Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10
- Offline: 45 (900)
- Online: 5 (100)
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 30 - 40 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 4
- Number of missable achievements: 8 ("Having a Gas", "Life Saver", "Hero of Fortune City", "Improper Behaviour", "Justice Served", "Judge, Jury and Executioner", "Come On! Follow Me!" and "Father of the Year")
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
- Glitchy achievements: Co-op achievements
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: No
Introduction:
Dead Rising 2 features a timed mission game mechanic and allows you to restart the story at any point throughout the game while retaining your level and several key items. This affects your playthroughs and achievements in several ways and below is a quick summary of the achievements that need to be completed or obtained per playthrough.
- Save 50 survivors ('Hero of Fortune City')
- Spray all Zombrex posters ('Improper Behaviour')
- Katey's Gifts ('Father of the Year')
- All story related key items and several entrances (Underground, Shortcuts, Doors)
- Zombie kill achievements (with the sole exception of 'Zombie Fu')
All other progress toward an achievement or non-story related items like the SUV or Bike keys carry over. If possible, try and obtain every achievement in one playthrough. There have been reports of them not unlocking when they should, which will require you to use or do something that you've already done in your last playthrough. That makes it a pain to track down.
Due to the glitchy nature of co-op, it might be wise to restrict your co-op playthrough to the story and survivor/psycho achievements, while keeping most others for solo playthroughs, most notably the 'use all items' achievements.
Multiplayer:
Starting off with multiplayer might be a good idea as the money earned can be transferred to any saved single player file. This will make the $6,000,000 achievement a little less steep. Do note that this is not required because there are additional methods of earning money in single player.
You will receive an achievement for completing the following tasks in ranked matches:
- Win an event
- Win an episode
- Win all 9 events
Since the online community is virtually non-existent, you might want to head on over to the Achievement Trading Thread and find yourself some boosting partners.
Playthrough 1 - Story/Coop:
This will be the playthrough where you explore the storyline along with a fair share of survivor rescues and psycho killing. Get a friend or head to the Co-op Partner Thread to find one. It is possible to complete your notebook for the "Data Miner" achievement, but due to your low level it might prove difficult, although co-op will cancel it out. Don't worry about things you've missed, but keep them in mind for your next playthroughs. Some achievements are only achievable during the storyline or events that occur late in the game. Make sure to do them at the appropriate time or you'll find yourself facing an extra playthrough.
Playthrough 2 - Survivors/Psychos and Item Checklists:
This playthrough will be dedicated to finishing up all the achievements that you didn't finish in your first playthrough. This will vary individually, but this playthrough is dedicated to those that you are missing.
Playthrough 3 - Mopping up:
Finish up any achievements you haven't gained yet, save for the zombie kills achievements. In this playthrough, the last thing you'll do is acquire 2 million to buy the SUV if you haven't done so already. Once acquired, restart the story and go to the next step.
Playthrough 4 - Zombie Genocide Master:
In this playthrough, you will be concentrating on unlocking the Zombie Genocide Master achievement. If you have yet to unlock any of the lower zombie kill achievements, they will unlock in this playthrough, as well. You'll be spending another 6 hours driving the Silver/Platinum strip up and down to get 72,000 zombie kills. Avoid crashing into obstacles and save when you feel you've done a good run on the strip, and don't be afraid to reload when you feel it was not a good run.
Conclusion:
Dead Rising 2 is a simple 1000. The game will have you complete semi-difficult tasks, but overall there's nothing too strenuous about it. The online is a nice addition, but the fact that there's no way to boost with other players "easily," makes it much harder to complete. Be sure to check the Achievement Trading Thread for partners, and have fun in Fortune City!
[x360a would like to thank rrushn for this Road Map]