Spoiler warning! If you don't like spoilers, you should probably just turn back now. Dead Rising is a game that requires multiple playthroughs to really master, and this guide is written with the assumption that you've already done it once and know its secrets. The plot isn't told outright, but names aren't censored either. So you'll probably find spoilers here and there, and they are all un-marked because of this big warning right here! Consider yourself warned!
Game developed by Capcom. Guide written by Luke Stebner.
Dead Rising was not a new game at the time of writing this (August 2008), but I've recently become quite obsessed with it and discovered its inner perfection. At first glance/playthrough there is little to offer here. But once you play through it a few times and start to get the hang of how the game was made to be played, you find a lot more beneath the surface.
As I've been discovering all this and nearing all achievements (aside from survivor mode, which I don't want to even take part in), I've gained a lot of knowledge about the game. Questions arise and I solve them, or I gather answers from various sites. The problem I've found is that all the answers aren't in one easy to find place. Now, I'd like to think that I will provide all of the answers right here, but that's probably not possible. However, I would like to provide a step by step guide for an "Ultimate Play-Through," if there was such a thing.
I think that you can achieve a lot in one playthrough, but it actually takes several playthroughs to gain the knowledge of all the things you could have achieved at once. Of course, it also requires a lot of trial and error, and re-doing of things to get it down. Since I already went through most of this, I might as well share my knowledge with you to better your experience with Dead Rising.
This guide was not written in one playthrough — it took about 10 playthroughs to feel experienced enough to be able to write this guide.
I went for a playthrough where I attempted to acquire the Saint, Census Taker, and Transmissionary achievements. I ended up with the first two goals reached, but I fell short on one very important mistake that ruined Transmissionary at the very last call. Very disappointing, but knowledge gained for you.
While doing this playthrough I made a ton of mistakes. However, I had a friend take down notes of everything that I did — timestamps, locations, and a short summary of each event. On top of that, all Otis calls and a nice list of all the survivors and some info about them. At this point we were left with a mediocre run-through and a lot of data.
So it was her turn to attempt the exact same run, with me guiding her through what to do. With the list of events I did and knowledge of all my mistakes, we were able to come up with a pretty good guide of how to run through the game, almost down to an hour by hour step. Not everyone probably wants this much detail, but I think it's a great way to present so much info about such a big game.
Everything needs done in a certain order at a certain time, and I think we've got a pretty good strategy of how to get it done.
This guide is written on the basis that you already know a lot of things about Dead Rising. Like I said above, I have been through 72 hour mode several times and have become very familiar with the mall and the events that take place throughout the game. I don't expect you to have been through the game as much as me, but I would say that one or two playthroughs would make your life a lot easier.
I definitely don't recommend going at this before you are at least level 40. Being all the way up to 50 is ideal, but you will gain enough PP saving people that 10 levels will not take you much time to earn, and you will be maxed out at a decent time.
I also greatly recommend getting the Mega-Buster (which requires completing the Zombie Genocider achievement) because it will make so many of the bosses a piece of cake. Most bosses can be taken out quickly with the Mini Chainsaw, but Cletus, the Convicts, any Snipers, and anyone else who is a pain to get close to will be gone in seconds with the Mega Buster.
Remember, these are my recommendations. This playthrough will certainly be difficult and require skill and grace to complete things in time and escort several survivors almost constantly, so I wanted it to be as easy as possible by utilizing things like the Mega Buster and Mini Chainsaws. Of course, if that's not how you want to play the game, you don't have to. This guide will give you the information to collect everyone no matter how you decide to kill them.
Version 1.0 — Finished August 25, 2008. The first version of this guide, with all initial information. No spell checking done (I now hate the word "maintanence"), and I haven't done a re-read of the whole guide, so I'm hoping some people start using it and give me some feedback on the right and wrong. Missing information for the last few cases, and no intentions of writing about Overtime mode. Hoping to add all clothes, food, and stores at some point in the future.