan For being 62 years old, Sean is surprisingly spry (so much for firearms- of course, I wouldn’t use them anyway, what with four other people in the area and in plain sight, but…), and quite adept with that sword of his. A bit annoying is the fact that he doesn’t realize you’re sending sharp, bladed weapons through his stomach, and will often attack you even while he’s getting hit- and if he hits you once, he’s bloody relentless and will keep hitting you- just try to get away before resuming your attack. Four slashes from a Small Chainsaw will do the trick if you have one. I always make a point to watch the utterly badass death scene Sean gets. Now steal his sword. Rescue: The Theater Mission Hold off on untying anybody just yet; the last cultists you’ll fight are about to swarm in and you need to take care of them first. Usual tactics apply. Once everyone’s down, close the doors so zombies don’t interrupt your rescue of the theater survivors. Don’t forget to grab Cheryl behind the door. You may not have many weapons to go around- I suggest giving Ray (the most combat-ready of the bunch) a shotgun if you have one, and Nathan a shotgun if you have a second. So you know, at this point, three survivors have taken Cletus’ place in the Huntin’ Shack, and until they join your cause, you can’t just waltz in and grab more shotguns- you may want to consider taking back the shotguns you pass out once you’re at the elevator. Digression aside, just take your survivors back to the Security Room- you don’t have far to go. Just don’t take the bridge path across Paradise Plaza. SAFE: Ray Mathison SAFE: Nathan Crabbe SAFE: Michelle Feltz SAFE: Beth Shrake SAFE: Cheryl Jones Total: 37 survivors saved I Swear To Drunk, Officer, I’m Not God: Thanks to the eight-survivor limit (the five theater survivors plus the three gunshop survivors that showed up while nobody was looking), you didn’t have to deal with this a while ago, but Otis will call you the moment you step into the warehouse (“Long-Haired Punk”). Paul can actually wait just a little while, although you won’t want to be TOO leisurely about things. We want to pick up somebody else first and lend him a hand… or a shoulder, whichever works better for this guy. Go to the Food Court, across Leisure Park. We don’t want to go into Wonderland Plaza right now, and you’ll see why in a little while. Gil is hiding behind the counter of Chris’ Fine Foods and getting bombed on wine (well… guess you can’t blame him). Talk to him until you no longer can (after he says “Hope you can hold your liquor, though, ‘cause I’m soaking in it!”, he’ll pump his fist Kent- style for a Photo Op), then head out using the entrance that doesn’t lead to the doors to Leisure Park- Gil will sober up juuuuust enough to realize you may be serious about helping him, and he’ll call you back over. Talk to him just a little more, and he’ll join you after one last chug- he’s too drunk to walk straight, so you’ll have to help him like you did David much earlier. Take him to the Security Room immediately; he’s useless for moving and will cause problems if you try to cart him around. Use Leisure Park. I’m warning you. It’s not hard. I suggest you save after you leave Gil to sleep and/or puke on the floor of the Security Room. Much like our little soiree before Case 4-1, this next section can be a little tricky. SAFE: Gil Jimenez Total: 38 survivors saved Huntin’ and Killin’ With Jonathan & Brett, Special Guest Alyssa: Go to North Plaza and head for the Huntin’ Shack. Clear out all the zombies on your way in, trust me, this is gonna be annoying enough without them interrupting. Open BOTH doors to the Huntin’ Shack before you walk in. The three people inside (Brett, Jonathan, Alyssa) will think you’re a zombie and open fire. Get the hell out of the store (the Flying Dodge is your best bet, and having opened both doors, you have a much wider area to aim for) until they cease firing. Stick around; Jonathan will come out to ask if you’re all right. Talk to him. Do not attack him, and do not attempt to go past him, or the results are going to suck for you. I also hope to shit you have that picture of the air duct TAKEN THIS GAME I told you to get, or else you’ll have to go and get one. With that in your possession, the talk is long, but uneventful, and will lead to the three all joining you. Go ahead and delete your picture of the air duct afterwards. It’s useless to you now. Brett is a BEAST with that machine gun he carries (it’s the only one you’ll see until later, and only if you’re going for Ending A at that), Jonathan is just as good with his shotgun, and Alyssa… is a bit lower on the totem pole with her handgun. Better than nothing. With these three in tow, you can easily carve a path westward through North Plaza. It has to be west; we’re about to go say hi to five others, all of which are there. Otis calls about one of those people at 8:00 AM (“A Sick Man”). Don’t miss it. It’s Da Bomb, Yo: Once in Wonderland Plaza, “Casual Gals”, where Paul is, is on the west side, first floor. Take whatever route you wish. You’ll see an old woman (Susan), but it’s best to wait to grab her and Leroy (from Otis’ call) in a moment. Paul awaits. Waypoint your survivors just outside before you go in. BOSS: Paul Carson Best course of action: Jack Paul up with five Small Chainsaw slashes before he leaves the store. Ahhh, shit. Did he run out the door? Hopefully your friends from the gun shop will stun him with gunfire long enough for you to finish the job. Did he get past them TOO? Ugh. Just chase after him the best you can after waypointing your survivors so they don’t try to follow you. If you see him running and dropping pipe bombs, either put some distance between you and Paul (no, don’t break off the chase entirely!), or stay as close to him as you can- I’m pretty sure he drops five before he does something else. He’ll either throw Molotov cocktails at you or send RC car bombs at you if you get MUCH farther away than you should ever be. That’s One Badass STD: Waypoint your survivors away from Paul as soon as the cutscene concludes; you don’t want them getting in the way for this- you need to use the fire extinguisher just behind Frank to put out the fire in Paul’s loins. Literally. You can also be an asshole and take advantage of the Photo Op Paul’s burning crotch provides you with first. You can’t manually aim the extinguisher, so you’ll need to instead stand a few feet behind Paul, and be sure you’re a little off to Paul’s side. Point the extinguisher in Paul’s directon and hold down X. If you did it right, you’ll see Frank wave the nozzle up and