Frank West

The protagonist of Dead Rising. Frank West is a freelance photographer and photojournalist. Frank has covered numerous wars in the past, explaining his vague familiarity with firearms. He originally came to Willamette for the "scoop of a lifetime", thinking that the incident was a mere riot.

72 Hour Mode
When on the helicopter, what he witnesses is not normal. Frank first sees a man fighting for his life on top of a car, only to be pulled down and killed by rioters. Later a gas station explodes; He then sees a woman shooting these rioters on a building roof top, she signals for help, but is tackled off the building and splattered on the ground.

Once he is inside the mall he finds many survivors, one of which, says that the rioters, aren't people, but zombies. The mall is eventually breached when Lindsay Harris opens the doors to get to her dog, Madonna. Many of the survivors die, but Frank manages to escape upstairs into the security room. In there he meets Jessica McCarney, Brad Garrison, and Otis Washington. Brad leaves for supplies, and Frank follows for a scoop. When Frank is in pursuit, he attacks Jessie, thinking she was a zombie, she tells him Brad needs help, so Frank leaves.

When Frank finds Brad, he is ambushed by Carlito Keyes, after the fight, the man escapes. Frank convinces Brad to lethim cover the story when he shows a picture of the man he is looking for, Dr. Barnaby, but he wishes to remain where he is. Later Brad and Frank find that the doctor has been captured by the man who ambushed them earlier, the man is shot in the arm and escapes, but manages to shoot Brad. Frank and Brad bring Barnaby back, Brad passes out, and Jessica asks Frank to get a first aid kit from the pharmacy in the supermarket. When Frank gets the medical kit, he finds a woman held hostage by Steven Chapman, and is hinted she was there looking for medical supplies for someone too. After you set her free she says, "You're the ones who caused this nightmare, you ruined Santa Cabeza and started all this!” then she runs off.

Later, Dr. Barnaby wakes up but won't talk with Frank around so he decides to search for the women. He sees the woman on the moniter. Frank searches for her, finds her, and is attacked by her. Once he beats her, she says the zombie parasite came from Santa Cabeza, Carlito, the man who assaulted Frank and Brad twice, is her brother, and her name is Isabela Keyes, she says she will bring Carlito to Frank for questioning. As Frank is waiting at the rendezvous point for Carlito, Isabela bursts through the door, with a zombie attacking her. After it is killed, it appears that she has been bitten, but she states that it is a gunshot wound, from Carlito.

She is taken back to the security room for questioning where Barnaby reveals that the zombies were accidentally created in an attempt at mass producing cattle before dying. As the others discuss the events, Brad points his gun in Frank's direcction and tells him to get down. Frank turns in time to see Brad shoot the zombified Barnaby.

Isabella explains that Carlito was planning on blowing up the mall, which would release the zombie plague beyond Wilamette. Now against her brother's cause, Isabella devises a plan. Once the plan is set, they succeed, however, Carlito gets away by shoving Brad into a room full of zombies. He is attacked and zombifies in front of Frank, who takes Brad's pistol and kills him. Once back, Isabela and Frank go to Carlito's hideout to see if he is planning anything else, but Isabela cannot crack his password.

Carlito is held hostage by an insane butcher, Frank saves him, but Carlito dies of his wounds, and tells Frank to give Isabela his locket. The the locket is handed to Isabela, she figures out the password, and gets rid of a jamming device, so Jessica can now contact the DHS headquarters. She informs them the military will come at midnight to kill everything and everyone, so the incident is forgotten.

Jessica becomes infected somehow (possibly from Dr. Barnaby) and kills two military officers, the survivors escape, but Frank, Isabela and zombified Jessica are left behind. Jessica now a full zombie attacks Frank who, in self defence, kills her. If the player unlocks the "true" ending, the helicopter piloted by Ed Deluca (whom Frank requested to return in order to provide Frank with an escape route) spins out of control and crashes into the clock tower in the center of the park. Frank collapses in defeat, and awaits his inevitable death.

Overtime Mode
Isabela abruptly appears to save Frank, although she diagnoses with a bleak condition; Frank is infected with the undead virus, and will turn into a zombie unless he procures the items requested by Isabela. Once Frank has acquired the necessary items, Isabela creates a temporary potion to delay the effects of zombification. The excess inoculation is used by Isabela to fashion a zombie repellent potion. She also reveals something horrible she found on Carlito's computer: Carlito has used the same potion to infect orphans spread across the country, basically making them ticking time bombs.

Now devoid of any logical reason to remain in the mall, they finally seek an alternative means of escape. Frank discovers that there is a gaping hole in the clock tower, as a result of Ed Deluca's crash. Frank and Isabella decide to descend into the dark depths of the unknown. They reach a rusted gate, where the military has established a defensive perimeter. Frank activates a lever, raising the gate and distracting the military long enough for them to enter, where they promptly face the commander of the military clean-up operation, the bald-headed, robust Brock Mason.

Isabela commandeers a Humvee while Frank manipulates the machine gun mounted on the back. After the battle, Brock's tank is rendered inert, and Frank sheds his weapons and engages Brock in hand-to-hand combat. The game culminates with Brock's defeat, while Frank howls at the sky above, surrounded by a plethora of zombies. In the credits it states that Frank and Isabela were able to survive and spread the story, of what really happened at Willamette. During his time at Willamette, he becomes close friends with Brad Garrison, Jessica McCarney, Otis Washington, and Isabela Keyes. But Russell Barnaby doesn't seem to like him.