Developer: Capcom Vancouver
Publisher: Capcom, Microsoft Studios
Release date: December 6, 2016
Platforms: PC, Xbox One (reviewed)
It’s Christmas time, so that can only mean one thing- it’s time to kill zombies. Photojournalist Frank West is back again to kill the walking dead with a wide variety of insane weapons in Dead Rising 4, the latest installment in Capcom’s other zombie franchise. The game delivers a fun single player campaign with a familiar but well told story, complete with Frank’s wisecracking dialogue that is often quite funny. It offers players plenty of opportunity to kill zombies in creative ways, where almost anything can be used as a weapon. Co-op has been moved to its separate multiplayer mode, and is fun in its own right. Both combine to make this one of the most fun survival horror/action games to come out since Dying Light, and it may be the best in the series to date.
The plot brings Frank back to Willamette, Colorado, the site of the first outbreak in 2006’s Dead Rising. He’s lured back by a student, Vick Chu, who believes the military is behind a new outbreak occurring in the town. Things lead the pair to an outfit called Obscuris, led by Colonel Fontana. As things proceed, Frank learns of a new and deadlier strain of zombie and of something else that seems to be hunting the military as much as they’re hunting it. Along the way, players will have Frank save other survivors, face human threats in the form of Maniacs and soldiers, and use his camera to uncover the clues to solve the mystery of what is going on.
The campaign is divided into seven chapters- a prologue and six titled cases. My playthrough took me a little over 14 hours, though the counter said once I was finished I was only at 57%. The game offers a lot to do outside of pursuing the main story. There are shelters to clear out, which open up safe havens for survivors and places for vendors to peddle their wares. You’ll also find survivors in jeopardy out on their own, as well as groups of Maniacs that need to be dealt with and Obscuris soldiers who need to be dispatched. Frank can also hook up with another reporter and investigate leads she feeds him. And then there are the collectibles- cellphones, newspapers, and other items that give you further background into what has been going on in Willamette. Also laying about for you to find are blueprints for creating new and wacky weapons. You’ll need those weapons, because there are plenty of shambling bodies to use them on.
The zombie horde is vast as it fills up the buildings and streets of Willamette, and made up of a few different types. Most of the time they are made up of the slower moving kind, but ones that will swarm on you and can easily overwhelm you if you’re not careful. Then there are fresh zombies, those with red eyes that move quicker and are a bit harder to kill. Later in the game you’ll encounter “smart” zombies, who stand apart by their speed and the greenish glow that surrounds them. These zombies are especially dangerous, as they are harder to call, can stun you with a scream, and can rally other zombies to attack you. Having to deal with all the types at once will definitely keep you moving frantically, and being well supplied is a must.
To help Frank take on the zombie hordes, there are four skill trees you can use to level him up. The trees are separated into Brawling, Fortitude, Shooting, and Survival (a Multiplayer tree is added in for the four player co-op mode, which is separate). Brawling increases the effectiveness of blunt, bladed, and close combat weapons, and can increase the slots as to how many of each weapon type you can carry at one time. Weapons are separated into thrown (grenades, gas cans, etc), your handheld weapons (axes, swords, boxing gloves, and plenty more), and firearms (assault rifles, pistols, and others, including nail guns). Fortitude increases your health and stamina. Shooting increases the effectiveness of your firearms and explosives, an increase the slots to allow you to carry a nice little arsenal. Survival aids you with getting more pieces of scrap (the game’s currency) and experience to help you level up. You can assign your experience points however you wish, and while I didn’t max out all the trees in one playthrough, it should be possible to do so if you kill enough zombies, do a bunch of exploration, help plenty of survivors, and track down those collectibles.
Of course, the fun in the Dead Rising franchise has always been the ability to use nearly everything as a weapon, and combine them in wonderfully wacky ways to make some interesting instruments of mass zombie destruction. Blueprints can be found that enable you to create these wondrous devices of death, should you have the right components on you. Mixing a sledgehammer with fireworks gives you a Blast from the Past, a powerful hammer that sends foes flying with a fiery blast. A sword and a container of liquid nitrogen can give you an Ice Sword that can freeze your enemies in place. There are explosive lures to be made, and even weapons that shoot out a deadly arc of electricity to fry groups of the walking dead. Even without combinations there are plenty of wild and wacky weapons to use. Since it’s Christmas time in Willamette, you can beat zombies with decorative candy canes, electrified wreaths, and Christmas packages. Mounted swordfish, large bones, mannequin arms, and toy dragons can all be used to beat zombies to a pulp. And while you’re zombie slaying, you can dress to impress in the various costumes available throughout the town. You can kill dressed as a basketball player, a construction worker, don a hazmat suit, or combine different hats, shoes, and jackets. It’s a nice way for players to make Frank their own, even as they play out the same story.