down slowly while firing. The fire should be out once Paul’s health is down to about half (if you have a healing item and you’re not in dire need of it, give it to him once he joins). If you screw up, start over from your last save and do it right this time. Talk to him once the threat is over, and Paul will get up and join you. Give him one of the shotguns I told you to keep; he’s good with it. Don’t forget to grab Debbie and Mindy from the room Paul had them hostage in; Debbie will accept and use melee weapons, Mindy is useless. They shouldn’t have a scratch on them if it’s before 9:00 AM. No, I don’t know when they start taking damage. That Durn Redneck Dun’ Look Sick Ta Me: Now’s the time to get Leroy; Susan is not in any present danger. Waypoint your survivors in front of where Leroy is to ensure a lack of uncalled-for hardship. Despite the fact that he apparently has a neck injury (check your notebook and the back of Leroy’s neck) and isn’t feeling too well (listen to his personal “woohoo, I’m safe in the Security Room” quote sometime), he won’t have any problems getting around, and is also worth giving one of your shotguns to (and it awesomely complements the overalls and beard, might I say). Helpin’ Old Ladies Across The Mall: Go pick up Susan now. If you have a Queen, toss it around Susan’s feet to kill all the nearby zombies. If not, just do it the old-fashioned way. Talk to her and she’ll join your group. Like Floyd, she can run a short distance before getting tired, but you’ll hold Susan’s hand instead (which is unfortunately easy to break grip on), rather than carry her around. Time’s getting short, so head over to Greg’s shortcut, as you need to get back to the Security Room. If everyone’s made it this far, consider saving in case things go awry now- if it’s 10:00 AM or earlier, you’ve got plenty of time to at least get your survivors to the rooftop; it’s safe to save in that case (you’ll have five minutes in real time to do the job). By now, you know what I’m gonna say regarding the route, so I’ll shut up. Don’t take the bridge path. Insert Lame Music Reference: Carlito will make an announcement at 10:20 AM; if you’re in the warehouse by then, you have nothing to worry about. He’ll make another at 10:56 AM, and Otis will call immediately afterwards should you be somewhere you can take one of his calls. If you want any of your weapons back and it’s not 11:00 AM yet, (assuming you didn’t just haul off and take your survivors right to the Security Room), now’s the time to make the switches. If you want Brett’s Machinegun, the same applies. I should tell you now that from this point forward, you don’t really need any big-ticket items to give to future survivors (of which you have a grand total of TWO to go) as weapons, so you no longer need to worry about that. Go to the Security Room; if you can’t be assed to get all eight survivors in before you take the next case, just do what you did earlier against the ticking clock; go in, take the case, go out, round up the others, go in. I’ll pretend you took care of it all now. SAFE: Brett Styles SAFE: Jonathan Picardsen SAFE: Alyssa Laurent SAFE: Paul Carson SAFE: Mindy Baker SAFE: Debbie Willett SAFE: Leroy McKenna SAFE: Susan Walsh Total: 46 survivors saved Case 7-1: Ohhh, this does not look good. Word of advice- you’re NOT going to immediately go take care of the bombs, so when the game asks you to save, do so. ONLY save at places I tell you to for a while, as if you screw up 7-2, the game ends with the worst ending, and oh- your survivor count? Zero. Thought you’d like to know that. Just a Tad, Kent: You NEED to be in Paradise Plaza either BY NOON, or very close to it, as we need to see what’s up with Kent. If you’re there before noon, great, stay in front of Colombian Roastmasters and wait until you hear Kent. If you’re quite a bit early, feel free to stock up on orange juice, or hell, make a Nectar or two if you want. If you’re in Paradise Plaza (or move into it from somewhere else) at any point between noon and 1:00 PM, the situation with Kent will automatically load. Is it before 12:15 PM (by my guess)? Good. Is it between 12:16 PM and 1:00 PM? Bad. You lost Tad and all your goodies. Reload. If you’re on time and right where you’re supposed to be, I find it funny how Kent apparently procures Tad from a hidden vest pocket, or perhaps his ass. BOSS: Kent Swanson And to think he was such a nice guy until now. Never healthy to get too caught up in your work, kiddo. Nice boss music though. If things went right, Kent is a breeze. He will fall to two swipes of your almighty Small Chainsaw. Firearms are stupid to use, as you may hit Tad, and Kent moves like lightning- he’ll dodge your shots with ease. If things went WRONG, you should be reloading, but if you want to take him out for fun and reload later on, heh… Good luck. Kent’s speed becomes all the more apparent when every weapon around you is slow as molasses. What’s worse, you can’t move outside of a certain distance from the fountain Kent’s got you tied to, and Kent does much more damage than you think. Anything involving kicking (standing or jumping, and by the way, the jumping kick is still a Photo Op) knocks two blocks off of your life gauge. Not being able to heal worth shit (the two bags of chips won’t really cut it) will only make things worse. Oh, and mind you- Kent’s got a gun, too. You probably neither noticed nor cared when you were killing him as soon as the stage loaded with your fancy schmancy Small Chainsaw. If you saved Kindell earlier, and you SHOULD have, Otis will call as he planned to at noon. Kindell will be attempting to mutiny. Luckily, this will not be such a pain in the ass to deal with as Ronald’s mutiny. It’ll probably happen during the fight; just take Kent out first. It’ll Only Take a Second: You may steal Kent’s Camera 2 book if you want to have some fun scoring some mega points on your photos later, otherwise, untie and talk to Tad. If you take him straight back to the Security Room (I don’t recommend that, although you want to get him into the warehouse for a moment), he won’t need any weapons. Otherwise, give him a shotgun if you have one. He shouldn’t need it, especially as the zombies have been cleared out of a large part of Paradise Plaza due to the Kent battle, but you never know. If Tad got hit a time or two during the fight with Kent, you can just give him orange juice from THE CAFÉ YOU ARE RIGHT FREAKING NEXT TO in order to heal with. If Tad somehow dies between here and the warehouse through unintentional means, you are a goddamned moron and should jump into traffic. Otis will