- "It's true what they say. Tastes like chicken."
- —Antoine Thomas, upon Chuck's arrival
Antoine Thomas, also known as Chef Antoine, is a psychopath appearing in Dead Rising 2 during the mission Tastes Like Chicken. He is the owner of Antoine's, a cookware store in Royal Flush Plaza, and calls himself "The King of Cuisine". He was going to be interviewed by a reporter from a famous food magazine, but the zombie outbreak in Fortune City destroys his chance at fame. Unfortunately for Chuck and other sane survivors, he's still under the delusion that the reviewer is on his way, and is using anything that the outbreak can provide to create the perfect dish.
Story
Dead Rising 2
Tastes Like Chicken
Chuck encounters him while searching for a survivor named Cinda Smith in the Cucina Donnacci restaurant in the Food Court. Antoine mistakes Chuck for the magazine reporter, and offers him a meal made from "fresh ingredients" nobody has dared to imagine. His preparation for his meals reveals that he has taken Cinda hostage, and hints that he plans to kill her and serve her as another dish made from human flesh. Chuck states his disgust of Antoine by saying "Who the hell would want to eat THIS?!", possibly after realizing it's made out of human meat. Antoine, having been infuriated picks up a Chef Knife and implies that he will make Chuck "Dinner!" (into one of his dishes) and attacks.
After he is defeated, he attempts to support himself on a fryer, but his hand slips, plunging his arm and head into the boiling grease, burning and drowning him to death. Once Antoine is killed, Chuck is given the opportunity to unlock the freezer and rescue the captive barkeep inside.
Off the Record
In Off the Record, instead of Frank exclaiming that no one would want to eat Antoine's dish, he says that he himself wouldn't eat it, though he still infuriated the chef.
Battle Style
Antoine has four weapons: frying pans, meat cleavers, plates and apples, which he uses to varying tactics. He always holds the frying pan when not using the others
Frying pan bonk Antoine's melee attack, he will swing the pan while hopping slightly into the air. This attack will floor Chuck/Frank
Throw Antoine will throw stuff at Chuck/Frank. He throws frying pans, cleavers and plates. You can usually tell when he's doing this as he usually yells a culinary/restaurant related joke while doing it, such as "Have an appetizer!" or "Order up!"
- Antoine may pull out another frying pan and hurl it at Chuck/Frank. This can be easily dodged by rolling.
- Antoine will throw two cleavers in short succession. Its best to be moving horizontally from him and then roll after the first cleaver.
- Antoine will throw plates in two fashions: he will throw a few plates one after the other or throw all of them in one frontal burst. If he's throwing them single, simply moving horizontal all the time from him will ensure he misses. If he throws a burst try to get behind cover or dodge roll
Apple If Chuck/Frank is floored, Antoine may run over to him and attempt to shove an apple down our hero's throat, and you have to engage in a grapple wiggle to minimize damage.
Tactics
thumb|300px|right|Antoine Fight
Antoine Thomas
Melee
- Regardless of your choice of weapon, remember that Antoine's greatest strength is his greatest weakness: he has the ability to regenerate health by eating from the various dishes he has lying around, but he is vulnerable to attack during that time. If you flee the kitchen to heal or rearm, expect him to have restored a considerable amount of health when you return. It is strongly advised that you enter the fight with weapons and healing items available, so that you can attack him as soon as he begins to eat.
- Used properly, the Burning Skull will defeat Antoine very quickly. It can be made right there in the Food Court. Note, however, that the Burning Skull may be slightly difficult to use, as it is considered a heavy weapon. Thus, you have to pick it back up if Antoine hits you with any attack.
- An effective technique that combines the speed of the Knife Gloves with the damage of the Burning Skull is to create some Flaming Gloves out of items that you can find in the Food Court (there is a pair of Boxing Gloves on top of a payphone in the Food Court, and Motor Oil can be found in the Wild West Grill House).
- Another possible weapon against Antoine is the Knife Gloves. Run up near him while he is eating and attack him a 3 times BUT not 4, he can hit you after you hit him three times, but you can dodge it if you're quick; he will attack with his frying pan, but sometimes, he will run away again instead of forcing his food into Chuck's mouth.
