Video Game / Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

"I clawed my way out of Willamette. I fought hard to uncover the truth of what happened at that mall. And things were good.. real good.. for a while. Then, I let things get to me. I let things get out of control. I think deep down, I knew I had to uncover what was really going on. Things got pretty dark. But this is my chance.. to get back in the game."

A spin-off game from the popular Dead Rising franchise, Off The Record is a retelling of the second game but instead of Chuck Greene, Frank West returns as the main protagonist. Having broken the Willamette story, Frank has become a national celebrity, winning awards and even having his own TV show. However fame gets to his head and he eventually falls on hard times. Worse still, he is now dependent on daily doses of the expensive drug Zombrex to stave off the infection, and with funds running low, he decides to participate in the controversial game show Terror Is Reality. What was supposed to be a simple job quickly goes south as an unexpected outbreak happens and Frank is caught in the middle of it...Again.

Off the Record was made as a "What if?" scenario to the second game, asking what would Frank do in Chuck's position and what would have changed. While the broad story points remain relatively the same, a few fine details change that completely alters the story in the end. Off the Record also brings back the beloved Photography mechanic and introduces some new areas. While the original was already pretty dense and wacky, this game turns it up to 11; fighting a midget clown with an icecream gun is somehow the least exciting thing to happen in the story.

The game also supports 2 player co-op, with the second player playing as a Chuck Greene. This however does not seem to have any bearing on the story whatsoever; Katey is not present for you to give Zombrex to and no one ever acknowledges Chuck in cutscenes.

In September 2016, both Off the Record and its parent game received re-releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, alongside the original Dead Rising. Unlike the other two, it was a digital only release.

---

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record provides examples of:

• Achievement Mockery: There's an achievement for receiving your first medal (out of many you can earn in sandbox mode). The flavor text reads: "It says 'Participant' in tiny letters on the bottom..."
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: The line Brandon Whittaker says before his fight "Oh, I see. You're losing the courage to finish what you started!" is altered to "Oh, I see. You're losing the courage to do what needs to be done." since unlike Chuck in canon, Frank wasn't framed for causing the outbreak. The problem is that the line still implies that Brandon believes that Frank is connected to the outbreak and simply got cold feet, even though he knows that's not the case since he was the one who started it. Though it could be argued that he was simply lost in his delusions by that point.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the original game, the TiR stagehand who meets Chuck is professional with him, yet agrees to keep an eye on Chuck's daughter for him; it's heavily implied that he even died protecting her. Here, the game's stand-in for the stagehand asks Frank for an autograph, yet condescendingly mentions that it'll only be worth something if something happens to him in the game before snidely wishing him good luck.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • TK is even worse than in the original game; while his original biggest crime was one of inaction, in that he let the outbreak happen so he could profit, here he actively supplies the bomb and manipulates Brandon into going through with it.
  • Stacey (Agent S) ends up taking Sullivan's place as the main villain and is now an agent of Phenotrans who's benevolence and kindness is just an act.
  • In Sandbox Mode, several survivors who are normally friendly are inexplicably hostile to you for no reason and will attack you on sight, with Rebecca Chang being the most stand out example.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: The original DLC outfits are unlockable and give their bonuses if worn as a matching set. If Off the Record detects a save file of Dead Rising 2, then Frank can wear Chuck's gear.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Capcom really made sure to tweak the mechanics to be more user friendly.
  • Since Frank himself is the one who needs Zombrex, they can be injected at any time instead of having to go to the safe house to do it.
  • Every time Frank goes into a new location, he can load back from that starting point in case he screws up without needing to save.
  • Money obtained from busting machines is doubled, the Money Hacker's durability and efficiency has been improved, and the new Sandbox mode is a great way to make even more money. Given that TK forces Frank to hand over a million dollars in ransom before the Twins fight, it was probably necessary.
