Dead Rising 2: Off the Record is a reimagining of Dead Rising 2 with Frank West as the protagonist. It is a full retail release, released on October 11th in North America, October 13th in Europe, and on October 14th, 2011 in Japan, respectively for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Like Dead Rising 2, the game is once again set in Fortune City, with Frank attempting to uncover the truth behind the Fortune City incident. Off the Record features additional combo weapons, extra cases, a new area called Uranus Zone - a space-themed children's theme park area, complete with rides to help kill zombies - and a long desired Sandbox Mode for killing zombies freely with no worries about a time limit. [1]
Story
Frank West covers the Fortune City outbreak, instead of Chuck Greene. It also changes the plot of Dead Rising 2 significantly in regards to the different characters and their motives.
After surviving the outbreak that occurred in Dead Rising, Frank West quickly became a bit of a celebrity. After authoring a successful book, he is given his own talk show, but soon wastes his opportunities and money as his fifteen minutes of fame expire. In hopes to regain a place in the spotlight, he accepts an offer from Tyrone King to appear as a special guest on Terror is Reality.
Frank tells Rebecca about what he saw, when they hear explosions going on from outside the safehouse. A number of TK's goons are trying to break the casino vaults. After Frank stops them, Rebecca invites him to come with her to see her source at Bennie Jack's later. Frank comes with the money, and it is taken by one of TK's guards. After, Frank is confronted by the Bailey twins. They attack him, but he fights back and manages to kill one of them. The other, grief-stricken at the loss of her sister, commits suicide. Rebecca and Frank catch a chopper on top of the hotel, which TK is trying to escape with. Frank destroys the helicopter, leaving TK knocked out. They bring TK back to the safe house and explain the story to Sullivan.
By this time, the military rescue is imminent, so Frank decides to go on top of the Royal Flush rooftop to get a good view. When the military arrives, they have little trouble with the zombies at first. The sergeant in charge of the team escapes the zombies, gets in a truck, and heads underground. Rebecca (who was also filming the military) follows. Frank heads to the underground, and finds the sergeant has gone completely insane and has kidnapped Rebecca. After defeating the sergeant (who then kills himself), Frank gets Rebecca back to the safehouse. They confront TK, asking where he got the gas. TK only refuses to say anything. Only that when asked why he framed CURE, he said that was just the name that "they" gave him. After, they are talking in the security room when the door is breached, allowing zombies to enter the safehouse. Frank goes out and hotwires the panel, releasing a second door to re-secure it. After realizing it wasn't an accident, Frank goes to search for TK, and finds him sneaking around the safe house. TK is knocked over by a zombie that was still in the safe house and is bitten. Frank contemplates if he should give TK the Zombrex he needs, but eventually gives him the drug.
Sullivan, Frank, Stacey and Rebecca are watching the television when they hear on the news that a military firebombing has been ordered, because someone told them that there were no survivors in the safe house. The group are now convinced that TK was not the only person behind the outbreak. Frank then decides the only way to find out who created the gas is to find the source. He heads to the underground tunnels and finds a secret base of people harvesting queens from the zombies. Frank discovers these people are employed by Phenotrans, the company that manufactures Zombrex. He grabs a laptop with proof, a phone and a keycard, and then turns off the gas. He heads back to the safe house with the new information. Rebecca explains that they did this because of lack of sales of Zombrex, and in order to drive up their stock price, they started this outbreak. Rebecca is about to use the phone to call her station to come get everyone, when she is shot in the stomach by Stacey.
Frank heads to Fortune Park and finds that Phenotrans has deployed several machines designed to harvest queens from the zombies they created. After he destroys the harvesters and finds a radio, he goes to Uranus Zone to confront Stacey. TK is not amongst them, however. Frank goes to get him, but soon finds out he is gone, along with Rebecca's body. All Frank can find is Rebecca's ID card.
