8Bit/Digi

I’ve Covered Wars, You Know!

Frank West is a hard man to look up to. I want to respect him as a freelance journalist, follow in his footsteps, going the distance for scoops, but he’s also kind of a dunce and just too stubborn to die during the zombie apocalypse, so why not make him the hero? I’m a firm believer that his first outing in the Dead Rising series was innovative and chaotically entertaining, but also one of the least enjoyable entries outside of just slaughtering the undead. Still, here we are back in the familiar glorious temple of commerce with a new gloss and many touch-ups in what they decided to call Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, or DRDR for short. Yeah, I wish Capcom had gone with something different for the name, but I’m here for this new-old experience. 

Frank West is a reporter who has stumbled onto the scoop of a lifetime out in Willamette Colorado, a town that has recently been overrun by zombies in events that look like all the classic horror movies. Setting down on the roof of the local mall, West has 72 hours to solve the mystery, rescue as many survivors as he can, and perhaps get a little shopping in if this interesting cast of characters, villains, and psychopaths don’t break him first. 

The First Incident

Dead Rising was originally released in 2006 and felt like it took a mixture of exciting common ideas and made them feel fresh again, offering players a zombie-filled playground, a colorful set of backdrops complete with ridiculous music, and all of the zany items to fight hordes of the undead with. The game was violent, raw, a little goofy, and perverse, making it feel like a living B-movie similar to where its inspiration came from, but it was far from perfect. For years it was boiled down to a time-limit challenge, annoying calls from Otis, and impossible-to-read text that Capcom never fixed. The game was well-received and its following has grown over the years with sequels, spin-offs, an HD Remaster people missed in 2016, and even a couple of movies most of us skipped. 

DRDR isn’t like any of those though, this recent attempt saw the developers dropping their game into the RE Engine and recreating their tapestry almost brick by brick with a lot of new paint, a little plaster, and a few changes to the old familiar stomping grounds. Everything looks wonderful, minus a few pop-ins and some costume clipping, while most of the models are exactly as I remember them, save a few that were given the makeover treatment or had their outfits changed. None of that bothered me much, I was eager to play.

Let’s All go to the Mall

I know malls are a dying breed at this point, but I love mammoth monstrosities of economic excess and they can live on in quality video game experiences like this one. I have always loved exploring this sandbox, it feels so compact yet massive, detailed while somewhat spacious, with each wing being a new vault of fun and adventure. I know the game has missions they want finished and survivors that need to be helped, but I’m here to wander through the food court with my katana, see the vibrant colors of the numerous varied stores, and lay waste to pesky consumers. As a former retail employee in a bookstore for countless years, nothing beats bashing in a few skulls in the sci-fi section with a mannequin leg or big-screen television. The environments are spectacular, heavily accented by texture and lighting upgrades, even if a few spots still feel almost too dark, but there are adjustable settings for that. I did have a few enemies get stuck inside structures, but they were still killable. For me, the mall is the shining star of Dead Rising. Always has been, if only it wasn’t for all of the fucking zombies.  

There is so much to explore here, but in the early game a lot is blocked off, so try to do enough missions to find some of the interesting pathways. It is easy to get lost or turned around trying to find the right entrances, so I’m constantly referencing the map and making use of the placeable markers. The old game had a directional arrow to try and help guide players, but it was almost useless and the new compass in DRDR is only marginally better. 

Frank is a photojournalist and always has his camera on him. From the opening moments of gameplay where it is our job to snap pictures of the small-town carnage, I’m right back in love with this photo mechanic. There’s something so cool about capturing a sweet shot and seeing the scores pop up with Great or Perfect! New features were added to the camera mechanics to make it more engaging, so players don’t forget about this thing hanging around Frank’s neck, as it can net some good Prestige Points (PP), even if they took away the erotic category (I still took some pics of Jessie, of course). This XP system seems to have been tweaked slightly, and while rescuing survivors and completing missions still gives massive amounts of experience, all the zombie slaughter and photos help boost those numbers as well, so don’t hesitate to be a constant shutterbug.