  • More vehicles have been added in the outdoor area of the park. The Clown Car in particular can hold a lot of people at once.
  • The mission Delta Point is no longer hidden and the player no longer needs to drop any guns to recruit the surviving soldiers.
  • Signs and a whole intercom playlist was added to the Palisades Mall once Tape it or Die became available.
  • Instead of having to use a walkie-talkie to get scoops, Frank uses a bluetooth earpiece, freeing his hands up for defending himself against the undead.
  • A warning message pops up when you are next to an area exit while escorting someone who is too far away to leave with you.
  • Any survivors Frank has with him during the train case disappear once it gets started (with Frank telling them to stay back so he can get his footage), only to suddenly reappear right by his side once the mission is over, ensuring that unequipped survivors don't have to help fight a train full of mercenaries. It's lampshaded by Frank asking how they managed to keep up with the train on foot.
• Arc Words: "Back in the game."
• Ascended Extra: Brandon Whittaker goes from a one-off Psychopath to the man who caused the outbreak, with his boss battle happening during the main story rather than in a side mission.
• Ascended Meme: There's several fantastic comments on covering wars throughout the game.
• Baby-Doll Baby: Frank West finds a broken Chuck Greene who has gone crazy due of the trauma of having his daughter Katey die before the game's events. He carries a Katey sized doll on his back and claims that it's his daughter and that he won't ever let anything happen to her. And yes, you have to fight him.
• Bag of Spilling: You'll have to level Frank up all over again to re-learn all his sweet zombie-killing moves. Justified in that Frank's probably gone soft after five years of living the high life since the Willamette outbreak.
• Ball Cannon: The Tennis Ball Launcher is a weapon. When combined with motor oil it creates the combo weapon Molten Cannon. When combined with a saw blade it creates the combo weapon Saw Launcher.
• Bond One-Liner: Frank does them a lot more than Chuck ever did.
• Book Ends: The Overtime final battle against TK begins in the same zombie wrestling cage as the one you fought in the opening of the game. After defeating several waves of zombies it transitions to the more familiar final boss fight from the original game.
• Boomerang Bigot: In his boss fight intro cutscene, Chuck Greene is initially friendly towards Frank West, and laments the problem of Psychopaths (who he refers to as "crazies" and "nutbars"), even though he's obviously become unhinged himself due to Katey's death in the alternate timeline, and pretty quickly goes Psychopath on Frank as well.
• Bragging Rights Reward: The Proto Man costume, much like Arthur's armor from the vanilla version of the game, but less costly overall. The helmet is still won by beating Jack at poker, but can also be obtained by killing him in Sandbox Mode. The boots can be found in the Ultimate Playhouse store in Palisades Mall. The jumpsuit is won for getting bronze or better in Sandbox Mode's challenges. Finally, the Buster and Shield is obtained from getting Ending S. Wearing the helmet and/or boots with the Buster adds splash damage to the Buster's shots, and wearing the entire costume will increase your running speed.
• Call-Back:
  • Leon's theme, "Terror Is Reality", is used in the opening zombie wrestling match, since Leon's not in Off the Record.
  • Upon meeting the "cop" Deidre Sanchez, Frank will remark "You're a lot nicer than the last female cop I met!". This is a reference to Jo Slade from the last game.
  • A lot of shops in Fortune City are given the same names as shops found in the original game, such as the gym Flexin' and the restaurant Hamburger Fiefdom.
• Cash Gate: In a new addition to the plot from DR2, Frank needs to raise one million dollars for TK in exchange for Rebecca's life. It's a good thing you get infinite time in Sandbox Mode to raise it.
  • Upon stopping TK from escaping the city, Frank gets that ransom money back!
• Casino Park: Fortune City
• Catchphrase/Ascended Meme: "I've covered wars, you know."
• Catchphrase Interruptus: Frank pulls an amusing one off in the final battle.
  TK [trying to shove Frank over the ledge to his death]: You gotta be willing... to risk it all... if you're ever really gonna...
