This game rules – still. I’m not going to beat around the bush here or write a lengthy breakdown about a game that only old people care about – Dead Rising was great in 2006 and it’s even better now. Go and play it, for Christ’s sake.
If you’re still reading this, it’s probably because you’re either old and sceptical, so you’re not going to place your trust in the opening paragraph of a review written by an equally old and sceptical man, or you’re one of those people who just loves to read a game review to see if it hits all the objective markers you’ve arbitrarily set in your head. Maybe you want to read on to see if I criticise the game for something you feel it should be brought to task over, or maybe you want to ensure I justify my positive opinions, with your itchy trigger finger floating over the ‘Post a comment’ button to remind me about that one thing I managed to omit from an otherwise comprehensive review. This review isn’t it, folks. I love this game, I’ve always loved this game, and if you’re in the same boat, you’re going to have a great time, otherwise you won’t. Go ahead and skip to the score (spoiler: it’s pretty great).
Anyway, if you love a good non-sensical ramble, then boy, oh boy, do I have a game recommendation for you in Dead Rising, or rather its shiny 18-years-younger clone. This game almost always slavishly sticks to the script that Capcom penned in 2006, and I don’t just mean the literal dialogue—which contains some of the corniest writing in video game history—but also the design choices. Almost everything works the way you remember it working 18 years ago, including the incredibly unreliable melee combat, which often results in hitting thin air when you’re surrounded by zombies who are outright begging for a chinning, the stun locks Frank will get into when he gets shot by outrageously accurate zombie police officers, and of course, the impenetrable health bars of the game’s infamous psychopaths. And its this dedication to making the player’s life miserable that always made the original game shine, because when you finally figured out your own strategies to deal with these idiosyncrasies, which occurred as you naturally levelled up, gaining an increase in stats and access to cooler and more lethal special moves, you’d smear an unparalleled grin of smug satisfaction across your face as you ran around that game in circles, for however many playthroughs you fancied carrying your progress across to.
So, what’s the same? Dead Rising is still, for better or worse, a Rogue-lite – you get as far through a run as you can, then start over, carrying your stats, special moves, and most importantly, map knowledge across into the next one. All the items are still in the same places they were in 18 years ago, and every quest—with a singular exception as far as I could tell (sorry people who loved getting photography points for ‘Erotic’ snaps, particularly in Kent’s quest)—operates exactly the same way. The characters are still goofy as hell, and the game’s multiple endings and New Game modes still work identically. It was a satisfying evening when I sat down to play DRDR for the first time, and upon getting into the mall beyond the tutorial, I beelined straight for the 1st floor café in Paradise Plaza, leaped over the rail and onto the awning, and picked up that sweet katana.
As for differences, that’s where this game shines. Most of the time, when one of these remakes or remasters—let’s just say re-releases—comes out, you play it and think, ‘This looks and plays exactly like I remember it in my head.’ Dead Rising was never a game that felt good to play, though, at least not at first, prior to getting your head around its quirks and gathering an arsenal of insta-kill melee finishers. So, getting into this game and having something as simple as being able to aim with the right stick really caught me off guard. And that’s not all, did I mention you can move while aiming now?! Alright, you can’t shoot or throw something while continuing to move—let’s not go crazy here—but I’ll take what they’ve given me any day of the week. It finally feels like the game always should have felt to play for the first time. Add to that the improvements to the save system. In the original game, you saved in the toilets, and that was it – best of luck getting to a save point on one health pip and not losing hours of progress. Fortunately, this version of the game improves the save system in three ways: Auto-saves on every area transition, Two additional save points in the safe zones you use regularly throughout the campaign, And finally, multiple save slots, as the original only let you have the one. And very usefully, the new save points allow you to advance time at an accelerated rate, putting an end to the strategy of putting the controller down while you go outside and touch grass for a bit, as the game’s accursedly slow timer ticks down to the next major event.
The new engine, RE Engine, which is of course what Capcom have been using extensively since Resident Evil 7, helps the game to shine. The graphics aren’t mind-blowing by any stretch, but it’s a damn-sight better looking than its originator. It runs at a buttery smooth 60fps at 4K resolution on my RTX 4070 too, which is always a nice thing to see in 2024.
