I've softened up on this enough to admit that it's playable (the extent of good things I have to say) but I still don't know what was going on here.

Dead Rising was never about playing Dynasty Warriors with zombies for me and that seems to have been the main takeaway. Everything else is either shallow or missing. It's a very hollow experience.

If you wanted a more laid back (no timer) or open world styled Dead Rising game Dead Rising 3 is much better and is right there. Play that instead. If it isn't cutting it for you, Dead Rising just might not be for you and I suggest going to play an actually good zombie game and not this.

This game makes me so sad, it takes a unique game of time management and turns it into more open world sludge boasting such wonders as severely less random shit to use as weapons, loads of collectibles and no Psychopaths with only lame asshole groups to try and fill the void. This poisonous little package is topped off with a character who claims to be Frank West but doesn't have his soul, wit and voice( Due to something like a union strike or something to be fair). No, this "Frank" is instead an obnoxious man child, constantly acting like an annoying jackass instead of the snarky, hotheaded journalist who wants to get to the bottom of things he should be. All in all fuck this game both for being bad and potentially murdering the franchise.

Escribí previamente una review sencilla de este juego, lo compré sin previamente tener idea del lore del juego en sí. Así que me gustaría volver a pasármelo para recordar los detalles de la historia y así examinar exactamente qué pasó aquí y por qué fracaso, quizá lo juegue en los próximos días o en las próximas vacaciones.

Lo poco que recuerdo, el final no es el final... este fue pensado para el DLC "Frank Renace".

Como comentario, el multijugador sigue siendo muy limitado y triste, creo que pudieron hacer muchísimo más que unas cuantas misiones en el centro comercial. No sé por qué esta decisión si tan sólo existe un mapa más grande ya.

Dead Rising 4 is souless. It feels like some corporate guess work into "what do Dead Rising fans like, oh Frank?, the Mall?, okay just do that again." Indeed it is a person named Frank West (a completely different character), there is a mall (that you are barely in except for the beginning), and it does do it again (but worse).

I kind of like this character named Frank West, he's kind of a middle aged Himbo, not super charismatic, and worse than original Frank, but he's fine. Still the worst DR protag, but fine, he just should not have been Frank West.

The map is definitely better than DR 3's map because there aren't constant road blocks to impede your progress, you just drive. The town is more interesting to look at and it does have the mall, gimped as it may be from previous entries.

The story is so fucking bland and nothing. Vick is one of the worst characters I have bared witness to with horrible motivations and STUPID decisions. "Hey Frank, why would you rather expose this bad government facility through journalism and not blow it up right NOW!!" She also goes on about Frank like selling out his news to the highest bidders, but nothing ever really points Frank out to be that type of guy, like, he is a pretty nice guy all things considered. He saved like a lot of people during the original outbreak, and continues saving a lot in this one! So what if he is kind of sarcastic.
Along with Vicky being terrible there are other characters that are so paper thin they are worthless, and are barely in the story anyways. There are like, barely any cut scenes in this game, and Dead Rising usually has pretty good cut scenes! It feels like the story is there because there has to be a story (and to give a reason why we are in Willamette again).

I will say the gameplay is fun, I still like to play it, but it kind of feels like empty serotonin watch numbers go up. Then after dabbling in the Capcom Heroes mode afterwards I can see some actual fun ideas that could have been implemented into this series (or something else made by the studio possibly).

I think Capcom Heroes has the soul that this game lacked, a fun little arcade replay of the main story (I dont really like that you have to play through main story missions again, since it feels weird in this game, why not just drop you off in the open world for free play, but whatever). I saw another review about that mode call it a Musou, and I think with some more work this mode could easily be a fun Musou game.

Overall: this isnt Frank West, the map is decent, the story blows ass, and the gameplay is fun and has promises of being a full blown action game. Like I would have rather seen them ditch a lot of the stuff that makes Dead Rising Dead Rising if they went all out and not this mediocre half assery.

I got this expecting it to suck and it was actually fun af. You need the right mindset, taking it as its own thing. I really expected to hate it, but I wanted to play for the joke. Also note, I played on hard so the game didn't get TOO mindless.