  [Frank throws TK overboard and over the ledge]
  Frank: FALL TO YOUR DEATH!?
• Chekhov's Gun: When Frank meets Evan, the clown doesn't seem to recognize him until a photo Frank autographed at the very beginning of the game is blown by.
• Clown Car: The game includes a useable vehicle called the Clown Car. Despite an unimpressive size, it can hold a maximum of eight survivors.
• Composite Character:
  • Europa Westinghouse is a composite character of herself and Vikky Taylor and will give Frank the side-mission of recovering a plant from a store on the Palasides Mall in the latter`s place. Vikky Taylor is killed by Brandon Whittaker in a cutscene.
  • Off the Record`s Frank West is arguably a composite character of the original versions of himself and Chuck Greene.
  • Richard Kelly is a composite character of himself and Stuart Holmes, in that Richard starts a "mutiny" (ie bothering people) unless he's given a magazine to read, much like how Stuart Holmes becomes angry about Chuck once he finds out about the TV report.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Brandon slices Vikki's throat at the end of his boss cutscene, leaving her unsavable unlike the original game.
  • Stacey, due to replacing Sullivan as the mole, is killed in the game's final battle, while her canon timeline counterpart is still alive as of the fourth game.
• Denser and Wackier: Just look at the E3 Trailer!
• Deadpan Snarker: Frank will often say rude or sarcastic remarks to survivors and psychopaths.
• Department of Redundancy Department: A series of trailers for Off the Record showcase Frank's ultimate fall from grace: he's reduced to shilling the "Disposable Digicheap Disposable Camera" along with "Frank's Fantastic Foto Facts".
• Depraved Dwarf: Evan, the brother of the Monster Clown from the first game, wants revenge on Frank for killing him.
• Dies Different In Adaptation: Sullivan is shot and killed during Stacey's defection, rather than split in half by his evacuation plane while trying to escape with the Phenotrans evidence.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Chuck has obviously turned to alcohol to ease his pain. His theme is even called "Firewater".
• Empathy Doll Shot: Katey's backpack and PSP are found in a puddle of blood in the room where Chuck rescues her at the beginning of the original Dead Rising 2.
• Evil Costume Switch:
  • Stacey changes into a tight leather suit once her true colors are revealed.
  • Chuck, now that he's gone off the deep end, looks more savage.
• Fake Difficulty: Case 7-4: Breach. Short version, you have to grab some items while Survivors are fighting zombies. Whereas the parallel case in the original game gives them all bloated health that makes them basically indestructible, there is no such luxury here, so completing the case without anyone dying is a complete crapshoot, especially since zombies will just show up out of nowhere instead of only coming from the gate.
• Fallen Hero: Chuck Greene, due to the loss of his daughter.
• Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Frank became became a celebrity for having survived the the Willamette outbreak, and made a fortune by selling his story to the media. Several years later he was alone, the money disappeared, and in order to keep buying Zombrex, he used his fame as the hero of Willamtte to kill zombies on the controversial "Terror is Reality."
• Fauxshadow: The cutscenes in Off the Record use about 40%-50% of the same dialogue as the original game, so all the dialogue and camera angles suggesting there's something not quite right about Sullivan are still there. However, this all turns out to be a Red Herring, as this time Stacey turns out to be the Big Bad instead of Sullivan.
• For Want Of A Nail: If the rest of the tropes on here didn't tip you off, Frank West, and not Chuck Green, being the one to cover the Fortune City outbreak severely shakes up the original Dead Rising 2 plot.
• Frictionless Ice: Evan can create this in an area around him during the first phase of his battle.
• Gaiden Game: This version of "DR-2" has Frank West as The Hero, among other changes, including:
  • New psychopaths like Evan the Clown, who wants to avenge the death of his brother Adam from Willamette, and Chuck Green who went off the deep end after Katie died, and replaces Leon Bell from the original game.
