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Dead Rising 4

Dead Rising 4

Frank West is back. Sort of. And so is Dead Rising. Sort of.

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It's not without a certain sense of déjà vu that we return to Willamette as Frank West in Dead Rising 4. Sure, much has changed since the original (released in 2006 on Xbox 360), but we're back in a mall (at least for parts of the game) and the overly snarky, somewhat egotistical journalist is back (though sporting a new voice).

Dead Rising 4 resembles Dead Rising 3 a lot from a structural point of view. There is still no time limit, there is a rather deep skill tree, and overall the game is a lot more forgiving and focused on fun rather than survival. However, the story feels a bit more camp (a good thing), there is no campaign co-op (instead there are separate 4-player co-op missions), and the location and theme come across as more appropriate for a Dead Rising title. After all, what's more appropriate than a zombie outbreak on Black Friday as a new mall opens?

Frank West is now an older, even saltier fellow. He's teaching journalism and one of his students, a girl named Vick Chu, lures him back to Willamette to check out a strange military facility. A potential scoop. Frank quickly takes charge and calls it his story, but Vick proves to be more than a handful, and at the end of the excursion Frank barely escapes with his life. Having to hide out under an alias (Hank East), he is later approached by Brad Park from the ZDC who wants him to help him investigate a new outbreak in Willamette that the Pentagon is keeping under wraps.

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It has been 15 years since the first outbreak, and as you might suspect this is the start of a rather complicated and ridiculous plot. It should, however, be said that compared to previous Dead Rising stories this one, while campy and strange, is rather focused and keeps you immersed for the most part. Which is both a positive and a negative, as you'll want to be easily be distracted in a Dead Rising title.

The game offers up a prologue and six cases to solve, up until the end of the fifth case you're free to roam around and do your own thing, but after that you're locked in to a scripted roller-coaster ride (complete with ups and downs - like escort missions) that will lead you to the end. There's no way to continue exploring after the ending, which is a shame, even if it makes sense from a story perspective. If you want to you can retain your level and progress for a second playthrough, so at least there's that.

We spent about 13 hours completing the campaign. By no means a complete play-through, but we did take time to sample the various side missions that pop up, either as part of aiding a podcast host in search of stories (taking out various maniacs), saving survivors, taking out military installations, and of course, searching for those all important blueprints. There are lots of things to collect, cell phones with bits of information, Vick's uploads, and the aforementioned blueprints. If you're a completionist you will have your hands full, although you can buy maps at shelters which will aid you on your way. We were a bit disappointed in the maniac encounters as they felt a bit formulaic and more could have been done to make them feel unique.

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One thing we enjoyed was the fact that Frank's photo journalism skills came into play. His camera, while utterly ridiculous (spectral analysis mode?), is put to good use, and being able to take photos throughout the adventure is fun and something that should be core to any Dead Rising game. Every once in a while, Frank stumbles onto a location that needs investigating, and you'll have to photograph some items. Some pieces of evidence require a bit of searching, but it's not very complex and these more relaxed bits help the pacing of the story.

One new feature are the exo-suits, and they are extremely overpowered, particularly when juiced up with an upgrade. The first time we got to strap on the ice power (a slushee machine) we ended up levelling up six times in the span of a minute taking out countless zombies.

If it hadn't been for the Dead Rising flavour that the combo weapons and vehicles bring, the extremely overpowered exo-suits, the setting and the characters, then we would have been left with a distinctly average action-adventure with stiff controls, lots of little technical issues, and not entirely convincing visuals throughout. And the vehicle controls are acceptable at best (although they're horrible if you sit down on a motorcycle).

Dead Rising 4

Speaking of the zombies there are two new kinds in Dead Rising 4. Fresh ones, that are more mobile and aggressive, and evolved ones, that are smarter, jump around and can stun you with a primal scream. As a whole though, Dead Rising has moved in a direction where you're not too concerned with zombies. There is a lot of food around, and you'll tend to rather quickly level up Frank to the point where there is no need to worry too much about the hordes. It's a bit disappointing as paired with the absence of time limit, there is a lack of urgency about the game. Some people may enjoy that, but it also removes something that we feel is important.

Still, it should be said that we had fun with Dead Rising, the sort of mindless fun you get from combining a kid's bike and a lawn mower and driving it through as many undead as you possibly can. And the exo-suits are fun (and ridiculous). Co-op is enjoyable even if it would have been nice to have the option of playing the campaign with a friend.

In many ways, Dead Rising 4 steps even further away from the original game in terms of its structure. Perhaps a move to modernise and keep the franchise current, but ultimately even if there is Dead Rising flavour here it feels a bit artificial, the same as Frank's new voice. The franchise is becoming less about what the original games offered, and are being made more accessible, streamlined, and ultimately a lot less interesting. Instead of listening to its core fans it feels like Capcom has enlisted the aid of focus groups who have steered them away from what once attracted people to the franchise. Imagine if the next Dark Souls played more like God of War. Not that there is anything wrong with God of War, but there would be blood. Not that we think that there's going to be blood here, more like shoulder shrugs, as Dead Rising runs the risk of ending up on the long list of video game franchises that people simply stop caring about. Not because it's not an enjoyable game anymore, but because it has lost its identity.

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Dead Rising 4Dead Rising 4
07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
There is good fun to be had with the combo weapons and vehicles, Being able to craft on the fly without going into a menu is nice, Story is relatively coherent, Exo suits are brilliantly overpowered, Great setting.
-
It feels like your run of the mill action adventure, Lack of urgency and challenge, Many minor technical issues, Visuals aren't great, Stiff and clunky controls.
overall score
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Dead Rising 4

REVIEW. Written by Bengt Lemne

"In many ways, Dead Rising 4 steps even further away from the original game in terms of its structure."



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