Frank West

"It's Frank... Frank West. Remember that name 'cause the whole world's gonna know it in three days."

- 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 Willamette incident was a mere riot. During his time at Willamette, he became close friends with Brad Garrison, Jessica McCarney, Otis Washington, and Isabela Keyes.

72 Hour Mode
When Frank is 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 goes into the Entrance Plaza and finds many survivors. One of which says that the rioters aren't people, but zombies. While in the Entrance Plaza, he also sees a Hispanic woman, who leaves when she and Frank meet eyes. 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 him for a scoop. When Frank is in pursuit, he accidentally injures Jessie, thinking she was a zombie. Jessie tells him that Brad needs help, and Frank agrees to it. Jessie gives him a handgun, to help Brad in her stead. When asked if he knows how to use it, Frank says: "Kinda. I've covered wars you know."

When Frank finds Brad, he is ambushed by Carlito Keyes, who manages to escape after the fight. Frank convinces Brad to let him cover the story when he shows a picture of the man he is looking for, Dr. Barnaby, who refuses to leave the area he is barricaded in until it is safe for him to leave. Later, Brad and Frank find that Barnaby has been captured by Carlito, who had ambushed them earlier. After a second confrontation with Carlito Keyes, Brad is injured and Carlito escapes yet again. Frank and Brad manage to bring Barnaby back, but Brad passes out from his injuries. Jessie then asks Frank to acquire a first aid kit for Brad from the pharmacy in the supermarket. When Frank is searching for the medical kit, he is attacked by the insane manager, Steven Chapman. Frank manages to defeat Chapman and also manages to save a woman from captivity. It is hinted she was looking for medicine as well. Frank notices that she is the same woman he met in the Entrance Plaza. When offering his help, she quickly gets angered, leaving Frank with mysterious words before running off.

Later, Dr. Barnaby awakens, but refuses to talk with Frank around, stereotyping him as "paparazzi". Frank then spots the woman he had confronted in the supermarket on the monitor. Frank eventually finds her and is attacked by her. Once Frank defeats her, she claims the zombie parasite came from Santa Cabeza. She also reveals Carlito is her brother, and that her name is Isabela Keyes. She claims she will bring Carlito for questioning and designates a rendezvous point. 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.

Isabela is taken back to the security room for questioning. When Brad is interrogating her, she tells him if he wants answers to ask the person who was the head of the Santa Cabeza Research Facility; Dr. Barnaby. Just after she reveals this, Jessica is attacked by Barnaby, after he is knocked off of her, Isabela announces that he is turning into a zombie. Barnaby reveals that the zombies were accidentally created in an attempt at mass producing cattle. Barnaby then finally transforms into one of the undead, and is killed by Brad.

Isabela explains that Carlito was planning on blowing up the mall, which would release the zombie plague beyond Willamette. Now against her brother's cause, Isabela devises a plan to disarm the explosives. Once they succeed in preventing the mall's destruction, Carlito escapes by shoving Brad into a room full of zombies. Frank finds Brad, who is now turning into a zombie. Brad asks Frank not to tell Jessie that he is infected, nor that he is about to die; Frank then takes Brad's pistol and kills him out of mercy. 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 then captured and held hostage by Larry Chiang, an insane butcher, from whom Frank saves him. Before dying from his wounds, Carlito gives Frank his locket to give to Isabela. Frank returns to Isabela and gives her the locket, which then reminds her of an old saying of Carlito's, "pachamama", which turns out to be the password to his computer. After the landlines are open, Jessie is able to contact the government. Afterwards, Jessie calls Frank and sadly informs Frank the military will come at midnight to kill everything and everyone, so the incident will be forgotten.

Jessica undergoes the zombification process (possibly from Dr. Barnaby) and kills two military officers interrogating her. The survivors saved by Frank escape via helicopter piloted by Otis, but Frank, Isabela, and zombified Jessie are left behind. Jessie, now a full zombie, attacks Frank and he is forced to kill her. If the player unlocks "Ending A", the helicopter pilot, Ed DeLuca (whom Frank requested to return in order to provide Frank with an escape route) is attacked by an unseen zombie, spins out of control and crashes into the clock tower in the center of the park. Frank looks into the cockpit with his camera zoom, sees Ed being attacked, and collapses in defeat, awaiting 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 temporarily preserve infected orphans spread across the country, basically making them zombie 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 Isabela decide to descend into the tunnels that were opened up by the helicopter crashing. 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.

Brock makes his way towards Isabel and Frank inside of a large Army Tank; Frank commandeers the Humvee while Isabela manipulates the machine gun mounted on the back. Brock eventually knocks over the Humvee and stops the Tank to fight Frank in fair battle, rather than blow him to bits. Frank engages Brock in hand-to-hand combat, as the zombies begin to crowd around them. As Isabela regains consciousness, she evades the zombies and makes her stand on top of the crashed Humvee. Frank eventually knocks the Military Commander into the massive zombie crowd, and Brock is eaten alive while faintly smiling. Surrounded by the masses of the undead, Frank gets on his knees and yells as the game ends. In the credits it states that Frank and Isabela were able to escape and survive (they most likely escaped on the Tank that Brock arrived in, and Isabela was probably able to get to the Tank due to the zombies being preoccupied with eating Brock). After the duet escaped the zombie infested city, they were able to spread the story of what really happened at Willamette and avenge those who died at Santa Cabeza.

Character design
According to designer Keiji Inafune, he wanted Frank West to be an average person instead of the usual Japanese characters which are young and beautiful. He wears a black jacket with a white button-up shirt, green pants and brown shoes. His appearance can also be changed by visiting various stores around mall, ranging from suits, dresses, hats, sunglasses, masks and more.

In Dead Rising
Frank West appears as the main protagonist in Dead Rising. He will only appear in the sequel, Dead Rising 2 and not in its prequel, Dead Rising: Case Zero. Keiji Inafune stated that he would be "taking a little break in between the Dead Rising games". It is unknown if he will be mentioned or brought up in conversation in Dead Rising 2. However, a recent image on the "Tape It or Die" website shows what appears to be Frank West fighting side-by-side with Chuck Greene.

Other Appearances
Frank West had made a few appearances in other games since his debut in Dead Rising:

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Frank West appears as a playable character in Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the Xbox 360 and PC, through downloadable content.

Lost Planet 2
A skin of Frank West is available for use in Lost Planet 2.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars
Frank West is a playable character exclusive to the Nintendo Wii version of Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars. He can call zombies into the fight and his stage is based off of the Entrance Plaza.

Trivia

 * Frank isnt always voiced by his normal actor, TJ Rotolo. When Frank says "Fantastic!" after taking a perfect photograph, he is voiced Marty Belafsky.
 * Frank always holds his camera in his left hand whenever possible.
 * One of Frank's lines: "I've covered wars you know", became what seems to be a mini-meme.
 * ScrewAttack.com rated Frank the third "Manliest Man in Gaming".
 * While Frank West does not appear in the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, he is referenced through a note in The Passing. In a room located in a bar, he has a note sprawled across the wall, for Otis Washington.