- The frying pan always deals one damage, his grabbing sequence one or two. If you're low on health, be sure only to hit him twice and quickly run. If you have to heal (it's recommended that he first stop by the steak house next door for food), try to do it while Antoine is doing is ranged attack, obviously while hiding behind something.
- One strategy is to stand behind cover, or simply keep moving in a perpendicular motion for his ranged attacks (frying pans, plates, cleavers, food), and wait for him to start healing again, at which time he will be vulnerable to attack. The Driller will devastate him because of its unique combination of destructive power and speed, but any heavy-damage weapon will suffice (the Defiler's jump attack will do a nice chunk of damage). Attack quickly and flee, or he will be able to strike back. Another exploitable opportunity is to dodge his pan and attack him twice, then escape. The only problem may be that you can easily get stuck because of a wall/chair/zombie and his attack will hit you.
- If Chuck has no other weapons available, it is possible to defeat Antoine with the weapons on-hand, most notably the kitchen knives (you could use the frying pans as well, but the knife is more effective). Sidestep/avoid his melee attacks with his frying pan and attack twice each time. After about three or four strikes, he will run for food. Antoine will always run for food, when you run away from him too far, or use his ranged attack.
- If a zombie walks into Antoine's path, he will attack it. Sometimes he also attacks zombies that get too close to him. You can use this moment to attack him. You can even shoot him if you already have a gun in your hands, switching to it will most likely take too much time.
- Zombies can also work in Antoine's favor. If Antoine is on top of you, a zombie can hit him right after you successfully defend against his barrage or not. But, if this happens, Antoine will hit the zombie with his pan immediately, which runs the risk of hitting Chuck to the ground, thus setting up a combo of hitting Chuck, jumping on top of him, and repeat, which can quickly result in Chuck's death as he has very little time to move after standing up again.
- Chuck can also take him down by rushing him down with the Paddlesaw at every opportunity. However, the paddlesaw is a heavy weapon, and Chuck will drop it if hit. Expect to lose some health if you use this method.
- Another possible strategy is to drive the Sports Car into his kitchen, and repeatedly ram him against the walls with it. This is of limited use, however, since Antoine rarely ventures into areas where the car can go.
- One strategy that is quick and successful, is saving Jasper first, give Jasper a Merc Assault Rifle, grab some food, and attack with Knife Gloves. Antoine may attack Jasper first, but he will keep shooting Antoine regardless. Keep attacking Antione with the gloves. If Antoine knocks you down and jumps on you, Jasper will shoot him off in no time. Expect to lose at least 2-3 health.
- Another method would be to use the pole weapon (machete+broom). Using the power attack with this ability while Antoine is eating can easily reduce his health by 20-25%, though using the power attack twice in a row while he is eating will most definitely result in him being able to hit you with his pan.
Ranged
- Fighting Antoine with ranged weapons is a questionable strategy, since he has an extraordinary resistance to them. A full 200-round magazine from the LMG (enough to kill or heavily damage most psychopaths) will barely dent him, and with his ability to regenerate health by eating, he will get it back quickly when you run out of ammo. Antoine's inherent vulnerabilities make it much more advisable to fight him up close.
- A recommended overall strategy is to enter into the Wild West Grill House next to the restaurant, before fighting Antoine. Grab at least three Steaks, since they heal a very large amount of health (especially with a health-enhancing magazine). Since it is ill-advised to leave the restaurant during the fight, it is best to have an abundance of healing items. There is also a table full of wine and pasta just outside the restaurant, and Antoine will rarely follow you that far.
- Equipping yourself with three Sniper Rifles will take Antoine down, although the fight will be lengthy. Shoot at him ONCE when he runs to eat (he will deflect all subsequent shots) and then avoid him by running laps around the center structure. Chuck can avoid his ranged attacks by putting a column between himself and Antoine. If done correctly, he can stop Antoine from healing at all and only use 35 shots of the Sniper Rifle.