undoubtedly call about a girl in a CD shop (“A Woman In Despair”) once you get into the warehouse, so you may as well go get her and save a trip. You’ve beaten Case 6-1, I’m sure, so you’ve done the prep work. Just go to “Players”; it’s not far from here. Remember where you found the Tompkins twins? It’s the store right next to that. Waypoint Tad just outside the store to keep him safe. Simone’s easy to convince to come with you; just keep talking to her. If you haven’t beaten Case 6-1, don’t even bother following the scoop, as nothing you can say or do will convince Simone to come with you. She doesn’t need any equipment for the trip. You may now take Tad and Simone to the Security Room, and, oh… DON’T FORGET TO TALK TO KINDELL ONCE YOU’RE INSIDE. Leave without doing so whilst transporting your final survivors, and you’ll REALLY be mad, because you’ll lose ELEVEN survivors, Kindell amongst them. It’s probably around 1:30 PM right now. That’s PLENTY of time to complete Case 7-2. Save now. SAFE: Simone Ravendark SAFE: Tad Hawthorne Total: 48 survivors saved, and congratulations! You’ve saved everyone in the mall that you can save! Case 7-2: Get your ass down to the Maintenance Tunnel. You’ve got two options- go in through Leisure Park, although Carlito’s barricade will force you to use a motorcycle to get in. Your other option involves the Maintenance Tunnel Key you picked up MUCH earlier. There’s a door you can use it on just north of the bathroom in Paradise Plaza. If you access the Tunnel from there, you can start in an actual car (it’s a white four-door), which will last a lot longer than the motorcycle. If you’ve been down here before, you’ll probably remember that for Case 7-2’s duration, you won’t find any zombies pushing propane tanks, unlike, oh, every other time you’ll ever come down here. So don’t worry too much about zombies destroying your car. Really, if your time bar is still in the yellow, you shouldn’t have any problems finding and disposing of the five bombs. Just use your map and use your watch’s guide arrow; it’ll work better than my bad directions. Do all that and Case 7-2 will be complete without incident. If you don’t think your car will survive the trek, there’s a truck in the northwest corner of the Maintenance Tunnel you can try to reach. If you came in on the motorcycle, the white four-door I mention will still be at the Paradise Plaza access point, as well. There will be one small problem down here that doesn’t involve the wall-to- wall zombies, one that you WILL have to worry about destroying your car. Hell, destroying YOU, even. BOSS: Carlito Keyes, final encounter You don’t have to actually defeat Carlito to beat Case 7-2, but the option is there, it gets you a 50,000 PP bonus, and it DOES make things slightly easier on you. Know that I’ve never been FORCED to attack Carlito in order to get through the case, though. Before ANYTHING else, I hope it’s obvious that you don’t want to try to fight Carlito in crowded areas. Carlito will either try to run you down with his huge-ass truck, or throw pipe bombs out the window at you. Neither feels very good if you’re on foot (which you HAVE to be to grab the bombs out of the trucks), but all he can do is hit you with his truck if you’re still in a vehicle, which still ain’t that good for your cause- if your vehicle is WAY too trashed, you’ll have to get out and move on foot, which is neither good for your health (due to the limitless zombies) nor your time limit (the case is still going, man!). You can either shove your Small Chainsaw through the door at him, or shoot him for similar effects. He’ll probably drive off after you deal a fair amount of damage (one Small Chainsaw whack), but until his health is depleted (two successful Small Chainsaw whacks), don’t get cocky or complacent- he’ll eventually return. Should you defeat him, not only does he stop coming after you, and not only does the stage reset you back near the Paradise Plaza access point (all cars will be reset to their previous positions, which means you’ll have to beat feet to the car nearby- at least the game removed the zombies from that particular stretch for the time being!), the cutscene you’ll see after beating Case 7-2 will make a bit more sense. Don’t worry- any bombs you’ve collected will stay with you. Quick Reminder: Muck Case 7-2 up by not completing it before 5:00 PM, and the game ends. The mall will be blown to smithereens, all your survivors will be killed horribly, and you’ll get ending F. That sucks. Don’t let it happen. See the cutscene after you complete Case 7-2. Poor Brad. You’ve got time- go back into the Maintenance Tunnel and move to the area where you found the Maintenance Tunnel Key. There’s a cool cutscene you’ll otherwise miss. Again, poor Brad. You can get Snuff Shot B by taking a picture of what you see here, too. Do what you want afterward, and leave. You have until 5:00 PM to get back to the Security Room. If you did well on Case 7-2, feel free to do whatever you want until then. Case 8-1: Just show up to the Security Room. I warn you now, Case 8 is a bit on the tricky side; you only have five D.R. hours to beat it (25 minutes to YOU), and you have to walk all the way across the mall three times (admittedly, one of these three trips can be shortened significantly). Let’s get to it. Case 8-2: Leg one of the shuttle run. Talk to Isabela on the air duct ledge; this trip will be similar to the one you took with Brad for Case 1-3- only this time around, you’ll be walking to North Plaza across Leisure Park, rather than through Al Fresca Plaza. Follow her; she’ll take the elevator to get into the warehouse, if you’re not used to that. So you know, Isabela has a handgun, and it’s best not to let her die. And stay close! At 5:00 PM (really, the moment you enter the warehouse), Otis will call and mention that Paul (if you saved him- I assume you did) wants to talk to you in the Security Room- he wants to give you something. He’ll have to wait until we’ve taken care of this part of the case, though. Paul’s not in a hurry, anyway. You’ll end your trip a short distance from the Huntin’ Shack, in Carlito’s Hideout; you can figure out the rest of the case from here. Know its location well, for this won’t be our last visit by any means. Case 8-3: There’s a save point right next to you on a rug. In fact, you’re standing right on it. Use it if you’d like, for there’s not much you can do to speed up Case 8-2, and there’s no sense having to do it again in case things go south. Leg two of the shuttle run- all you have to do is go talk to Jessie in the Security Room. Go ahead and talk to