If you can’t get to them before the timer goes off, they die. However, Otis could radio in at any minute and tell you someone is hiding in another location, setting off a timer. You are given a set of “main” missions that help to push the story along.

If you like the game, the different paths mean plenty of replay value, but if you’re trying to get through it just to nab some achievements, it can be a bit of a hassle.

Your experience through the mall will be completely different than someone else’s. This leads to plenty of undiscovered game moments as well as some unexpected surprises. Where you are and when determines what you see and experience. Rather than having an instance happen on a trigger when Frank enters the area, the events happen when they’re supposed to on the clock. Where Dead Rising differs is that a clock is always moving during the game and that various plot points will happen at pre-set times. Frank’s only back-up throughout the ordeal is Otis, a mall employee who will let you know where to find survivors, and two shady government agents who are willing to help only if you help them first. Instead, you’ll need to use your journalism skills to uncover the mystery by rescuing the other survivors scattered throughout the mall. There’s a reason for the zombie attack, but you’re not told why from the get go. Once on the ground, Frank discovers that he is smack dab in the middle of one of my personal greatest fears – the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Frank is dropped off at the only helipad in town, which happens to be on top of the shopping mall, and is told he has 72 hours before he’s picked up. What at first seems like a massive riot turns out to be something much more. After receiving a tip that something was going down in a small town out in the middle of nowhere, he charters a helicopter to go have a look.

You are Frank West, a hardened journalist who has seen everything from riots to wars in his career.

Dead rising 4 lightsaber