cjmelendez_
It has been nearly three years since I last played a Dead Rising game. With Dead Rising 2: Off the Record being one of my earlier reviews on this site and the original Dead Rising being one of my favorite games last generation, it was painful having Dead Rising 3 locked away from me due to Xbox One exclusivity. I wanted to get my hands on the game, but dropping money on a Xbox One just for it wasn’t something I was prepared to do. We never actually had a review on this site for that very reason (consoles are expensive, guys!). But now things have changed; Dead Rising 3 has been ported to PC and while it could be a better experience, it’s one that I’m grateful to have finally had.
Released as a launch title for the Xbox One, Dead Rising 3 comes to Steam a little short of a year later. The game stars a new face, Nick Ramos, a mechanic in the Los Angeles-esque fictional city of Los Perdidos. It has been 10 years since the events of Dead Rising 2 and the world has changed. Zombrex, the medication used to curb zombie outbreaks, has become a fixture in human life, with the implementation of embedded chips in the population to automatically administer the drug to those that have been infected. Repeated zombie outbreaks have also given the government reason to institute a widespread surveillance system on its citizens.
As with Dead Rising 2 and the original Dead Rising before it, this game won’t wow anyone with its storytelling or characters. It comfortably walks along a path that gives players a few characters to root for, giving them motivation to push the story forward. With that said, I found a likeable character in Nick. Unlike the last two protagonists of the series, Frank West and Chuck Greene, Nick lacks a gruff and cocky attitude; and as much as I like Frank’s brand of jerkiness, Nick’s kind and heroic demeanor was a welcome addition to the series.
But enough about the story, how’s the gameplay in Dead Rising 3? Thankfully, just as nonsensical and wacky as previous entries. Los Perdidos is home to a large population and as such is filled to the brim with zombies once the outbreak happens. Dead Rising 3 manages to squeeze thousands of zombies on screen and it’s staggering when first witnessed. As the hero of this game, you’re given many options of how to dispose of them.
In true Dead Rising formula, nearly anything can be used a weapon. Nick has access to an overwhelming variety of everyday items as tools destruction, but he can also wield real weapons such as swords and guns. Being a mechanic, Nick can combine items together to form stronger weapons. Instead of requiring a workbench like in Dead Rising 2, Nick can do all crafting on the fly. The range of craftable weapons in this game is incredible and full of imagination. The weapons that you can create don’t have to make sense, and most won’t, but they’re still a blast to create and use – helping the game’s replay value. Crafting recipes can be found in the map via blue or gold blueprints, the latter being a higher class.
Nick’s skills can be upgraded according to your playstyle and what you want him to specialize in. Health, inventory space, crafting speed, melee damage, and ranged damage are all aspects that you can choose to improve. Leveling up is as easy as gaining experience by completing side missions, saving survivors (whom no longer need to be taken back to a safe zone), performing special kills, and completing PP trials.
At safe houses and garages are means to access unlocked items, clothing, vehicles, and even AI partners. Any vehicle, weapons, or clothing items equipped through the course of the game are saved at these locations and can be reacquired. Being able request the companionship of a fellow survivor (equipped with their own stats) is a welcome change from how survivors used to be helpless sheep that needed to be saved, rather than relied on.
The entire city of Los Perdidios is open to explore as a sandbox and as such vehicles have become much more integral to the gameplay, no longer being limited to one section of the map and used as a special tool like they were in past games. The driving physics in Dead Rising 3 is a bit wonky, sometimes causing an excessive response to small obstacles – such as swerving out of control because of an object getting run over. Navigation around the city can be a chore as well as many of its streets are blocked off to vehicles, especially paths leading to the highway that connects Los Perdidos’ districts.
As expected, Psychopaths break up the normal missions by introducing human opponents that have lost their minds because of the harsh conditions that a zombie outbreak brings. Dead Rising 3‘s psychopaths are something else, with potentially offensive caricatures. But these moments shine, because most of the time, they’re so incredibly over the top and ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh. A downside, though, is that they’re very easy to defeat, as is the game in general if you play on the game’s default setting. Co-op with another player also contributes to the easiness of the overall game.
The timed, anxiety-inducing difficult gameplay that has been a staple of the Dead Rising series has been toned down in Dead Rising 3 by default. Time to complete missions are extended, checkpoints make death a non-issue, and the ability to save whenever you want has been added. But all is not lost as Dead Rising 3 features Nightmare Mode, where none of these amenities are available and it’s back to true survival. If you’re a fan of the series and enjoy feeling pressured to beat the clock and escape the city, I’d recommend Nightmare Mode simply because it’s more authentic to what the series started out as. But if you’re looking for a casual play as you want mode, stick with the default.
Now that the general gist of the game is out of the way, it’s time to talk about Dead Rising 3 as a PC port. For starters, yes, it could be better. Despite coming off of the Xbox One, Dead Rising 3 on PC doesn’t perform all that much better as it’s demanding in its requirements and is locked to 30fps. The option to unlock the framerate exists by creating a config file, but as Capcom has said, the game has not been optimized to do so and it struggles to keep up even on high tier hardware.
Personally, I’m fine with 30fps, but I understand the complaint that a PC game in 2014 has little reason to lock its framerate outside of an unwillingness from its developer / publisher to put in the extra effort. For me, it’s tolerable but I would have greatly preferred a smooth 60 while playing. Even at 30fps, there were occasional dips but nothing too horrible that I couldn’t deal with. Graphical settings wise, Dead Rising 3 allows for a decent amount of customization in its effects, world quality, and draw distance. The resolution settings are oddly lacking, though.
Overall, Dead Rising 3 should without question perform better on PC, and it’s disappointing that such a great game is held back from truly shining on PC. Perhaps it needed more development time and Capcom didn’t want to go the extra lengths and costs to fully optimize the game for the platform. Either way, the decision is yours.
If you’re fine with playing the game with these limitations (and your specs are up to snuff), then you’re in for a great time. But if you were expecting something above just serviceable, then you might want to skip it or wait for a sale.
(7.5 / 10)
Good
(7.5 / 10)
