Dead Rising 4 isn’t the Dead Rising you know, but it certainly isn’t what some of its detractors perceive it to be. Its DNA is still intact, even if messing with some of its strands to appeal to a wider audience doesn’t always hit the right notes.
There were many changes revealed for the return of Frank West, no more so than in the man himself. He sounds and looks different, which has raised the hackles of some fans. It’s never been an issue for me and isn’t here either – this Frank West is an often hilarious buffoon who brings some levity to gameplay that can sometimes become tedious. From the early pitter patter with his photography student, Vick, it’s clear that the tone of Dead Rising is only ever going to be light-hearted. Plus, it’s Christmas.
Where other changes are concerned, the removal of the polarising timer means exploration is easier and the lack of impetus doesn’t seem to hamper the flow of the game. You still have to progress through the story to unlock more areas, so the game pushes you forward when it needs you to. It’s not a wide open playground from the off, unfortunately. There also doesn’t seem to be much “filler” content away from the main story, the kind of stuff that kept me happy throughout early Dead Risings, though it could be that I’m too busy cutting down walking cadavers with a plastic swordfish to notice. Or care.
When all’s said and done, Dead Rising is about killing zombie hordes with increasingly bizarre weaponry, and its fourth edition certainly achieves that. Combo weapons, made almost seamless in the massively underappreciated Dead Rising 3, are still as zany and powerful as before and going on adventures to find blueprints is as weirdly compelling as ever. The screen hasn’t been densely packed with waves of the undead with me so far, rather pockets of 10-30 at a time. That’s probably going to change the further I venture into the Willamette Mall, though it must be said that there have been very few obstructions so far – I haven’t been greeted by a game over screen once so far, and that’s with me usually needing a couple dozen hours to adjust to anything new.
Dead Rising 4 has one big stumbling block, however: its inventory system is terrible, so much so that bold and italics are required. So terrible that it’s the main aspect of the game that threatens to turn me away the most. It’s refreshing to see the antiquated system of old being given a modern update, but it simply doesn’t work smoothly enough to call it a success.
Your weapons are divided into four categories, which are all assigned to directions on the D-Pad; melee, firearms, you get the idea. To change weapon, double tap a direction until you find the one you want or hold down up to scroll through them all. This may sound fine in concept, but in practice, it’s beyond frustrating if you’re used to how the earlier games operate. Worse still, simply dropping an item requires a broader set of inputs – hardly ideal when you need to get rid of the four cash registers you accidentally picked up. Sure, initial awkwardness with the new scheme could be attributed to the sparing time spent with it, but it’s like trying to choose the decisive block in a game of Jenga all too often. The camera is also offensively unwieldy, though let’s leave the several paragraphs of complaining about it until the final review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuDlDN7Aqsw
I’ve only played a couple of hours of Dead Rising 4 so far, but I think I already know enough to tell what kind of game it’s going to be in the long run. It won’t be among my favourites in the series, more of a title I will dip back into for some catharsis – there’s always been something very relaxing about dressing up as a dinosaur and mowing down the undead with an LMG to me.
Check back soon for the full verdict, that is if the control scheme doesn’t make me punch myself in the head to death.
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