Dead Rising is one of the games I played before setting off for University, back in my last year of Highschool.
In the game you play as freelance photographer Frank West, who received a scoop of something going on in the small town of Willamette, Colorado. We land on the mall of Willamette via helicopter, and the chaos ensues.
You’re pretty much let loose after a small introduction, which at the time of it’s original release must have been impressive, what with the amount of zombies that could exist on screen at a time.
Now. Let loose. You certainly are. What’s special about this game is the connection you have to do with the environment; by the end of the game, the layout of Willamette Mall will be ingrained in your memory, used who knows, only a quarter of the arsenal and will probably have a reticence to helping stupid survivors in a real zombie apocalypse.
This is a game meant for multiple playthroughs, with lots of ending, and pretty much everything you do being optional. It is a true sandbox.
The graphics got charm to them, and I think this is the only instance where the use of “motion blur” wasn’t a bad idea. I think the game looks really nice. The overall seriousness of tone that the game has is also broken with strange people and situations, leaning more towards the side of “dark comedy”, which makes characters, both “psychos” (the bosses in this game) and survivors in this game really memorable, be it for their “performance”, creepiness or overall stupidity if you’re talking about survivors.
The version I played was the remastered edition for the PS4, which hasn’t received too much complaints, with quality-of-life upgrades such as the capacity to have 3 different save files. Give this game a try if you haven’t. It’s hard, but rewarding. Like most great games in my opinion. 
