One Humble Potato

Dead Rising

About this Guide

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.

Why this guide has been written

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.

How this guide was written

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.

Before Using This Guide

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

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.

Escorting Survivors

Survivors will become your worst enemies here. Their AI pathfinding is mediocre at best, and often instead of attacking they'll just linger and let themselves die. However, you have no choice but to save them (well, most of them). So let me give you some advice to hopefully make your life easier. If you have been through the game several times already you probably have strategies that work for you, but here is what works for me.

Weapons

If you can give a survivor a weapon, most of the time you should. If you have a big group, giving 2 or 3 of them a weapon is probably enough — they will fight while the others run. Sometimes giving a whole group a weapon is a bad idea because they'll end up killing each other.

What weapon you give them is also very important. Personally, I stay away from guns because with guns they have to stop and shoot, and this results in them being surrounded a lot. You'll also want to stay away from sharing your Mini Chainsaw because this just ups the speed at which they can kill each other, or often times you. They think they are helping get that zombie off your back, but instead they're taking a chunk of your life.

So, what should you give them? The 2x4 is one of my personal favorites, but really the Hunting Knife is probably the most useful. It can kill zombies in one hit, but only hits one zombie/friend/Frank at a time, so it can't do too much damage when everyone's around each other. Really, any melee weapon that only hits one enemy at a time will be helpful.

Moving

Whenever you can, use Waypoints over just having them follow. If you aren't using Waypoints by now, you've got some catching up to do. By holding the right trigger and pressing Y at a location on the ground, you will tell your followers to go to that point. They seem to get very determined when they have a destination like this and go straight there, trucking straight through anything in their path. Even the scared girls are pretty good about going here.

The real trick to this, though, is to tell them a point and stay just ahead of them, clearing zombies out of their way so they have a straight path. If you can master this you'll find that saving survivors becomes a whole lot easier than just telling them to follow you and turning around to see them stuck behind a plant.

Also, don't stray too far away. Get in the habit of setting a point semi-close, clearing out just ahead of it, and then setting another one in the space you cleared out. If you get too far away you'll cause the zombies you just cleared to respawn, and then not only will you have to kill them again, but all your survivors will be in the middle of this mess. Try and avoid this happening at all cost!

Wonderland / Paradise Shortcut

Any time you can, use this shortcut (opened by Greg, who is saved from Adam in "Out of Control"). This will make your life easier for 2 reasons. First off, it's a quick trip around half of the mall, and coming out of the bathroom in either area is fairly clear of zombies at all points in the game.

Secondly, zombies will not go in the bathrooms at any time unless you lead them in. So, if you need to save someone in Wonderland and already have 3 people with you, set your waypoint in the bathroom so they all stay put, go and save that person (who will then automatically start heading for the waypoint), cover them on the way back, and once there head over to Paradise Plaza or save. Trust me, it'll make your life easier!

Note that after any scenes where anything reloads, you'll need to reset your waypoint or else your wanderers will be running around trying to find you.

The Final Stretch

Often times you'll find that the most frustrating part of getting survivors back is getting them to go up by the air duct so they all make it into the security room. While I can't guarantee a way for you to get them all to jump up there successfully every time, I will say that this follows the rule of Waypoints being better than "Follow Me." If you set a waypoint just on top of it off to the left, most people will make it up there without standing in your way. If you have too many people at once then they'll all just kind of run into each other, but you can stand down on the bottom and kind of bounce them around a bit and run into them to get one to go up.

Maybe that's not much advice, but it's really a flaky system, so that's the best I can think to tell you.

Important Things

These are the items in the game that I think are the most important towards guaranteeing your success.

Mini Chainsaw

This is the best weapon you can ever have because you can get it no matter which playthrough this is for you, and it can kill zombies in one hit and take down Psychopaths in only a few swings. Now, because it's so strong, it can also take down your survivors real fast if you aren't careful. However, I always made sure I had at least one of these on hand. That's right, at least one. Every time you enter Wonderland Plaza after defeating Adam, one of these will spawn for you, so you can grab as many as you want. Don't be caught without one!

Books

Very critical to your success with the Mini Chainsaw are 3 books. These are found in two places and should be picked up as soon as you start the game. First off, in the bookstore in Paradise Plaza is an Entertainment book along with an Engineering book. The last book is in Wonderland Plaza, in Sir Book-a-lot, and it is a Criminology book. All 3 of these books will up the durability of your Mini Chainsaws, totaling it to last about 27 times longer. You'll quite literally get around 2000 kills with each chainsaw now before having to worry about losing it. If that doesn't sound worth it to you, I say you're nuts.

Mega-Buster

A pain to obtain, but so very worth it. You must complete the Zombie Genocider achievement in one playthrough and get an ending to have this weapon added to the security room. So you're talking one full playthrough of 72 hour mode just for this (well, maybe some other achievements too, if you feel like it). However, the Mega-Buster is available right when you start the game and holds 300 shots. I never even used all 300 in this playthrough, but I did use it for several Psychopaths and the Convicts at least 3 times. You can literally kill the Convicts from far enough away that they won't even have seen you yet with this thing. They go down with one shot apiece.

This gun is extremely powerful and will respawn infinitely even if you do use the whole thing (but you can never have more than one in your inventory). This isn't a requirement by any means, but I highly recommend taking the time to acquire it, because when you have 6 survivors in Leisure Park and the Convicts have respawned, you're going to really wish you didn't have to deal with them again.

Queen Bees

I'm not the type of guy to carry around several Queen Bees all the time and use them to clear out paths constantly. I'm quite content with just slashing down everything in my path with my Mini-Chainsaw. However, having one Queen on hand at all times is a really good idea. Sometimes you just run too far away from your survivors and they end up in a swarm of zombies, or occasionally your survivors are trapped by a swarm of zombies when you find them, and these times call for a Queen Bee to ensure your survivors' safety.

Sure, it's no problem for you to slash away those zombies with your Chainsaw, but with your survivor standing in the middle of them, 9 out of 10 times you're going to whack them as well, and you probably don't want to do that. So just hold on to one Queen Bee as much as possible for those emergency situations.

Orange Juice

So now that's 2 Chainsaws, 3 Books, 1 Mega-Buster, and 1 Queen Bee for a total of 7 inventory slots used. That leaves 5 more slots (if you've acquired all inventory slots) to do whatever you want with. I recommend stocking 1 of those with a Hunting Knife to give to your survivors, and the rest with Orange Juice. Really, you can use whatever type of drink/food you like the best, but I love to grab lots of Orange Juice because it's right at Columbian Roastmasters in Paradise Plaza — easy to get to and great for you. Plus, when you do accidentally take a swing at one of your survivors, you can just toss them a jug of this stuff and it will heal them right up. Just remember that when you do, they will drop their weapon and you will need to pick it up and give it back to them.

Otis Call Checklist

These are all in the main walkthrough, but in case that's all you're looking for, they're broken out and listed here as a checklist. Remember that you will not get a call if either of the following is true:

  • You are in the area in which the survivor/psychopath is supposed to spawn.
  • You already have 8 survivors with you, or cases available with survivors that add up to 8. There can never be more than 8 survivors anywhere in the mall (aside from the security room) at a time. If you do have 8, you'll probably get the next call when you enter the warehouse after leaving them in the security room.

September 20 — Day 1

  • 1. "Mall Rundown" — first time you enter the Warehouse
  • 2. "Entrance Plaza Intro" — first time you enter the Entrance Plaza
  • 3. "Cut From The Same Cloth" — 2:00pm
  • 4. "Barricade Pair" — 4:00pm
  • 5. "A Mother's Lament" — 5:00pm
  • 6. "Food Court Welcome" — first time you enter the Food Court
  • 7. "Out of Control" — 9:00pm
  • 8. "Wonderland Plaza Intro" — first time you enter Wonderland
  • 9. "Japanese Tourists" — 10:00pm
  • 10. "Shadow of the North Plaza" — 11:00pm
  • 11. "North Plaza Intro" — first time you enter North Plaza
  • 0. "Maintenance Tunnels Intro" — can be gotten at various different times, marked #0 for that reason. Do not wait too long to enter the tunnels — there is some point in the game where you can enter them and no longer get this call. No joke, you can miss this call by simply not going into the tunnels soon enough. So if you don't have anything in mind to do but wait around, head to the tunnels.

