Dead Rising 2



""72 hours to kill... thousands of zombies... What would Chuck do?""

The highly successful 2010 sequel to 2006's highly successful Dead Rising.

Chuck Greene is a former motorcycle racing champion, whose wife was zombified and bit their daughter, Katey, in an outbreak in Las Vegas some years before. Due to this, now the girl needs daily doses of Zombrex, a medicine that can halt the infection for 24 hours.

Cut to the present day, Chuck is now a contestant in the game show Terror Is Reality, set in Fortune City, NV, whose crew keeps caged zombies who are released in an arena just so the competitors may mow them down with motorbike-mounted chainsaws.

One day, after another episode of the show, someone releases the captive zombies and they overrun the city in no time. Having found a shelter, Chuck is informed that the military will raid the city within 72 hours and the shelter isn't stocked with Zombrex, so they only agree to let Katey stay there as long as he can find the medicine to keep her alive.

Eventually, Chuck finds out he's being held responsible for breaking out the horde, and now he's involved in a three-way quest: find Zombrex for Katey, save the survivors left about the city and clear his name. All the while crushing thousands of zombies with anything he may find - and anything he may make with what he finds.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero was released a few weeks before the main game, as a five-dollar "demo" available exclusively on the Xbox Live Arcade. Set immediately after the Las Vegas outbreak mentioned in passing in DR2, Case Zero finds Chuck and Katey stranded in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Chuck has about fourteen hours before the military moves in to quarantine the town, and if he and Katey aren't gone by then, they'll take her away. Chuck has to find at least one dose of Zombrex for Katey and put together a vehicle.

Dead Rising 2: Case West came out in December 2010 on the Xbox Live Arcade. Set after the main game in Phenotrans's facility in Fortune City, Chuck is joined by Frank West (an AI buddy in single-player, and the second player's character in co-op) as they work to clear Chuck's name once and for all.

Dead Rising: Off the Record was announced at Captivate '11, and Capcom admits that the new game is basically Fan Service (as in Continuity Nods and stuff). Indeed, the wackiness is Up to Eleven (Masked Luchador zombies, for example), and even the beloved photos-for-PP mechanic returns. The game is a What If Frank West had been in Chuck Greene's shoes, and Frank's simple answer to the question, "What would you have done differently?" is EVERYTHING.

In November 2011, with absolutely no fanfare whatsoever, IDW began publishing a Dead Rising comic book, Road to Fortune, which begins two years after the original game and covers several of the incidents between DR and DR 2, including the Vegas outbreak, Katey's infection, and Frank and Rebecca's first meeting.

The list of Shout Outs can be found here.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero Provides Examples Of:

 * Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Justified. It's not a literal Zombie Apocalypse, so money's still useful.
 * Adult Fear: Fail to fix up the bike in time and you get to see Chuck and Katey get seperated by the military while desperately calling out to each other.
 * The Alcoholic: Fausto Vargus, who refuses to go anywhere until you give him TWO alcoholic beverages. Fortunately, both him and his wife are found inside the local bar.
 * Artificial Stupidity: Blessedly subverted; although only a few civilians need transportation to safety and always over a small, simply laid out area, their path-finding ability is largely improved over the original Dead Rising. Even when unarmed survivors are mostly competent enough to bull-rush their way through small groups of zombies without any problem.
 * Ascended Meme: The Locksmith achievement dubs Chuck the master of unlocking.
 * Quite a few in Case West, starting with "For a guy who's covered wars..."
 * Awesome but Impractical: Many of the customized weapons can be considered this. Some are so large you cannot switch inventory items without dropping them, some are meant to do massive damage to single targets (which is overkill on zombies but does not work on bosses,) many can only be used once, etc.
 * It seems that many of the combo weapons are meant to farm experience points. The IED (a gas tank with nails) gives 300 PPs for each sucker killed.
 * True, but this is specifically for Case Zero, which caps Chuck's level at five, making the PP bonus quickly redundant.
 * Awesome Yet Practical: On the other hand, some of the customized weapons can be built from easy to find materials, can be stowed in the inventory when not needed, are good for many uses, and can bludgeon and cut down zombies easily. The wooden baseball bat with nails driven into it would be an example of this.
 * Boring Yet Practical: And on top everything that comes before? Guess what's the best weapon to use on the boss - or for that matter, any boss in any of the games to date? The sniper rifle found on the gas station roof.
 * Chainsaw Good: One of the weapons you can craft is two chainsaws on a canoe paddle.
 * Downer Ending: See Adult Fear above.
 * Duct Tape for Everything: No matter what the items being combined are, you will always hear the sound of duct tape.
 * He also uses duct tape to repair his motorbike.
 * The achievement for combining all the possible custom weapons in the game is called Duct Tape FTW.
 * Fetch Quest: Five motorcycle parts and a Zombrex syringe before 9PM (two if you're collecting every survivor).
 * And some jewelry if you're fulfilling Gemini's request.
 * The game loves these. Enjoy running across the entire game world to fetch a potted plant for 10,000 PP. Not so bad, as there's a shortcut. Through a toilet, somehow...
 * Actually, there's an air vent above the toilet, which is the actual shortcut.
 * Improbable Weapon User: One of the survivours Chuck finds is using the handlebars he needs for his bike as a weapon! Apparently the handlebars are working well enough for him that he'll only give them up if given a broadsword.
 * It Got Worse: Chuck Greene's wife is infected, bites his daughter and Chuck has to kill his zombie wife. He then escapes infected Las Vegas, constantly injecting Zombrex into said daughter, which costs around 300 $ a pop. He arrives in a small town, gets his truck (and Zombrex stash) stolen. Then the town is shown to having already been infested by zombies. THEN the military plans to show up, giving Chuck twelve hours to figure out a way to get out of the town before the army quarantines his daughter. Then he runs across an Egomaniac Hunter with a shotgun / pitchfork combo who wants to kill his daughter. It's just not a good life for Chuck, no sir. Oh, and then Dead Rising 2 happens.
 * Multiple Endings
 * Overprotective Dad: Darcie Blackrock, daughter of Bob Blackrock, who informs Chuck about the survivors' location, wants Chuck to bring her father to her to ensure him there's no "funny business" between her and Chuck.
 * Stop Helping Me!: Gladly subverted, unlike Otis who calls you at the worst moment which leaves you vulnerable, Bob shouts at you on the roof of a building to get your attention so he can tell you about a survivor's location. Despite the fact that you have to climb onto a building to talk to him. Also, he shoots the zombies down with an assault rifle for you.
 * Your Head Asplode: One of the new combined weapons you can make with a spray paint can and a traffic cone is an air horn that makes a zombie head explode.