  • A couple of new survivors like Kuss and Woo are easier to find and rescue.
  • All slot machines give money when busted. In the original, only a specific machine in a cluster gave money when smashed.
  • The Uranus Zone amusement park makes the map much bigger.
  • Frank has the ability to create new weapon combinations.
  • This game also has a couple of new plot twists.
    • Brandon Witthaker is bribed by T.K. to bomb the zombie pens, thus creating the Forthune City outbreak, and he later kills Vikki Taylor. (With the mission to rescue an endangered plant given to Frank by Europa Westinghouse.)
    • The villain is still Phenotrans, but the operative that set the events in motion is Stacy, leader of C.U.R.E., while Sullivan dies trying to stop her.
    • In Overtime Mode, Frank has to get some items for T.K., who gives a sarcastic response to Frank, while in the original he said nothing to Chuck. Also, Frank has to rescue Rebecca Chang, who was only wounded by Stacy.
  • The major improvement overall was to implementation of the Anti-Frustration Features. (See above.)
• Gamebreaker: The aptly named DLC Gamebreaker pack, which is basically the games Cheat codes! Capcom is literally selling the standard fare of cheats, such as unlimited weapon durablility, instant PP, god mode, filters and super speed. You can make the game a breeze, but it will cost you ($5.00, 400 MS Points).
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • No matter how good you are in the beginning "Terror is Reality" section, the story proceed as if Frank got a humiliating defeat and a consolation prize instead.
  • In Evan's boss cutscene, he recognizes Frank as his brother's killer due to a nearby photo of him drifting in front of his face. Evan will still be able to recognize him even if his head is completely covered, such as by the Servbot helmet.
• Giant Enemy Crab: This is what the Final Boss Stacy uses to fight Frank. In dubstep!
• Green-Eyed Monster: Frank seems to be jealous of Chuck in the Captivate trailer.
• Irony: Early in the game, one of the TIR workers backstage asks Frank for his autograph. This guy makes a remark that the autograph would be worth something if something happened to Frank during the show. Later, when Frank confronts Evan, the same guy can be seen having been eaten. The photograph Frank signed is also what instigates Evan.
• Jerkass: Frank comes off with two dick remarks in this games particularly if the player liked Chuck Greene, one upon his defeat "That guy was a few screws short of a workbench" and one DURING the fight "[Taunting/mockingly] Trust me NO ONE is going to hurt your daughter now!"
• Jump Scare: In the last second of the S ending, a zombie jumps in front of the camera and screams, giving the viewer one more scare, similar to that of Dead Rising 2.
  • The "Scare Zombies" are intended to serve this very purpose. They're supposed to pop out when you come across a corpse or turn certain corners. They get their own Scare Chord and everything!
• Lampshade Hanging: A particularly hysterical one.
  [Frank is carrying a load of carnival prizes when Stacy rings.]
  Frank: [annoyed] What is it, Stacy?
  Stacy: Frank! I've been trying to reach you for hours! There's a guy here...
  Frank: [heavy sigh] Let me guess. Guy. Stuck in a store. Twelve zombies around him. Needs a piggyback to the safehouse. [long pause] Well, guess play time is over.
  • Done twice in a row after Frank defeats Psycho Chuck Greene:
  Frank [after battle]: Man, that guy was a few screws short of a workbench.
  Frank [after cutscene]: I swear I've met that guy somewhere before...
  • Even Chuck himself does one in co-op mode if he is the one to finishes his psycho self.
  Chuck [after cutscene]: It is me or does he looks familiar?
• The Lancer: Chuck becomes this to Frank in Co-Op mode. He's much less helpful in the single-player campaign.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Frank's last line in the trailer, "Frank West is back in the game."
  • Chuck's rant about how zombies are annoying, but easy, and even fun, to kill. This is pretty much the point of the series.
  • Eric Masters, a survivor, is a gamer and constantly does this throughout his rescue mission.
