Inafune: Dead Rising 2's difficulty will be "better balanced"

Capcom production boss Keiji Inafune has said that Dead Rising 2's difficulty curve will be improved over the first game, but that you're still going to need to lean on friends to get through the tough bits.

Inafune said that one of the attractive points to Dead Rising was that “it wasn't the perfect difficulty curve and that there were some rough areas that you did kinda need to go on the internet in some cases.”

He did promise however that Dead Rising 2 “will be better balanced,” although he also said:

“You're going to need support network, whether it's people on the internet or whether it's a friend playing [online] co-op,” adding, “you're going to need some kind of support because it is going to be a difficult game.”

Inafune, speaking to Joystiq in a E3 interview, said the game will also improve on the original by including multiple save slots.

Player difficulty isn't the only major feature from the first game to be overhauled: Frank West, Dead Rising's star, has been replaced with new guy Chuck Greene. Inafune explained that Capcom wanted to make a “more rough, tough, gritty character for the Western market."

Dead Rising 2’s out on August 31 in the US and September 3 in the UK on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.