Dead Rising 4 is an open-world, survival horror, beat em’ up game developed by Capcom Vancouver and published by Microsoft Studios for both Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. The fourth installment of the Dead Rising franchise, Dead Rising 4 is set in Willamette, Colorado, during the holiday season and sees the return of photojournalist, Frank West, as the game’s protagonist.
Much like the previous games, a mysterious viral outbreak overruns the town with dangerous and deadly predators. As Frank West, players are required to explore the vast open world filled with danger, grab whatever’s handy to kill droves of zombies in a variety of gruesome yet humorous ways and uncover the conspiracy behind the outbreak. Dead Rising 4 essentially adapts concepts from previous Dead Rising iterations to maintain the long standing, franchise tradition of bringing entertaining mayhem to its games.
The game comprises of both single-player and multiplayer campaigns, with the latter allowing for up to four player co-op. The ability to choose to play either as a lone detective, investigating cases, or with friends to brutally obliterate zombies in hilarious ways, makes for a rather fun experience.
Dead Rising 4 was my introduction into the Dead Rising franchise. Having not played any of the previous games, I was concerned that I would not handle the game well and would struggle to make progress. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the game’s mechanics, which caters for both long time fans and newbies to the series. As a newbie, I thoroughly enjoyed the way in which Dead Rising 4 manages to hook players with numerous missions, ridiculously fun weapons and a simple gaming experience, perfect for those who aren’t necessarily ‘good’ at gaming and want to unwind after a long day. On the other hand, fans of the series, who are familiar with the previous Dead Rising games, will enjoy the wackier combos, enhanced combat and gameplay mechanisms, and the myriad of hilarious ways to massacre hordes of zombies.
While Dead Rising 4 proves enjoyable for both old and new players of the series, the fourth installment appears to cater more for newbies, in that it has removed the time limit from missions, thereby eliminating the challenge from the game. Less experienced gamers, like myself, will enjoy this freedom of play as it removes the worry of making mistakes and fearing the impending ‘game over’ screen. However, hardcore gamers will find the lack of time constraint to be dull, leaving zero challenges and an open-end to completing missions and side quests. This lack of challenge can leave players feeling an odd sense of deja vu as gameplay becomes endlessly repetitive and frustrating.
Despite numerous funny moments (including changing Frank’s outfits throughout the game, some of which are completely zany), a compelling storyline and easy gameplay, the longer I took to complete Dead Rising 4, the less enthused with the game I became, as several encounters left me clueless and stuck, unable to make progress. Together with the repetitive nature of the game, even I, a self-proclaimed ‘noob’, struggled to stay motivated. Perhaps the real fun comes from playing the multiplayer campaign with friends, using the most ridiculous of weapons to kill zombies in the silliest of ways.
Nevertheless, Dead Rising 4, in my personal opinion is still one I would recommend, especially to gamers who are looking to simply sit back, relax and punch buttons. Not only does the game look good visually, the soundtrack is also brilliant, with Christmas songs playing in the background throughout the game, adding to the game’s festive setting. For those who are relatively impatient and get easily frustrated at repetition, this may not be the game for you but if you’re a fan of the Dead Rising series, this fourth installment, while flawed in many ways, might just catch your interest.
