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If you’re a hardcore fan of the Dead Rising series, you may well remember the punishing Infinity mode from the first game – the one in which Frank West had to constantly eat food in order to stay alive.
You may also be wondering why that challenge didn’t return for Dead Rising 2, or for the forthcoming revised version, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. Executive producer Jason Leigh has explained that while the new game will have an infinite Sandbox Mode, it won’t work in quite the same way.
“With Infinity Mode in Dead Rising 1, the world was open to you but you health was constantly depleting, you were always on the hunt for food,” said Leigh, speaking to VideoGamer.com this week.
“This time around we wanted to take that limitation. So no time limit, no story, no depleting health, but then adding that layer of challenges on top.”
The removal of depleting health also rules out a return for the notorious 7 Day Survivor Achievement, which forces players to play the game solidly for 14 hours without dying or saving.
“With Achievements in general, we wanted to make them more accessible this time around,” explained Leigh. “Dead Rising is a hard enough game as it is, but the Achievements have been pretty brutal. We’ve still got some very difficult ones, but we’ve brought the bar down a bit.”
But Leigh added that other tweaks to the core Dead Rising formula – like the addition of checkpoints – are the result of user feedback.
“We definitely listen to fan feedback, and one of the advantages of making a game like this is that it’s a second kick of the can. You get the benefit of all the press feedback, all of the fan feedback, and you can sort through it. That’s one of the first things we always do – get everything up on a board and say, ‘Okay, what are we going to act on here?’
“In terms of where you draw that line to strike that balance between doing something that may upset people, versus the group that will accept it and say, ‘Perfect, this is what I asked for,’ – I think it comes down to giving the option. With something like the checkpoint system, for example, it’s there for people who want to use it. If you’re a purist and you don’t want to use it, then don’t, right? You die, don’t hit the checkpoint button, and go back to your last save.”
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record will be released on October 14 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
