Today we got a chance to try Capcom's upcoming Dead Rising Mobile which is due for release next Thursday. I'm going to reserve most of my comments for our full review which will accompany the official release, but they've given us clearance to do a brief preview piece since we're so excited about the game. Let's start with a little backstory since quite a few of our readers aren't console gamers: Dead Rising for the Xbox 360 in late 2006 (which also recently saw a sequel released). It's a sandbox style game set in a shopping mall which is currently the site of an all-out zombie Apocalypse.

The game had a terrible save system, poor controls, horrible AI, and was generally a little buggy. However, none of this stopped the game from being something that was impossible to put down. Dead Rising was incredibly entertaining, because you could do the missions however you wanted, or just disregard them entirely. The name of the game in Dead Rising was improvised weaponry, and almost anything could be picked up and swung around at zombies. If you wanted, you could exclusively use guns, or dabble in the various melee weapons, or ignore conventional weapons and use only chairs and trash cans to make your way through the game.

Dead Rising Mobile comes packed with all the things that were bad about the original Dead Rising, with some issues that have even been magnified on the device. For instance, the already poor controls are even worse on the touch screen, and the general buggy nature of the Xbox 360 game persists with weird graphical glitches, clipping issues, and crazy camera angles. The objective system isn't very clear, the framerate is low (even on my iPhone 4) and it seems to take forever to load between areas.

The great thing is, none of this seems to matter because the Dead Rising formula is just so much fun. The appeal is hard to explain unless you've actually played it (which makes me hope Capcom eventually releases a lite version), but they've somehow managed to turn this expansive sandbox console game in to a mobile game that comes with enough elements from the original that it doesn't feel like a watered down port at all. The mall that makes up the game world is extensive, and after completing a few missions you begin to remember where the locations of your favorite weapons are, just like the original.

There's something incredibly satisfying about slaying entire swaths of zombies with a chair, running over mad zombies (beastly zombies that are stronger) with a lawn mower, and decapitating entire groups of zombies with an excellent chainsaw-driven spin attack… And just like the console version, you can either choose to follow the various missions, or just explore the mall on your own� Although, missions seem to award tons of experience, making leveling up difficult if you choose to disregard them.

We're going to be playing through the game more over the next week to provide a more in-depth look when it is finally released on Thursday, but so far we're impressed. Much like the original, if you can overlook the general buggy nature of the game and can deal with some lackluster controls, you're really going to be in for a treat of all out zombie mayhem.

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Character can be a dangerous thing. All the narrative, charm, or wit in the world can be churned into mush if the foundation it sits on is unsound. Games that are able to inject doses of character into their tried-and-true fundamentals are special. They're hard to put down, even harder to forget, and inarguably solid.

Corpse Craft [Free] manages to be this type of game. It's no-nonsense approach and mixture of two different genres works spectacularly well, while its clever veneer adds a delectable flavor to the play.

But let's start at the beginning, shall we? Corpse Craft is a castle vs castle title with a matching twist. The UI itself has a built-in matching-game puzzle board. Each color within this board represents a different kind of material that you can use to build your soldiers, which are represented in the game just above the UI. The more dramatic the match, the more materials you'll receive as a result.

Materials aren't figurative and the soldiers are people… sort of. The game draws its name its peculiar choice of castle vs castle troops: cobbled together, reanimated flesh. In a way, this is castle battle "Frankenstein" minus all that stupid "What is it to be human?" crap. Also, there's no stalking.

Once material is gathered, you can build a butcher knife-equipped attacker or even a mix-and-match consisting of a female's head held up by multiple hands. Later, you'll be able to build a disgusting rolling sphere of interconnected parts or defensive creatures with multiple arms.

What's important to get here is that each soldier has its own specialization, as well as a flaw. And while these guys are all separate, they do share one thing in common: a quirky, yet dark and original character.

The weird, but whimsical aesthetic is present throughout the title, soaking the atmosphere in its quirk. You'll notice that Corpse Craft has a delightful pen-and-ink approach reminiscent of Graham Annable's "Grickle." It's an approach that keeps the gruesome in the forefront, but doesn't dish out copious gore. The narrative follows the art's lead, presenting the macabre substance via grim singsong poems.

Since we're dealing with monsters here, it's only natural that there's a day and night mechanic. At night, your abominations can attack and defend at will. But during the day, the entire board is wiped clean of the reanimated, leaving you to gather resources until the next night falls.

Depending on how good you are, you may only see more than a dozen nights, as there appears to be around 16 levels in the game. I wish I could confirm this, but there's a sharp difficulty spike just beyond this "free" title's pay wall. (Yes, Corpse Craft is one of those "Buy the full game" games.) The AI in these later stages turns into corpse grinders, able to blast out many more soldiers than you can within short spurts. A good deal of strategy is required and, unfortunately, luck. I'll note though that nothing seems impossible to beat.

In addition to a campaign, there's a Survival Mode and an online component, which presents 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2 play via Game Center. The online sounds cooler in theory than what it actually is.�The simplicity of the matching component lends itself to spamming blocks for massive amounts of soldiers, which turns out not to be so grand when you, and not the AI, is on the receiving end of the punishment. Again, this is where luck rears its head. If you get a bad board, you'll probably lose since there's not much complexity to Corpse Craft.

Regardless, it's hard not to love Corpse Craft for solely for its slick character, so it's really nice that it sits on such a solid foundation. I've enjoyed my time with the game�immensely�and I expect many others will as well. Go ahead and give the game a download � you'll easily get a good enough indication of how much you'll dig the game before you hit its pay wall.

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