I’m A Survivor, I’m Not Gon’ Give Up

There are survivors all over the mall, people who need to be rescued or want favors, even if it’s just an item to convince them to follow Frank to safety. This can be one of the most frustrating parts of the game for some people, as it is difficult to save everyone and many of them will die simply due to a lack of time or things the player couldn’t have helped anyway. The good news is that their AI seems to improve and they are somewhat better at not dying. I escorted way more people back to the security room this time and some of them even pointed out items for me. They still aren’t great, however, and if losing one isn’t acceptable, prepare to reload a lot. 

The combat overall feels more fluid, like Frank limbered up with some yoga classes. Everything is a little less stiff, but it wasn’t horrible in the original either to be fair, this just feels more responsive and easier to be precise in most cases. For anyone who misses the old controls, they are available, but I think I’d have trouble going back. Now we have the ability to move while shooting, go on the defensive during Otis’ many calls, hold large objects to use as shields against gunfire, and items have durability bars. Some smaller perks include Frank being able to speed up in-game time and skip through NPC dialogues, but even the tiniest of changes can be helpful, as guns feel more effective on normal enemies and it’s easier to get zombies off Frank, because oh boy does he get grabbed a LOT. 

Sometimes the hitboxes still look a bit off and certain enemies have animations that make them temporarily invincible, and a few just suck, like the cultist bombers. The optional boss characters scattered through the mall are called Psychopaths and though a few are enjoyable to fight, some are incredibly annoying and simply not fun at lower levels. Most drop something worthwhile and a few can be avoided thankfully. 

It Still Has Bite

It’s still tough out there, and for all of DRDR’s quality of life improvements, they didn’t de-fang the experience. Certain spots are still incredibly tough and it is easy to get stuck without the right weapons or food, either leaving the player in a death loop or the need to re-load a previous save, but I love that your levels stay on new playthrough, in fact, leveling is one of my favorite things to do in this game. I found myself abandoning missions often to search for supplies, and even with the new autosaves in this version I still had to be strategic in some areas. The game is a bit friendlier, but new players are still likely to lock themselves out of the good endings and need to start over or resign themselves to grind levels and rescue survivors this time around. I’ve achieved several endings in Dead Rising, but never the best one, because I don’t like the time restrictions, which are a huge part of its gameplay, and that hasn’t changed.

A few things do seem silly with DRDR. I keep asking why the game needs to know my age if it doesn’t affect gameplay, or who decided to make the health squares blue instead of yellow. I also wasn’t sold on some of the new voice acting, but then I kept playing with Frank’s voice lines as I ran around the mall and forgot about that, or had fun switching outfits and using the iconic Capcom costumes. Some of those are ridiculous, like the Licker, and although they don’t have special abilities like in other entries, a few do change the music in the mall. 

There’s so much to do here, an almost endless wealth of things to love, and it fell well enough on that line of familiar and new – fresh and still full of flavor. I see myself playing this one for a while, pushing through the main story or just trying to keep more of those damn survivors alive, I just want to jump back into the mall. This may be my least favorite Dead Rising, but I think that just goes to show what the series can offer.

Disclaimer: The publisher through a PR representative provided the game used for this review.

This review is the critique and thoughts of one writer. If you want to see how other critics felt then check it out on OpenCritic.

8Bit/Digi is an independent media outlet that provides insight into the gamer community of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (PS5)

8

Excellent

8.0/10

Pros

• Excellent premise, a sea of zombies to slaughter in a mall.
• Improved gameplay and other quality-of-life adjustments.
• Wonderful extra costumes along with other small details.
• They fixed the text finally.

Cons

• Some parts are still cheap and it can be difficult for new players to keep up with the missions.
• Though improved, escorting survivors is still the worst.