Let's get the issues out of the way. Frank is Frank in name and profession only, this is the biggest flaw. The multiplayer is some lame extra mode and not the story unlike past games. Maniacs are weak compared to old psychos, but DR3 psychos fucking sucked so it might be a blessing in disguise. Survivors are mostly generic, save the distress calls which are very few and were added later on afaik, but that's not much surprise after 3. The save system is annoying as inventory is only saved at checkpoints, despite the game autosaving constantly though checkpoints are easy enough to abuse in his they trigger that it's not too different from using a bathroom. The music is meh, mostly generic movie orchestra score, best songs are reused from past games, though the smooth jazz renditions if Christmas songs are pretty good. No time limits is a deal breaker to some but frankly I couldn't care less in this case.

That out of the way, the game is just way better than 3 was for me, which looking back I mostly enjoyed so much due to coop as I can't imagine actually playing it solo. The conbo weapon system has been reworked, now taking one set item + category, as a halfway of DR3's system. On that note, combo weapons are infinitely better balanced, so you don't break the game with OP shit like the shouts and the weapon locker was removed, kinda for the best. Frank's character, despite not being at all the Frank we know, is still entertaining and way better than boring ass Nick ever was. The story, just like Frank himself, is a ridiculous mess but that's also why it's entertaining, though I wished some characters got more play. There's also a lot of small bugs and glitches but it was mostly fine and the PC port is solid.

Gameplay wise, the game is not too far off from DR3's style, though it also has some odd but nice changes. Thrown, melee and ranged weapons all have their own inventories and buttons to use them, which kinda neuters inventory management later on when you have 9 slots for each, but makes using multiple weapons more seamless and fun. But that token, all food heals the same and has it's own inventory, which I don't hate but do still find... odd. The gameplay feels a lot better and more satisfying than in 3, partly helped by the better balance but also by much better gore and blood. It focuses more heavily on killing zombies than DR1/2 did, but I think it balances it better than DR3 with some neat little investigation segments. Scavenging for food and weapons is also more important here, since there's no lockers and currency isn't common enough for you to just load up with vendors constantly. Exo suits are fun and even though they're crazy strong, they only last about 2 mins usually, though I feel they got a bit overplayed in the story.

The map is also a big improvement over DR3, despite having so many closed off areas and me wishing the mall was used more in the story. It's still a lot more charming and interesting than boring ass Los Perdidos ever was, though not as good as old Willamette Mall or Fortune City. Collectibles are another thing that's better done and I enjoyed getting them all as there's actual content from them aside from the graffiti tags, Terror is Romantic was a hell of a read.

Also, objectively the best thing: the servbot head now emotes, reacting to events in both gameplay and cutscenes.

So yeah, TL;DR very fun game if you approach it with the right mindset, enjoying it for what it is instead of comparing it to past games. I don't really see why people favor 3 over this at all, since this does a lot of what 3 did better. The point real big issue for me remains Frank's character. Not on the same level as DR1/DR/OtR, but I really enjoyed it on its own.

Separate short review specifically for the Capcom Heroes modes, which I would give a 3.5/5 to.

Really fun little mode, for the most part, but it has some glaring flaws. First off, playing on Hard made it really annoying later on, as damage is too high and too easy to get from just being near zombies, yet the shitty level ups in this mode just give you about +25 health or +10% stamina. You don't get any of the great perks you get in the proper story, such as better healing, quicker skills and bigger food inventory.

This ended up making some costumes (Arthur and Cammy, for example) feel really shit as their clunkier movesets or weak ranged attacks made them nearly useless compared to others (such as Amaterasu, Sissel or Jill) who were faster and/or had better ranged options. Some costumes just make you work more for less.

Another issue is the finale of Case 5, which due to how leveling works in this mode and how weaker the costumes are compared to a proper loadout, was just annoying as fucking hell. Evolved zombies in general are also just a pain in this mode.

There were also more bugs in this mode in my experience, some which requires closing and reopening the game.

Regardless, it was a mostly very fun mode, with great Capcom fanservice, fairly creative trials, great music for said trials and fun variety of characters and abilities. Just a very cool and mostly fun variation of Dead Rising 4, with some frustrating flaws I can forgive due to this being a free update. The closest thing to a Capcom Musou yet, which I appreciate. Fun mode, but lesser than the main story.