I just finished the 72 hour mode today...including all of the case files...and thought I'd give some of my impressions.

I think this game is a brilliant design, with some sub-par level designers. I expected as a player to find items hidden in nooks and crannies as i explored, but rarely had that fulfilled.

When i first started the game, i nearly put it down because of the lack of save spots, etc. But eventually you get used to the way they have things set up, and you adjust to playing that way. The save system gives the game a real intense feeling.

The problem is though, that they don't give warning of boss battles most of the time. Several times, I'd been playing for over 30 mins since my last save...then I'd accidentally walk into a boss battle. No warning, and no opportunity to save before hand. This wouldn't be so bad if the boss battles weren't so freaking hard. It took me generally 2-3 tries to get down how to beat them.

Their boss battles also suffer from the same problem we faced early on in development of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath... the enemies are just like you. How do you make a boss special when they're just a dude like you? Dead rising chose to leave them on the ground with you and have them run around and attack you with similar weapons. The problem with this is that they feel real uninteresting, and often you have to just make them stronger than the player to add any real difficulty. In SW, we took the route of giving the bosses large pieces of equipment or using their environment as the real difficulty to the player. IMO, this was more interesting and less frustrating as a player to complete.

All of this said, i REALLY like the game. It's a difficult game, but gives a great sense of satisfaction when you get past something that was giving you trouble. Also, my wife really loves to watch me play the game. She sits on her laptop playing Pogo and laughs as I go along finding new ways to destroy several zombies at once.

I'm in the Overtime mode now, which has changed up the game drastically. I'll add some more thoughts as I get further into the end game.