Dead Rising 2 Provides Examples Of:
""You may now kiss the Bride.""
 * Action Girl: Rebecca certainly qualifies after fighting her way across Fortune City just about as much as you do.
 * Also there's Terri, a minor character. Even if you don't help her and her friend out, she'll still manage to somehow fight her way into the safe house  All with just a lead pipe.
 * Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: The guys running the pawn shops are all professional looters. They always have some Zombrex handy for you to buy, but will charge you more and more for it each time. What jerks.
 * Adult Fear: If you don't get enough medicine for your seven-year-old daughter, she'll turn into a zombie.
 * A Father to His Men: Never said but that's the only real reason that
 * After the End: Or, more specifically, after the zombie holocaust. It's been long enough between outbreaks that the existence of zombie hordes is now a way of life and one enterprising man has engineered a sick reality show devoted to slaughtering penned-up zombies. Malls now have fortified safe rooms complete with airlocks in the event of another outbreak and all of the wall of the safe room are covered in helpful anti-zombie safety tips. Of course, just because there are safety measures in place doesn't mean another outbreak can't happen, especially if sabotage is involved...
 * Armor Is Useless: In the High Noon Shooting range, Chuck can pick up and wear a S.W.A.T. Vest. It doesn't do anything, but it does look damn cool. Averted with Arthur's suit of armor. Subverted by the Psycho outfit, which isn't armor, but reduces damage taken.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: On the Zombrex website, possible side effects are read off (quickly, as with drug commercials circa The Nineties) including "...bleeding eyes, bleeding anus, occasional terrifying hallucinations, and dry skin."
 * Artificial Brilliance: The developers clearly remembered how everyone chose to feed survivors to zombies in the first game and take pictures for the experience reward instead of escorting them out of sheer rage. Now, give a survivor a decent weapon, even a common one - knife, baseball bat, sledgehammer - and they will not only fend for themselves while following you intelligently, they will swat zombies who are grappling you! Give them shotguns and the only thing you have to keep an eye out for is that little "door" sign is above their icon when transitioning between areas (another innovation) - they'll mow through packs of zombies without pausing for breath.
 * Hell, they can hold their own against psychopaths if you arm them right, making boss fights (including some that are otherwise That One Boss) much, much easier.
 * They'll still hit you and other survivors every so often, and that's only if you stand in their way with a shotgun. But they're still much better than the Survivors from the first game.
 * Ascended Meme: "You have a real knack for showing up at the right time. Have you covered wars or something?"
 * One of the achievements is even called "He hasn't covered wars..."
 * Attempted Rape: Randy. See Shotgun Wedding below.
 * Author Avatar: Inverted, Keiji Inafune, the Executive Producer of the Dead Rising series, has dressed up in Chuck's default biker outfit in almost every expo and convention that showcased Dead Rising 2.
 * Literally inverted. Chuck Greene is sponsored by IJIEK.
 * Audible Sharpness: The Twins' swords.
 * Awesome but Impractical: The laser sword is easy enough to make, and will kill most zombies in one shot, but it's so awkward to fight with...
 * Awesome but Practical: Many of the Combo Weapons such as the Defiler, a heavy maul-like weapon which can be easily assembled at the beginning of the game, and not only has an extremely useful swinging attack and has impressive durability, but can even do impressive harm to some of the Psychopaths as long as the player is prudent with their evasions.
 * Also, the Knife Gloves, which can easily become a Disc One Nuke.  You've earned yourself a weapon that can do about the same damage as the above-mentioned Defiler, except it's faster and can't be disarmed from you, making it an unsuspecting god send against the Psychopaths. The Knife Gloves are pretty much this game's Small Chainsaw.
 * Badass Biker: Chuck is a former Motocross champion. The skills he picked up souping up his bike is how he learned to create insane weapons.
 * Bag of Spilling / No-Gear Level: Your entire inventory is taken away just before the True Final Boss fight. This happens somewhat abruptly, and the game doesn't give you full health for the battle, so it's entirely possible to unwittingly start the final battle with almost no health (which will most likely force you to restart from an earlier save).
 * Battle Couple: Doris and Chad, the first survivors you come across with a handgun and shotgun, respectively.
 * Also, Amber & Crystal.
 * Also also, Roger & Reed.
 * The Baroness: The twins are a tag-teaming, nigh-unkillable example.
 * Beef Gate: The appearance of . Chuck's been swatting zombies like flies for the past 72 hours, but once these bastards show up, the party is over. If Chuck doesn't have at least six Hit Points and inventory spaces each, quit, start over and grind some more levels. Chuck will not survive a trip across the map unless he can handle repeated consecutive multiple-hitpoint maulings while carrying at least three healing items and weapons. Even at level fifty every trip along the strip without a vehicle is That One Level. Hope you ground some cash to pay for the keys to that SUV...
 * Berserk Button:
 * TED NOT SLOW!
 * Antoine doesn't appreciate Chuck (who he's mistaken for a food critic) insulting his food.
 * Pretty much every Psycho boss in the game will mistake Chuck's speech (more like lack of speech) for some kind of insult, mistake him for someone they hate, or any other possible reason to want to kill him.
 * But hey, they're Psychos.
 * BFG: A literal one, the Blast Frequency Gun,
 * Black Dude Dies First: Subverted.
 * You can play it somewhat straight if you let one of the survivors you're supposed to help, a black man, die.
 * Blood Knight/Jerkass: Leon Bell, who apparently got into "Terror Is Reality" because he has a craving for killing. He sticks the knife in and twists it in his very first appearance, where he mentions Chuck lost his wife in the Vegas outbreak. "I guess that means you SUCK at killing zombies, otherwise she'd still be around!"
 * And just before his boss fight, he rides his Slicecycle right through an innocent unarmed survivor, and crosses the Moral Event Horizon into Complete Monster territory.
 * Bloody Hilarious: Achieves triumphant levels over its predecessor with the Combo Weapons, where most of them provide a ludicrous and ultra-violent means of killing the undead. The Auger returns in an even more adaptable and horrific incarnation, but the greatest example has to be the Porta-Mower. It truly should be discovered rather than described, but if you're curious,
 * Bond One-Liner: Chuck gets a couple of these.
 * After watching a Psychopath that was forcing women to marry him and then killing them when they resisted, getting his face bitten off by one of his now zombified victims.

""I saw what you did there.""
 * After watching another psycho get cut in half by a large circular saw after proclaiming "I'm twice the man you are!"

""Yeah... you're on fire.""
 * After watching his rival from a game show burn to death while proclaiming he was "number one".