Paul- he will now give you free, infinite Molotov cocktails, as many as you can carry (one at a time). All you have to do is talk to Paul any time you want another. Case 8-4: If 7:00 PM hasn’t already rolled around, Otis will call you about Simone- she wants a handgun. Fulfill (preferably through one of the cop zombies in the moat next to the Leisure Park door in Paradise Plaza) or not, your choice- you have about 15 minutes to go after and defeat Larry, which is really plenty of time. Since you’ll be getting another request fairly soon, though, I’d wait just a little before you go do that (although nothing is stopping you from at least grabbing the handgun). Let’s just go kick Larry’s ass. Third leg of the shuttle run, commence. Although you can go across Leisure Park to get to the Maintenance Tunnel, you’re on a bigger time crunch than you were during Case 7-2 (funnily enough)- use your Maintenance Tunnel Key on the access point near Paradise Plaza’s bathroom, so you can just drive to the Meat Processing Area- it’s MUCH faster for you. Once inside, hm, looks like we’d better hurry this one up. BOSS: Larry Chiang I GUESS you’re on a time limit- Carlito WILL be ground up in the meat processor and killed horribly if you take too long during this fight, but honestly? You really have to make an honest effort to run that clock out. Although I forgot to check the exact count on things, it takes several minutes for Carlito to be turned into little bloody bits. Time won’t be a factor. Larry doesn’t initially see you as an enemy, and will simply stand where he is until you attack him. Open up with the best weapon you’ve got. Make it count; Larry can be pretty badass if you’re not careful. From long range, he’ll either throw little cleavers at you or throw a giant hunk o’ beef at you- the latter deals THREE BLOCKS OF DAMAGE and has a nasty tendency to ricochet around. Short- range isn’t much safer. Taking an overhead chop by his big and very very sharp cleaver ALSO deals three blocks of damage, and a quick side-chop still knocks TWO off. He will also shoulder-tackle you, and he’s supposedly got a REALLY nasty move where he’ll hang you on a meathook and slash the hell out of you, but I’ve never seen it. I HAVE seen him go get a drink out of one of the sinks to restore a bit of his health, though. If you make sure this fight ends FAST, you won’t need to worry about much of this. You know the drill by now. He’s pretty damn resilient, so exercise caution (six RMB shots is quite a bit for THAT piece o’ work, y’know). Beat Larry before Carlito is killed, and you’ll clear Case 8-4. If you need them, grab the three cartons of milk as you fight. Now steal his giant freaking cleaver. Last Requests: Sucks bein’ Carlito. At 8:00 PM, Otis will give you a call, it’s a request from Cheryl. Time to take care of both requests; trust me, if you wait much longer, you won’t have the chance to fulfill them. Not that it’s NECESSARY you do so, but at the same time, I see nothing stopping you from doing so. Take the truck just outside of the Meat Processing Area and drive on over to Paradise Plaza- I don’t care if you do it above or below ground. Go clear off both requests (should it somehow be before 8:00 PM, just wait for Otis’ call in the warehouse); give Simone a gun, and do Cheryl’s impromptu photo shoot, which as you know is really only there to give you something to work with for Kent’s second request in future games. Do what you will with any of the pictures you take (I find a sick joy in getting a shot over 3,000 PP with Kent’s Camera 2 book in tow just to REALLY show the little bastard up). This will be the last time you see your survivors. Case Closed: Go back to Carlito’s Hideout before 10:00 PM comes; do with the time you may have to kill as you please. Isabela will call you if you’re not already inside. Go in and talk to her. “The Facts” are in; you’ve completed all the Case Files. There is nothing more for you to do here. Start your trip to the Security Room. There is also no way in the blue hell you can possibly make it back before the shit hits the fan. If you want to see a few cutscenes more and personally witness the ultimate fate of Jessica McCarney (and possibly get an achievement), head to the Security Room anyway. I should mention that if you’ve got Kent’s Camera 2 book, you can easily get the points for that EROTICA photo he wants on subsequent playthroughs right now, assuming you didn’t bother with Cheryl. I’m just sayin’. There’s also a note from Otis on the table under the monitors. It’s left ambiguous as to who got out with whom, but all the people you have saved, except for Isabela, are now gone from the mall. For now, Frank is alone. If it’s any consolation, know that the “cleanup” was mentioned to start at midnight. It is not midnight. Take that knowledge as you will. From here, you should probably head on back to where Isabela is. You’ll need to talk with her twice- once after midnight, and once after 10:00 AM, and cutscenes will herald both times’ appearances. You’re wanting to get Ending A if you’ve come this far, and doing what I just told you is your only way to do it. Day 4 is upon you. The shit is now going to hit the fan. Midnight Strike: The cleanup begins. The door Otis welded shut near the beginning of the game, which connected the Security Room to the Entrance Plaza- it is now open once more. You will now encounter Special Forces soldiers nearly everywhere, and they are not to be taken lightly. The next ten hours in Dead Rising- that’s 50 minutes real-time- may be spent however you wish. If you don’t want to deal with the Special Forces, you don’t have to- just stay put in Carlito’s hideout, jiggle the control stick every few minutes so the game doesn’t self-pause, and wait until they leave. I ask you. What. The Hell. Is the fun. In THAT?! Let’s go out and kick some ass, buddy! However, know that from now until 10:00 PM, it is technically impossible to score a “Game Over”. Instead, should your health deplete fully by any means, you will be “captured”. You’ll come to (with full health) inside a military helicopter, where you’ll have to escape or face Ending D, which sucks. Remember, if you’re ever captured, you’ve blown your chance at scoring “Unbreakable” should you be trying to get it during this playthrough. Right, escaping the helicopter. Escape by wiggling the Left Control Stick around, but only do it while the patrolling Special Forces aren’t looking your way, otherwise they’ll slap the piss out of you and knock you out for about three hours. Once you fill the bar at the bottom of the screen, you escape and resume the