The phrase “acquired taste” has, too often, a negative spin. A handy euphemism for “I don’t like this but you might and I don’t want to offend you.” So when I say Dead Rising 4 is an acquired taste don’t take it to mean that it’s like balut or something. But odds are you will know from the following sentence whether or not Dead Rising 4 is worth it: Does smashing zombies with zany weapons for 20 hours sound fun? If so, Dead Rising 4 won’t disappoint. If not, well, there’s still enough here for a B-movie level popcorn gaming experience if you don’t take yourself too seriously.
Fans of the Dead Rising franchise will gravitate to Capcom’s latest installment almost instantly. It marks the return of the original hero, gruff photojournalist Frank West, who once again finds himself in the small town of Willamette during a zombie apocalypse.Like most video game zombie apocalypses this one is tied to secret military blah blah blah. The story isn’t blazing new trails but it doesn't need to. Frank is the real star. His smart alec vibe is more hit than miss and provides a constant levity designed to remind you this is silly carnival fun, not dour survivalist nightmare. There are a LOT of games and tv shows and movies that take the zombie apocalypse very seriously. Dead Rising 4 , thankfully, isn’t one of them. Even when it tries to be, it can’t. The dramatic effect of cutscene dialogue is lost when I have my hero wearing a girl scout uniform and triceratops mask.
But that outlandishness is the heart and soul of Dead Rising 4 . As with other games in the series there are plenty of costumes and accessories to find scattered in the storefronts and malls and even more objects for fashioning weapons. The core of the game is the open world mini-map hunt for weapon blueprints between the blinking yellow story objectives. Dead Rising 4 gives you power early and gives it often.
Dead Rising 4 never delivers a sense of levelling up or getting better at survival. There is a skill tree to spend experience points on, but points are easy to come by. I’d usually rack up five or more before noticing I needed to spend them. As with most things in Dead Rising 4, nothing is hard fought or scarce. You start out almost immediately crafting flaming swords and electrified axes and I played for more than 10 hours before dying once, and that was only because I was chasing a 1,000 hit streak. There is ample health and plenty of vehicles too, so you can really zip around to save time. And that's before you start getting exo suits, which are essentially power armor for dummies.
There is merit to the slow road too, and Dead Rising 4 doubles down on collectibles a few times to goad completionists into hunting for more, more, more. If the grind of button mashing doesn’t bore you then you’ll have a lot to do as you slaughter your way through every nook and cranny hunting down found narrative objects like podcast recordings and cell phones and newspapers. The most interesting thing about the world of Dead Rising 4 is that it is aware of itself. It’s the fourth installment, and the culture and characters in the game are used to zombies. It’s refreshing to dive into something in the the genre that calls zombies “zombies” and not some generic “this is a world that didn’t conceive of zombies until they were real” catch phrase (looking at you “walkers.”)
Dead Rising 4 does fall short compared to its predecessors when it comes to interesting characters beyond Frank West. There aren’t any compelling survivor backstories, as most survivors you rescue are just a first name, a health bar, and a hearty “Thank You!” before they disappear off to the nearest shelter. The supporting cast around Frank is serviceable, but not spectacular. The same is true of the photography side of things. You can once again take photos that get scored and categorized along lines of horror or brutality or humor, but there is little incentive or depth to the scoring. Group shots of tons of zombies are worth lots of points, anything else seems to be moot. The camera also functions as an investigative tool, and those sequences provide a nice departure from the gore grind.
So is Dead Rising 4 worth it? If you’re a longtime fan who can forgive a few sins that keep it from being as engaging as the original, absolutely. There’s a lot of game time here and Dead Rising 4 is the kind of title that can sit on a shelf and come out from time to time when you need to scratch the itch as there’s nothing else quite like it. If you’re looking for a dark and harrowing portrayal of human survival and psychological peril then look elsewhere. This is a zombie game for folks burnt out on zombie realism. But it delivers plenty of fun and plenty of playtime and the Christmas setting is exquisitely timed for a holiday release. Dead Rising 4 isn’t moving in bold new directions, but it isn’t making missteps either. It’s an acquired taste, sure, but it’s a satisfying one.
*Final Note: This review was only for the single-player portion of Dead Rising 4 . We did not get to test the multiplayer co-op portion of the game. If that’s important to you then we’d recommend waiting a day or so to see how the servers perform just to be safe.
