Dead Rising

I have to admit, playing a game where you're trapped for 72 hours in a mall swarming with zombies sounded pretty intriguing. This is the premise of Dead Rising, the new zombie-slaying action game from Capcom. Protagonist Frank West is a photojournalist investigating a strange phenomenon in the small town of Williamette. He is dropped off at the local mall and quickly discovers the phenomenon is actually zombies. The rest of the story is then spent on the mystery of why the zombies are there in the first place. I was really looking forward to bashing zombie heads in with a vast array of weapons and trying to survive. Boy was I oh so wrong.
 
Pros: 
- Looks pretty good for its time with hundreds of enemies on screen at once and no lag. 
- Can be pretty hilarious at points, especially when you put things like cones and masks on zombie's heads. 
- Large mall with tons of different stores that offer huge variety of weapons and items. 
- Rewarding leveling system that carries over to new games should you have to start over (and you probably will). 
- A nice cast of characters with loads of different personalities.
 
Cons: 

• This game is by far the cheapest game I have ever played, mainly with the psychopaths. There were points where I would be shooting one of them in the face and yet their health didn't budge. There were many instances where I'd be laying on the floor after getting knocked down, completely vulnerable, and the boss would continue to hit me right as I was standing up, knocking me right back on the floor. They would then repeat this until I died. What kind of douche move is that?!
• Time goes by way too quickly for you to to be able to explore the mall (1 hour = 5 minutes)
• Time between major missions varies erratically from having a fair amount of time to almost no time at all to complete the mission. In a particular case, I started a main mission right at 11 AM when it started; I had till 3 PM the same day to complete it which gave me about twenty minutes. The objective was to get some medicine literally on the complete opposite side of the mall and get it back before 3 PM. After spending a good amount of time getting there (you have to trek through A LOT of zombies), I then spent an even longer, more frustrating time fighting a psychopath before I could get the key to the medicine. I then traveled the way I came and gave the medicine. After I completed the mission, the game preceded to tell me I was late for the next mission and therefore FAILED THE ENTIRE GAME! Guess what time it was when I got the medicine back. I'll tell you: 3:35 PM! I was about 2 1/2 real minutes too late and the game ends.   
• Many instances where you have to run down long, narrow corridors to get from point to point. Seriously, if the game relies so heavily on the time system, why in the (excuse my language) foul-feathered fuck does it keep making me run down these long-ass hallways with absolutely nothing to do?!
• Ridiculous save system that only offers one save file at all times. 
• While the experience carries over when you have to start a new game, doing so makes the previous hours you spent playing on the earlier file seem like a giant waste of time. 
• Many weapons wear out way too quickly. My biggest complaint was with the game's rare chances to drive a vehicle and run over zombie after zombie. At first, it's rather exhilarating, but soon after, when the vehicle breaks down, it blows up and sends you flying into whichever zombie horde you were just moments away from flattening.
• Books that help increase your skills and/or items take up an inventory slot and you have to hold on to them for them to be effective. Jesus Christ, does Frank West have the memory of a retarded squirrel where he has to hold on to the book in order to remember what it said? Why can't he retain any information at all without having to have it with him at all times?  
• Otis always calling right at the point where there are multiple zombies coming straight for you. Great timing Grandpa. Of course you can ignore these calls, but then you won't be able to get the achievement for answering every one of them. 
• All of the other survivors scattered throughout the mall that you can rescue are insatiably stupid. When trying to get them back to the safe house the quickest way possible, I would look for a big open gap in the zombie congregations so they and I could get through safely. Before I know it, I turn around and my A.I. partners have ran in a completely opposite direction right into a zombie horde. Why? Why did they do that? Did they want me to backtrack and waste my time and items getting their dumb asses out of trouble? 

 
Phew, that was an enormous amount of pressure and frustration lifted from my shoulders. Dead Rising had the opportunity to be fun and great, but there are just way too many very blatant and frustrating mechanics that hinder it from being either of those.