The game's story see players controlling Chuck Greene, a former motocross rider, who finds himself at the center of another zombie outbreak taking place in a casino resort and shopping complex in Nevada, and becomes involved in uncovering the truth behind it.

Not only must he survive against the zombies roaming the complex by scavenging weapons and supplies, along with rescuing survivors caught up in the incident and dealing with crazed psychopaths, Chuck must also ensure that his young daughter receives regular treatments of a medication that prevent her from becoming a zombie herself, after being bitten by her mother during a previous outbreak in Las Vegas.

The game received two downloadable expansions - one being a prologue to the main story, the other taking place moments after achieving its canonical ending.

As part of Dead Rising's ten year anniversary, a ported version of the game as well as its reimagining was released in September 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Like the first game, boss fights are represented by 'psychopaths', people who have either been driven insane by the zombie outbreak or are taking advantage of it to fulfill their cruel desires.

[9] Five years after the events of Dead Rising, former motocross champion Chuck Greene is in the casino town of Fortune City, Nevada, taking part in Terror Is Reality, a controversial sports entertainment game show where contestants kill zombies for money and fame.

Chuck needs the prize money to buy Zombrex, a daily medication that suppresses the zombification process, for his young daughter, Katey; who was bitten by her zombified mother during a previous outbreak in Las Vegas.

Head of security, Raymond Sullivan is initially reluctant to let the infected Katey in, but Chuck promises to keep her supplied with Zombrex until the military arrives in three days.

From this Chuck is given three main objectives to complete: investigating the source of the outbreak; rescuing survivors from zombies; and finding more Zombrex to keep Katey alive until the military arrives.

Chuck and Rebecca soon discover that Terror Is Reality host, Tyrone "TK" King, is using the outbreak to rob the city's casinos.

Three days into the outbreak, the military arrives, but a green gas emanates from underground, causing the zombies to mutate into a more powerful form.

A second military force would normally arrive 24 hours later, but media reports claim that the first convoy reached the shelter and found no survivors, so the city will be cleansed by firebombing.

The safe house is sabotaged, forcing Chuck to quickly repair the door; TK is bitten, and needs Zombrex to survive.

Killing the facility's scientists, Chuck recovers a satellite phone and a laptop and takes them to Rebecca as proof of Phenotrans involvement.

Rebecca attempts to contact her news station, but is killed by Sullivan, who is revealed as a Phenotrans operative; being the one who let the zombies loose and framed Chuck, as well as sabotaging the shelter.

Chuck contacts Rebecca's channel and offers to give them proof of Phenotrans' involvement in the outbreak if they send helicopters to rescue the survivors.

In August 2010, Keiji Inafune released an eight-part video series entitled Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun.

Capcom sponsored a gathering of zombies at the London House of Parliament on August 30— the best dressed won a game console.

Capcom also created Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality (CURE) as a marketing tie-in for the game, as well as its reimagining Dead Rising 2: Off the Record.

The player must deal with a minor outbreak in the town of Still Creek, and move on before the military arrives and kills any infected (including non-zombies like Katey).

GameSpot gave the title an 8 out of 10 rating, praising the fun zombie killing, in-depth weapon creation, and multiple endings that require several playthroughs.

The game features Frank West, the main character from the first Dead Rising game, and serves as the canon Overtime Mode of Dead Rising 2, with Frank teaming up with Chuck to further investigate the link between Phenotrans and the Fortune City zombie outbreak, and find proof that clears Chuck of any wrongdoing.

Eurogamer gave the title an 8 out of 10 rating, stating that the product was more a worthwhile purchase for people planning to play co-op with a friend.

[44][45][46] GameZone gave the Xbox 360 version of the game a 6 out of 10, stating, "the lackluster presentation, uninspired story, outright broken multiplayer, and atrocious amount of glitches makes Dead Rising 2 less of a flawed gem and more of a somewhat polished pile that incrementally smells worse the longer you let it sit in your disc drive.