Gameplay
The player character is Frank West, a photojournalist who sneaks into the fictional town of Willamette, Colorado, which has been quarantined by the military. The main objective of the game is to investigate the Willamette Parkview Mall and complete "Case Files", missions that advance the storyline and reveal the cause of the zombie outbreak. The player has three days to do this, at which point a helicopter will arrive to retrieve him. Time passes twelve times faster in-game (i.e. one day in-game is two hours in real time); therefore, the game automatically concludes after six hours of gameplay. If a player fails a mission, it does not end the game, but different actions result in different endings at the end of the 72-hour period. In addition to the Case Files, the player is offered the opportunity to rescue other survivors of the zombie outbreak, either from the zombies themselves, or from "psychopaths", boss characters who have either been driven insane by the zombie attacks, or are using the outbreak as cover for their own purposes. Alternately, the player can ignore all missions and play as a sandbox game; wandering though the mall (modeled on stereotypical American shopping malls), trying outfits and food, and killing zombies with a variety of objects.
A counter at the bottom right corner of the screen helps the player keep track of how many zombies have been killed. Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that there can be up to 800 zombies on screen at once. During the day, the zombies are sluggish and weak, but at night they become more active, tougher, and more numerous.
Read more about this topic: Dead Rising