News from Capcom's booth!

This update comes a handful of days late, but I figure it's better late than never, or so the adage goes.

As recapped in the last post, Nintendo had a solid presence at Wondercon...but nothing compares to the sprawling monolith at the heart of the convention center dedicated to the one and only Capcom. Though a comic convention, Wondercon's most prominent display was from a video game company. It warmed my heart to see DC in Capcom's shadow.

Capcom had several games on display, the most prominent being the recently released and long-awaited Street Fighter IV. The front of their booth held a kiosk of two 360 units, a PS3, and an arcade cab. Throughout the con, it was a hotspot for newcomers to play their first fighter since Championship Edition on the SNES and some heated competition between hardcore fighter fans. Even yours truly got in a pretty nice streak before being unseated by some cheap Zangief tactics.


Off to the side of the quarter circle orgy was a modest display of Capcom's upcoming DLC strategy title Flock, where you control an alien ship herding sheep. It's an intriguing little title, but I unfortunately did not get to spend any time with the game. Being remiss in neglecting the little cottonball, I plan to inspect it when it's released on April 8th.

The main attraction of the booth, however, was nestled away behind the merchandise store in a glorified cubicle of mysterious treasure. This was Capcom's M-rated booth, where those blessed with the appropriate identification or mastery of Jedi mind tricks could sample the more graphic goodies: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising: Chop 'Till You Drop, and Bionic Commando. RE5 was merely the Japanese version of the XBLA/PSN demo, so it needs no discussion here.

Chop 'Till You Drop is the Wii remake of the early 360 smash Dead Rising, a simple beat-'em-up that let players roam through a playable Dawn of the Dead homage and cause whatever zany chaos they liked. I was originally baffled at the decision to port this nearly 3 year old game to a less powerful system. However, after some hands-on time with it, I can say my initial impressions are more positive than I anticipated.

The first thing anyone will note is the graphical hit required to function on Nintendo's little white box. While the actual models haven't changed much, there are some very noticeable jaggies. The most severe graphical downgrade is in the animation, where the 360's fluid dismemberments are replaced with generic bloodspurts and explosions that would seem more at home on the late PS1. The Wii's limited on-screen unit capabilities means no more littering an area with your fallen foes.

Gone is the photography mechanic, which is a two-edged sword. On one hand, you've lost the ability to take hilarious screenshots of your Ashley Williams-esque escapades, but you've also lost the tedium of finding fresh frames to level up. Experience is now gained solely via stomping the undead. Not all that has been stripped away is a bad thing, as the loss of most voice acting not only saves you from hearing Frank West's "I've covered wars" broken record, but also Otis' insufferable nagging.

But for all that has been toned down or taken away, Capcom seems to have balanced it out with new controls, gameplay mechanics, and other tidbits. The camera has become somewhat more situated over Frank's shoulder, which, coupled with an aiming control scheme assimilated from RE4 Wii, gives the game a more streamlined run and gun experience. Melee hits are now divided into weak (A), strong (waggle), and a host of new specials, usually performed once the zombie in incapacitated by a knee shot or buckshot spray. For instance, the old Home Run move with the baseball bat is charged with a fast wiimote waggle that results in a swing of immense splash damage that hurls all in-range zombies off into the distance like Team Rocket in a way that is inexplicably gut-busting. Unfortunately, many of the waggle motions required for special moves are ambiguous or unresponsive.

The once universal inventory screen has been split between a d-pad controlled weapon selection, a miscellaneous item/healing pause screen, and the ability to have a melee weapon equipped at all times, even during gunplay. The AI has been revamped and new enemy types added (the killing of which results in bonus PP), including the ravenous poodles from the intro and some rather annoying parrots. A major complaint I had for the original version was that it boasted many a time when a couple hours would be spent mindlessly slaughtering zombies only to have happy gore time come to a crashing halt upon accidentally stumbling on a side-boss and being woefully unprepared. Cheap death and it was back to your last save, which was whenever you felt it necessary to find a bathroom. Saving now happens anywhere you like, and the addition of checkpoints makes the game far more enjoyable. Booth attendants informed me of new costumes and other extras, but my limited time with the game did not prove these new bounties.


Overall, the original Dead Rising experience remains intact. From this reviewer's position, Chop 'ill You Drop just feels more fun than its predecessor. But, even as a "budget" title at 39.99, it's hard to recommend this to owners of the original version, as there does still not seem to be any truly significant new content. But for those of you who don't own a 360, this would be a welcome addition to the pitifully tiny M-rated Wii library.