• Lighter and Edgier: Off The Record manages to be both to the original Dead Rising 2. Examples: We have the new Uranus Zone theme park area, which manages to lighten the atmosphere a little bit (see Denser and Wackier above), yet Katey dies and Chuck goes psycho because of it. This is balanced by Frank's lack of personal ties, allowing for a more light-hearted story, as well as having a clown (Evan) as a boss, yet Stacey ends up being the villain. Sullivan turns out to be a good guy, Rebecca survives, and there are a handful of new, entertaining survivors, but Vikky Taylor gets turned into a victim.
• Literally Shattered Lives: Evan after you beat him.
• LOL, 69: The Prom Night achievement is earned by killing 69 zombies. The flavor text reads "Crude humor at its finest."
• Masked Luchador: The zombie wrestlers, and Frank West too, albeit unmasked.
• Mermaiding Swimsuit: Frank West is given an optional side mission to rescue Tammy Blaine, whose job was to dress up as a mermaid in the Atlantica Casino. When Frank reaches her, she says that she was doing her job of entertaining the gamblers when "Terror is Reality's" zombies got loose and infected Fortune city. Frank tells her that they can reach the shelter quickly if she takes off tail end of her costume, only for Tammy to say she's "going commando," forcing Frank to carry her through a zombie horde.
• Meta Twist:
  • The new plot takes the player's expectations from the first game and uses them like a weapon to shock the player. Stacey is the Big Bad all along. CURE is a front to manipulate naive activists into starting outbreaks. Sullivan is a good guy, completely justified in his dislike of Stacey, and even saves Frank's life. Rebecca survives (in the best ending).
  • Many of the returning missions change up the locations and start times of the survivors, for better or for worse. Prominent examples include the two survivors with money briefcases, the two comedians, the gambler who wants his money back, and the old woman in the toy store.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Not exactly minor, but:
  • Frank, after finishing his bout in Terror is Reality, follows T.K. backstage, where he sees him handing a Briefcase Full of Money to a C.U.R.E. activist as well as a bomb, that is then used to release the zombies onto Fortune City. → Plot to cast C.U.R.E. as Bomb-Throwing Anarchists, all the while TK and his goons can rob the cash from the casinos → The Reveal that T.K. was ordered to bribe the C.U.R.E. member to release the zombies, and that Stacy was really an operative for Phenotrans with the task of unleashing another outbreak. It's also revealed that they were responsible for the Las Vegas outbreak as well, so that Queens could grow and be harvested for their zombrex producing pheromones, and will keep orchestrating more outbreaks for the sake of keeping high the demand of Zombrex.
• Mirror Match: Made possible during Chuck Greene's boss battle.
• Never Found the Body: Chuck Greene disappears after defeating him.
• Nerfed:
  • The Survivor A.I. is noticeably more incompetent and are physically weaker than they were in the original Dead Rising 2, although not quite as bad as they were in the first Dead Rising. This is either to balance the game because Capcom throught they were too powerful in the original version, or because Frank gives off an aura that makes his allies behave like idiots. Or maybe it's some sort of sick CallBack to the original?
  • Inverted with the looters and mercenaries, who are much tougher this time around and have a huge variety of weapons and nasty tricks. Combine the two, and you get survivors who are often killed by looters or mercenaries.
  • In the original Dead Rising 2, Chuck could wear one piece of the DLC costumes to gain their abilities. If he wore one part of each costume, he would get the abilities of all four costumes at the same time. However, Frank must wear all four pieces to get the benefits of the costume, so mixing and matching is no longer allowed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Though he was obviously unstable, Chuck was being reasonably civil until Frank tried to stop him from walking away by grabbing "Katey's" leg.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: TK's still a grade-A douche, but if it wasn't for his actions in Overtime mode Frank would have never realized Rebecca was still alive and bleeding out on the security room floor. His plan to loot the city also interfered with Stacey's master plan and ultimately led to her and Phenotrans being exposed as the masterminds behind the outbreak.