September 21 — Day 2

  • 12. Do NOT be in the Security Office or on the Roof at 6:00am — you will get a call from Otis to come talk to Jessica.
  • 13. Gate between Entrance Plaza and Paradise Plaza is now open — when you enter the Warehouse after initiating case 2-1.
  • 14. "The Lovers" — 7:00am
  • 15. "Supermarket Intro" — when you enter the Supermarket during 2-1
  • 16. "Hatchet Man" — 8:00am
  • 17. "The Coward" — 9:00am
  • 18. "Medicine is Working" (DO NOT be in the Security Office for the case or you won't get this call) — 11:00am
  • 19. "Restaurant Man" — 11:00am
  • 20. "Above the Law" — 12:30pm
  • 21. Call to return to security room (DO NOT be in the Security Room office to get this call) — 3:00pm
  • 22. "Woman Who Didn't Make It" — 5:00pm
  • 23. "Antique Lover" — 5:00pm
  • 24. "Mark of the Sniper" — 5:00pm
  • 25. "Ronald Food Call" — 6:00pm (7?)

September 22 — Day 3

  • 26. "Meet Isabela" (DO NOT be where you are supposed to meet her at midnight — Otis will call to remind you to meet her) — 12:00am
  • 27. "A Strange Group" — 12:00am
  • 28. "Floyd the Sommelier" — 2:00am
  • 29. "Isabela Awake" — 3:00am
  • 30. "Long Haired Punk" — 4:30am
  • 31. "A Sick Man" — 8:00am
  • 32. "Isabela Call" (DO NOT be in Security Room!) — 11:00am
  • 33. "Kindell's Betrayal" — 12:00pm
  • 34. "A Woman in Despair" — 12:00pm
  • 35. "Paul's Present" — 5:00pm
  • 36. "Jessie's Worried" (DO NOT be in Security Room!) — 5:00pm
  • 37. "Simone the Gunslinger" — 7:00pm
  • 38. "Cheryl's Request" — 8:00pm

39 calls total (Maintenance Tunnels is numbered 0 because it doesn't really go in any order).

Survivors Chart

This is a list of all the survivors — where you'll find them, what scoop they are part of, and what you can get them to do (like carry a weapon or just hold hands). Also included in this list are all of the Psychopaths, which is why it's called the People Chart and not just the Survivor Chart. For more information on locations, use your in-game map (below is what each store abbreviation section of the mall stands for).

The [B] option

When you stand next to a survivor you can interact with them by pressing B. Different survivors do different things — only some can carry weapons, for example, and others require you to carry them. This section of the chart tells you what each person will allow you to do:

  • Give — you can give this person a weapon or piece of food that they will eat. Survivors can only carry one thing at a time and will drop their current item when you give them a new item.
  • Hold Hands — you can hold this person's hand so that they travel alongside you. This is a mediocrely incorporated feature. Often if you make a quick movement or get in the midst of a zombie pool you will find your hand-to-hand link broken with your survivor, but it's better than just making them run for the most part.
  • Carry — these are survivors that you will be able to, and pretty much need to, carry on your back. You have no form of attack during this (just like holding hands), but you can run through most any zombie pool and be fine. Frank will just keep on going when he has someone on his back.
  • Shoulder — the intermediate of holding hands and carrying. This allows you to offer your shoulder to help someone out. This will not get broken nearly as often as hold hands does, which makes it superior to that, but it's still not quite as efficient as carrying because you're still two people wide, which makes it not as good as the carry. Still, a pretty solid way to get a survivor back with minimum hair-pulling.

Locations

Each location has a number if it's inside the mall — if you look at your in-game map and hover over a store you'll see the name and number. If the number starts with a 1 it's on the first floor; if it's a 2, it's on the second floor. Each one also begins with a letter:

  • E = Entrance Plaza
  • A = Al Fresco Plaza
  • W = Wonderland Plaza
  • N = North Plaza
  • P = Paradise Plaza
  • F = Food Court
  • L = North Plaza (why aren't these N's?)

The People Chart

NameLocation[B] OptionScoop
Natalie MeyerRooftopGiven/a
Jeff MeyerRooftopGiven/a
Bill BrentonIn The Closet (E214)Given/a
Burt ThompsonWebbers Garments (A106)GiveBarricaded Pair
Aaron SwoopWebbers Garments (A106)GiveBarricaded Pair
Leah SteinRiverfield Jewelry (A103)CarryA Mother's Lament
Sophie RichardsLeisure ParkHold Handsn/a
Adam MacintyreSpace Ride (Wonderland)n/aOut of Control
Greg SimpsonOn Space Ride (Wonderland)GiveOut of Control
Shinji KitanoSir Book-a-lot (W204)GiveJapanese Tourists
Yuu TanakaSir Book-a-lot (W204)GiveJapanese Tourists
David BaileyNorth Plaza (Empty Room)ShoulderShadow of the North Plaza
Cletus SamsonHuntin' Shack (N127)n/an/a
Steven ChapmanSeon's Food & Stuff (L3)n/aCase 2-3
Tonya WatersRun Like The Wind (W201)GiveThe Lovers
Ross FolkRun Like The Wind (W201)ShoulderThe Lovers
Pamela TompkinsChild's Play (P102)Hold Handsn/a
Heather TompkinsChild's Play (P102)Given/a
Ronald ShinerJill's Sandwiches (P104)GiveRestaurant Man
Cliff HudsonCrislip's Home Saloon (L2)n/aHatchet Man
Barbara PattersonEmpty Store Room (North)GiveHatchet Man
Rich AtkinsEmpty Store Room (North)GiveHatchet Man
Josh ManningEmpty Store Room (North)GiveHatchet Man
Gordon StalworthMcHandy's Hardware (A105)GiveThe Coward
Kay NelsonLovely Fashion House (W208)GiveAbove the Law
Janet StarLovely Fashion House (W208)Hold HandsAbove the Law
Lilly DeaconLovely Fashion House (W208)Hold HandsAbove the Law
Kelly CarpenterLovely Fashion House (W208)Hold HandsAbove the Law
Jennifer GormanParadise Plaza (Cult Box)Hold Handsn/a
Floyd SandersNed's Knicknackery (E205)CarryAntique Lover
Wayne BlackwellEstelle's Cosmetics (E210)GiveMark of the Sniper
Jolie WuGramma's Kids (E105)Hold HandsWoman Who Didn't Make It
Rachel DeckerLadies Space (E216)Hold HandsWoman Who Didn't Make It
Kindell JohnsonNorth PlazaGiven/a
Nathan CrabbeMovieland Theater 4GiveA Strange Group
Beth ShrakeMovieland Theater 4GiveA Strange Group
Michelle FeltzMovieland Theater 4GiveA Strange Group
Ray MathisonMovieland Theater 4GiveA Strange Group
Cheryl JonesMovieland Theater 4Hold HandsA Strange Group
Paul CarsonCasual Gals (W102)GiveLong Haired Punk
Debbie WilletCasual Gals (W102)GiveLong Haired Punk
Mindy BakerCasual Gals (W102)Hold HandsLong Haired Punk
Gil JimenezChris' Fine Foods (F103)Shouldern/a
Leroy McKennaFine Lady Cosmetics (W110)GiveA Sick Man
Brett StylesHuntin' Shack (N127)Given/a
Alyssa LaurentHuntin' Shack (N127)Given/a
Jonathon PicardsonHuntin' Shack (N127)Given/a
Susan WalshWonderland (on Soccer Ball)Hold Handsn/a
Kent SwansonParadise Plazan/aCut From The Same Cloth
Tad HawthorneParadise Plaza (2nd Floor)GiveCut From The Same Cloth
Simone RavendarkPlayers (P103)GiveA Woman in Despair
Otis WashingtonSecurity Roomn/aScoop Master!
Jessica McCarneySecurity Officen/an/a
Brad GarrisonSecurity Officen/an/a
Isabela KeysHere and there...CarryCase 5-1
Frank WestWherever you are!n/aAll
Ed DeLucaHelicoptern/aEnding B

Rescue Checklist

The table above includes bosses and non-escorted characters too (Otis, Jessica, Brad, Frank, and the Psychopaths). This checklist covers just the escortable survivors, for tracking who you've actually brought home:

  • Natalie Meyer
  • Jeff Meyer
  • Bill Brenton
  • Burt Thompson
  • Aaron Swoop
  • Leah Stein
  • Sophie Richards
  • Greg Simpson
  • Shinji Kitano
  • Yuu Tanaka
  • David Bailey
  • Tonya Waters
  • Ross Folk
  • Pamela Tompkins
  • Heather Tompkins
  • Ronald Shiner
  • Barbara Patterson
  • Rich Atkins
  • Josh Manning
  • Gordon Stalworth
  • Kay Nelson
  • Janet Star
  • Lilly Deacon
  • Kelly Carpenter
  • Jennifer Gorman
  • Floyd Sanders
  • Wayne Blackwell
  • Jolie Wu
  • Rachel Decker
  • Kindell Johnson
  • Nathan Crabbe
  • Beth Shrake
  • Michelle Feltz
  • Ray Mathison
  • Cheryl Jones
  • Paul Carson
  • Debbie Willet
  • Mindy Baker
  • Gil Jimenez
  • Leroy McKenna
  • Brett Styles
  • Alyssa Laurent
  • Jonathon Picardson
  • Susan Walsh
  • Tad Hawthorne
  • Simone Ravendark
  • Isabela Keys

Cases

This list is not complete because I didn't complete all cases on the playthroughs where I was worried about getting all survivors — I'll have it finished soon, since I need to find out some more info on endings.

I also wasn't planning on giving much more detail on these here, since the main story wasn't the intent of this guide. But if people want it, feel free to email me and I can fill it in.

Case 1-1 Starts September 19 at 12:00pm. Ends the first time you leave the Warehouse to enter Paradise Plaza.

Case 1-2 — Backup For Brad Starts when you finish 1-1. Finishes when you defeat Carlito.

Case 1-3 — An Odd Old Man Starts when you finish 1-2. Finishes when you enter the Entrance Plaza with Brad.

Case 1-4 — A Temporary Agreement Starts when you finish 1-3. Finishes when you enter the Security Room.

Case 2-1 — Image In The Monitor Starts September 20 at 6:00am. Finishes at 6:00am (or slightly after) when you arrive back at the Security Office.

Case 2-2 — Rescue The Professor Starts when you finish 2-1. Finished when you defeat Carlito in the Entrance Plaza.

Case 2-3 — Medicine Run Starts after completing 2-2. Finishes when you give Jessie the First Aid Kit.

Case 3-1 — The Professor's Past Starts September 20 at 11:00am. Finishes when you enter the Security office after 11.

Case 4-1 — Another Source Starts September 20 at 3:00pm. Finishes when you enter the Security office after 3.

Case 4-2 — Girl Hunting Starts after completing 4-1. Finishes when you defeat Isabela.

Case 5-1 — A Promise To Isabela Starts September 21 at 12:00am. Finishes when you get Isabela back to the Security Room.

Case 5-2 — Transporting Isabela Starts after completing 5-1. Finishes when you return to the Security Room with Isabela.

Case 6-1 — Santa Cabeza Starts September 21 at 3:00am. Finishes when you return to the security room after 3.

Stop after this case if you want the Saint achievement (unless you are going all the way through Overtime mode, in which case you can continue as long as you have saved every single person thus far)!

Case 7-1 — The Last Resort Starts September 21 at 11:00am. Finishes when you arrive at the Security Room.

Case 7-2 — Bomb Collector Starts when you complete 7-1. Finishes when you get all the bombs outside.

Case 8-1 — Jamming Device Starts September 21 at 5:00pm. Finishes when you return to the Security Room after 5.

Case 8-2 — Hideout Starts when you finish 8-1. Finishes when you reach the hideout with Isabela.

Case 8-3 — Jessie's Discovery Starts when you finish 8-2. Finishes when you arrive back at the Security Office.

Case 8-4 — The Butcher Starts when you finish 8-3. Finishes when you defeat The Butcher.

The Facts — Memories Starts September 21 at 10:00am. Finishes when you are at Isabela's hideout at 10:00am.

Bosses

Every Psychopath boss fight from the walkthrough, compiled here for quick reference. Each one links back to the day it's fought on if you want the full surrounding context.

BOSS: Carlito

Encountered on Day 1.

When fighting Carlito there are 2 really easy strategies. If you grabbed the Katana you can get up right next to him and slash him 2 times and he'll go down — don't worry about taking hits, you'll survive, just go head on and slash him till he drops. Of course, if you have the Mega Buster you can just launch shots at him from a distance and you'll have him down even quicker.

BOSS: Adam

Encountered on Day 1.

Go up the left side stairs and over to the Space Ride. If you don't have the Mega-Buster, continue past the Space Ride and grab some handguns from the police. If you have the Buster don't even worry. If you have to use the handguns, the best strategy I find is to stay a decent distance from him and wait till he blows up a balloon. Right when he throws it, unload some shots around his knees to destroy the balloon and damage him greatly and make him cough. While he's coughing, unload more shots into him. Rinse and repeat. If you have the Mega-Buster just go nuts on him and he'll die quickly enough.

Make sure you get a photograph of him if you are going for that achievement.

BOSS: Cletus

Encountered on Day 2.

Now you have to lend David a shoulder, so do so and make your way as best as you can to the "Huntin' Shack" (N127). Clear out the zombies in front of here and set a waypoint for David to hang out at. Enter the Huntin' Shack and you'll meet Cletus. Once again, easy to kill with the Mega-Buster, but doable with any gun or the Chainsaws — just look for when he reloads or takes a drink to do the most damage. Make sure you grab a photo of him at some point too.

BOSS: Carlito (Sniper)

Encountered on Day 2.

You now have to fight sniper Carlito — blast him with the Mega-Buster, force your way up close to him and chainsaw him, or grab some hockey sticks from the second floor sports store and go to town on him. Not a very difficult fight, just gets annoying when he shoots you and knocks you down.

BOSS: Steven

Encountered on Day 2.

Head back to the pharmacy, and when you get close, Steven will appear. Make sure you get his photo and watch for his shotgun attacks. Any ranged weapon will take him down moderately well, but you can also sneak up behind him and chainsaw him pretty easily — not too tough if you just stay out of his way.

BOSS: Cliff

Encountered on Day 2.

You'll have to fight Cliff here — he's kinda crazy, but just like all other bosses in this game there's really not much strategy aside from having the right weapons and killing him before he kills you.

Take a photo of him sometime if you need to, and after you defeat him you'll get the Empty Room Key.

BOSS: Jo the Cop

Encountered on Day 2.

Now you have to kill Jo the Cop to get her survivors. Time is running low on "Another Source," but Jo will begin to kill off her survivors if you wait any longer to do this scoop, so be as quick as you can killing her and freeing all her survivors. Photograph Jo if you need to.

Note: if you really can't do it and don't feel like retrying, skip Jo for now and continue back to the security room with the survivors you have. You can let 3 survivors die and still get the 50 survivors achievement — Jo has 4 survivors with her.

BOSS: Isabela

Encountered on Day 2.

Time now to head to the North Plaza to take care of some Girl Hunting. When you get over by the grocery store you'll have to fight Isabela — your best bet is any type of firearm so that you can hide in the middle circle area. You can kill her with the Mini Chainsaw in about 2 hits, but often you'll find that when you swing at her it just goes straight through her if she's not in the perfect spot to be hit.

BOSS: Sean

Encountered on Day 3.

Take a photo of Sean if you need to and hack him down with your Chainsaw — he'll fall plenty quick. Now, before worrying about the survivors, head to the back of the theater and take care of the final group of cultists that is slowly making their way in. Once you've cleared them, you're done dealing with the cultists!

BOSS: Paul

Encountered on Day 3.

Enter "Casual Gals" (W102) to find Paul. You can easily kill Paul before he even attacks you once, but make sure you get a picture of him before doing so if you need Psychopath photos. Paul is special because after "defeating" him he is no longer a Psychopath, but turns into a survivor! However, you have to be quick to save him. Grab the nearby Fire Extinguisher and do your best to spray it on him — this is the reason I say to definitely save before doing this, since sometimes you think you're spraying him and apparently you're not at all.

If you spray him enough, though, you will put out the fire and Paul will join you. Now take a picture again to get him as a survivor. If Paul dies you HAVE to reload to get him — he's not just a dead survivor, he'll cost you the Transmissionary achievement too, because he has a special call later.

BOSS: Kent

Encountered on Day 3.

