Andy Wood

The highly anticipated Superman movie, Superman Returns, is only a few weeks away and the marketing campaign is more powerful than a locomotive. I’m not a psychic but I’d like to make a few predictions. Purists will complain about breaks from the comic book continuum. “Lois has a kid she never had a kid in any comic book I read.” Special effects aficionados will complain about weak CGI work. “I think they used a Commodore 64 for these effects.” Virtually everyone reading this article will see the movie in the opening weekend and we will argue about insignificant points for fun. “What do you mean you hate the classic Superman curl? Are you insane?” The final prediction is that geeks will seek to make fun of the movie. J

Top 10 Rejected Names for Superman Returns

10. Dude, Where’s my Fortress of Solitude?
9. Lex in the City
8. Superman Version 5.0 with Spam Guard
7. Kryptonian Fever: A Spike Lee Joint
6. The Destruction of Detroit – Superman eats too many burritos
5. Fast Times at Smallville High
4. Brokeback Metropolis
3. Kal-El’s Big Adventure (fake laugh – HA, HA)
2. Man of Steel Magnolias
1. Superman Returns…from Drug Treatment

When you look at this map, you just think to you self, “Where would I want to go, if I was in a mall that was crawling with undead ghouls that want to eat me and all I am armed with is a Nikon camera”.

Dead Rising follows the harrowing tale of Frank West, an overly zealous freelance photojournalist on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. In pursuit of a juicy lead, he makes his way to a small suburban town only to find that it has become overrun by zombies. He escapes to the local shopping mall, thinking it will be a bastion of safety, but it turns out to be anything but.

Take the lead as Frank and engage in a struggle to survive the endless stream of enemies. With a full compliment of stores at your disposal in the mall, you’ll need to be creative—utilizing anything you can find to fight off the flesh-hungry mob—and search for the truth behind the horrendous epidemic.

* Real-time gameplay: Time marches on whether Frank is actively engaged or simply stationary.
* Dynamic enemies: Record numbers of zombies come in never-ending waves and react to their environment. Though they move slowly during the day, the zombies become stronger and faster at night, making it even more dangerous for players to survive. These former humans have also retained some memory of their previous lives, giving them unique behaviors and appearances.
* Visual clarity: Playing in native 720p resolution allows for unprecedented detail and clarity in gameplay.
* Weapons aplenty: The variety of stores available to you in the mall offer an endless supply of resources, including vehicles, makeshift weapons, and food.
* Save and learn: Encounter other survivors along the way. Helping them will give you more clues as to what has happened and what you need to do to stop it.

Finally, a worth while zombie game where the objective isn’t to load up on ammo and start blazing. Oh no, when there are achievements like:

	Zombie Hunter: Defeat at least 1,000 zombies.
	Peace Keeper: Defeat at least 5 psychopaths.
	Tour Guide: Escort 8 survivors at once.

Dead Rising hits the shelves on 8/8/2006 so sharpen those hatchets, grease up those chain saws, because it is time to go shopping!