I never really played the second game. The save system in the first game was AIDS and nearly ruined the game for me as fun as it was.
Worth my time (Dead Rising 2)?
Dead Rising 2 is mostly an improvement.
- Survivor AI is no longer suicidal.
- Combo Weapons are fun and useful, though one of them is almost as good as the small chainsaw from the first game.
- The environment is a bit more varied, as it's in a mall connected to 3 casinos.
- Psychos are better.
- The story isn't as good, but I'd say it has better characters. I liked Chuck and his daughter and the safe house folks are a lot more interesting than the guys from the last game.
- Just less broken overall.
If you want a more serious story, get Dead Rising 2. However, Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is a remake/re-imagining of the game with Frank West as the star instead of Chuck. It's mostly the same story but it goes into weird places at points. This version also has some more improvements of DR2.
- Radio calls are all voiced. No more reading while running from zombies.
- A new area of the mall: Uranus Zone. It's a theme park!
- More weapons, items, clothes, and combo weapons.
- New boss fights, including 2 new psychos.
- You don't need to wear the full set of a special costume to get it's special bonus. This means you can break the game HARD if you are okay with wearing a fucking clown suit.