In addition to using various weapons, Frank will also need to make use of his camera. The camera has three modes- one for night vision, a normal mode, and one for scanning hidden passages and can detect fingerprints on keypads to help open locked doors. At various points you’ll enter into an investigation, where you’ll need to find and photograph different clues to help advance the story. These sections offer a nice change of pace, and allow you to catch your breath in between mass zombie slaying. Clues become highlighted as you focus the camera on them, so you’ll know when you’ve found what you’re looking for. You can also find other things to photograph, such as other notable characters, zombie silhouettes, and even scenes of carnage all can gain you points that go towards you leveling up and getting a skill point to use in the skill trees. You can even take selfies, which the game rates you on. The use of the camera just adds to the game’s goofy charm, and helps break up the tension that can build as you uncover the mystery behind the new outbreak.
One thing many will notice about the campaign is the absence of the timer. To some, the timer was a dreaded feature, as it hampered exploration. For others, it posed a good challenge, forcing you to manage time and find the quickest route to your objective. I personally was not a big fan of the timer in earlier entries, simply because it did hamper exploration and made you hold back from possibly aiding another survivor or eliminating enemies. Of course that was the point of the timer, to force you to make those hard choices, but failing and being forced to restart the mission each time just wasn’t that much fun. So it was nice to see the timer missing for a majority of the game, enabling me to engage freely in exploration and taking on those side tasks. It gave the game a better sense of freedom and allowed me to proceed at my own pace without feeling rushed by a ticking clock. The timer is not completely absent, however, but when it does make an appearance at the end of the game it makes perfect sense for it to be there. That last section is all the better for it, as the timer adds a great sense of urgency and creates a great level of tension. Once completed, it gives you a nice sense of satisfaction at making it through, and the game’s story has a very good ending which I won’t spoil here.
While Dead Rising 3 had co-op in the main story, Dead Rising 4 removes that feature. The campaign is a solo affair, though you will on occasion have AI companions. Instead, co-op makes up Dead Rising 4’s multiplayer mode, where four players can choose one of four characters (Isaac Tremaine, Jessa Yetsuda, Jordan Maxwell, and Connor McMann) to play as, or you can just allow one to be chosen at random for you. The characters are all in the campaign in the one group of survivors, but they aren’t playable there. The mode can be played solo (though the odds of surviving long are slim) or with up to three others, and is set solely in the mall. Your goal is to survive each day and complete your objectives for bonus points. At the end of the round a timer begins and players are prompted to get to a safe house, where you can regroup and resupply until the next round begins. As in the single player, you gain skill points and can use them on whichever skill tree you wish. Fallen comrades can be revived provided you can reach them, or players can choose to bleed out and respawn. Note that the round will end if all players die, so it’s best if players can revive each other. The mode does require players to work together, as going off alone is likely to end in you being overwhelmed away from help. With the various objectives given it’s fun to play, and as objectives can vary (one had me clear out a store, another had me find three decorations to decorate a tree with, and another had me kill so many zombies with a certain type of weapon), the mode does have a lot of replayability. More modes are said to be coming with future DLC packs (minigolf is among those rumored), but for now multiplayer is solely made up of the four player co-op.
In all, Dead Rising 4 proves to be a very enjoyable entry into the franchise, and may be its most entertaining entry to date. The story follows a straight B-movie script, but it’s well done and filled with genuinely funny dialogue. There are plenty of wonderfully crazy weapons to use and make, and loads of collectibles to find. The lack of the timer until its logical inclusion at the end gives the player the freedom to explore the game to its fullest and at their own pace. While an option for new game plus doesn’t come up, starting a second run will carry everything over from your first game. The campaign is entertaining enough to make it worth revisiting, and it may take a couple of playthroughs to find everything. For the most part, the game ran smoothly, aside for an odd graphical glitch (zombies clipping through scenery), though the game did crash on me once. The AI can sometimes be stubborn in following you like they’re supposed to, and it can be problematic picking up a desired item , especially if it’s in a group on the floor or you’re trying to rush. None of these things really detracted from my overall enjoyment of the game, though they were apparent enough to warrant a mention. Some will be disappointed that the co-op has been split off from the campaign and given its own mode that makes up the game’s multiplayer. Happily, that multiplayer co-op mode proves to be fun to play, and varying objectives help to keep things fresh. With Dead Rising 4, Frank is back, and I’m happy to report that he’s in fine form in a game that makes a worthy addition to the franchise.