At this time you'll have your final showdown with Kent — he is now officially a Psychopath and you will need to defeat him. So get your photo of him and take him down. With him is the survivor Tad, whom you can save once the battle is over.

Achievements

There are some really great achievement guides out there, and I even used some to figure out good places to do some of these. I did not copy and paste any of their strategies and I do not intend to take credit for their ideas. After completing all of these achievements (except the survivor mode ones) I am giving my opinion on them.

xbox360achievements.org is a great place to get more info on achievements and talk in the forums with people who are constantly achievement hunting and giving great advice. I recommend you check it out yourself.

Dead Rising's achievements are each worth 20 gamerpoints, for a total of 1000.

  • 3 Day Survivor — Simply survive all 3 days of 72 hour mode.
  • 5 Day Survivor — See 7 Day Survivor.
  • 7 Day Survivor — For this you must play Survival mode. This mode is a bit different from the regular mode — there is no way to save, so when you die the game ends. Food does not respawn, so you will have to conserve only when needed. Your life is constantly draining the whole time, so you cannot just stand around. Defeating Psychopaths will leave behind boxes of food/weapons. This is not easy and takes 14 hours of straight Dead Rising action.
  • Bullet Point — Fire 1,000 bullets in 1 playthrough. Just keep firing shots — fire off some sub-machine guns and you'll have this in no time.
  • Carjacker — Steal the Convicts' car. Once you've defeated the Convicts, jump in their car to drive it around.
  • Census Taker — Photograph 50 survivors. This achievement is a major reason for me writing this guide, so follow it to obtain this! There are 53 possible survivors, so getting this requires all but 3 of them.
  • Clothes Horse — Try on every piece of clothing in the mall. The easiest way to do this is to just go in every store and try on everything you can. The unlockable outfits do not count towards this achievement.
  • Costume Party — Place novelty masks on at least 10 zombies. Inside Child's Play in Paradise Plaza are the Lego heads — grab these and place them on zombies, and after 10 you'll get this achievement.
  • Frank the Pimp — Escort 8 female survivors at the same time. This is one of the trickiest achievements in the game — look up a step-by-step guide for it on xbox360achievements.org. I followed that to get it myself, so there's really no point writing it up again here.
  • Freefall — Drop from a height of at least 16 feet. You can get this by jumping off any second floor area down to the first floor, such as from Columbian Roastmasters in Paradise Plaza or off the Space Ride in Wonderland.
  • Full Set — Collect all portraits in the notebook. This does not mean you need a photo of everyone in the game — you just need to meet them once. This also does not need to be done in one playthrough — it is cumulative over every time you play the game. But if you just follow this guide you will get this in one playthrough.
  • Gourmet — Eat one of every type of food in the mall (in one playthrough). Most everything you need can be found in Seon's grocery store in the North Plaza, but you will also need to drink the mixed drinks and eat the pie in Columbian Roastmasters. I don't have all the mixes off-hand, but a quick search will find them easily enough.
  • Group Photo — Get 50 target markers in one photo. Honestly, you can probably do this right at the beginning when the zombies first enter the mall. But the easiest place would be to just go to the Maintenance Tunnels and take a photo there.
  • Hella Copter — Shoot down a helicopter. On the 4th day with ending A (meaning you've done all the story cases), a helicopter will show up in Leisure Park. There are two ways to take it down: use a Sniper Rifle (get from the Huntin' Shack) to shoot the pilot, or use a Machine Gun (get from any Special-Ops soldier) to shoot the tail of the chopper. I was pretty bad at both, but through persistence and frustration I did get it down — search up some videos if you're having trouble.
  • Humanist — Get at least 10 survivors out of the mall. Simply save 10 people — if you are getting ending B you automatically get Jessie, Ed, Barnaby (depending on the number of cases you complete), Otis, and Frank. So you really only need to find 5 others in the mall.
  • Indoorsman — Stay indoors for 24 consecutive hours. Yes, you can just sit in the Security Room for 24 hours (2 real-time hours).
  • Infinity Mode — Unlock Infinity mode. Beat Overtime mode to unlock Infinity mode.
  • Item Smasher — Break 100 items. Just by playing through the game there's a 99% chance you'll get this achievement. If you don't, just go break some potted plants, cash registers, TVs, windows, or whatever.
  • Karate Champ — Defeat 1,000 enemies barehanded. Sounds a lot worse than it is. You'll definitely want to be level 50 when you go for this, though. The best way I found to do it was to go down into the Maintenance Tunnels by Paradise Plaza (this means having the Maintenance Tunnels key already so you can use the door there) and use Frank's Double Lariat move (hold the left stick button and press X) — you'll get several kills with each one. Just keep doing it over and over. Since you're right by Paradise Plaza, anytime you take too much damage you can just head up to Columbian Roastmasters and grab some Orange Juice, and save in the bathrooms.
  • Legendary Soldier — Defeat at least 10 Special Forces. With your chainsaw or the Mega-Buster you'll have this in no time. If you don't have either, just grab some shotguns or sniper rifles and after you kill one of these dudes, snag their machine gun.
  • Level Max — Reach Level 50. Won't take any time at all saving survivors — dedicate a playthrough to leveling up and saving survivors to get yourself familiar with the mall and scoops. You'll be glad you did.
  • Life Saver — Get at least 20 survivors out of the mall. This guide gets you 50-53 out (depending on your ending), so just follow it.
  • Marathon Runner — Cover a distance of 26.2 miles. This achievement totals up all of the times you've played the game, so you'll get it eventually. If you want to speed up how quickly you get it, just keep running into a wall whenever you have nothing else to do.
  • Outdoorsman — Spend 24 consecutive hours outdoors. You can get this achievement by just standing on the heli-pad for 24 hours (2 real-time hours), or if you choose to, after acquiring Indoorsman simply save your game, turn off your console, turn it back on, and Outdoorsman will unlock. I've read this can mess your save up if you're at a certain point or something, but it worked fine for me.
  • Overtime Mode — Do all cases and be at the heli-port at noon on the last day, which will take you into Overtime mode and unlock this.
  • Peace Keeper — Defeat at least 5 Psychopaths. There are 12 total in the game, so getting 5 of them isn't too tough.
  • Perfect Gunner — Don't miss with a machine gun. First off, sub-machine guns don't count for this. You have to get a Machine Gun off of a Special Forces soldier towards the end of the game and fire all 150 shots without missing. If you want an easy way to do it, take one into the Maintenance Tunnels into the butcher shop and fire the entire thing at one of the hanging cows, and you'll get this.
  • Photojournalist — Score at least 1,500 PP from any photo. If you watch survivors/Psychopaths, sometimes they get a "PP" symbol over their head. Take a picture of one of them when this appears and you'll score way more than 1500 points.
  • Portraiture — Photograph at least 10 survivors. If you're saving them, just remember to take some pictures of them. If you forget anyone, you can go in the Security Room where they are located and get your photos there.
  • PP Collector — Photograph all PP stickers throughout the mall. There are several teeny tiny PP markers on certain objects in the mall — you need to photograph all of them. For example, there is one on the bulletin board above the bench you can save on in the Security Room. You'll also notice when you go to take a picture of one, a PP percentage will appear on the bottom of the screen. So you can either go around the mall looking at objects through your lens to find them, or just read a guide somewhere — I don't have them all listed off-hand.
  • Psycho Collector — Photograph at least 10 Psychopaths. There are 12 total, so when you kill them make sure you photograph them. Most can be photographed after they are dead — the main exception to this is Paul, who becomes a survivor after you "defeat" him.
  • Psycho Photo — Photograph at least 4 Psychopaths. See Psycho Collector above.
  • Punisher — Defeat at least 10 Psychopaths. As Psycho Collector states, there are 12 Psychopaths total and you can defeat all of them in one playthrough, so just do it.
  • Raining Zombies — Knock at least 30 zombies aside with a parasol. In the Entrance Plaza and in Al Fresco Plaza there are plenty of parasols stuck in the ground. Simply grab one and hold down X to position it in front of you, then run into 30 zombies! It's fun!
  • Saint — Save 50 survivors. This is half of the reason I wrote this guide, so follow it and you will successfully get 53 survivors out of the mall! However, if you do all the cases you'll need to complete Overtime mode, and you'll actually end up with 50 survivors. Ending B is how you can get 53, and it's the only way.
  • Self Defense — Defeat at least 1 Psychopath. If you are playing the storyline you'll get this automatically when you defeat Steven, but any Psycho will count for this.
  • Sharp Dresser — Change into at least 20 different costumes. I don't know if unlockables count towards this, but just change into 20 different clothing items over all your playthroughs.
  • Snuff Shot B — Take a picture of zombie Brad. Occurs during the main story after you collect the bombs — go back to the room where the Maintenance Tunnels key is and you'll get a scene and find Brad as a zombie. Photo him.
  • Snuff Shot J — Take a picture of Jessie as a zombie. You'll get a scene where you see her turn — head back to the Security Room and she'll be stumbling around. Take a photo of her.
  • Strike! — Knock over 10 zombies with one bowling ball. Bowling balls can be found at the sports store in Paradise Plaza (and probably some of the other sports stores, but this is an easy place) — grab one and head into the Maintenance Tunnels, hold R and aim at a big cluster, hold in X to wind up real good, and let it go. You have a 99% chance of hitting at least 10 zombies easy.
  • Stunt Driver — Jump a car at least 33 feet. There is a red sports car over by where you enter the Maintenance Tunnels. Grab this and head into Leisure Park — going pretty quick and hitting the edge of the small pond in front of the Food Court should get this. There are several strategies for it online too.
  • Stunt Rider — Get the motorcycle by the entrance to the Maintenance Tunnels, drive it up to the top of the stairs by the entrance to the North Plaza, and drive it off the left side. This takes some work and positioning, and it helps to clear out the zombies first so you have a good view, but going at decent speed and missing the railing should jump you off.
  • The Artiste — Score at least 3,000 PP from a single photo. Like Photojournalist, just take a picture of any of the survivors while the "PP" symbol is above them and you'll score more than enough points.
  • Tour Guide — Escort 8 survivors at once. There's actually a point in this guide where you'll have 8 people going, which will get this for you. Otherwise it will take a playthrough dedicated to Frank the Pimp to get that, which will have you with 8 people, so it's probably worth just doing that.
  • Transmissionary — Answer all of Otis' calls. This is the other half (the first being Saint) of why I wrote this guide, so just follow it — the calls can be a bit tricky and annoying.
  • Unbreakable — Get the true ending without being knocked out. In Overtime mode, if you get "killed" at any time you'll find yourself tied up with the Special Forces — this means you didn't die, but were "knocked out." So either don't die during Overtime mode, or reload if you do; when you beat it you'll get this.
  • Zombie Genocider — Defeat at least 53,594 zombies in one playthrough. This is a lot of zombie killing and you will not get it without spending an entire playthrough going just for this. It takes about 2 straight game days of driving around the Maintenance Tunnels. But it does come with a great reward — the Real Mega-Buster! The path you take when driving is something best figured out for yourself — drive around, test out how long each car can last and where the most zombies are, and you'll get a feel for it.
  • Zombie Hunter — Defeat 1,000 zombies. You will do this easily in a normal playthrough.
  • Zombie Killer — Defeat 10,000 zombies. You could do this pretty easily in a playthrough, but there's not much point going for this if you're not just going to go for Genocider.
  • Zombie Road — Walk over 33 feet on the backs of zombies using the skill called Zombie Walk. Zombie Walk is fun, and this doesn't have to be a consecutive 33 feet — just 33 feet total, so you'll get it easily just figuring out how to zombie walk.

