When Dead Rising first came out back in 2006, it was one of those titles you’d always hear getting mentioned when people were talking about the Xbox 360. The perfect mixture of drama, humor, silliness and brutality made this game a commercial success and resulted in several remakes and sequels, with Dead Rising 4 releasing later this year. As part of the Dead Rising’s ten year anniversary, Capcom has ported the game to PC, PS4 and Xbox One with 1080p resolution (or higher on PC) and a steady framerate of 60 fps.
It’s Frank, Frank West
You play as Frank West, a freelance photographer who has covered wars and recently received a tip that trouble is brewing in Willamette, Colorado. The town has been quarantined by the military and it’s up to you to figure out why by investigating the Williamette Parkview Mall. Once there, you immediately come across dozens of zombies who want nothing else but to eat you alive. You have 72 in-game hours (approx. six real-time hours) to complete several ‘Case Files’ before a helicopter arrives and retrieves you. In addition to these Case Files, there are also side missions you can complete by rescuing survivors from zombies or boss characters, called ‘Psychopaths’. The main storyline is focussed around the Case Files and tells you more about the cause of the zombie outbreak and how the military is involved. But what this game does differently than most other games, is that it makes it possible to complete it without ever paying attention to these Case Files. You can get to the end of the game by doing nothing else than killing zombies and mess around with the different outfits your character can wear. Doing this, however, will give you one of the several non-canon endings.
Everything is a weapon
The best way to describe this game is as a sandbox zombie horde-mode. You run around Parkview Mall searching for the best weapons to use against hundreds of zombies. After a few minutes of trying out different items, you immediately realize that the weapon system is the best part of the game. You can mow down mobs with a lawnmower, strike several zombies with a well-aimed bowling ball or simply throw 30 cds towards a boss’s face. Even after several hours of game-time you’ll still find new ways to defeat your enemies. But weapons aren’t the only thing you need to find to survive. Food and drinks are your only way to heal while fighting. You can simply keep some apples with you in case of emergencies, or you can combine foods and drinks by using blenders or microwaves. Combined food items will give you a bigger health bonus and, with some recipes, a temporarily buff. Be careful not to lose sight of time, though, because once those 72 in-game hours pass, it’s game over. Every mission in the game has a time limit and thus requires some time management. Starting one mission can result in failing a Case File, since some of those require you to be in a specific place at a specific time.
Killing zombies, defeating Psychopaths, solving Case Files and rescuing survivors will reward you with ‘Prestige Points’. These points will level up Frank, making him stronger and faster. You’ll also be able to perform new attack moves, which are certainly needed when you want to pass through large groups of zombies. Another way to earn Prestige Points is by taking quality photos with Frank’s camera. These photographs are automatically scored based on the presence of five ‘genres’: horror, brutality, drama, outtakes and erotica. In other words, a photograph displaying several bikini-wearing people getting attacked by zombies will score much better than a lame picture of a potted plant.
Obviously just a port
While the graphical upgrade to a higher resolution and framerate is a welcome addition to the game, it’s disappointing to quickly realize while playing that nothing else has been updated or simply made better. The biggest criticism the game received after its original launch in 2006 was that the survivor’s AI was broken or not working in some cases. Sadly, this is still a big issue in the port. Survivors will regularly not follow you towards safety and if they do, they make sure to leave a big gap between you and them, making you constantly having to wait for them to catch up while getting attacked by dozens of zombies. Even when there are no enemies around, survivors sometimes feel the need to run around in circles while screaming in panic. Luckily, this doesn’t happen all the time, but for a game that is ten years old, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Another problem this game has, is with its framerate. Most of the time, it succeeds in maintaining 60 fps without any graphical glitches. However, some of the weapons in the game make the framerate drop below 10 fps. Even using a simple sledgehammer can cause the frames to tank. The drops happen for only one or two seconds, but they immediately take you out of the game and are an eye strain.
Lastly, the controls are still clunky and take a long time to get used to, especially while aiming. If you’re aiming your camera to take some photographs, you have to use the left analog stick to look around. But if you’re using a weapon, you have to use the right analog stick to aim. Constantly having to switch between both analog sticks makes shooting zombies and taking photographs a frustrating experience.
Conclusion:
Dead Rising can certainly be a fun game, thanks to the multitude of weapons you can use and all the goofy costumes you can wear. The graphical upgrade adds to the experience, even though the framerate is not always steady. The brain-dead survivor AI and clunky controls are still an issue, but they don’t ruin the overall experience. If you haven’t played the original, it wouldn’t hurt to give this one a try.