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Undead_Rights_and_Equality"
 * Bond Villain Stupidity:
 * Boring but Practical: The first combo weapon you unlock, the Spiked Bat, is rather easy to build and doesn't give much PP, but against crowds of generic zombies, it's a nice little crowd-clearer, and it is readily available (the maintainence room right outside has nails and a bat, and there's nails in the other room and a bat laying next to the fire extinguisher).
 * It does fairly good damage, too, and can be useful against Psychopaths if you don't have any Knife Gloves handy.
 * Another one are the Tenderizers (MMA Gloves + Nails). You get the card by looking at a movie poster near the maintenance area leading to the safehouse, the parts for it are just as close and it's good for clearing out zombies without accidentally hitting anyone you may be escorting. Overall, a good fallback weapon, and a tad more common than the Knife Gloves in a pinch.
 * Boss Banter: Unlike the first game where the bosses had one or two battle quotes, the bosses in Dead Rising 2 have tons. For example, the redneck snipers taunt you a lot when engaging them in CQC.
 * Bragging Rights Reward: In the game, you can obtain Arthur's full suit of armor, which effectively doubles your health. The first two parts of the armor aren't so bad to obtain (you can get the helmet by playing Strip Poker with Jack and removing his helmet, and you can get the beard by going to the barber shop in the Royal Flush Plaza and looking in the back of the store). However, one of the suit pieces is being sold for $2,000,000 at the shop on the Platinum Strip, which is 80 times the price of Zombrex, requiring you to play at least 10-15 games of Terror Is Reality in order to buy the stupid thing, and the other piece is unlocked for So, in essence, you can't get the suit on your first playthrough, and when you do finally obtain it, it breaks after a few hits, much like Ghosts 'n Goblins. You can still go back to the safe room and equip it again, but there's not much use to it when you obtain it except for going around impaling zombies to death with a lance.
 * Fortunately, you can find magazines around Fortune City which lower the prices of all items in the shop up to 20% off, but it's still a whopping $1,600,000. And alternatively for making money, you can invest some time on the big slot machine with the gambling magazines since the payouts are big.
 * Bullfight Boss: Leon, who charges at you with a Slicecycle from TIR. Using the bullfight tactic isn't the only one out there, however, but it's recommended.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Chuck can be this if you have him killing Zombies with wresting movies while wearing a Daisy Duke outfit and wearing a homemade beer helmet. Or in a electric wheelchair that he made and then strapped several machine guns to it. With Stephen Hawking's voice taunting the zombies.
 * A good two-thirds of the survivors don't seem to appreciate that they're in danger at all. Europa's much more concerned with being outside underdressed than the fact there are zombies about, and is most likely only using that as an excuse to see Chuck shirtless, three poker players are more interested in finishing their high-stakes tournament than getting to safety, three call girls won't go with you unless their time is paid for, Stuart is risking both his and his girlfriend's lives in order to loot the casino he works at (and you must hit him over the head with something to get him to listen - and he later tries to start a mutiny, and you call him out on his bullshit), two "kings of comedy" won't leave the store they're in until Chuck gives one of them the comedy trophy of the competition they were supposed to be in (and the loser wants five thousand dollars to follow you), and Bill refuses to leave a casino unless you bribe him. The further you get into the game, the dumber the survivors seem to get.
 * Their AI is still a VAST improvement over DR 1's AI though.
 * Casino Park: Fortune City
 * Canon Discontinuity: Multiplayer TiR makes sure you're not playing as the four that showed up in the single-player, the game doesn't solely consist of Slicecycles, and the ending's different.
 * Cavalry Betrayal: Subverted.
 * They do, however, put out a Blatant Lies press release stating that they had confirmed that all the survivors were dead, when in fact they were merely guessing based on their loss of contact with the rescue team and the overall severity of the situation.
 * Chain Lightning: A few of the electric weapons such as the Rolling Thunder and Tesla Ball utilize this, making them good for crowd control.
 * Chainsaw Good: Takes this trope to its logical conclusion -- Instant Homicide Machines. Just Add Duct Tape for Everything. Chainsaw + canoe paddle + duct tape = Dual Chainsaws On A Stick! Chainsaw + dirt bike + duct tape = Slicecycle.
 * Chef of Iron (Type 2)/ Evil Chef: Antoine.
 * Chekhov's Gun: A set of handcuffs. Sullivan gives them to Chuck to secure, and Chuck later uses them to
 * In Off the Record, Frank meets the brother of Adam, the psycho clown from the first game. The clown doesn't seem to recognize him until an photo Frank autographed at the very beginning of the game is blown by.
 * Clear My Name: Chuck is accused of causing the zombie outbreak in Fortune City in a news report and the military will arrive to capture him in 3 days. You don't, you get a Bad End.
 * Compensating for Something: Randy. His weapon is a giant pink chainsaw, he revs it when he gets excited about losing his virginity, he occasionally screams "Mine's bigger than yours!" when you fight him... The only way it could be more obvious is if the game told you it.
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: When fighting Antoine, Hitbox Dissonance is very obvious. If he is swinging his pan, he will not take any damage, even if you hit him first. When he throws a pan, you can hide around a corner and the pan will swerve and strike you.
 * A lot of the psychopaths seemingly have invincibility frames before or during their attacks. It's especially notable when trying to use Good Old Fisticuffs against, as half of your attacks don't even hurt him. You can literally kick his ass and he won't take much damage.
 * During the poker games - on Day Three in the Atlantica, on Day Four in the shelter - the CPU players will often bet large amounts of money on a bad hand, only to abruptly pull out the win when the last card hits the table. The only way their strategy makes any sense at all is if they already know what the cards are going to be.
 * If you bring all three gambling magazines to the poker game with you, Chuck will always draw two high cards at the start of the hand and will often get a pair. This often isn't enough to compensate for the CPU's amazing "luck," but it goes a long way. It will still take hours of whittling away at their cash to beat them, however, as the CPU is still cheating and knows you have those cards. And as the game can only spawn eight survivors/psychopaths at a time, them plus the four Tape It Or Die members will stop mission progression in its tracks. If you want Hundred-Percent Completion, you'll have to kill some survivors to permit more compliant ones to appear - either these jerks or the ones who build weapons for you.
 * Cowardly Lion: Most of the survivors are found in a state of distress and will not survive without Chuck's help and guidance. However, if they are given a weapon, they can fight very well against the zombies. On that note, most humans could be considered this. The zombies are considerably slower, more fragile and nowhere near as resourceful as the average human. It's only because of the fear they evoke on humans that they can be considered a threat at all. If the humans could stop themselves from panicking, which is what causes them to make the foolish decisions that lead to their deaths, they would realise that there are countless ways for them to out-fight, out-smart or at the very least out-maneuver a single zombie or even a small group of them.
 * Crazy Survivalist: The four redneck hunters, Big Earl, Deetz, Derrick and Johnny.
 * Cutscene Incompetence:
 * Cutscene Power to the Max: Inverted. Chuck chops his way through a tram full of armed mercenaries to confront, who pulls out a pistol and fires a few rounds instead of answering Chuck's questions. Chuck dives for cover, despite the fact that getting to that point at all means he's probably been shot forty or fifty times.
 * Dark Action Girls: The Twins.
 * Dead Little Sister: Stacy has a dead sister who was tired of doing everything to get Zombrex, so she... stopped taking it one day.
 * Deadly Game: The multiplayer mode takes the form of a game show called "Terror is Reality" based around killing zombies. The developers have compared it to American Gladiators.
 * When really it's got more in common with Takeshi's Castle crossed with The Running Man meets a Gomorrah torture orgy.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Chuck is cool as ice, and manages several quite good Bond One Liners after dispatching the various psychopaths.
 * Defictionalization: In a truly weird case, zombie rights group C.U.R.E. is a legally recognized political party in the U.K.:
 * When really it's got more in common with Takeshi's Castle crossed with The Running Man meets a Gomorrah torture orgy.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Chuck is cool as ice, and manages several quite good Bond One Liners after dispatching the various psychopaths.
 * Defictionalization: In a truly weird case, zombie rights group C.U.R.E. is a legally recognized political party in the U.K.:

"Seymour: I'm twice the man you are..."
 * Difficulty Spike: The Cozy Catastrophe becomes a lot less cozy once  This is the point in the game where you stop getting calls for helping other survivors, because now it's a chore just keeping yourself alive.
 * Disc One Final Boss: Tyrone King's helicopter.
 * Disc One Nuke: The Knife Gloves and the Tenderizers can be made in the first area after the Maintenance Room key is received, have common components, do good damage, and give bonus PP. The Knife Gloves are given as an example in the manual, and the Tenderizers' Combo Card is hidden near the Safe Room. Off the Record adds an alternate recipe for the Knife Gloves and additional Maintenance Rooms with them inside.
 * Disney Villain Death:
 * Downer Ending: Any ending other than S, especially F. At least
 * Dragon Their Feet: At the end of the regular game, you defeat
 * Driven to Suicide: Upon defeating Brandon Whittaker, he appears to have a "What Have I Become?" moment shortly before he slits his throat.
 * Andy Talbat, a survivor in the Palisades Mall, is nearly this.
 * Duct Tape for Everything: The Game
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: gets zombie-bit and needs Zombrex to avoid turning. Should you give it to him he mocks Chuck before he's even taken the shot. (And that's not even getting into what happens later. Some people bite the hand that feeds them, this guy bites the hand clean off.)
 * Eagle Land: Type 2 again, most notably with the Redneck snipers.
 * You have the right to bear arms... and the ability to arm a giant teddy bear with a cigar, an American flag bandana, and a machine gun.
 * And the Phenotrans, one of the big bad business corporations in the U.S., instigated and is exploiting the zombie outbreak to create more Zombrex for their own monetary gains; they also control people through lies, much like certain people's view of the United States - very much explains the anti-capitalistic nature of this game.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: The S ending.
 * Easy Levels Hard Bosses
 * Elite Mooks: Looters are about twice as tough as zombies, but that just means you need to use Knife Gloves, Defilers, or Laser Swords to drop them with one blow. The Mercenaries are just Looters with machine-guns.
 * The real Elite Mooks are the Gas Zombies which move quicker, absorb more damage (they have the same health as looters), have harder grapple commands and deal about twice as much damage.
 * Plus they do that puking attack... which makes you stand still and puke for a couple seconds, while another zombie grapples you.
 * Everything Fades: Killed zombies will disappear in five seconds. Obviously, having a load of corpses around would kill your framerate.
 * Actually some zombie corpses remain, but not that many.
 * Expy: See the Shout-Out page.
 * Fail O'Suckyname: The name for attaching a machete to a broom is incredibly lame: "Pole Weapon". This is especially bad for two reasons: 1, a lot of the other combo weapon names are awesome, like "Exsanguinator", "Ripper", or "Tenderizers"; 2, the real-life versions of this weapon have cooler names, like bardiche, spear, or glaive.
 * Fan Disservice: When you find Kristin, she's wearing her full Vegas showgirl regalia a bikini and a towering headdress. Then she violently (and repeatedly) pukes on the floor while you're talking to her. Then you have to carry her back to the safehouse. Imagine the smell. You're welcome.
 * BIBI LOVE.
 * And, of course, there's Randy's badly-fitting, pig-themed gimp suit.
 * Fan Nickname: Kanye Wesker for TK. It's quite appropriate, actually.
 * Fan Service: The female survivors are often in a state of undress. One's a Vegas showgirl, another fell asleep in a tanning bed right as the outbreak hit, and a third locked herself out of her hotel room in her underwear. Another three are wearing beach outfits.
 * For the ladies and gaymers, Chuck has to strip to his shorts in order to rescue one survivor, and one of his Terror is Reality co-stars made it into the safe room wearing only a towel (and never thinks to ask for clothes while everyone else is demanding golf clubs and potted plants).
 * If you save the right combination of survivors, it unlocks a strip poker minigame in the safe house. If you manage to eliminate Cora, Kristin, or Trixie from the game, they wind up stripped down to their panties and will stay that way for the rest of the game. Of course, on the flip side, the same is true of Jack, Woodrow, and Chuck himself, although Chuck can just go put more clothes on.
 * Famous Last Words:
 * If you save the right combination of survivors, it unlocks a strip poker minigame in the safe house. If you manage to eliminate Cora, Kristin, or Trixie from the game, they wind up stripped down to their panties and will stay that way for the rest of the game. Of course, on the flip side, the same is true of Jack, Woodrow, and Chuck himself, although Chuck can just go put more clothes on.
 * Famous Last Words:

""Tonight we are going to witness true American warriors kicking zombie [cut to angle behind Crystal] ass!""
 * Fat Bastard: Randy Tugman.
 * Fetch Quest: Bibi, and
 * Fisticuffs Boss: The second-to-last boss is supposed to be this - but this is bypassed by using sniper rifles on him. The real final fight is this trope.
 * Five-Bad Band: The Phenotrans have:
 * Big Bad: Marian Mallon
 * The Dragon / The Brute: Harjit Singh
 * The Evil Genius / The Brute:
 * The Dark Chick: Tyrone King, AKA TK.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Chuck is this with all the Combo Weapons you can make.
 * Gag Boobs: Bibi Love... much to the player's disgust.
 * Game Mod: It should come to no surprise that, for the PC version of the game, game-modifying 'trainers' popped up the first day of the game's release, removing large chunks of the game's Fake Difficulty. Even if you don't use trainers, the PC version of the game has settings for things like Breakable Weapons found in text-editable files.
 * Modders are looking to see if they can force the game to use custom models and textures by editing the text files. Shows more promise than RE5, at least.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: Mercs with assault rifles during gameplay? Just walk through that, kill them, remember to drink some orange juice when you're done. Someone has a pistol in a cutscene? Watch out, those things can kill people in one shot. Zombie bites infectious? Well, no worries: you only need Zombrex for Katie and one or two other survivors, no matter how many times you yourself are munched.
 * Genre Blind: Chuck might be able to avoid some of the boss fights if he played along with the psychopaths' delusions or used a fake name. Indeed, the one time the player is allowed to do this, you can actually avoid the fight altogether.
 * Glass Cannon: Carl Schliff, the psycho mailman. Chuck towers over him, and he can't take as much damage as most psychos either... But good lord, his shotgun packs a punch and his explosive packages can destroy you.
 * Goggles Do Nothing: The Soldier outfit includes night vision forehead protectors. They ARE broken, after all.
 * Going Postal: Carl Schliff, already on the verge of going wacko, does it when you ruin any chance of perfect attendance/delivery. Thanks a lot.
 * Good Is Dumb: The US Army. Remember in the first game, where they deployed several squads of badass looking Gas Mask Mooks with assault rifles, several UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters, and a tank to mop up the outbreak? Yeah, well since they're good guys in this game, they can't be competent anymore. Instead, they send two squads of about ten men each riding in humvees and armed with nothing but M4 assault rifles. As can be expected, they all die when
 * Honestly, look at how Chuck did with just his bare hands and some duct tape. Assuming the soldiers had enough ammo (let's say the humvees were packed with the stuff), they could have wiped out every zombie in Fortune City. And Boykins dialogue makes it sound like they have done this a few times before. Just because they didn't have the foresight to realize that  doesn't make them dumb.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Surprisingly used more often than you'd think for a game this openly gory - and used to cover up modeling laziness (if you look closely, it's highly obvious that bodies are not sliced in two during cutscenes). There's even a case of Hide Your Children should you fail to get Katey her Zombrex in time.
 * An example of where this works to the game's detriment would be at the end of Case File 1-3, where Chuck and Rebecca find a security room full of executed security guards. Rebecca draws specific attention to one of the cadavers as she films it, claiming that the victim could not have been killed by zombies. The player has to take her word for it, as the camera angle does not deign to show what kind of injury killed the guard.
 * The important point is that the corpses are completely uneaten. The cutscene implies execution by Pretty Little Headshots, which the player can verify after it ends.
 * While the death of Antoine is quite brutal, the camera angle used does not show the presumably horrid result.
 * Guide Dang It: Some of the achievements/trophies are impossible to get unless you do very specific things beforehand. This guide is pretty useful for getting secret items and trying to get One Hundred Percent Completion.
 * How do you get the combo card for the Burning Skull?
 * Half the Man He Used To Be: How dies. Do we have a trope for Best Bad Guy Death?
 * meets a similar end, but only gets.
 * Also happens to victims Madison Lainey, Emanuel Tugman and Carlos Mertiz.
 * Hand or Object Underwear: The female Strip Poker players cover themselves with their hands once they are topless.
 * Hanging Judge: Seymour follows the classic image of one by literally hanging every survivor he deems as felons.
 * Heroic BSOD: Sgt. Dwight Boykin suffers from this when
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Brent Ernst is Light Yagami!
 * He's also Mousse which is rather notable with his character.
 * Chef Antoine is what happens when Rattrap's balls drop.
 * Carl Schliff is Edd!.
 * Considering that one episode of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy where Edd DID have a nervous breakdown when all the kids start breaking rules for fun, and the fact that Carl has gone insane from the absolute destruction of his order and routine, this has to be an unsettling Casting Gag.
 * Honor Before Reason: Many of the survivors and some of the psychopaths fit the trope.
 * Hot Dad: Take a wild guess.
 * Humans Are Bastards: Only applies to TK, his goons, and some of the psychopaths. The rest of the survivors may be eccentric as all hell, but at least most of them are nice to you.
 * I Did What I Had to Do:
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Antoine Thomas. Believing himself to be the "King of Cuisine", has been killing and cooking survivors after going insane when his only shot at fortune went down the shitter. When Chuck comes around, Antoine was just about to kill a woman called Cinda as part of his "Ultimate Dish". Oh, and to him, human flesh really does taste like chicken.
 * Improbable Power Discrepancy: The Dead Rising series is all over the place about how tough a normal human is supposed to be. Looters will go down after a couple slashes from the Knife Gloves or a handful of bullets, whereas survivors can survive much more damage (though how much more depends on the survivor). The mercenaries are a little bit tougher than the looters, but will still go down after a handful of head shots or a couple of knife glove slashes as well. The psychopaths, on the other hand, are absolutely Made of Iron, taking at least a hundred machine gun rounds before going down (and that's the weaker psychopaths).
 * In a more specific example, there's
 * Infant Immortality: Part of the game's plot is making sure that this trope stays in effect, by continually giving seven-year-old Katey Zombrex.
 * Interface Spoiler:
 * Intrepid Reporter/Hot Scoop: Rebecca Chang.
 * Item Crafting: A large selling point of the sequel is the ability to combine various weapons into even better weapons. Some of them seem like no-brainers, like nail-bats. Others are highly esoteric, like attaching batteries to a wheelchair. Some are unnecessarily cruel and impractical, but awesome, like drills in a bucket (to be plopped onto a zombie's head). Some are brilliant in hindsight, like taping a fire ax to a sledgehammer - fire axes are sharp but light for repeated swinging, sledgehammers are heavy without an edge: combined, they can dismember six zombies in single swing - twenty or more if you keep swinging it in a circle to keep up the momentum.
 * And, as in the first game, you can mix up potions juice smoothies that heal you and give you a boost in various ways.
 * According to Blue Castle games, it was this juice mixing mechanic that inspired the combo card system in the first place.
 * It's the Only Way to Be Sure: The government's plan for dealing with an infested city is to rescue survivors if possible, then firebomb the place.
 * Jump Scare: Used in the S ending.
 * Also used with
 * Off The Record has "Scare Zombies" which are intended to serve this very purpose. They're supposed to pop out when you come across a corpse or turn certain corners. They get their own Scare Chord and everything!
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Karmic Death: If you have done perfectly in the game, many of the psychopaths suffer this - most notably,
 * Kick the Dog: Pretty much every single thing TK does.  takes the prize though.
 * Knight Templar: Brandon Whittaker, an insane zombie-rights activist who wants to end human oppression of the undead by turning everyone into zombies. Fortunately, his methods are too small-scale to be much of a threat to anyone except his single female hostage.
 * Large Ham: Many of the psychopaths qualify, but Chef Antoine, Slappy, and Seymour Redding definitely take the cake.
 * I am Antoine! I am THE KING OF CUISINE!
 * Don't worry, Kids! SLAPPY! Will live forever!
 * Everybody else is dead! I'M THE BIG MAN NOW!!
 * As the announcer for a game show, being a Large Ham is TK's job. Also a fan of laughing manically.
 * Last Saturday AD: The game was released September 28th, 2010. "Day 1" is September 25th, the previous Saturday.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: If you manage to get into Overtime Mode, the first thing Chuck hears is  announcing that it's time for the game to go into overtime!
 * Leitmotif: Might be a coincidence, but the beginning of "Kill the Sound" (the credits music) sounds somewhat similar to the beginning of "Justified" (the first game's credits music).
 * Lethal Chef: Antoine. A unique example of this trope in that it has nothing to do with his cooking.
 * Try eating food made from humans, in the middle of a fight, without getting an upset stomach.
 * Lethal Joke Character: One of the survivors, Dean, has a war wound, and refuses to be carried. Due to this, he will move so slow, you HAVE to use a wheelchair to move him around. However, if you have a Leadership magazine, he becomes one of the fastest survivors in the game (save for Snowflake), running almost as fast as Chuck. Plus, he has a great aim, making him a Lightning Bruiser.
 * Literally Shattered Lives: Whatever the hell they're putting in those fire extinguishers is strong enough to completely solidify zombies.
 * Lovely Assistant: sexy twin sisters Crystal and Amber Bailey serve as the assistants of the zombie-killing game show Terror is Reality.
 * MacGyvering: Chuck is a master of this.
 * Made of Plasticine: Zombies tend to fall apart rather quickly when anything other than bare hands are used on them. Humans (either psychopaths or survivors) are a lot more durable.
 * Male Gaze: This game has tons of it. The television broadcast that introduces Stacey shows us her ass (not unlike another Capcom character).
 * The twins sure do love to strut their stuff.
 * The twins sure do love to strut their stuff.