Day 1

Alright, start up everything, go through the beginning stuff (note that if you have unlocked the Mega-Buster you can grab it before the zombies even break into the mall). You cannot save any of the people during the first part of the game when the zombies first break into the mall, so don't even worry about them. I say grab some 2x4's, maybe some baseball bats if you like them, and head for the stairs. In the security room grab the 2 Coffee Creamers just for good measure and head out through the air duct.

🕐 12:30 On the roof you'll find Jeff and Natalie. Run to the left and grab Natalie, then come back around and she'll have a little reunion with Jeff — grab a nice photo while they are doing so and get them back in the security room.

🕐 12:45 "Mall Rundown" call. Leave the security room, and when you enter the warehouse you'll get a Mall Rundown from Otis. When you are about to exit the Warehouse into Paradise Plaza, case 1-1 will complete and 1-2 will engage.

🕐 1:00 Enter Paradise Plaza, grab some Orange Juice from Columbian Roasters, some Hunting Knives if you want, and enter "Bachman's Bookporium" (P108) to get the "Engineering" and "Entertainment" books. Then head to Leisure Park.

🕐 1:15 Leisure Park — head to the Food Court to complete "Backup For Brad."

BOSS: Carlito

When fighting Carlito there are 2 really easy strategies. If you grabbed the Katana you can get up right next to him and slash him 2 times and he'll go down — don't worry about taking hits, you'll survive, just go head on and slash him till he drops. Of course, if you have the Mega Buster you can just launch shots at him from a distance and you'll have him down even quicker.

End of case 1-2. 1-3 engages.

🕐 1:30 Head into Al Fresco Plaza with Brad. Kill as few zombies as you can to get through, because it costs you time to kill them. Right when you enter there is a great hardware store to the left (you probably know about) where you can grab some weapons — Lead Pipes work great. Stay just barely ahead of Brad all the way across Al Fresco to keep him moving; you need him at the door at the end with you when you go through, or else he won't be in the Entrance Plaza with you.

🕐 1:50 Entrance Plaza. Just head past the escalators for a scene to complete case 1-3. 1-4 engages.

You will get the Entrance Plaza intro call after the scene.

🕐 2:00 "Cut From The Same Cloth" call.

Go upstairs to the store "In The Closet" (E214), and in the back room bust down some boxes to find Bill. Take his photo and talk to him for a bit — eventually he'll start to leave, and once he gets near the hallway he'll realize there's something fishy going on here and then you can get him to join you. Now that you have him, take him down by the escalators on the lower level — there won't be any zombies there because of the case having been there. Note that you can give Bill a weapon.

At this point you have to just hang out until a little after 4, at which time you'll have 2 calls about people in Al Fresco Plaza. The gate between the Entrance Plaza and Paradise Plaza won't be open until after this next scoop, so you won't want to trek all the way back just to come back to Al Fresco. So just sit tight with Bill on the lower level where there is no threat to him.

🕐 4:00 Call for "Barricade Pair," don't leave yet.

🕐 5:00 "A Mother's Lament" call.

Now it's finally time to head into Al Fresco Plaza. You'll come across Leah first on the left side in "Riverfield Jewelry" (A103). She'll take some convincing to get her to join, but just be persistent and make sure Bill makes it with you all the way.

After you get her, make a waypoint pretty much right across the street where there aren't too many zombies, and clear out the path into "Webbers Garments" (A106) where Burt and Aaron are at. When you enter, Burt will try and fight you — punch him a few times with your fist (not a Katana or something) and he'll back off. Soon after they'll join your party. Now head back into the Food Court.

🕐 6:15 "Food Court Welcome" call. If any of your survivors are hurt it'd be a good idea to grab some wine for them (or yourself, if you gave them your OJ), since there is a large supply right here.

Now head out into Leisure Park. The Convicts will be out here chasing Sophie around, and you will have to kill them and save Sophie. If you have the Mega-Buster you're set; if you don't, you're probably already sick of hearing about it, but you'll either have to get up close and chainsaw them or find some firepower to use on them.

Right when you leave the Food Court there is a little circle pond outside — I put my waypoint right in the middle of it and went after the Convicts. There are no zombies in it and my survivors fare very well in there. Make sure Sophie does not get killed and you save her. Oh, and remember to take a photo of her.

Set a marker for Paradise Plaza once you are ready and pick up Leah to get her over there. Chances are while you're doing this all it'll turn to 7:00 and all the zombies will become their more aggressive night versions — just move quickly so you have to deal with this as little as possible. Also, if you're thinking about not killing the Convicts, when it changes to 7:00 a scene will happen and the area will reload, which will likely put the Convicts right next to all your survivors and you, so just get them out of the way.

🕐 7:30 Back in Paradise Plaza you may have noticed we are running dangerously close on time to complete "Cut From The Same Cloth," but we made it, so that's okay. Set a marker for the top of the stairs — there won't be any zombies up there because that's where Kent is. Once you see Kent, his stuff will engage, and you get the joys of doing it. Complete it, and he'll tell you that you have to top his photos, and he'll meet you tomorrow at noon. There's a real easy way to get this photo, so don't worry about it — we'll do it when the time comes.

