Dead Rising 4 2017
Dead Rising made its debut on the Xbox 360 as a launch title a decade ago, bringing its oddball mix of humour and horror to the gaming masses. Countless spin-offs and sequels later, original protagonist Frank West returns to a numbered sequel but he isn’t the sympathetic and bumbling photographer from before. Taking place 16 years after the end of the first game, Frank West has apparently de-aged, gotten a new voice actor and turned into an unsympathetic moron more interested in zombie selfies than actual photography. At least photography makes a return here complete with a proper camera taking the pictures instead of a smartphone! The new telescopic lens attachment lets Frank zoom in to spy on distant chatter or events and special filters reveal invisible objects and night vision helps navigate in the dark. The drastic changes beg the question as to why a new character wasn’t used. The game is again set in Willamette where Dead Rising 1 took place but rather than confining the player to a Mall, there are streets to roam and interiors to raid similar to the third entry. To compensate for the larger travelling area, 33 vehicles are available at the player’s disposal with some that can even be turned into combo vehicles. While there are many nods to the series and recognisable names peppered throughout, the game has been designed to cater to new players as well. Perhaps the biggest change is the absence of the time limit. This is the most divisive and controversial change as players will either love it or hate it – there is no middle ground to be taken here. In some ways it’s a relief to be able to enjoy the game at your own pace without the need to replay it again but this double edged sword reveals its sharp edge when the sense of urgency is completely stripped.
The Fresh are newly zombified victims who are quick and highly aggressive that turn in front of Frank. The Evo are zombies with super-strength and mobility mimicking the characteristics of predatory animals. Unfortunately, the creative Psychopaths have been shunted in place of generic Maniacs. They are triggered by starting an investigation but instead of cutscenes introducing them or playing when they are killed, these beefedup survivors with combo weapons just die unceremoniously. Quite a shame really, since they showcased how well the series was able to meld dark humour into the narrative. Speaking of, the campaign takes around 20-25 hours to complete depending on your skill level and how many combos you try to find. An online four-player co-op mode includes four survivors from the singleplayer campaign. There are four episodes with each lasting two days which are all set in the entirety of the Willamette Memorial Megaplex but around different locations. The smaller area leads to a more focused and frenetic experience at the cost of sacrificing the freedom of free-roam. In theory it all sounds fun but finding players online with a good ping will make or break your experience. Good news here as there are various blueprints littered throughout the open world for the player to find and build their WMD. The skill tree has been expanded with a better balanced list of skills plus the EXO suit further skews balance in favour of players. These super-powered suits temporarily increase the strength and stamina of Frank allowing him to sprint limitlessly, eviscerate enemies and even wield massive weapons ripped from the environment. This includes everything from parking meters to mail boxes. The PC port is sadly quite un-optimised causing various performance issues and unless patched, will need a really powerful PC to brute force it. The lesser said for the windows store the better other than Microsoft needs to dump it stat. A few bugs in the game also cause unintentional hilarity to unfurl. The change in direction of the series from a light zombie survival simulator to a crazy power fantasy is telling.