game near the outdoor hallway to the Maintenance Tunnel, in Leisure Park. You will be stripped down to Frank’s underwear and will possess no items. This sucks. Try not to get captured unless you either want to see Ending D (bad idea for your Saint run) or are REALLY aiming to run down the clock. I repeat: the Special Forces are NOT to be trifled with. Here’s what you need to know. ENEMY: Special Forces Members They almost always attack in pairs, and all of them carry Machineguns, which they drop upon their demise. Sadly, that last part sounds a lot more special than it actually is. See, Special Forces members weather gunshots WAY too well, and in terms of firearms, anything less than an RMB shot just doesn’t faze them enough to be worth using, given they’ll still be attempting to riddle your photojournalist ass with bullets. Their shots cause a lot of damage (it’s likely that attempting to engage them will see you taking at least one block of damage) AND juggle you around a bit, and they have a LOT of health. They do, however, have a few weaknesses. If you see them coming (difficult, as they wear all-black and don’t stand out in a dark corridor) and still have an RMB handy, you can beat them to the punch- they have a pretty specific range they like to fire from, and you aren’t bound by such silly rules of engagement. Aim however you please, fire, listen to that oh-so-satisfying scream. However, where they REALLY falter is in melee combat, and if you DON’T have an RMB available, listen up. You’ve got two choices, and both work GREAT. One- weapons. As always, the Small Chainsaw is your best bet and will cut these guys down in ONE HIT most of the time, if not ALL the time. Failing that (I REALLY hope you aren’t), katanas, Larry’s cleaver or Cliff’s machete (should you somehow still possess either), and overall sharp things tend to do the trick in only a few hits. Two- Frank’s special moves. Assuming you ignored that wall of text that was my special move listing WAY up above- Lift Up (assuming you can throw the guy before getting gutshot by a buddy of his), Face Crusher (can’t do much better from behind), and Disembowel (your move of choice from the front) I KNOW kill them in one hit, the Suplex doesn’t work half-bad itself, and a Hammer Throw can set soldiers up for your other moves. Seriously, should you find yourself half- naked and with no weapons, don’t lose hope- Frank’s still got a hell of a fighting chance, but if nothing else, get to a food source until you rearm the poor guy- you may want the insurance. Defeating a Special Forces member nets you an impressive 5,000 PP, and kicking ten of their asses earns you the Legendary Soldier achievement. Watch out- they respawn every time an area loads, so watch your back every time you load a new area. Black Hawk Up: While we’re at it, WATCH OUT if you’re in Leisure Park. There’s a Special Forces helicopter patrolling the area, and it can REALLY ruin your day. It will charge at and over you while spraying machine gun fire (good luck dodging), and it’ll fire missiles that shred three blocks out of your health gauge and knock you halfway to kingdom come. If you MUST attempt to engage this thing (and you can only be crazy enough to do that if you want the Hella Copter achievement), bring at least four Machineguns outside, and PLEASE bring some health items. You will need them. There will be an orange-roofed picnic spot on the east side of Paradise Plaza (it’s almost immediately to the west of Jill’s Sandwiches on the map)- get on top of it either through fancy jumping or through the Zombie Ride. Aim for the tail rotor and hope to hell you hit at SOME point; this thing is FAST and the target is small. Six-Star Shopping: Since you need to unlock Ending A, which will see you going straight to Overtime Mode, you must prepare before noon comes. You can actually do so with… don’t wanna say too early. Just trust me, you’ll have it easier if you wait until you’ve talked to Isabela at 10:00 AM. But YOU’RE not a sissy! Sure, there’s Special Forces swarming the mall like angry bees, but you’re badass. Plus you’ve got to kill 50 minutes somehow, and may as well be productive in the process. You want to make sure you have the following things in your possession before you go into Overtime Mode. Nothing will stop you from getting any of this once you’re actually IN Overtime Mode, but preparation is always nice. -Small Chainsaws available. If you have two fresh chainsaws actually in your possession, good. -All three Small Chainsaw books, the locations of which are in the tips. This probably means grabbing the Entertainment book now if you’re anything like me and usually go double-booked rather than triple-booked. (You can consider only taking one Small Chainsaw in if you’re using all three books; it’s hard to use even ONE up at that point, let alone two, but the decision is yours) -You’ll be taking a lot of damage, so the Survival book is great to have around (failing that, the Health books- stacking them is not a necessity), but not vital- although, know you’ll need to make MANY more stops for food if you don’t have SOMETHING. -A fully-loaded RMB if you have them available. Just drop your current RMB outside the Security Room, then go inside for a full RMB. -If you DON’T have access to the RMB, you’ll want a shotgun or two around (you should only need one); these can actually wait a bit, or even wait until you’re actually IN Overtime Mode (they’re useless against soldiers, but…)- just know you want one then; you start close to the gun store anyway. -High-powered health items of some sort. Wine’s great and easy-access, mixed drinks work damn fine as well (there’s a trick with the Spitfire drink (good combo for that: Ice Pops + Ice Pops; make at the Food Court; “Frozen Dreams”) that you can use against the final boss), and if you can be bothered to cook up a Well Done Steak, have at it! Got all that? Go nuts. I’ll wait until 10:00 AM rolls around. If you’re particularly worried, stick close to either the Food Court or Seon’s- being surrounded by food is a good thing right now. Just be aware- they won’t be unguarded. Power of Ten: If you aren’t at Carlito’s Hideout by 10:00 AM, Isabela will remind you to show up. Once it’s 10:00 or past and you’re in the Hideout, there will be a cutscene, and the military will leave. DO NOT FORGET to talk to Isabela or else getting Ending A just ain’t gonna happen. Go outside afterwards. Remember how I told you that getting around would become a lot easier at this point? Yeeeeah. Look around you. I’m sure you can see why. You will see no resistance whatsoever between