Dead Rising 4

How do you make Dead Rising 4 stand out from the open world and grander scale of Dead Rising 3? Well, that is actually quite simple, you bring back Frank! The fact that the original game's protagonist, Frank West was back made fans of the series very excited for Dead Rising 4.

Merry Christmas

One of the stranger aspects of Dead Rising 4 is that I would actually class this as a Christmas game. It is kind of like the whole, Die Hard is a Christmas movie thing! Anyway, the game is set in the year 2022, years after Frank had his “experience” at the mall. He is now working as a professor and he gets sucked into this story about experiments on zombies.

As you would expect, things go horribly wrong and Frank once again finds himself in a shopping mall with thousands of zombies. I actually really liked the story that Dead Rising 4 told and I think that it made Frank more of a heroic character than just a cool one like he was before.

Playing It Safe

One of the criticisms that were thrown Dead Rising 4’s way when it was released was just how familiar it all felt. There really is not a ton of improvement over what Dead Rising 3 offered and I have even heard some people refer to it as a more of a Dead Rising Greatest Hits than a full new game and I do think that is a fair criticism. There is no doubt that kicking zombie butt (and evil organization butt too) as Frank West once again is an absolute blast. Having the ability to save where you like and also being able to make crazy weapons and vehicles like you could in Dead Rising 3, but as Frank is really cool.

As you play through the game you will have to deal with thousands of zombies and of course, crazy human characters like Frank had to deal with in the first game. Also, though there are these safehouses that you can take care of too. So, like previous games, there is a lot for you to do in Dead Rising 4.

The World’s Greatest Detective

One thing that I think was a very good idea, in theory, was to use Frank’s journalist background more in this game. Frank is trying to get to the bottom of what is happening here and expose those who are responsible so he is required to do some detective work in Dead Rising 4. He uses his camera in what the game calls, “Scanning Modes” it is kind of like the Detective Mode in Arkham Knight. I really liked the idea of this, but the game never goes super in depth with it. While the Dead Rising series is all about action. I actually liked these sections of the game and would have liked to see them expanded upon.

Is That Frank West or Iron Man?

Another great feature that I feel could have been done better was the exo-suits. The people you are trying to expose have these really cool exo-suits that help them get through hordes of zombies. Frank can get his hands on these, but they do not last long enough. These are so much fun to use and I would have liked to have been able to really cut loose in one of these and do some major damage.

Pros:

• Frank West is back
• The story is very engaging
• The festive feel to the game is a lot of fun
• More over the top zombie slaying action
• You see Frank’s investigative journalist side

Cons:

• Dead Rising 4 does play it really safe
• Some of the new ideas could have been expanded upon

Dead Rising 4 was a game that I was very excited for. So far, the three previous games had been a lot of fun. This time though, Capcom was bringing back Frank West which was something that got fans of the original Dead Rising game very excited.

The Story

I actually really like the story of Dead Rising 4 and for me, this is a game that I will probably play every Christmas until the end of time. Yes, you read that right, Dead Rising 4 is actually set at Christmas and that is awesome. You once again play as Frank West, but as this is set many years after the events of the first game it is a rather different Frank West.

Frank is now a professor, but he has not lost his journalistic edge. As a result, he gets pulled into this story about experiments being done on zombies and he wants to expose it. Long story short, Frank once again ends up trapped in a mall with zombies. I actually really enjoyed the story and also the portrayal of Frank West in this game. It was great to see him grow as a character.

The Presentation

I would not say that Dead Rising 4 looks leaps and bounds better than Dead Rising 3. However, this is still a great looking game. The setting is completely different from the previous game so from a style point of view it does look very different from what we had before. The Christmas theme is fantastic and one of the major highlights of the game. The mall at Christmas is crazy enough as it is, but this mall is even more nuts!

The Gameplay

I thought that in terms of gameplay, Dead Rising 3 was a noticeable leap from Dead Rising 2. You are not getting that same kind of leap with Dead Rising 4. It is almost like they took a list of the things that worked in the past and smashed them all together. Do not get me wrong, that is great and it works, but there is not much in the way of anything new here.

Dead Rising 3 really nailed the zombie slaying formula so I am glad that they did not tinker with it too much. You can once again kill massing hordes of zombies and deal with other folks. You can also make weapons and vehicles like you could in the last game. One thing that they did add which I feel could have been so much better was Frank’s Scanning Mode. Frank used to be a master journalist after all and it was great to see the gameplay into this. Frank is trying to expose the people responsible for his and using Scanning Mode adds an extra little element to the gameplay. I just wish that they had done more of this as it really is a great idea.

Another new feature that did not go deep enough for me is the Exo-Suits. These people who are doing the experiments have created these zombie busting Ex-Suits and Frank can use them from time to time. These are a ton of fun, but you do not get to use them for long enough if you ask me!

Final Thoughts On Dead Rising 4

Pros:

• Frank is much more developed in this game
• The game is set during the holidays which is great
• Thousands of zombies to kill
• The Scanning Mode is a very interesting idea
• The story is very interesting and fun to play through

Cons:

• The new features could have been dived into more
• Not a ton has changed in the gameplay department from Dead Rising 3