This review contains spoilers

After loving Dead Rising 3, despite it's lukewarm reception, I was ready to really enjoy this game too despite knowing people hated it. Unfortunately this games flaws are either too big to ignore and/or there's not as many saving graces as 3 had.

Every time I start a Dead Rising game I swear I feel like the controls are shit and think "Were they always this bad?", then I get used to them which is what I assume allows the cycle to happen every time. But I never really got used to 4's controls. Could it be that they are just worse than the rest? Or maybe I've just grown standards...

The game is a buggy mess. One bug that kept popping up was Frank just not moving. It happened a lot and it just freezes him for like 5-10 seconds.

Admittedly some of the most common complaints don't bother me too much. The lack of the game being a giant timed mission is whatever (since when did games most hated aspects become something people demanded?). There's still no escorting survivors, which actually started in 3 (funnily enough escort missions are another thing people hate in other games). I know escorting is a big thing in the first 2 games, but I did feel like it wouldn't fit as well in the more giant open world, with faaaar more zombies on screen, of 3, and I feel the same here.

Also Frank has apparently been ruined as a character but I don't see it. He's still a snarky, sarcastic zombie killing journalist, but now with 15 years experience in a zombie infected world.

The lack of psychopaths is a change I definitely did not enjoy though. They instead have been replaced by "Maniacs", which still have the fun identities (a crazy Santa, evil pirate, cultist scarecrow etc), but they lack introductory cutscenes and are way too easy to take down. They are no longer big events like they were before, but are now minor distractions.

The game has simplified a lot of things too. Food now has its own inventory, and all food heals exactly the same. So a chocolate bar heals the same as a med kit. You can no longer get drunk from drinking too much alcohol etc.

Though weirdly it also un-simplified some things from 3. Like in that game all weapons had a strong and weak attack. The "strong" attack is now a command you get after getting a certain hit combo. It also only works for combo weapons, as regular weapons will just do a usual cutscene-type kill. I don't mind this change as it gives you a reason to use the regular attack, while in DR3 there was no reason to do anything but spam the much better strong attack except for weapons with very context specific movesets.

The worst part about this game missing its potential is that the actual world its set in is fantastic for Dead Rising. DR3 had a big town, but it was very bland and all areas looked the same. This game makes Willamette a huge zombie killing playground, with locations varying from malls, farms, shopping districts, residential areas, dams and more. It's such a damn shame that such a fun map is ruined by such mediocre gameplay.

It's just kind of a shell of a game with nothing to really do but go through the boring story. Killing zombies doesn't even feel fun anymore since a lot of weapons feel weightless. Plus there's far too many zombies on screen at once - something that also originated in Dead Rising 3, but at least in that game the majority of stuff took place outside with lots of space, and vehicles and overpowered combo weapons were a huge element to dealing with these crowds. Both those elements have been toned down, and a lot more of the game takes place in cramped places. The game also includes a lot of very dark areas to force you to use the cameras new night vision mode, which just makes you move slower, be defenceless and unable to see your inventory for managing weapons. Fun.

Reviewed on May 28, 2022


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