A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a game that proves the power of parenthood & protecting a child, “Dead Rising 2”.
Parents Will Sacrifice Greatly For Their Child
You know that end-of-the-world scenario where the dead begins walking again or people lose their absolute grasp of normalcy because what was once the status quo is no more? It’s been depicted through various forms of entertainment for years with video games usually upping the ante by putting the person behind the controller in the virtual shoes of someone struggling to survive the unbelievable & the potentially unmanageable. But for every person fighting for survival there’s a corporation ready to make money off someone’s suffering. In the “Dead Rising” universe, that corporation is Phenotrans. While the obvious disappointment with Phenotrans – a corporation with the resources to save the world – is its decision to sell a temporary cure to zombification with a product known as “Zombrex”, the real story surrounding “Dead Rising 2” is the fight for survival for someone else; in this case Chuck Greene.
A former motocross champion turned potential reality TV star, Greene has a bigger responsibility than simply living in a world gone mad – Chuck wants to ensure his daughter’s safety. Little Katey, as expected, is bitten during their travels and the only way for Greene to help his daughter is by putting himself in precarious predicaments to attain enough money to buy as much Zombrex as possible.
Though Chuck’s journey gets him caught in the middle of a war between Phenotrans and a revolutionary group looking to protect the rights of the zombiefied, the basis of Greene’s every action during a seventy-two hour period of time is to save his daughter. Run through a horde while swinging around an ore sporting chainsaws on both ends, turn a football into a hand grenade, even dressing up as Mega Man, Greene goes to the depths of figurative Hell to help his daughter.
Interestingly enough it’s up to the player to determine whether or not Chuck is successful in his quest to help Katey; resulting in multiple endings. But no matter the outcome the reality is the same: a parent will go through Hell & high water to help their child. And helping their child could even mean taking down an aging pop singer still clutching onto her last fifteen minutes of fame by capturing her “fans” and threatening to blow them up if they try to leave before her set concludes.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing the “Dead Rising 2” franchise or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.