With T.V shows and major films such as The Walking Dead, World War Z, Dead Set, 28 Days Later and the creation of zombie related apps and games. It seems the escalation for more zombie influenced material is currently in high demand.
Thankfully with the release of the new Xbox One, Microsoft have shown their support by allowing Capcom to introduce Dead Rising 3, which will definitely help sustain the hunger for fans of that much-loved zombie apocalypse.
Story
Dead Rising 3 is set 10 years on from Dead Rising 2, which saw the protagonist Chuck Greene, his daughter Katy and C.U.R.E activist, Stacey Forsythe escape from the horrific zombie outbreak in Fortune City.
Now that a new outbreak has been unleashed in a new location inspired by the city of L.A, Los Perdidos. It’s time for a new protagonist to descend into a new nightmare that will call on his creativity and courage to survive.
DR3 now centers around Nick Ramos, a once normal mechanic whose once normal life is now not so normal, in the sense that his once normal customers are now dead and want to eat him. Banding together with other survivors, Nick desperately tries to find a way out of the nightmare he is now trapped in.
WELCOME TO THE AFTER PARTY!
Gameplay
DR3’s mechanics are still the same as the previous titles in the sense that the leveling system is the same. Kill zombies to receive Prestige Points (PP) and accumulate enough to gain a single Attribute Point that can be used to unlock more of Nick’s survival potentials.
As well the creativity of combining weapons isstill intact. Grab a baseball bat and combine it with nails to make a deadly swinging weapon, however deadly weapons are not the only things that can be forged.
Vehicles can also be combined together to create wheeled monstrosities that help traveling and getting to destinations much easier. Grab a steam roller and combined it with a motorcycle to create a vehicle that can be ridden as a motorcycle but can also be used to run over zombies with its front connecting roller, which seems unrealistic but adds more flavor and excitement to the title. But be warned zombies can latch and break open windows to try to bite or rip out the player from the car.
In the previous titles players needed to find work stations to create new weapons, however now items can be made on the spot, which is time-saving but during the process it leaves player vulnerable to zombie attacks.
DR3 is much more strategical compared to its predecessors. Zombies are very sensitive to sound so setting off alarms will cause large crowds to approach the players position, but it’s impossible not get their reaction regardless of setting off alarms or making noise. Flares however provide a great diversion in order to escape large hordes.
Dead Rising 3 is also Kinect supported. So it also runs off voice commands. Calling your members to follow or scavenge really makes you feel more apart of the game, but the player must be clear in announcing he/she’s commands as the Kinect has a very sensitive microphone, which may require several tries.
The inclusion of survivors is also present in the game, however there is no need to take them to a safe house. They are more seen as assisting fighters that help the player throughout the progress of the game. Survivors can be found and recruited by helping them on the streets, they’re also a major help in taking down bosses and assisting the player throughout his/her journey. Each individual survivor has different potentials and can be chosen at a safe house to accompany Nick.
Camera
Dead Rising 3’s play through camera is in third person and is extremely close, which is not a problem to play in but in a game like Dead Rising 3 you want to be able to have some distance to see your surroundings. I guess Capcom just wanted to try to set up more suspense by not allowing the player to know where the enemies will jump out from, however this type of camera was also used in Resident Evil 6 and it did not sit well with fans.
Visuals
Thanks to the inclusions of a HDMI cable, which comes free with the Xbox One Console, Dead Rising 3 looks amazing. There is so much detail in the character models and environment, it’s dumbfounding to see how powerful the graphics on the next generation console really is.
Soundtrack
Dead Rising 3’s cryptic soundtrack really uplifts the environment. The off tones and very eerie sound effects give it that really off vibe that really suit the overall gameplay. The zombie noises, screams and growls from crowds just make you cringe.
Multiplayer
Dead Rising 3 is co-op player supported so two players can take control and play through the main campaign which makes things a hell of a lot easier particular exploring through the city and boss battles.
Dick is the second optional player and can be only played through Co-Op. He is a companion and survivor that takes refuge with Nick’s group and assists in their attempt to escape.
Replay Value
Dead Rising 3 has multiple endings, so if the player is not happy with their ending they can go through another session and re-attempt to make the right decisions that may lead them to the ending they want. This may seem straining but the good thing is to speed up the process of completing the second play through Capcom have been kind to allow the player to carry all upgrades through to the second play through. As well there are further PP points to gain, more collectables, blue prints for new weapons and challenges to complete.
Overall
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Overall Dead Rising is a fantastic game that captures the desperation and hard ship of surviving a zombie apocalypse very well. The creativity behind the title let alone the graphics are is uniquely genius and amazing. The entire strategic and consequence gameplay is engaging and will have you hooked for hours.
This is clearly one of the best title releases for the Xbox One console.