Endings
Ending S
Method: Frank completes all cases and saves TK with Zombrex (TK is Infected). This will unlock Overtime Mode.
After defeating Stacey Forsythe and withholding the firebombing, Frank lands on the rooftop of the safe house, but heads back into the safe house to collect TK and the bodies of Raymond Sullivan and Rebecca Chang. Inside the safe house, TK and Rebecca are nowhere to be found. Frank picks up Rebecca's dropped ID Card, and stands there silently with it in his hand as the game seemingly ends.
After the credits roll, a case called "Overtime Mode" is unlocked, and Frank finds that both TK and Rebecca are alive. Frank heads over to the Arena, after picking up some things for TK, Frank gets stunned by TK. He awakes in the same condition as in the beginning of the game. He then saves Rebecca, after throwing TK over a ledge to his death. Frank then carries Rebecca from the scene romantically, before a screaming zombie ruins the moment leaving the player with one last scare.
Ending B
Method: Frank completes all cases, but does not give TK Zombrex.
A zombified TK meets Frank at between the Helipad/Elevator entrance and tackles him to the ground, as Frank continues punching him. The pilot flees in the Helicopter, with the last of the survivors. The post-game subtitles read:
Unable to deal effectively with the Fortune City outbreak, the U.S. government dispatched a squadron of bombers to level Fortune City, erasing all traces of life, both alive and undead..... A convoy of civilian media choppers managed to rescue the safe house survivors shortly before the bombing..... Frank West was not among them... The Fortune City Outbreak became known as "Fortune's End".
Ending C
Method: Complete the game up to when the Military arrives then fail all subsequent cases.
Stacey will not wait for Frank, leaving in Helicopter, sarcastically wishing him luck with catching great POV shots of the firebombing. The post-game subtitles read:
Unable to deal effectively with the Fortune City outbreak, the U.S. government dispatched a squadron of bombers to level Fortune City, erasing all traces of life, both alive and undead..... There is no record of the shelter dwellers having made it out of the city alive. Whether they succumbed to the Zombie attack or were incinerated in the subsequent firebombing is unknown.
Ending D
Method: Fail the cases before the military arrives, and get to the safehouse.
Frank waits for rescue as gunshots are fired and screams are heard. Frank is stunned when he sees the attacker, remarking "You...", just before being shot and killed. The post-game credits read:
The attempted rescue of the Fortune City survivors was considered a military failure. There is no record of any shelter dwellers having made out of the city alive. What really happened in Fortune City remains unknown. The incident became known as "Fortune's End".
Ending E
Method: Fail the cases and don't get to the safehouse when the military arrives.
Frank is captured and handcuffed by the military. As the vehicle stops, the soldiers curiously open the door as the screen is fogged and they are most likely attacked. The post-game credits read:
The attempted rescue of the Fortune City survivors was considered a military failure. The military was unprepared with what they found. There is no record of any shelter dwellers having made it out of the city alive... Frank West was reportedly encountered by the Military early in the operation, but no proof of this was ever found. This incident came to be known as "Fortune's End".
Gameplay Changes
- Instead of giving Katey Greene her daily dose of Zombrex, the player will have to find Zombrex for Frank every day to prevent him from turning. Not giving Frank Zombrex will simply lead to a Game Over, regardless of his location.
- In Coop mode, the second player (Chuck) can no longer pick up free Zombrex nor can he buy them from Pawnshop. Standing over Zombrex makes him call out Frank instead.
- The font for Off The Record is bigger than Dead Rising 2.
- Photography has returned in Off the Record with the same category system present in Dead Rising: Special, Brutality, Erotica, Horror, Drama, Outtake, and No Genre.
- 15 new combo cards that Frank or Chuck can make.
- Terror is Reality has been taken out to make room for Sandbox Mode, a limitless, free reign mode filled with various challenges. In Sandbox mode, similar to Dead Rising's ∞ Mode, survivors are hostile, attacking the player. Unlike ∞ Mode, health doesn't deplete, and you can use your camera and watch freely.
