Parents' Guide to

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Campy zombie shooter remake isn't as good as the original.

Game Nintendo Wii 2009
Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

2happy2na
2happy2na Adult
February 14, 2011
age 14+

It's not THAT bad...

The game is not as mature as you think. In DEADRISING: chop till you drop, there is a very small amount of swearing. The only time the game says anything "strong" is probably at the beginning. A good part of the game is focused around mild language. Now the blood on the other hand is incredibly "cheesy" and nothing to be worried 'bout. If the blood means that much, then you can easily change the color and amount under options. If you let your kids play any Tony Hawks (T rated game), I think they are ready for this.

This title has:

Too much swearing
Friendofme
Friendofme Parent of 9-year-old
January 9, 2010
age 10+

Tweeny game

This game isn't bad at all. My ten year old son loves this game. I watched him play the game, and wow, I could say the only thing bad is the trailer - it's misleading. I would suspect the game to be teen when I saw it. Then, I looked at the cover and it said: M for mature. Now, my wife buys a lot of games for my two sons, ten and twelve and included Assassin's Creed, Left 4 Dead 2, Halo 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 & 2 and finally Dead Rising 1 & 2. The worst game was Assassin's Creed but the one that is most appropriate is Halo. The gore in the game is very toony and my son has not been affected. I would put this game as E10+ .

This title has:

Educational value
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

If it's zombies you crave, it's a good time to buy video games. Between Sega's House of the Dead: Overkill and Capcom's Resident Evil 5, you'll have plenty of undead blasting in your future. And then there's the campy DEAD RISING CHOP TILL YOU DROP, a remake of Capcom's popular 2006 horror game for Xbox 360 that now takes advantage of the Nintendo Wii motion-sensing controls to hack, slash, and shoot a flesh-eating mob.

In case you haven't played the original adventure, players assume the role of Frank, a photojournalist, holed up in a zombie-infested shopping mall. You must get out alive by finding and using real and makeshift weapons (from shotguns to bowling balls, respectively) to keep enemies at a distance while trying to find an exit -- and an answer as to what happened here in the fictitious suburb of Willamette, Colorado.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (4 ):

The Wii remote adds some variation to the zombie killing as you can swing it like a bat, aim and shoot it like a pistol towards an oncoming enemy, or hold it like a chainsaw to take down the hoards. A ticker in the bottom right corner of the screen keeps a tally of how many baddies you've killed. It's gory, bloody and over-the-top -- like a B horror movie such as Dawn of the Dead (which also takes place in a mall). Plus gamers will face boss characters, rescue survivors, dress up Frank in a variety of costumes, solve some puzzles, and watch entertaining cut-scene cinematics.

But the Wii doesn't have the same horsepower as the Xbox 360 -- and it shows. The graphics are pale in comparison to Microsoft's machine and there aren't nearly as many enemies on the screen at once. What's more, Frank doesn't use his camera to take pictures in this version, which was very much a part of the original game-play. Despite these shortcomings, this "Mature"-rated zombie playground proves fun and silly for Wii gamers age 17 or older, but it might be best as a weekend rental as opposed to paying $40 to own this slasher.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether the motion-sensing of the Wii controls make the killing seems more real than games played on other consoles. Or is this campy game less realistic because of the subpar graphics compared to the other version? Is this game less offensive because you are killing zombies who are fictitious than games where you kill humans.

Game Details

  • Platform: Nintendo Wii
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: Capcom
  • Release date: March 3, 2009
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • ESRB rating: M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
  • Last updated: November 4, 2015

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