- Another method is recruiting the nearby survivor Jasper from atop the Hamburger Fiefdom and arming him with a firearm (LMG, Merc Assault Rifle). While Chuck fights Antoine up close, Jasper can fire at the psychopath. However, be sure to kill keep Antoine away from Jasper as he can kill Jasper easily with a few hits of his frying pan. A similar strategy is to take multiple survivors (about 4-6) with you and arm them with a good weapon (LMG, Merc Assault Rifle). That way, you don't have to do anything but running around a little bit. This method puts survivors at risk, however.
- For those who prefer ranged combat, but have not rearmed beforehand, one tactic is to grab two Pitchforks from the Wild West Grill House, climb up to Jasper's hiding spot and take the two Bow and Arrows. Then, go to the maintenance room right of the Restaurant with Antoine, take the stick of dynamite and combine one bow and arrow with the Dynamite to make an Blambow. When Antoine goes melee, stab him three times with the Pitchforks, then quickly jump out of his swing. When he throws items at you, hide behind pillars or the stove. When he starts to eat, quickly switch to the explosive bow and shoot him to prevent him from gaining health.
- Another easy tactic is to fight with him with Blitzkrieg. When the battle starts sit on it just wait for him to attack you then start shooting at him. From this point just drive backwards and keep shooting. Since The Blitzkrieg has slow speed he will follow you, He won't cover himself and won't go back to the restaurant to replenish his health. Also you don't need to avoid his ranged attacks cause they can't stun you while you are on the Blitzkrieg although ranged attacks does some damage. Just avoid from his frying pan it can knock you off from the device. You can easily make one in Tunemakers at Royal Flush Plaza if you have a automatic rifle on you. Food Court isn't far from there.
- The Handgun will barely damage Antoine, but can be useful for shooting him before he heals, as he will start attacking again without healing when hurt.
Trivia
- Antoine dosen't seem to be affected by the outbreak, this could be because he was busy making his "dish" and hadn't realised, or simply is in denial.
- His voice actor is the same one who voices Big Earl Flaherty.
- Antoine bears some similarities to Larry Chiang from Dead Rising, both of them being crazed food preparers with a taste for human flesh. They both also run away to heal up by eating, and they both use food as weapons (Larry tosses meat, while Antoine forces an apple down Chuck's throat).
- The song that plays while fighting him is "Own Little World" by Celldweller.
- Antoine is the only psychopath that can heal. He does so by eating from pans of unknown food that he has in various places throughout the restaurant. Chuck either cannot or will not use the food in question, but there's a table full of pasta and wine that he can use. In Dead Rising 2: Off the Record however, Chuck, as a pyscopath, also has the ability to heal himself by drinking Whiskey.
- When Antoine is killed, a glitch will occasionally occur, causing him to fall through the floor. However, this does not effect his death scene or the game.
- Antoine's primary weapon is a Pan, though he picks up a Chef Knife to attack Chuck before the battle.
- He has another store in the Royal Flush Plaza called Antoine's. There is also an ad outside the Royal Flush Plaza showing his store and a picture of a young Antoine.
- He is likely a reference to the famous restaurant "Antoine's" located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- His name may also be a reference to Marie-Antoine Carême, due to his mention of being the "king of cuisine." Carême was known as the "king of chefs, and the chef of kings". He might also be a reference to the famous Chef Boyardee, both of them being bulky and having a passion for food and cooking.
- Fans have commented on him being "brutally difficult", he has apparently been "toned down a little bit" for Dead Rising 2: Off the Record.
- When defeated in Off The Record Frank sarcastically remarks "Ok that does NOT smell like chicken" referencing the mission.
- There is a glitch when after his death, his photo in the notebook will read located and not dead.
- Antoine makes near constant food and restaurant related jokes during the fight. He however only laughs at the one he makes before attacking Chuck/Frank: "Sit down, relax. Antoine will make you DINNER!"
Gallery
"Needs a bit more buttah."
Antoine's death
His notebook photo with complete description
Notebook Portrait