""Now that is the most stupidist retarded thing I've ever heard!""
 * Rebecca's assets seem to be catching Chuck's eye, and is actively flirting with Chuck by... lifting her ass during lockpicking. (She doesn't do it after that.)
 * Bibi. Though this probably counts as Fan Disservice for most.
 * Married to the Job: Carl Schliff, a mail carrier with a fanatical devotion to his work...and a mailbag full of explosives...
 * Mascot: Brent Ernst is a mascot for a kids' clothing store who goes insane when his attractive female coworker is killed by zombies moments after agreeing to go out with him.
 * Don't worry kids, Slappy will live forever!
 * Meaningful Name: What's the perfect name for a morbidly obese pervert who tries to force women to marry him so he can have sex with them? Randy.
 * Randy Tugman to be precise.
 * The last person to be hanged before the fight with Seymour? Justin Tetherford.
 * The Mole:
 * Money for Nothing: You can buy assembled combo weapons, Zombrex and car keys from pawnshops. The pointlessness of buying combo weapons should be self-evident. There's more Zombrex just laying around Fortune City than you even need. The car keys are moderately useful, but priced far above their utility.
 * Moral Dissonance: Your main ally is a zombie-rights activist who protests against the gratuitious slaughter featured in Terror is Reality and disapproves of organizations that condone violence against the undead, and even Chuck makes it clear that he's an unwilling participant who disapproves of the game but does it because he needs the money. Bring on the "x Zombies Killed" death counter!
 * Done intentionally with the main character. He will "do anything" for his daughter, and makes certain she gets Zombrex everyday.
 * C.U.R.E's stance is less that of "Zombie Hug Time!" And more of "We shouldn't be showing our former loved ones sliced in half by chainsaw motorbikes on Pay-Per-View." Chuck sympathises with them because his own wife became a zombie. For all he knows, she may have ended up on the receiving end of a chainsaw somewhere down the line in TiR.
 * More Dakka: You can strap several machine guns to a wheelchair and just roll around, shooting zombies. Chuck is truly Crazy Awesome.
 * Motive Rant: goes on one of these right before you fight him.
 * Nice Hat: Several can be found throughout the mall. Some are fairly ordinary while others are a bit more extravigent.
 * Obviously Evil: TK oozes slime, and his henchwomen are obvious Femme Fatales.
 * Subverted by Sgt. Dwight Boykin, a bald, tattooed Drill Sergeant Nasty who may not ooze as much slime as TK, but at least looks a hell of a lot more evil than, and he makes sure to always get the first kill on a mission; but he really is there to save the survivors and he at least has enough of a heart to It doesn't help that he comes across as an expy of Brock from the first game when you first see him.
 * One of Us: Katey is playing a game from a classic yet highly challenging franchise on a generic but familiar looking portable gaming device. Her dad makes good game buying decisions.
 * Only Sane Man: Chuck spends a lot of time trying to talk people out of either homicidal mania or bad personal decisions.
 * Also, if you read their blog, Gretchen is the level-headed one in the "Tape It Or Die" crew, although her posts are extremely melodramatic Hell, she probably does the right thing, unlike Chuck, and leaves survivors to their well-deserved deaths rather than trying to talk some sense into them.
 * Only Six Faces: Capcom pledges to avert this trope with a system that can make 6000 variants of zombies (gaming sites misunderstood this comment to mean 6000 zombies in an area).
 * The new engine built for the games can apparently handle crowds of zombies ranging in the four-digits however, as opposed to the original game's maximum of 800.
 * Papa Wolf: Chuck is competing in the Terror Is Reality games to raise money for Zombrex for his infected daughter, Katey.
 * The man is basically Ogami Itto in the zombie apocalypse. With a Tesla Rake. Except he doesn't carry Katey around in a shopping cart or something.
 * Phlebotinum Dependence: Katey, and all other Zombie Infectees, must have Zombrex on a regular basis to remain human.
 * Playboy Bunny: One of the Survivors, Lulu, is one. She's already safe in the bunker, however, so no tag teaming with the bunny for you.
 * The Power of Rock: An electric guitar explodes zombie heads. Not since Brutal Legend have we seen such a powerful guitar!
 * Pretty Little Headshots: The executed security guards and.
 * Product Placement: Katey is always seen playing with what looks suspiciously like a PSP. That's not the product placement, the placement is in the game she's playing, it's Mega Man.
 * At the movie theater, you can also find posters for the movies Mega Man 2 and Proto Man.
 * Not to mention the various Playboy ads, or the Kadoya patch on Chuck's default jacket.
 * Quip to Black: See Bond One-Liner. Even better if Chuck is wearing sunglasses.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Now that survivors can hold their own against zombies, taking them on missions is a viable possibility, leading to situations where, say, a biker attacks a bunch of mercenaries with the aid of construction workers and a punk rock band.
 * Rainbow Pimp Gear: The DLC outfits confer status bonuses even when wearing a single item. Players who bought all four may wear one of each to get all of the bonuses. The Ninja outfit is subdued overall, and the Psycho and Soldier boots are black and go with anything, but all pieces of the Sports Fan outfit have garish colors. Averted in Off the Record, where these outfits are unlockables, and bonuses are only given for complete sets.
 * Refuge in Audacity:
 * Rolling Attack: . It won't hurt you much if he hits you with it (being primarily a dodge roll), but he is utterly invincible while doing it. Punches, bullets, fire axes taped to sledgehammers, and even aerial bombings will not harm him while he is rolling.
 * Rule of Cool: A lot of the combo weapons. Why does Traffic Pylon + Spray Paint = Zombie-Head-Exploding Air Horn? This trope.
 * Sassy Black Woman: Lashawndra Dawkins. She even has unique voice clips, and if you give her a gun, she is a force of nature.
 * In case there was any doubt, those voice clips include "Oh HELL naw!", "Oh no you di'nt", and "Mm-hmmm". In the name of fairness, more than one redneck woman spouts "Well, bless my britches!" while you escort her.
 * "SAY WUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT?!"
 * Saw a Woman In Half: The magicians attempt and fail this trick.
 * Saw It in a Movie Once: Chuck can get combo cards for some of the more outlandish combo weapons by examining movie posters.
 * Self-Made Orphan: Randy to his father. See below.
 * Serial Escalation: We start with modding buckets to have drill bits that send gore flying everywhere, and then it goes from there...
 * From there, it makes stops at "flamethrower supersoaker", "electro-rake", "exploding football", and "pitchfork shotgun".
 * There's also a motorized wheelchair with machine guns attached. That spouts trash talk in Robo Speak. Delivered in a big, exploding gift-wrapped box.
 * The Delivery was only in the demo shown at conventions. You don't get to have it show up that way in the real game instead building it with your own hands.
 * A shotgun made by combining a leaf blower with gems.
 * Or even better, tape together a flashlight with gems, and you get a lightsaber LASER SWORD.
 * And to top it all off? At one point, Chuck can tame A GODDAMN TIGER. AND IT PLOWS DOWN ANY ZOMBIE IT SEES. "This will be fun!" And even crazier still is the fact that Chuck can give Snowflake to Katey as a friggin' pet.
 * Serious Business: Even moreso than the original Dead Rising, the psychopaths tend to be people who take their jobs way too seriously.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: Chuck's sponsor, IJIEK Racing, is lead designer Keiji Inafune's name backwards.
 * The Sheriff: Seymour Redding considers himself to be this. He's even perfected the ability to shoot your gun out of your hands!
 * Shotgun Wedding: Randy Tugman attempts one of these (with a chainsaw instead of a shotgun) in an effort to not die a virgin.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: Slaying zombies to mall muzak. The psychopaths avert it though.
 * The Stoic: In contrast to Frank West's often baffled and shocked reactions to the various insane situations he kept coming across, Chuck Greene consistently reacts to the bizarre hijinks of Psychopaths and loony Survivors with an ice-cold, Eastwood-like stare. Justified in that Chuck by this time has just survived an outbreak and was killing zombies for an event when the new outbreak starts, while Frank was witnessing the initial outbreak for the first time.
 * He's considerably less stoic the first time he runs into a psychopath. When Ted shows up, Chuck actually tries to talk his way out of the fight and is almost successful. Four days later, Chuck doesn't even try to talk to
 * Strip Poker: You can play it with your fellow survivors. It also counts as Fan Service or Fan Disservice depending on who you play against.
 * Subverted Trope: There's currently no trope for it, but most of the bosses crawl to a body of either their object of fixtation (Slappy), their loved one, but when the magician duo die, the silent one
 * The usual trope of knocking down something on accident when trying to sneak, and hiding, is subverted. Chuck instead reveals himself to TK, who he was spying on.
 * Suspiciously Similar Song: The music in the Americana casino sounds a LOT like ACDC's "Thunderstruck", but it's off just enough to circumvent copyright.
 * This becomes hilarious when you realize that they're playing a knockoff of a song by an Australian band in an America-themed casino.
 * Take That: Bibi Love is a barely camouflaged parody of Cher, right down to her outfit.
 * Same with Reed and Roger to Penn & Teller, as well as Siegfried & Roy.
 * Antoine can be seen as this to a number of celebrity chefs. Take your pick.
 * Andy is this to philosophy, with Chuck yelling at him to snap out of his theory-making wangst and follow him. He actually snaps out of it for a bit to say that he's being stupid... only to revert into gibberish later.
 * The four DND players are a giant take that to nerds - turns out, Gretchen tried to get them to follow earlier, but they were more worried about character sheets than zombies, and hit on her with no concern.
 * The hostage you save from the psycho in the arena bathroom is one to environmentalists, being more concerned with a rare plant than saving people from dying horrible deaths.
 * The aforementioned psycho is a take that to extremists. He also looks a whole lot like Zach De La Rocha.
 * "Y'know, Paul, I once heard that zombies sparkle in the sunlight."