- Scoops and information no longer make the character stand still while answering calls. This is due to the fact that the Transceiver has been replaced by a hands free version that allows Frank to move, jump, and attack. The only thing he cannot do is talk to other survivors.
- Chuck Greene has become an unkempt, drunken, Slicecycle-wielding psychopath after losing his daughter Katey in the outbreak. He appears in place of Leon Bell and the bike trailer now has picture on it. The original version of Chuck also appears as the visiting player in co-op mode.
- As is the case in DR2, Frank gains certain hand-to-hand moves as he levels up. However, the moves he gains are different from the ones that Chuck used in the original game. In co-op mode, however, Chuck uses his original DR2 move-set, giving the two players slightly different fighting styles.
- Adam MacIntyre's brother, Evan MacIntyre, is present in the game, wielding a variation of the Snowball Cannon.
- The Protoman Costume is a hidden costume which, similar to the Knight Armour and Megaman Outfit, is a reference to a Capcom character, this time Protoman from the Megaman series.
- There are three new DLC outfits available online. The four outfits from the original DR2 can be unlocked by finding, earning, or purchasing the components. However, unlike the original, all four components of the outfit must be worn simultaneously to benefit from its effects.
- Checking the time, as well as managing cases, has now been integrated with the map. The game clock freezes while the player is doing this.
- A new system of security boxes and a bank located in Uranus Zone have been introduced.
- There are "scare" zombies present, as well as new Uranus Zone zombies.
- Unlike the first Dead Rising, a PP amount gained from Photo Op has been greatly reduced in comparison with 10,000 PP from the original game.
- Money is much easier to obtain. In Dead Rising 2, smashing an ATM would reward Chuck with $2,500. In Off the Record, ATM's give Frank $5,000.
- If you join a friend's game from inside of your own, you can no longer carry over your current inventory. This eliminates the ability to clone items such as magazines, as was possible in Dead Rising 2.
- Frank West appears, as in Case West, drastically different to the way he looked in the original Dead Rising.
- In the Underground Laboratory, there is now a set of stairs from lower level to the upper level.
- Some items have new spawning locations.
- Frank West's drinking and eating animations are similar to the ones in the first game.
Trivia
- There is no ending A in Off the Record, because ending A is the canon ending and since OTR is out of continuity, there is no canon ending.
- According to the official game guide, Ending A is technically the ending that leads into Overtime and Ending S.
- Although it is canon that Frank was at the Fortune City outbreak, he wasn't there until the third day where he would save Chuck from TK in the elevator after ending A and Chuck, not knowing that Stacey had enough evidence to clear his name, felt a need to do it himself, thus Case West was born.
- During the course of the game unlike Chuck and Frank's other iterations, Frank now makes verbal comments about his surroundings, other characters and survivors, and about what he's doing, a first for the series.
- When Frank saves Terri and Willa he says "Have you girls noticed you all sound alike?" which is a reference to most if not all female survivors in the game having the same or similar voice over/clips.
- After Frank exits the vents at the beginning of the game he'll say: "They never think of the vents." or "What is it with me and vents?" a clear reference to how he get in and out between the Willamette Parkview Mall and safe house in his first call to action in Dead Rising.
- If you look in the lens of Frank's camera in the Off The Record logo, there is a white silhouette of Chun-Li, from Capcom's Street Fighter series.
- In Dead Rising 2 when a psychopath was beaten the body would disappear. This was changed in Off The Record as it was in Dead Rising with the bodies staying in place (With the exception of Chuck Greene), possibly because of the bonus camera PP points.
- If you have a Save File from Dead Rising 2, Chuck's outfit will be unlocked at the Safehouse.
- All the notebook pictures compared to DR2 are better. This may be referencing that since Frank is a photographer and Chuck isn't they look a lot more professional or even implying Frank took the photos himself.