now and the end of 72 Hour Mode. Kinda creepy, actually. Make all your final preparations. Healing to full is also a smart choice if you can spare the time; your current health WILL carry over to Overtime Mode, and you won’t be alone. Head up to the heliport via the Security Room- remember, the heliport’s where you started the game; go up the stairs in the Security Room and open the door at the top, if you forgot exactly how to get there (it happens). Stay there. If you’ve got a lot of time left and you’re fully prepped, now’s a good time to drop your controller, get up and go hit the bathroom or get a snack. While waiting for Ed to show up, I like to tilt the camera so that all you see in the shot is the front of Frank, and the sky. Cinematic. High Noon: Ouch. Poor Ed. Overtime Mode is now a go. You can either view or skip the credit sequence; you’ll be seeing it again at the end of Overtime Mode, just cooler. At the end of it, view your game statistics for 72 Hour Mode if you’d like. If you’ve got either 48 or 49 survivors right now, great- once you beat Overtime Mode, you’ll have Saint. Want some help, buddy? Bad News Is, I Forgot To Tell You Yesterday: Well, crap. Frank’s been bitten (probably many times) and is infected. How this doesn’t happen through any of the other endings is a question I will never be able to answer with any conviction. Isabela knows a way to at least stall the zombification process. You’ve only got 24 hours to pick up the necessary goods to let her do so, or else Frank becomes a zombie and the game ends. The Shopping List From Hell: Your first order of business is to grab a few items from around the mall. Before anything else, bad news- the Special Forces are back (as in the final moments of 72 Hour Mode, you’ll be “captured” if your health runs out), and they’ve got new toys, which you’ll find out the moment you leave Carlito’s Hideout. Essentially, they’re RC-styled helicopter drones that will fly around and look for you. Should they see you, not only emit a loud, annoying alarm that alerts any nearby Special Forces member in the area to your presence, they’ll also attempt to follow you around and shoot you. They have almost no health to speak of, so if you still have an RMB, aim and fire. It’ll drop in one shot. Otherwise, remember when I suggested you grab some shotguns earlier? If this is the case and you didn’t, grab one or two of them NOW- they too will knock a drone out of the sky in one hit. Still, your weapon of choice for right now is the RMB- having only soldiers and drones attacking you means your RMB shots WILL be hitting and insta-killing Special Forces in some fashion (later, melee’s the way to go), and not hitting zombies instead. Got that? Good. Time to do some shopping. You need to grab eight items, and here’s the order I suggest you do it in. First Aid Kit: “Seon’s Food & Stuff”. It’s in the same place you got the one for Brad in during Case 2-3. Magnifying Glass: “Wonder Jewels”. Wonderland Plaza, first floor, west side. Blender: Food Court. Doesn’t matter where; there’s one in “The Dark Bean” and another in “Frozen Dreams”. At this point, just charge through Al Fresca Plaza. It’s safer than it normally is, what with no zombies being there. Mind the Special Forces, of course. Perfume Bottle: “Estelle’s Fine-Lady Cosmetics”, Entrance Plaza, second floor. You found Wayne there earlier. Camp Stove: “Sports High”, Entrance Plaza, first floor, west side. You can’t miss the sign. Coffee Filters: Security Room, where you found Otis’ note. Remember, you can take the second floor entrance to access the place now; you may still use the air duct if you’d like to go to your next step that way. Developing Solution: “Cam’s Camera”, Paradise Plaza, you have passed it countless times. Cold Spray: “SporTrance”, Paradise Plaza, second floor. It’s close to the bathrooms if you’re looking at the map. Got all eight items? If you took my route and didn’t dick around with the Special Forces any more than necessary, it should have only taken you two hours. Twenty-two to go. You might not have looked earlier, but do note that zombies once more inhabit Leisure Park. But, as I always do, I digress. Run back to Isabela and give her the stuff. A cutscene will activate. Regenerator: Talk to Isabela, and it’ll turn out the generator she’s been using has broken down. You’ll need to get another one. This is TOTALLY not just a way to make you see another cutscene that will prove useful to Frank’s cause. Head out to the clock tower in Leisure Park. Approach it and you’ll see the cutscene I alluded to. Afterwards, head to the side of the clock tower opposite the one the big freaking hole is in, grab the generator that’s just lying around, stuff it into Frank’s pocket, and go back to Isabela. WATCH OUT; that damned helicopter will be back the moment the cutscene concludes. You have one more goal after this. Call Me Queen: Isabela asks for ten Queens. Good thing the zombies came back, or else you would be screwed beyond comprehension right now. You’ll have to go out and kill zombies that are infested with Queens, then steal the Queens. Fill whatever inventory slots you have open with Queens (you can afford to empty a slot or two- your RMB has really served its purpose, so you may drop that or just drain its ammo, and I leave the rest of the decisions to you- I suggest having three slots open for Queens), returning to Isabela to hand them off one at a time once you can’t carry anything else. It’s like giving survivors weapons back in the day. Just remember, the MOMENT you give Isabela the tenth Queen, you will have reached a point of no return- make sure you have everything you want or need in order before handing it over. I leave the process to you. The North Plaza has a new stock of zombies you would do well to take advantage of. The Special Forces will still be around, but at this point, the drones aren’t worth worrying about, and zombies will typically distract the soldiers from your presence, unless of course you get too close (if you do, carve them open with something nice and sharp). If you’re doing well, you’ll have about 21 hours to go. You’ll be fine. Remember. Get nine, make your final preparations, then give Isabela the tenth. Congratulations, for Frank is safe for now, and there are no more time limits you have to deal with for the remainder of the game. No, by the way, you’ve still got to escape the mall and Willamette. Don’t get lazy on me now. Mosh Pits Are Awesome: You’re in the game’s final stretch. You can save on top of the concrete stairwell you start on. Do so if you wish. Hold Isabela’s hand just