 * Too Dumb to Live: Okay. We can understand not wanting to leave your safe area until the major threat outside has been dealt with (Lenny, Ray), needing to find your missing spouse or mother (Lashawnda, Chad, Lillian), or just being on such an epic bender that you skipped a day and didn't notice the outbreak (Kristin). We'll can even spot you the odd moment of existential horror (Andy). But a good two-thirds of the survivors don't seem to appreciate that they're in danger at all. Europa's much more concerned with being outside underdressed than the fact there are zombies about, and is most likely only using that as an excuse to see Chuck shirtless, three poker players are more interested in finishing their high-stakes tournament than getting to safety, three call girls won't go with you unless their time is paid for, Stuart is risking both his and his girlfriend's lives in order to loot the casino he works at (and you must hit him over the head with something to get him to listen - and he later tries to start a mutiny, and you call him out on his bullshit), two "kings of comedy" won't leave the store they're in until Chuck gives one of them the comedy trophy of the competition they were supposed to be in (and the loser wants five thousand dollars to follow you), and Bill refuses to leave a casino unless you reimburse him for all the money he gambled away. The further you get into the game, the dumber the survivors seem to get.
 * Fridge Brilliance: It's done on purpose to make a statement about the mindless conformity and consumerism of modern life. Everyone who is a zombie in the game was already a zombie without the virus. When they were alive they were just a bunch of faces in the crowd, mindlessly consuming. It gets even more brilliant when you realize that the game takes place in shopping malls and casinos, the ultimate symbols of conformity and consumerism.
 * Also, Bibi. She is shocked- shocked- to learn that her "adoring fans" who want to "eat her up" are zombies. Upon learning this, she is glibbering too hard to even talk to you until you clear the immediate area.
 * Neither Chuck nor any of his friends thought to just have him leave some Zombrex with Katey, and have her apply it herself? Or have Stacey apply it for her? No matter how much Zombrex you had last time you visited the Safe House, if you don't make it back to give Katey her next shot yourself, she'll turn.
 * Life or death medicine is probably not something you would trust a little kid with. Especially because if she takes it too soon (or gets distracted and takes it too late), she zombifies. As for Stacey: Chuck met her on the first day. The game takes place over about 4 days (not counting Overtime). Yes, they grow to respect and trust each other (as evident in Overtime), but that is still his daughter's life. Maybe Chuck is being overprotective, but it isn't really "too dumb to live". As for leaving his spares: He can't trust the survivors (I think some WERE bitten?) to not steal it and use it themselves.
 * Angel Lust could possibly be cut some slack. Given the type of music they play, it wouldn't be surprising if their real, living fans looked and acted just like zombies anyway.
 * They're pretty obviously a punk band, though. If they were playing emo rock, sure.
 * Keep in mind, in a world where zombies exist, it makes a LOT of sense that punks (and other counterculture-types) would adopt zombie mannerisms as a means of rebellion, or self-expression, ie: the exact sort of thing one would indulge in at a concert.
 * Trash Talk: Amber, Crystal and TK never ever miss a single opportunity to insult Chuck; his manhood, his motocross or fighting skills, his genes, whatever, it's all fair game for them. Even if he actually did win the TIR event at the beginning of the game, they never let up on the smugness. Chuck rarely responds to the barbs, though; he's got thick skin.
 * Trial and Error Gameplay: About half the psychopaths can only be beaten via certain tricks that you'll never get on your first try without a walkthrough. Your only option is to keep fighting and dying until you learn their patterns so you can utterly curb stomp them in your next fight. Additionally, learning where all the best weapons or weapon components requires you to run around a bunch before you can figure out the optimal paths through the mall.
 * TV Never Lies: Brutally deconstructed. Chuck gets a lot of trouble from survivors and psychos after being identified in Rebecca's report. One survivor threatens mutiny some time after being rescued.
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change:
 * Unique Enemy: The zombified bride in the "Swept Away" Wedding Chapel, which pops up after defeating Randy. She's pretty much the only zombie in the game to have a unique model.
 * At the end of a case involving a Phenotrans lab, you encounter two scientists. A cutscene plays and then they pick up pistols and start shooting at you, and in game they easily die with a handful of shots from a conveniently placed Merc Assault Rifle. While they do have health bars, they're so weak they don't even qualify as an Anticlimax Boss fight.
 * Useless Useful Spell: The "BFG" gun will cause, which are immune to Queens, to explode in one shot. However, it won't do a thing to humans or regular zombies other than knocking them over. It is a situational weapon at best, but once you have a pack of them chasing you down the strip, you'll probably be thankful you have one. Combine one with an amp. Do it. Trust us on this.
 * Vasquez Always Dies:
 * Video Game Caring Potential: You can obtain quite a lot of different gifts to give to Katey, which will remain in her safe room. She's overjoyed each time - and it nets you bonus PP and an Achievement.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Many players simply cannot stand the stupidest and most callous of the survivors (such as the girl in the Arena bathroom who wants to save some worthless plant species, the fat man in the resturant in the Fortune City Arena who wont follow you unless you give his fat ass some food, or the Casino worker who loots a casino in the middle of a zombie apocalypse rather than being concerned with safety). So instead of rescuing them, they: beat them to death with a bat, chop them up with a chainsaw, leave them to the zombies, shoot them full of holes with a Light Machine Gun, light them on fire, blow them up, smash their skulls in with a sledgehammer, chop them up with a machete, blast them to the ground with a shotgun and repeatedly fire on them if they try to get back up, crack their skulls open by repeatedly hitting golfballs into their head, throw knives at them, electrocute them, run them over with a car, pummel them with their bare hands, etc.
 * Villain's Dying Grace: After he defeats Carl Schliff, Chuck takes a box of Zombrex from his mailbag and says he needs it for his daughter. The mortally-wounded Carl signs for it himself, then arms his last mail bomb to make one final delivery...
 * Viva Las Vegas: The game takes place in a Vegas analogue called Fortune City. Justified in that the real Las Vegas was overrun by zombies shortly before the events of Case Zero.
 * What Could Have Been The art book for Dead Rising 2 and some early previews show that the game would've taken place in one large, Western-themed casino with a steamboat in the side (source)(or perhaps that was one of the several casino/hotels, along with a different, Luxor-like Yucatan, seen in some pictures provided), that Fortune City would be an actual city with a large entertainment-like area similar to the final game's Fortune City and near a Phenotrans (then called Biotrans) facility (source), overall more ambitious and large scale concepts for the area and casinos (source) (source) (source), and a different design for the entrance to the bar in the Yucatan.
 * Wolverine Claws: The ever-popular knife gloves.
 * X on a Stick: Chainsaw Good x 2 + Double Paddle + Duct Tape
 * The Defiler is a fire-axe-sledgehammer combo. It's lamer than it sounds, but is best kept for crowd clearing.
 * Machete + Broom = Machete on a Stick... er, Pole Weapon. Very useful.
 * You Bastard: Failing to give Katey the Zombrex in time will cause her to die and give you Ending F once the military arrives and you're in the safe house, in which But hey, at least you get Free Roam until the military arrives!
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: A few stores allow Chuck to change his hair color with dye. Blue is only the first color you can get. Many others such as pink and gray can be found with enough exploration.
 * Your Head Asplode: There are several custom weapons that do this, such as an airhorn so loud it destroys zombie heads, a guitar so strong it blows up multiple zombies, and, late in the game, a sonic gun that has almost no effect on normal humans and regular zombies but makes "special" zombies explode after one shot.
 * Zombie Infectee: Unlike the usual for this trope, it's in the infectee's best interest to NOT hide it, because there's a temporary vaccine they can take to keep them from turning.
 * Zombie Infectee: Unlike the usual for this trope, it's in the infectee's best interest to NOT hide it, because there's a temporary vaccine they can take to keep them from turning.