Note that after any scenes where anything reloads, you'll need to reset your waypoint or else your wanderers will be running around trying to find you.

With that completed, grab some OJ if you need it and get these survivors back to the security room. If you didn't photograph any of them, when you get in or out of the elevator is a good time to get them all. Do not go into the Security Office — stop where the survivors say something to you and head back out the air duct.

🕐 9:00 "Out of Control" call. The next thing you need to do occurs at 9 and is the "Out of Control" scoop. If you've gotten everything done up to this point before 9, start to make your way back to the Food Court and hang out there. As long as you are not in Wonderland Plaza at 9, you'll get the call for the scoop.

🕐 9:15 "Wonderland Plaza Intro" call.

BOSS: Adam

Go up the left side stairs and over to the Space Ride. If you don't have the Mega-Buster, continue past the Space Ride and grab some handguns from the police. If you have the Buster don't even worry. If you have to use the handguns, the best strategy I find is to stay a decent distance from him and wait till he blows up a balloon. Right when he throws it, unload some shots around his knees to destroy the balloon and damage him greatly and make him cough. While he's coughing, unload more shots into him. Rinse and repeat. If you have the Mega-Buster just go nuts on him and he'll die quickly enough.

Make sure you get a photograph of him if you are going for that achievement.

With him dead you can grab his Mini Chainsaw, stop the ride, grab another Mini Chainsaw — you're set for quite a while now. Talk to Greg to get him to join and head back towards the bathrooms with him. On your way back, before going down the stairs, enter "Sir Book-a-lot" (W204) on the left and pick up the Criminology book in the back to complete your Mini Chainsaw book trio, and the Japanese Tourists book by the counter, because you'll be saving them in a few moments.

Now follow Greg down the stairs and into the bathrooms. You now have the Wonderland/Paradise Plaza shortcut! Yay! Now things get easier... right?

🕐 10:00 Use the shortcut to get over to Paradise Plaza and just hang out for a second. "Japanese Tourists" call.

🕐 10:10 Back to Wonderland — these guys are in that bookstore you just came from. Set a waypoint in the bathroom to keep Greg in there and head up and get the tourists. You must have the Japanese book in your possession to get them to join you. Once they join they'll head for the waypoint in the bathroom, which is actually a bad thing in this case — they'll try and go down the far stairs, and you want them to go down the same stairs Greg did. So just tell them to follow you, which will make Greg also start to follow you and lead them down, getting them all in the bathroom.

Quick note: the Mirror shortcut, or any reloading of Wonderland, will reload the Mini-Chainsaw if you ever want more or want to give one to a survivor, but heed my warnings above if you do decide to give one to a survivor.

Make sure you get photos of all these survivors and get them all back to the security room.

🕐 11:00 "Shadow of the North Plaza" call. This may occur while you are getting the 3 guys back — make sure you answer it.

After they are all safely back in the security room, head back to Wonderland via the shortcut and take one of the hallways up into the North Plaza.

Day 2

🕐 12:00am "North Plaza Intro" call. Make your way to where David is located, in one of the empty rooms, and talk to him to get him to join. There is a bunch of food around, so stock up if you need to.

You don't have to do this next part if you aren't worried about getting 10 Psychopaths.

BOSS: Cletus

Now you have to lend David a shoulder, so do so and make your way as best as you can to the "Huntin' Shack" (N127). Clear out the zombies in front of here and set a waypoint for David to hang out at. Enter the Huntin' Shack and you'll meet Cletus. Once again, easy to kill with the Mega-Buster, but doable with any gun or the Chainsaws — just look for when he reloads or takes a drink to do the most damage. Make sure you grab a photo of him at some point too.

Continue here regardless. You can take David back to the Security Room either through Wonderland via the shortcut, or across Leisure Park. There's a good chance that if you enter Leisure Park the Convicts will be back — if you choose the park and they are back, look for them immediately; if you see them close by, kill them; if not, you're probably safe to just make your way to Paradise Plaza. Just keep David on your shoulder and you'll be able to run through zombies no problem.

When you return safely to the security room with David (don't forget to snap his photo!) you can enter the Security Room office now to finish "A Temporary Agreement" and initiate case 2-1.

🕐 1:15 You are now free to do whatever you want until 6:00am. First off, I suggest that you save if you haven't done so recently (or maybe at all) — if you've made it to here you are safe (for now). While you're already in the security room, grab some photos of anyone you may have missed, then head back out to at least the Warehouse — but just stay away from the Security Room until 6am. If you are in the Security Room at that time you will NOT get the next Otis call and will have no chance at Transmissionary.

This is a great time to head to the Maintenance Tunnels to get the "Maintenance Tunnels Intro" call. I'm going to mark this one #0 because it can be gotten at various different times, but do not wait too long, because there is some point in the game where you can enter the tunnels and no longer get this call. No joke — you can miss this call by simply not going into the tunnels soon enough. So if you don't have anything in mind to do but wait around, head to the tunnels.

"Maintenance Tunnels Intro" call (read the paragraph above if you searched to find this call).

🕐 6:00 Do NOT be in the Security Office or on the Roof at this time, and you will get a call from Otis to come talk to Jessica. After which you can head back there to proceed with the cases.

🕐 6:10 Go back in the Warehouse and you'll get a call that the gate between Entrance Plaza and Paradise Plaza is now open.

🕐 6:15 Go into the Entrance Plaza to engage in a scene with Carlito and Brad.

BOSS: Carlito (Sniper)

You now have to fight sniper Carlito — blast him with the Mega-Buster, force your way up close to him and chainsaw him, or grab some hockey sticks from the second floor sports store and go to town on him. Not a very difficult fight, just gets annoying when he shoots you and knocks you down.

After this fight you'll end up back in the Security Office. Now, if you recall when I mentioned that picture of Jessica for Kent, now is your chance — stand a little back from her and get all of her "Erotica" features in the photo, and you should get over 700pp easily.

Now leave and make your way to Wonderland Plaza via the shortcut. From here head up into the North Plaza.

🕐 7:00 "The Lovers" call. (Cannot be in Wonderland Plaza to get this.) Don't turn back for them yet — we are going to head into "Seon's Food and Stuff" (L3) first to progress the main cases.

"Supermarket Intro" call when you enter the store.

BOSS: Steven

Head back to the pharmacy, and when you get close, Steven will appear. Make sure you get his photo and watch for his shotgun attacks. Any ranged weapon will take him down moderately well, but you can also sneak up behind him and chainsaw him pretty easily — not too tough if you just stay out of his way.

Now you'll have the pharmacy key — make sure you go back and get the First Aid Kit out of the pharmacy.

Time now to head back to Wonderland to get the Lovers. On the way, if you don't already have a Queen, be sure to find one here. In front of the Space Ride is normally a ton of zombies that you can almost always find a bee in — just hold on to it, because you're going to be glad you have it in the near future.

🕐 7:45 The Lovers are in "Run Like the Wind" (W201) on the second floor. Talk to both Tonya and Ross — do NOT give Ross a gun under any circumstances (he asks for one, but don't do it). Keep talking to them until they both agree to come with you. You'll have to carry Ross, but as long as you're carrying him, Tonya will stay close by — she is actually a pretty good follower. When you leave Run Like The Wind head to the right and down the stairs by the Food Court, because there are fewer zombies there than trying to go in front of the Space Ride.

🕐 8:00 "Hatchet Man" call.

Get the Lovers over to Paradise Plaza via the bathroom and all the way back to the security room. Don't forget to grab some photos and give Jessie the medicine for Brad while you're here. If you didn't get the photo when I said to do it before, get that nice Erotica shot of Jessie before giving her the medicine.

🕐 9:00 "The Coward" call. (This call may come while you're escorting Tonya and Ross back — answer it and get them back.)

When you get back to Paradise Plaza you'll find a girl screaming in front of "Child's Play." This is where you want to have your Queen, because she is swamped in zombies. Clear them out and then talk to her to get her to join. Her sister is just chilling inside the store she was in front of, watching Pamela die, so get up in there with Pamela and talk to them a bit to get them both to join. They are both whiny and annoying, but get them back into the Warehouse as quick as you can.

Clear out the Warehouse and the elevator, but don't go up it yet. Take their photos if you haven't yet, and then just wait until 11 in the Warehouse (not the roof!).