• Not as You Know Them: While most of the characters are the same as the original game, there are some key differences. Chuck is a Psychopath due to losing Katey (who is implied to have been eaten rather than having turned, judging by the blood splatters around her backpack), Phenotrans' mole is Stacey, not Sullivan, Sullivan himself replaces Rebecca as the one killed by The Mole (although his death isn't quite as abrupt; he actually manages to give Frank some final words of encouragement before expiring), and Rebecca survives. Also, Brandon seems to be slightly more rational, as he's revealed to be the "go between" for TK and Stacey.
• Not His Sled: With very slight changes, this game plays out pretty much the exact same way the original Dead Rising 2 did, which means Sullivan still has his moments of foreshadowing his betrayal. However, it's not him who reveals himself to be a Phenotrans plant and kills Rebecca this time, it's Stacey, and she just wounds Rebecca, but makes sure to kill the Good All Along Sullivan.
• Obviously Evil: Arguably, anyone who played the original Dead Rising 2, and is thus used to Stacey's softer, somewhat motherly facial features, will instantly deduce that something might be wrong with her once they see what her face looks like in Off the Record. Not everyone remarks this but still.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Lampshaded if you bring survivors with you to the underground train mission. Apparently, the survivors are able to keep up with the train long enough to find Frank.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Frank lets out a seriously worried one when he meets Chuck and accidentally grabs "Katey's" leg.
  • In Sandbox Mode the first challenge you can do is "Rooftop Massacre", which after a few thousand zombie kills get's a sequel named "Rooftop Massacre Pt. 2". Either you guessed it from the trope name or that a certain zombie spawned, activating the challenge unprepared can become this. That is until you end the challenge and well... good luck getting off the roof in one piece.
• Old Save Bonus: Having a save file from the original DR2 will unlock Chuck’s clothes for Frank to wear. This also lets Chuck wear Frank’s outfit.
• invoked Pandering to the Base: Word of God has explicitly said Off the Record is one huge ball of pandering.^note Technically, they called it fanservice, but their definition for that is different than what most people think. Frank even lampshades this if you go into Sandbox mode, where he gleefully leaps off the helicopter (a la the original Dead Rising) stating how it's no longer about the scoop, but his own personal vacation.
• Phlebotinum Dependence: You'll still need to go out of your way to find Zombrex, but this time you'll be using it on yourself instead of having to run back to the safehouse to give it to someone else.
• Red Herring: All of the foreshadowing regarding Sullivan's true nature is kept intact, leading to a rug pull when Stacey is revealed to be the traitor and kills him during the reveal.
• Running Gag: Covering wars, you know.
• Show Within a Show: Similar to the main Dead Rising 2, Terror Is Reality is the in-universe game show (though it is wrestling zombies in this release). Also similar to the main release, there are movie posters throughout Fortune City. In the theater though, the only thing Frank can watch is a promotional video for a timeshare.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In this version, Stacey still shoots Rebecca, but only in the stomach, with Overtime revealing that she actually survived and was captured by TK. As a result, she escapes the game alive.
• Stock Footage: Plenty of the Psychopath Opening (and ending) cut-scenes are rather blatant examples of this. In which in a lot of these cutscenes the only one who has any different dialogue whatsoever is Frank himself. But there are certain exceptions such as Slappy and Carl the Mailman though.
• Stout Strength: Frank's put on a few pounds around the midsection since Willamette, but he's still just as strong as ever.
• Stripper/Cop Confusion: One of the new survivors, Deidre Sanchez, is a dancer at The Peephole who wears a policewoman costume. Frank briefly mistakes her for a real officer when he first sees her.
• Thunder Hammer: The Electric Crusher is a weapon created by combining a sledgehammer and a car battery. It can brain zombies like a traditional hammer, but can also be slammed into the ground to send out a zombie-killing wave of electricity.
