![]() The game launched on multiple platforms, and as a result sold twice what its predecessor had at launch, moving over 2 million units during its initial sales window. ![]() However, the studio delivered a Dead Rising 2 that was shockingly like the original in spite of utilizing its own brand new bespoke technology. It seemed like a huge and baffling gamble at the time. It helped defined a new generation of open world design, it quickly sold over a million copies, and the engine would power Capcom’s games for years to come.įor the sequel, Capcom transitioned work from internal development to a baseball game studio in Vancouver, Canada named Blue Castle, which they would later buy and rename Capcom Vancouver. Official Dead Rising 4 promotional screenshot, Unfortunately, in spite of okay reviews, a healthy amount of content, competent visuals, and fun deep combat…Dead Rising 4’s lackluster market performance killed both the franchise and the studio that made it.ĭead Rising launched Capcom’s seminal MT Framework engine on the Xbox 360 alongside Lost Planet back in 2006, setting the visual bar for “next generation” video games. If you think you’d enjoy hearing haunting renditions of Christmas carols while you bash zombies with an electrified wreath, you’ll have a great time here. The first time you spill out of the mall into the surrounding town, the openness of the audio sells the size of the world instantly.ĭead Rising 4 was pitched as a “Christmas Game,” but it uses that more as a thematic dressing than as the core of the story. The mall resonates with fake announcements, jazzy original renditions of Christmas standards, and proper environmental echoes and occlusion of zombie groans. The environments of the mall and the surrounding town teem with life and ambiance. The visuals in Dead Rising 4 still hold up three years after release, but my secret favorite component of its presentation is the audio design. It appears at first glance to be a standalone story, but has plenty of nods to the previous entries for faithful fans. Zombies show up in town on Black Friday, in a story that has echoes of the first Division. It’s a Christmas-tinged tale, telling the story of a zombie outbreak in fictional Willamette, Colorado, the same town plagued in the original game. Time still passes in the game when you complete important story events, and the story is reasonably well-told, with a sudden bummer ending just like all the other entries in the series. Although better weapons still help, it’s not as easy to just grab the best gear and spam the attack button. The health bar drops a little faster in the fourth entry, and you’ve got to master all of the different moves to get through the hardest encounters. Instead, Dead Rising 4 shifted its focus and difficulty over to the robust combat system. However, I don’t think the removal of time limits broke the most recent installment. I love the multiple real-time shadows casting on the back wall here. It also reminds me of old FMV games that relied on a clock, like Night Trap.Ĭapcom Vancouver’s in-house engine has beautiful lighting. It gives the games a desperate panic-inducing feel that helps immerse you in the experience of surviving a zombie outbreak. ![]() I linked an entire article I wrote about it earlier in this piece. Again, I love the time limit in Dead Rising. The biggest design change to Dead Rising 4 was the heavy reduction of the time mechanic. He brings some good energy to the role, even though the change of casting was considered a mistake by some. He’s older in Dead Rising 4, and more snarky, and now voiced by film and TV actor Ty Olsson. It still features stalwart off-and-on-again protagonist Frank West, a cynical journalist who is really good at killing zombies. Challenging bosses with weird backstories, a quirky sense of humor, and the thrill of trying new weapons propel you through the multiple playthroughs required to see everything.ĭead Rising 4 mixed things up a little bit. Time is always ticking along, and the story advances whether you make it to where you’re supposed to be or you don’t. Most of the games also make wonderful use of time, unlike nearly every other game set in a large world. You have just your wits, a pile of weapons made from everyday objects, and your ever-growing skill tree at your disposal. It casts you as a man of action surrounded by the undead. Dead Rising is a large-scale single-player-centric open world game. It’s a phenomenal zombie action open world franchise, with a design that was a bit ahead of market norms. Frank West thinks about whether Dead Rising has a future.
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