🕐 11:00 "Medicine is Working" call (do NOT be in the Security Office for the case or you won't get this call).

"Restaurant Man" call.

Now that you have both of those calls, get Pam and Heather back to the Security Room and go in the office to advance the main cases.

🕐 11:15 Head back into Paradise Plaza, and if you don't have food, go up to Columbian Roastmasters on the way and grab something, then go down to "Jill's Sandwiches" (P104) and talk to Ronald. He'll want some food — once you give him some he'll join and give you a nice photo opportunity. Break the barricade to exit Jill's Sandwiches and just hang around until noon when Kent shows up.

🕐 12:00 Kent should run up to you, or just go talk to him — he'll ask to see your photo. Select the one of Jessica that's worth over 700pp and show it to him. He'll then set one more date for you guys to meet up at noon tomorrow.

Now get Ronald back to safety in the security plaza.

🕐 12:30 "Above the Law" call. Make your way out to Leisure Park and kill the Criminals if you come across them — if not, don't go out of your way, just head over to North Plaza. Enter "Crislip's Home Saloon" (L2) to the right.

BOSS: Cliff

You'll have to fight Cliff here — he's kinda crazy, but just like all other bosses in this game there's really not much strategy aside from having the right weapons and killing him before he kills you.

Take a photo of him sometime if you need to, and after you defeat him you'll get the Empty Room Key. Leave the Saloon, and right outside is the empty room — open it to find some survivors. Close the doors behind you so zombies don't walk in while you're talking to the survivors. Get them to follow you, and note that they can all use weapons if you have any for them.

Now, back into Leisure Park, head towards the Food Court. Once again, if the Convicts pose a threat to you, take them out; if not, don't waste any time.

🕐 1:50 Move from the Food Court into Al Fresco to "McHandy's Hardware" on the left, across from the fitness place. Set a waypoint in the back for all your survivors to hang out at while you talk Gordon into joining. You'll have to hit him at least once with something before he'll even consider joining, so get that out of the way at the beginning and then just talk to him until he joins.

🕐 2:20 Now head back through the Food Court into Wonderland Plaza.

BOSS: Jo the Cop

Now you have to kill Jo the Cop to get her survivors. Time is running low on "Another Source," but Jo will begin to kill off her survivors if you wait any longer to do this scoop, so be as quick as you can killing her and freeing all her survivors. Photograph Jo if you need to.

Note: if you really can't do it and don't feel like retrying, skip Jo for now and continue back to the security room with the survivors you have. You can let 3 survivors die and still get the 50 survivors achievement — Jo has 4 survivors with her.

🕐 3:00 Call to return to security room. (Do NOT be in the Security Room office to get this call.)

If you did defeat Jo, you have 8 people with you right now and you're probably getting real frustrated. You can get them all back, trust me, but it will be annoying. Bite your teeth together and press on — just don't save in the middle, because if you don't make it you're going to want to start from your last save, not the beginning of the game again.

If you get back to the roof and you can't get them all up by the air duct and you're about to lose the main case scoop, just go in and finish the case — the survivors will not die in that time, and you can go back out and get them after the next case begins. If you have made it here, save! You do NOT want to do that again, I know you don't.

🕐 3:50 Head back to Paradise Plaza again — the Raincoat cult will appear with Jennifer. Kill them off and get Jennifer out of the box. Go to the bathroom and take the shortcut over to Wonderland. Hold Jennifer's hand to make your trip easy. (Don't forget a photo!)

🕐 4:15 In Wonderland now you'll have to go to the back end where the bear is to get Nick and Sally. Leave your marker in the bathroom so Jennifer will stay put, and go for them. If you've never saved them before, you'll notice there is a hefty swarm around them. You'll find a few Queens here for sure, but the Mini Chainsaw will be fine if you don't have any Queens on hand. Grab a "hunk of meat" off the ground somewhere and throw it at both survivors to knock them down so you can talk to them — if you take their photo before you knock them down you'll get mad PP.

Once you get them to join they'll run for the marker in the bathroom, so just follow them and provide support. Take them back to Paradise Plaza and to the security room as quickly as you can — chances are the next few calls will come during this, so answer them, and we'll take care of them once Nick, Sally, and Jennifer are safe.

Beware on your way back that the Cultists will be in Paradise Plaza, and often your survivors get overly excited and run towards them, especially the women.

🕐 5:00 "Woman Who Didn't Make It" call.

"Antique Lover" call.

"Mark of the Sniper" call.

All of those calls take place in the Entrance Plaza, so that's where we are headed. The scene for Mark of the Sniper will ensue once you enter. An easy way to kill the snipers is with any projectile, including the Hockey Sticks if you don't have any fancy machinery on you. If you need their pictures for your Psycho achievements, I recommend taking them before you kill them, because they have a tendency of not taking good photos once they've died — they often fall into walls, or just plain land face first, and then you can't get them well.

Once the snipers are defeated, go into the Cosmetics shop at the top of the escalators and get Wayne. If you want you can just set a waypoint in the back of the store, but you can take him with you too, because there are no zombies upstairs at the moment.

Head over to "Ned's Knicknackery" (E205) to find Floyd in the back. Talk to him until you get him to join. Now leave a waypoint upstairs for them and jump downstairs to find Jolie Wu in "Gramma's Kids" (E105) — she'll freak out a bit, but when you give up on her and start to leave she'll join you. While she was talking she mentioned her friend who also got stuck, so head back upstairs with Jolie to "Ladies Space" (E216) and she will make conversation with her friend. Talk to them to get her friend to join you.

🕐 6:00 Sometime during the stuff above you'll probably get the "Ronald Food Call," saying that you should bring some food back for Ronald. So if you don't have any type of food with you, grab some on the way back with these survivors — any type will do (drink or eats).

Now get Floyd, Rachel, Wayne, and Jolie back to the security room, and don't forget to grab their pictures at some point. Although Rachel and Jolie want you to hold their hands, you'll be quickest carrying Floyd and just making sure the girls keep up with you. Wayne is your only survivor at the moment that can wield a weapon, so take advantage of it. While you are there, find the room that Ronald is in and talk to him until you can give him some food.

🕐 8:30

BOSS: Isabela

Time now to head to the North Plaza to take care of some Girl Hunting. When you get over by the grocery store you'll have to fight Isabela — your best bet is any type of firearm so that you can hide in the middle circle area. You can kill her with the Mini Chainsaw in about 2 hits, but often you'll find that when you swing at her it just goes straight through her if she's not in the perfect spot to be hit.

🕐 9:20 You now have nothing to do until 12, at which time you will need to NOT be at the place where you're supposed to meet Isabela. There is a bathroom here to save, along with the grocery store where you could stock up on food. If you didn't go into the Maintenance Tunnels before to get that intro, now would also be a viable time to do so — just don't linger there too much, because you need to be back just after midnight.

Day 3

🕐 12:00am "Meet Isabela" call. (Do NOT be where you are supposed to meet her at midnight — Otis will call to remind you to meet her.)

After this call you can go meet her.

"A Strange Group" call.

After meeting with Isabela you will need to defeat the zombie that attacks her and then carry her back to the security room. When you leave, Kindell should be outside shotgunning zombies down. Talk to him a few times to convince him to go with you — he is a great help here, because you can just keep running with Isabela and he can shoot his way through most anything. I recommend taking Leisure Park back, since you'll be near the park entrance in the North Plaza. Oh, and don't forget to photograph Kindell sometime.

🕐 1:30 You need to be somewhere else besides the security office at 3 to get a call to return there, which isn't a lot of time. However, before that you'll get a call to bring Floyd some wine, so while you have a little down time you might as well make a quick run across the park to the Food Court to grab a bottle of wine. Once you've got it, head back to the Warehouse.

🕐 2:00 "Floyd the Sommelier" call.

🕐 3:00 "Isabela Awake" call.

Once you have the call that Isabela has awoken, make your way back into the Security Room to see Isabela. At this point Barnaby will die, and you will sacrifice him as a survivor so that you can get Simone to show up later.

Note: at this point, I've read many things that said to stop doing the main cases to best get the achievements. However, this didn't work for either of us — so I say you must keep going. After Bomb Collecting there will be an Otis call if you are not at the Security Room at 5; that is where we both got Transmissionary, not by stopping here.

