Having two players also helps with the Psychopath boss battles (yes, there is a psychopath with a hungry tiger) - as some of them are pretty tough. With co-op, one player can lour the boss away while the other player flanks and attacks from behind. One player can take a break and heal if they get a little too low, or even revive one another with food items (so it’s a good idea for both players to carry food of some sort).
The ability to revive one-another made the game infinitely less frustrating and co-op entirely worth-while. The psychopath bosses were almost a breeze compared to playing alone. I don’t feel like the zombie presence scaled with a second player, the game is just that much more challenging than the first. Zombies are more vicious, and more densely packed in almost every area.
The one kind-of disappointing point to the co-op, though it makes sense, is that the player joining the host game is not able to save story progress. Though, you do get to keep all of your experience and money gained from playing with your friends. Rescuing civilians and other major story points all have shared PP and other (monetary) rewards. Either player (the guest or the host) can initiate any story progress, but you can’t really split up outside of specific areas to pursue different missions.
Co-op in Dead Rising 2 works really well and makes things a lot more interesting in the realm of Fortune City. It may not be perfect co-op, but sharing weapons, defeating psychos, and generally experiencing the campaign of the game with a buddy is absolutely worth it.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Each player takes the role of Chuck, the game's main character - but they can completely customize the look of their character as they take on hordes of zombies together.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.