• Title Drop: One to the series as a whole in the song "His Name's Frank".
  "With the zombies on the horizon, who you gonna call when the dead are risin'?"
• Took a Level in Badass: The Psychopaths, especially the Rednecks.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable: You'd have to deliberately go out of your way to do this, but it is possible to do something at the start of the game to make it so you'd get softlocked at the end of the game. At the start of the game, you are intended to find Zombrex, which they intend for you to find it by going to Roy's Mart at the other end of the Royal Flush Plaza, beat up some looters and rescue Denyce. The developers partially anticipated this softlock by removing all instances of Zombrex before finding this. However, there is something they missed. A new feature exclusive to Off the Record are security keys. If you find one, you can exchange it at the bank in the Uranus Zone to get something, usually money, but also items like magazines, and in this case, Zombrex. There are 2 security keys that will give Zombrex as a reward. Key 673 can be found inside the Fortune City hotel, right before you enter the unfinished area of the South Plaza. The developers slightly took this one into consideration by locking the doors to the hotel before you are supposed to gain access to it. However, it can be bypassed by going to the Uranus Zone and entering it through the side, which the developers did not lock. Alternatively, you can enter the Atlantica Casino. In the fountain area right at the entrance, key 999 is right there and you can also use that for Zombrex. If you use either Zombrex and deliberately avoid Roy's Mart, the door in the back will still be locked. This becomes an issue in Overtime mode as it's not possible to unlock the door as a required item is locked behind it to complete that mode, so you will have to restart the game. Granted, this is minor because you'd have to go out of your way to do this, but still very punishing just for skipping saving Denyce. There's no way out of this without restarting the story.
• Updated Re-release
• Uranus Is Showing: "Uranus Zone".
• Vigilante Injustice: In the alternate continuity of Dead Rising 2, Carl Schliff tries to kill Frank West with a parcel bomb under the belief that he committed mail fraud for accepting a package that didn't belong to him. After blowing up his mail cart, Carl fights Frank under the belief that he's taking advantage of the anarchy to do whatever he wants.
• Vinyl Shatters: You can throw vinyl at zombies, which shatters. May be a hat-tip to Shaun of the Dead.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Frank and Chuck are still this in co-op mode.
• Wham Episode: The end of "What Lies Beneath". Sullivan is not the villain. Stacey is.
• What If?: This time, it's Frank who breaks the story, not Chuck, and in co-op, Chuck is the sidekick.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: Frank expresses his displeasure at the cheesiness of some of the fortune telling machine's lines.
• Wide-Open Sandbox: Single player and co-op for the first time in a Dead Rising game.
  • Sandbox Mode (fan named Infinite Mode) which gameplaywise is a sequel to the first game's extra mode. Features drop-in-drop-out co-op, challenges, and the freedom to do everything. And killing everything, since survivors hate you. Besides that, it's one of the easiest ways to level up.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: The first part of the the finale of Overtime can be made absolutely trivial by activating the Zombie Walk after taking out the first four zombies. Even the mighty Gas Zombies are completely fooled, allowing you to simply wait until the next phase starts since your kill count has nothing to do with getting there.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • Sullivan - but only if the woman in question is The Mole.
  • Frank himself isn't afraid to fist fight with Stacey during the final phase of the fight with her.
• You Killed My Brother: One of the new Psychopaths in Off the Record is Evan, the brother of Adam the Clown from the original Dead Rising. He's initially friendly (if divorced from reality), but quickly turns hostile when he realises that you're Frank West, the man who killed his brother. You can be wearing a servbot head and Protoman's helmet and he'll still recognize you.
• You Fight Like a Cow: The second part of this version's Overtime mode (Frank West fighting the zombies in the wrestling ring) features TK delivering several quips, some insulting Frank's pudgy shape, loss of fame, and unrefined fighting skills.