Second note: if you have never finished Overtime mode before, you will be able to do that and still get 50 survivors, granted you have saved every single person up to this point. If you've missed any, you'll fall short, because doing Overtime mode means you lose Jessie, Brad, and Ed as survivors. If you stop the cases now you will not get Brad or Isabela, which means the total number of survivors in the game is 51 at this point. So you could still get Saint in this playthrough as long as you haven't missed more than 1 of the possible survivors.

🕐 3:15 With that taken care of, find Floyd and give him his wine, then head to Movieland to take care of the Raincoat cult. At this point Movieland is nicely void of zombies, but around the corner there are far too many cultists for comfort. Hack through them all with a Chainsaw and enter Theater 4. In here you will find Sean.

BOSS: Sean

Take a photo of Sean if you need to and hack him down with your Chainsaw — he'll fall plenty quick. Now, before worrying about the survivors, head to the back of the theater and take care of the final group of cultists that is slowly making their way in. Once you've cleared them, you're done dealing with the cultists!

There are 4 survivors you'll have to free from chairs here, and then the lovely Cheryl is in a door off to the side that you got the key to. She'll take some extra convincing, but all the others will join when you free them. There is also a book on the ground by Sean that is probably worth picking up, to give your survivors some extra courage. Once you have all 5 survivors (and photos of them), head back to the Security Room with them.

🕐 4:30 Note: my friend didn't get this call until 6, maybe due to having too many survivors already spawned, but after the big delivery of the Strange Group people you should definitely get this call.

"Long Haired Punk" call.

Head over to Wonderland. If you are in good time (before 7), definitely save here, because it's easy to let Paul die, which you can NOT let happen!

BOSS: Paul

Enter "Casual Gals" (W102) to find Paul. You can easily kill Paul before he even attacks you once, but make sure you get a picture of him before doing so if you need Psychopath photos. Paul is special because after "defeating" him he is no longer a Psychopath, but turns into a survivor! However, you have to be quick to save him. Grab the nearby Fire Extinguisher and do your best to spray it on him — this is the reason I say to definitely save before doing this, since sometimes you think you're spraying him and apparently you're not at all.

If you spray him enough, though, you will put out the fire and Paul will join you. Now take a picture again to get him as a survivor. If Paul dies you HAVE to reload to get him — he's not just a dead survivor, he'll cost you the Transmissionary achievement too, because he has a special call later. Before leaving, make sure you also grab the two girls that he had held hostage in the back room and take their pictures too. I also recommend giving Paul some food, because his health is probably considerably low from that fire.

🕐 6:45 Before heading back to the Security Room, head down into the Food Court. You will not have gotten a call about him, but Gil should be downing wine, waiting for the angels to take him away. You'll have to talk to him a few times, and then when you begin to walk away he'll decide to join you. Get his photo and just hang out until 8.

🕐 8:00 "A Sick Man" call.

Once you get this call, head back into Wonderland — Leroy will be immediately to the right in the Cosmetics shop. Get him to join your party, get his photo, and then get all of your current survivors (Gil, Paul, Debbie, Leroy, and Mindy) back to the Security Room.

🕐 10:00 Once they are all safely returned, make your way back to Wonderland again — technically we could have waited there before, but we are getting close to the end now and aren't as crunched for time, so there's no reason to just wait around. When you get back, Susan should be on top of the big soccer ball down by the Food Court. If you have somehow made it here before 9 she may not be — but if you got here that fast you should be writing up your own strategies.

If you have a bee with you, you can literally throw it at Susan and it will kill practically every zombie around her. If not, just go nuts with your saw until they're gone. Jump on the ball and talk to Susan to get her to join. She's a pretty good survivor — with just her, it's safe to hold her hand and just book it back to the Security Room. If you get back before 11, just wait in the elevator in the Warehouse until you get the next call, then get Susan back to safety.

🕐 11:00 "Isabela Call" call. (Do NOT be in the Security Room at this time!) After this, just hang out by Columbian Roastmasters in Paradise Plaza.

🕐 12:00pm

BOSS: Kent

At this time you'll have your final showdown with Kent — he is now officially a Psychopath and you will need to defeat him. So get your photo of him and take him down. With him is the survivor Tad, whom you can save once the battle is over. Also, during the battle, you may receive the following calls, which you'll want to make sure you answer:

"Kindell's Betrayal" call.

"A Woman in Despair" call.

If you didn't get #34 during/after the fight, go over to the Warehouse entrance and enter it — you should get the call right away. The problem is that this call is about Simone, who is in Paradise Plaza, so if she didn't spawn before/after the fight, she will when you leave.

Simone is in "Players" (P103) on the first floor — there is a nice, mainly zombie-free zone outside of this where you can put a waypoint for Tad while you talk to her. Talk to her a few times and she will join you, in the hope of Isabela being able to cure her. If you didn't do the cases up to where I said to, she will either a) not even spawn, or b) refuse to join you because you don't know Isabela can cure her.

Once you've got both of them, make sure you get their photos and return to the Security Room with them. While you are here, make sure you talk Kindell out of his betrayal — this is critical to completing the game. Just keep talking to him until the mutiny is averted.

🕐 1:00 Getting close to the end now — there are only 3 more survivors for you to get. When you leave the Security Room this time, make sure you get a photo of the Air Duct on the roof — when you take the picture it will say "Air Duct" as the subject. Now make your way over to the North Plaza, back to the "Huntin' Shack" (N127).

Don't go rushing in! There are 3 people in here who will shoot at you when you enter — the closer you stay to the door, the easier it will be for you to get out once they start (or for their bullets to eventually push you out the door). Once they see that you've walked out, Jonathon will come out and begin talking to you. Eventually he'll want proof of where you are going to take them — at which point, if you have the Air Duct photo, Frank will show it to them and they will join. Be careful not to wander into the shack while talking to Jonathon, because they'll all start shooting at you when you do!

Get their photos and you should now have 50 survivor photos! If you don't (and didn't get the achievement), don't fret — recharge your camera on the way back to the Security Room with these guys and just start taking photos of everyone in the rooms, including Jessica, Isabela, Otis, and Greg. Somewhere during this you're bound to get the achievement.

Once they've all joined you, get them back to the Security Room, and that will be the last of your survivor escorts! The Saint achievement will not pop up now, but will pop up after the credits when you get the end game stats — just so you know. You also must get an ending, so you cannot end the game now, plus there are still more Otis calls to answer.

🕐 5:00 "Paul's Present" call.

"Jessie's Worried" call. (Do NOT be in the Security Office at 5 to get this.) Many things I've looked at said you don't need this one, but we both definitely needed this one.

You can now do all of the remaining cases if you choose to, but you don't have to. However, if you go back to the Security Room now, the next case will begin no matter what. After that you'll have to talk to Isabela to start the following case. If you want to complete the survivor requests (which you will need to do to acquire Saint), head back now and go talk to Paul to get his infinitely spawning Molotov Cocktails.

Afterwards, make your way to Wonderland and get one of the guns from the cops by the Space Ride (or go somewhere else and get a gun — the point is you'll need a gun in the near future).

🕐 7:00 "Simone's Request" call.

🕐 8:00 "Cheryl's Request" call.

If you've done everything up to here you will get the Transmissionary achievement now! That's all 39 of Otis' calls! (Yes, 39 — remember, I numbered the Maintenance Tunnels intro as 0.)

Now head back up to the Security Room Office and talk to Paul to get the Molotov Cocktail from him, talk to Simone and give her the gun, then talk to Cheryl — you'll have to take a bunch of sexy photos of her.

Once you've done all these things, you've done pretty much everything the game has to offer outside of the main storyline (if you haven't completed that previously), and you have quite a bit of time left to spare. In this time you can do whatever you want — just make sure that you are at the heli-pad at noon, or else you won't get ending B and you won't get your Saint achievement.

Here is a list of things you can do if you haven't already, in this leftover time:

  • Freefall (20)
  • Zombie Hunter (20)
  • Photojournalist (20)
  • The Artiste (20)
  • Raining Zombies (20)
  • Self Defense (20)
  • Item Smasher (20)
  • Carjacker (20)
  • Marathon Runner (20)
  • 3 Day Survivor (20)
  • Stunt Driver (20)
  • Stunt Rider (20)
  • Zombie Killer (20)
  • Strike! (20)

See the Achievements section for how to knock these out.

Congratulations and thanks for reading this guide!