Dead Rising 2: Case West Provides Examples Of:

 * Ascended Meme: "You're a little high-strung for a guy who's covered wars."
 * His description in the notebook is "He's covered wars, you know."
 * Bag of Spilling: Played straight and averted. Chuck starts at Lv. 40 and must work his way back to Lv. 50, as well as relearn the moves he would have had, assuming you maxed our your level. Frank, on the other hand, is packing every technique he learned from the first game.
 * Bilingual Bonus: For those of you who don't know what
 * Boss in Mooks Clothing: Hazard Units (security officers wearing bomb suits and armed with Impact Hammers). There are only several of them in the entire game, and they serve as sort of mini-bosses.
 * Canon Discontinuity:
 * Escort Mission: Averted for the first time in the series. The surviving Phenotrans scientists know their way around the facility, so all you have to do is fulfill whatever request they might have (usually a Fetch Quest), and they head off for safety on their own.
 * Foreshadowing:
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Near the end of the game, you confront Marion, the leader of Phenotrans, have a couple exchanges with her, and then
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Marion, despite Needless to say, neither  have anything so grotesque on them.
 * Misanthrope Supreme: The Director of Phenotrans tells Frank and Chuck that humanity deserves the zombies when explaining why
 * Red Herring: Saving one of the survivors gives you access to the tunnel keys informing that one of the scientists went insane, causing you to think that you get to face a Psychopath...
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Chuck and Frank, respectively.
 * Sequel Hook:.
 * Suddenly Ethnicity: Just after rescues Chuck and Frank, the towering figure of the final boss appears behind her. He's huge, armed with dual impact hammers, and wearing a... turban? Then some perky Indian music starts playing in the background for good measure.
 * Trailers Always Spoil: One of Chuck's main objectives in Dead Rising 2 is to clear his name from being framed of starting the Zombie Outbreak in Fortune City, later in the game, but as the trailer for Case West was shown before the orginal game release date, it shows Chuck in a quest not only to bring down the people responsable for the many zombie outbreaks around the country but he still says he gotta clean his name up.
 * Funny thing is that one of the PlayStation 3 trophies/X360 achievements for DR2 is after completing enough cases to deserve said award, but as Case West suggests Chuck can't really brag about receiving such award.
 * Because although he has proven himself innocent, Chuck is still to find the ultimate real culprit of this entire disaster.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Chuck and Frank; Type 2.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: You're going to wind up killing a lot of security guards and zombie wranglers over the course of Case West. Maybe they know about Phenotrans's duplicity. Maybe they don't.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: First, read the entry for Values Dissonance in DR2. Now imagine what's going through Chuck's mind when
 * Zombie Infectee: Frank is one of the several people who has to take Zombrex in order to surpress the zombie larva inside him.
 * Funny thing is that one of the PlayStation 3 trophies/X360 achievements for DR2 is after completing enough cases to deserve said award, but as Case West suggests Chuck can't really brag about receiving such award.
 * Because although he has proven himself innocent, Chuck is still to find the ultimate real culprit of this entire disaster.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Chuck and Frank; Type 2.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: You're going to wind up killing a lot of security guards and zombie wranglers over the course of Case West. Maybe they know about Phenotrans's duplicity. Maybe they don't.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: First, read the entry for Values Dissonance in DR2. Now imagine what's going through Chuck's mind when
 * Zombie Infectee: Frank is one of the several people who has to take Zombrex in order to surpress the zombie larva inside him.