like you did with Susan a while ago- it’s not that she has trouble walking; it’s that as long as you’re within hand-holding distance, zombies will be instantly knocked down once they’re in attack range. You’ll be stopped by a metal gate with a circular grate right next to it. Send Isabela inside the grate, and fight like hell to keep the zombies off you until Isabela opens the gate. Hold hands again, then charge through the next battalion of zombies. Another gate will stop you, but there’s a door in it. Go inside. New area, same rules. Hold Isabela’s hand and run forward. Yet another gate will stop you; this time you’ll have to send Isabela into another circular grate to progress. Don’t let the zombies get you, now. Afterwards, keep running until a cutscene stops you. Play will resume on top of a concrete block that you can save on- the last save point available in the game. Use it or lose it. At this point, you’ll have to carry Isabela to take advantage of the zombie knockdowns. Do so. Ready? Charge forward, go to the left, go up the stairs, and hit the switch. Now, go outside, go wherever you don’t see a muzzle flash unless getting shot by Special Forces soldiers sounds like fun fun, and run to the Jeep. Got a Spitfire? Drink it NOW. Everyone else can just get right on the Jeep. Rocks vs. Tanks, Part II: …THAT can’t be good. BOSS: XM3 Prototype Tank Your health will be fully restored for this fight. Place your finger over the X button. Hold that down until the battle concludes. The tank’s armor itself is totally impenetrable, but it has three weak points that take damage when shot (you’ll see a small explosion if you connect with one). Two of them are the flashing green sensors on the front of the tank, on both sides. I’ll get to the other in a second. Mind you, the tank will of course be fighting back. It has three attacks. One: It’ll raise a small, dome-like sensor. This is actually the tank’s third weak point, and you want to shoot it when it appears. See, it emits a green laser that tracks you around. If you don’t shoot the sensor enough, the laser will turn red. If you STILL haven’t shot the sensor enough in very short order, BOOM! The tank will shell you for one block of damage. Shoot it enough and you’ll cancel the attack. Two: It’ll send some of those helicopter drones out. One hit will knock them out of the sky, but if left alone long enough, they’ll start firing at you. They’re not accurate and deal little damage, but it’ll all add up if the fight goes on way too long. If you’re not just screwing around with this fight, you can probably get away with just ignoring them and letting them wander into your line of fire. Three: It’ll fire four small rockets at you, all at once. If you don’t shoot them all down before they reach you, that’s a block of damage for you. The fight isn’t particularly difficult; it just takes forever (the tank has a TON of health), AND you have another boss immediately afterwards. If you drank a Spitfire, finish this fight as quick as possible- the reason why you wanted the Spitfire effect active is for the next asshole you have to beat. If you don’t think he’s an asshole now, you’re about to. FINAL BOSS: Brock Mason Your health will be fully restored again. It’s just you against Brock. You have no weapons. Actually, you have no items at ALL. Brock is a better fighter than you are. Worst of all, Brock can block pretty much anything you throw at him. This ain’t gonna be easy, so let’s just try to get through it. As stated, Brock is capable of blocking, but he WILL still take very minor damage from anything he blocks. Taking him head-on is nonetheless a bad idea, so you’ll have to work with what you’ve got. I’m not even gonna bother telling you all of Brock’s moves. He basically does fast steps around, kicks your ass mercilessly, and repeats the process while you try to land hits. He’ll also try to chokehold you and sap your health. There’s no indicator once he gets his hands on you, but you can thrash the left control stick around just like you would with a zombie’s grab, and you’ll get out just fine. Brock sometimes lets you know it’s coming by whirling his arm around (that’s a Photo Op, so ya know). Do not take all of this to mean that Brock is unbeatable. You have ways around this. His blocking isn’t as effective if you’re on a different level of the tank than he is. If he jumps down or up, timing a hit right (whatever it may be with) will let you do full damage- he can’t block while jumping or falling. The Double Lariat works well on him too, sticking him in place while he blocks- you do tick damage with every hit, and Brock will be stuck in his blocking animation, unable to fight back (mind the recovery time on the Double Lariat’s ending, though). If you’re knocked off the tank, climb back on, Zombie Ride or otherwise. Did I mention there’s a sea of zombies surrounding the tank? You were waiting for this… Remember the whole Spitfire thing I kept mentioning? Do you know what it DOES? It basically turns your spit (unequip your weapon, which I don’t think will be a problem, hold down the right trigger, then hit X) into a weapon. Basically, Frank is his own handgun. If the effect is active, spit on Brock like a crazed dilophosaur on crack. He will block it, every time. But he’ll still take damage, every time. Better, he’ll be stuck in place while you literally kill him by spitting on him over and over. Does it sound ridiculous? Yes. Yes, it does. But it works, and it is by FAR the easiest way you have available to beat this guy. Why not use it? The End: Game, Set, Match. Take that, Brock. Watch the enhanced credit sequence, I think it’s quite cool. By the way, as you’ll find, Frank and Isabela are both safe. That’s brought your survivor total to either 50 or 51. Either way, congratulations, buddy. You achieved “Saint”. Grab yourself your favorite drink; if you’ve stayed with me long enough to get the job done, you’ve definitely earned it. The aftermath text explains a bit more about the results of Frank’s activities, but just like all good B-movie horror flicks, much is left ambiguous. Maybe we’ll find out more when Dead Rising 2 comes around. Heh. Can’t friggin’ wait. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 10: Frequently Asked Questions “You said I can save up to 53 survivors. I only picked 48 out of the mall. What gives?” As I said, story characters count in your total, it’s just that some come in late, some die. Now, since the condition for picking up Simone is tied into the story, let’s just remove her from the “mall survivors” and consider her a story character for the sake of argument. That makes 47 mall survivors. But here’s the story characters you can get out, assuming you don’t just punk out earlier than 5-2. From Case 1-1: Frank, Otis, Brad and Jessie. 