- A large handful of the fanbase still believes Off the Record to be canon to the main series. This is false, as Capcom has stated numerous times that Dead Rising 2 is canon and Off the Record is a completely separate reality from the main series.
- However, it is rumored that if Off the Record did well enough, Capcom had planned change the main canon to it and make Dead Rising 2 non canon. This obviously never happened.
- Most of the psychopaths in Off the Record have less health than they did in Dead Rising 2.
- When the player defeats Chuck in the mission People Like Us, Frank will say " I swear I met that guy somewhere before". This can either refer to co-op gameplay or it can refer to Dead Rising 2: Case West.
- The cover of Saint's Row 4 may be partially based off of Off The Record's cover.
Glitches
There are fourteen distinct glitches in Off The Record.
- Floating Objects: This is glitch where things particularly boxes float as if it is stacked on another. These items can't be acquired in Frank's inventory. This glitch is fairly common if one pays attention.
- Ghost Doors: This is glitch happens when the player tries to shut an open door and it automatically opens back up no matter from side the player opens it.
- Inoperable Doors: This glitch's action is in it's title where doors single or pair of don't work the "Open" sign does appear next to them, even the maintenance rooms doors are victims to this glitch.
- Flying Zombies: This is very rare, this happens when a zombie is in a tight space like in a "single doorway" the zombie has to be killed in there. the zombie will slide up the doorway... dead. The player can still hit it but, it'll just be stuck at the top of the doorway.
- Zombies Stuck!?: Sometimes if the player pays attention they'll see zombies stuck in large structures such as in the Underground areas.
- Falling Zombie: A zombie will fall from the sky unharmed, very rare.
- Invisible Clutter: Frank will get stuck as if there's an object in his way. He can walk around it or jump over it but he'll continue encountering it unless he enters a new area.
- Useless Weapons: When Frank exchanges a weapon with a survivor in a certain way, the weapon Frank receives will not allow him to attack with. The only solution is to drop that weapon or restart the game. It's unknown if all types of weapons are affected by this, so far only melee weapons such as the tomahawk, the broadsword and the meat cleaver. A particular example of this glitch might be if you exchange the six shooter acquired during WWJWD for Ray's baseball bat.
- Double psychopaths?: When Frank kills a psychopath while he/she is healing, the psychopath death cutscene appears yet the psychopath will have two bodies. one where he/she is supposed to die, another is where you killed him/her but with a bit of heath left, sliding on the floor slowly. This is common with Antoine, Since he heals a lot more often. fun fact: you can hit the psychopath while the glitch happens to kill him/her again but wont trigger the cutscene again.
- Disappearing Notebook Portraits: After the player completes the game and starts a new save file, a few of the portraits collected from the previous playthrough may vanish from the notebook. Unknown level of rarity.
- Invincible Flaming Zombies: Sometimes, zombies that are hit by a molotov cocktail thrown by a looter will continue to walk around on fire for an extended period of time and not perish. Attacks go right through these zombies and deal no damage, however they can still attack and deal regular damage to Frank. This is rather rare and the cause is currently unknown.
- Player Stuck!?: Every once in a while, If the psychopath Chuck hits the player with his motorcycle hard enough, he will go flying and rather than hitting the ground and getting up, his legs will become stuck in the ground. This glitch is extremely rare and can be undone if a zombie injures the player.
- No Messages!?: You must have no messages for this to work. On the third day, be at the Royal Flush Plaza entrance to the Slot Ranch Casino at 9am ( which is when Stacey will call you for the mission Ante Up). Answer the message. When Stacey starts talking, immediately enter into the Slot Ranch Casino (using the Dodge Roll skill move). You should have no messages for the rest of the game. However, the survivors and psychopaths from the messages will still appear.
- Flying Frank!?: Rarely, when fighting Stacey after the military arrive, Frank can be hit by the UFO machines leg and thrown up into the air. After around 15 seconds he will land and only take the damage he would from the impact of the UFO normally.
Gallery