Dead Rising: Off the Record provides examples of:
"(Frank is carrying a load of carnival prizes when Stacy rings.) Frank: (annoyed) What is it, Stacy? Stacy: Frank! I've been trying to reach you for hours! There's a guy here... Frank: (heavy sigh) Let me guess. Guy. Stuck in a store. Twelve zombies around him. Needs a piggyback to the safehouse. (long pause) Well, guess play time is over."
 * And Your Reward Is Clothes: The original DLC outfits are unlockable and give their bonuses if worn as a matching set. If Off the Record detects a save file of Dead Rising 2, then Frank can wear Chuck's gear.
 * Ascended Meme: There's several fantastic comments on covering wars throughout the game.
 * Bag of Spilling: You'll have to level Frank up all over again to re-learn all his sweet zombie-killing moves. Justified in that Frank's probably gone soft after five years of living the high life since the Willamette outbreak.
 * Bonus Boss: Two, actually. They aren't bonus bosses, per se, yet they are new additions to Off The Record. They are:
 * Evan MacIntyre: A midget clown on stilts who doubles as an ice cream vendor. He works in Uranus Zone and is the Naturally, he is pissed about Frank  and is out for his blood,  He fights using his stilts and a modified snowball cannon.
 * : He serves as the replacement of Leon in the game, rewarding the player with the Slicecycle and keys to the bike trailer upon  defeat. In a chilling reveal  body is gone meaning that  maybe watching you during the rest of the game or worse, it was all in your head.
 * Bond One-Liner: Frank does them a lot more than Chuck ever did.
 * Book Ends:
 * Boomerang Bigot: In his boss fight intro cutscene,
 * Casino Park: Fortune City
 * Catch Phrase/Ascended Meme: "I've covered wars, you know."
 * Catchphrase Interruptus: Frank pulls an amusing one off in the final battle.
 * Composite Character: Europa Westinghouse is a composite character of herself and Vikky Taylor and will give Frank the side-mission of recovering a plant from a store on the Palasides Mall in the latter`s place.  Off the Record`s Frank West is arguably a composite character of the original versions of himself and Chuck Greene.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: As the director of Phenotrans says in Off The Record, a cure for zombieism has already been found, but is not being distributed BECAUSE IT MEANS THE COMPANY WOULD MAKE LESS MONEY.
 * Denser and Wackier: Just look at the E3 Trailer!
 * Deadpan Snarker: Frank will often say rude or sarcastic remarks to survivors and psychopaths.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: A series of trailers for Off the Record showcase Frank's ultimate fall from grace: he's reduced to shilling the "Disposable Digicheap Disposable Camera" along with "Frank's Fantastic Foto Facts".
 * Drowning My Sorrows:
 * Empathy Doll Shot:
 * Evil Costume Switch:
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Fallen Hero:.
 * Fauxshadow: The cutscenes in Off the Record use about 40%-50% of the same dialogue as the original game, so all the dialogue and camera angles suggesting there's something not quite right about  are still there. However,
 * Game Breaker: The aptly named DLC Gamebreaker pack, which is basically the games Cheat codes! Capcom is literally selling the standard fare of cheats, such as unlimited weapon durablility, instant PP, god mode, filters and super speed. You can make the game a breeze, but it will cost you ($5.00, 400 MS Points).
 * Of course there's also Sandbox Mode....
 * Giant Enemy Crab: This is what the
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Frank seems to be jealous of Chuck in the Captivate trailer.
 * Heel Face Turn: Sullivan is much friendlier to Frank than he ever was to Chuck in the original story.
 * Irony: Despite Frank's saying that "everything" would be changed, most of the Psychopaths are little different from how they were in the original, not to mention only some slight script changes (minus certain plot twists).
 * Jump Scare: In the last second of the S ending,
 * Lampshade Hanging: A particularly hysterical one.
 * Lampshade Hanging: A particularly hysterical one.

"Frank (after battle): Frank (after cutscene):"
 * Done twice in a row after Frank :


 * The Lancer: Chuck becomes this to Frank in Co-Op mode.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Frank's last line in the trailer, "Frank West is back in the game."
 * Lighter and Edgier: Off The Record manages to be both to the original Dead Rising 2. Examples: We have the new Uranus Zone theme park area, which manages to lighten the atmosphere a little bit (see Denser and Wackier above), yet This is balanced by Frank's lack of personal ties, allowing for a more light-hearted story, as well as having a clown (Evan) as a boss, yet
 * Literally Shattered Lives: Evan after you beat him.
 * Masked Luchador: The zombie wrestlers, and Frank West too, albeit unmasked.
 * Mirror Match: Made possible during
 * Nerfed: The Survivor A.I. is noticeably more incompetant than they were in the original Dead Rising 2, although not quite as bad as they were in the first Dead Rising. This is either to balance the game because Capcom throught they were too powerful in the original version, or because Frank gives off an aura that makes his allies behave like idiots.
 * Inverted with the looters, who are much tougher this time around and have a huge variety of weapons and nasty tricks.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Though he was obviously unstable, was being reasonably civil until Frank
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: TK's still a grade-A douche, but if it wasn't for his actions in Overtime mode  His plan to loot the city also
 * Evil mastermind  also qualifies, as   Contrast that with , in the original game, who makes one or two token gestures of assistance (giving Chuck the maintainance room keys and not throwing him out of the Safe House), but otherwise just remains uninvolved, tries to insist saving everyone is futile, and even gets in the way a little.
 * Not as You Know Them: While most of the characters are the same as the original game, there are some key differences.
 * Oh Crap: Frank lets out a seriously worried one when he
 * In Sandbox Mode the first challenge you can do is "Rooftop Massacre", which after a few thousand zombie kills get's a sequel named "Rooftop Massacre Pt. 2".
 * The Other Darrin: Although she's voiced by the same actress, Stacey's appearance is subtly different in Off The Record, with a voice and facial features that are more mature and sultry than her "cuter" original appearance.
 * Pandering to the Base: Word of God has explicitly said Off the Record is one huge ball of pandering.
 * Phlebotinum Dependence: You'll still need to go out of your way to find Zombrex, but this time you'll be using it on yourself instead of having to run back to the safehouse to give it to someone else.
 * Running Gag: Covering wars, you know.
 * Stock Footage: Plenty of the Psychopath Opening (and ending) cut-scenes are rather blatant examples of this. In which in a lot of these cutscenes the only one who has any different dialogue whatsoever is Frank himself. But there are certain exceptions such as Slappy and Carl the Mailman though.
 * Stout Strength: Frank's put on a few pounds around the midsection since Willamette, but he's still just as strong as ever.
 * Uranus Is Showing: "Uranus Zone".
 * Up to Eleven: More zombies than ever on one screen. Because Frank is just that tough.
 * The 'Six Digits?!' Achievement. And yes, it's one of the main reasons for Sandbox Mode's existence.
 * Updated Rerelease
 * Vinyl Shatters: You can throw vinyl at zombies, which shatters. May be a hat-tip to Shaun of the Dead.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Frank and Chuck are still a type-2 in co-op mode.
 * What If: This time, it's Frank who breaks the story, not Chuck, and in co-op, Chuck is the sidekick.
 * Who Writes This Crap?: Frank expresses his displeasure at the cheesiness of some of the fortune telling machine's lines.
 * Wide Open Sandbox: Single player and co-op for the first time in a Dead Rising game. And the Fandom Rejoiced.
 * Turned Up to Eleven with Sandbox Mode (fan named Infinite Mode) which gameplaywise is a sequel to the first game's extra mode. Features drop-in-drop-out co-op, challenges, and the freedom to do everything. And killing everything, since survivors hate you. Besides that, it's one of the easiest ways to level up.
 * Would Hit a Girl:.
 * You Killed My Brother: One of the new Psychopaths in Off the Record is Evan, the brother of Adam the Clown from the original Dead Rising. He's initially friendly (if divorced from reality), but quickly turns hostile when he realises that you're Frank West, the man who killed his brother. It becomes a Funny Moment as you can be wearing a servbot head and Arthur's armor and he'll still recongize you.
 * You Killed My Brother: One of the new Psychopaths in Off the Record is Evan, the brother of Adam the Clown from the original Dead Rising. He's initially friendly (if divorced from reality), but quickly turns hostile when he realises that you're Frank West, the man who killed his brother. It becomes a Funny Moment as you can be wearing a servbot head and Arthur's armor and he'll still recongize you.