47 + 4 story = 51 survivors. From Case 2-2: Add Barnaby. 47 + 5 story = 52 survivors. From Case 5-2: Add Isabela. 47 + 6 story = 53 survivors. From Case 6-1: Lose Barnaby, but add Simone in exchange. 47 + 6 story = 53 survivors. From Case 7-2: Lose Brad. 47 + 5 story = 52 survivors. Complete all files: Lose Jessie. 47 + 4 story = 51 survivors. Don’t worry when your survivor chart doesn’t count Frank or Isabela once you get Ending A (which leaves you with 49 survivors). Both will be counted at the end of Overtime Mode, leaving you with a total of 51 survivors. “Why do you stress the use of Small Chainsaws so heavily?” Because they last two seconds shy of forever if you have the right books, are guaranteed kills on all zombies and most other foes, tear through entire GROUPS of enemies, and rip bosses to shreds in only a few hits. Any other melee weapon is lacking in at least one of those areas, and efficiency is key in a Saint run. If you’re not going for a Saint run, all being said, my walkthrough can still help you out, just do whatever you like, use what you want, and ignore anything you don’t care about. “Can you help me get Transmissionary?” You bet I can! Now, if you’re going through a Saint run exactly as I mentioned, and save EVERYONE, you’ll get all of Otis’ calls about the survivors’ appearances in the process. You need to save EVERYONE because certain survivors (Floyd, Simone, Paul, Cheryl, Ronald, Kindell) have requests/mutinies that Otis must call you about, as well- note how you won’t get those six calls if their rooms hold few survivors. Just be sure you take the calls. Be sure you enter EVERY part of the mall- or at least Paradise Plaza (can’t miss this one), Wonderland Plaza, the Food Court (you’ll have to go in a second time after beating Carlito for this one), North Plaza, and the Maintenance Tunnel- and do so EARLY, because Otis calls you the first time you enter each of those places, and I don’t know if there’s a time limit on that. Otis will call you during case 2-3 once you’re in Seon’s, too. Be sure you take that call before confronting Steven. This next part is the odd one, because it sounds completely counterproductive. You have to hide out in the mall until case files activate (That is to say, you know how the game says “THE NEXT CASE FILE WILL START AT…”? Don’t show up immediately at that time.)- Otis will call if you aren’t on the rooftop and remind you to show up (for 5-1, change “rooftop” to “North Plaza” and hide out in Seon’s or Crislip’s), and all seven of those calls (cases 2 through 8) MUST be taken to score Transmissionary. Remember that Otis must actually COMPLETE his calls for them to count! Isabela calls a few times herself over the game’s duration, but her calls don’t count- only Otis’s. Take them anyway to be on the safe side, but once you see your Achievement pop up on the screen, you officially no longer have to care. Just be sure you complete the game so you get your Mall Employee uniform, oooo-KAY? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 11: Thanks and Links I would LIKE to say that everything in this game I've learned and done myself, but that's simply not the case. I HAVE looked at other peoples' work, and although the walkthrough is my own, I HAVE adapted parts of other peoples' work into my strategy. If you'd like to know, I would suggest looking at some of these guys for alternate takes- their strategies do not ENTIRELY match mine, so... http://www.youtube.com/user/stolisomancer Stolisomancer's visual walkthrough is quite useful for taking you through 72 Hour Mode, and shows a perfect Ending A run, although it doesn't take you into Overtime Mode. I also point you to CarlottaMonroe's guide on Saint AND Transmissionary right here on GameFAQs. It's not far from here, most likely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 12: Closing Okay, that all being said and done, I think we’ve covered all we need to cover! I hope that you either got the Saint Achievement you were looking for, the help you needed for something else, or hell, just had a blast reading (wasn’t too boring, I hope). And for that matter, I’m happy to see that you must have enjoyed “Dead Rising” every bit as much as I have, a game I feel is one of the best there ever was. You may feel free to check out the site I’ve got at http://yukatakeuchifan.kiwibonga.com if you’d like; while not the most worksafe thing in the world, it’s nothing too explicit, although if you’re not a fan of anime girls you’d probably better go someplace else. Enjoy your day, buddy! By all means, whatever you feel like saying about my guide, I’d like to hear it. You can reach me at “yukatakeuchifan (Hold shift, press the “two” key) gmail (pencil stab) com”. I’ve REALLY got better things to do with my time than read flames that I’ll just delete anyway. You might either have a problem with my guide, or simply wish to be a little prick who believes they’re twice as old as they actually are. Your courses of action are as follows. Problem with the guide? Let me know where your problem lies in a calm, coherent manner. Be professional and I’ll extend you the same courtesy, and will act as I feel is appropriate based on what you bring up. Annoying whiny bitch? Drink everything your parents have under the sink. I assume no responsibility if your brain-dead ass actually does this, although I’ll admit to being happy that your genes will never pass on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 13: End This guide for Dead Rising’s Saint Achievement was written by me, Yuka Takeuchi Fan (if one must name names, give “Andy Kurland” a try). I’ll be frank (you can be Brad), you wanna post this somewhere else? I have exactly one requirement for doing so- ask me. I will almost undoubtedly say yes unless the most extenuating of circumstances occurs. I do of course wish for my name to stay in the document. Ego, pal. I WOULD tell you not to sell this document for money, but really. Everyone knows about GameFAQs and whatnot. If you can find a man stupid enough to pay for it, you’re teaching good lessons in capitalism to the world at large, and giving both you and me something to laugh at. Thanks, buddy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Phase 14: CLOSE THE DOCUMENT. While I appreciate your apparent desire to read more of my writing, I have nothing more to say. For the love of Lin Grace’s oversized booty, it’s time to go do something else, okay?