Dead Rising 4

Extremely funny with plenty of zombie blood splatter that doesn't take itself seriously at any moment.

Dead Rising 4 has the best core gameplay the series has ever seen. Its inventive and humorous ways to put down the dead are something I still haven’t tired of, and its surprisingly interesting plot is more than just a zombie-killing delivery system. Despite the technical blemishes that come with the series, its lack of co-op story mode play, and the fun-yet-unreliable multiplayer, Frank West’s return brings the series some fresh ideas, a ton of bloody mayhem, and a whole lot of cracking wise. Here’s hoping he sticks around for a while.

Quotation forthcoming.

Ultimately, Dead Rising 4 is the epitome of big, dumb fun. It's as wide as ocean yet as deep as a puddle, yet curiously it's self-deprecatory tone and over-the-top violence means it's a game that rarely gets boring. It's less fine wine, more Bacardi Breezer, and you know exactly whether that makes it the game for you this holiday.

Dead Rising 4 completely streamlines a lot of core gameplay elements of the franchise while still remaining a sadistically fun game to play.

Quotation forthcoming.

Despite a few new ideas, which don't always work as expected, Dead Rising 4 does not show huge improvements to the original formula: It's a fun game with a bunch of problems and nothing more.

Though much too easy, Dead Rising 4 is sandboxy zombie-killing adventure that recaptures the series' fun.

Simply put, Dead Rising 4 is going to upset the serious hardcore fans of the series who have enjoyed its quirky mechanics over the years. Signs began with Dead Rising 3 that Capcom was moving in an direction to simplify the game to allow more accessibility to the mainstream. Dead Rising 4 will not do anything for those people, but for anyone who did enjoy the previous title or would like a game that’s about dressing up in dumb clothes and killing zombies in stupid ways with bizarre weapons, while celebrating the wonderful festivities of massacre over a Christmas theme, then this title is for you. It makes an improvement over the third entry, offering a few hours of silly fun for a series that still manages to bring a unique experience like no other when it comes to dishing out the zombie violence.

It might have more options to adjust the visuals. But it still plays in the second league of open world games while the zombie outbreak lost its bite and Frank West lost his cynical touch, which was replaced by one-liners that would be too corny even for Evil Dead’s Ash Williams.

I persevered through the issues on PC because I genuinely found things to like in Dead Rising 4. The silly, if somewhat hackneyed plot was light-hearted in tone and Frank is just as likeable as ever. Investigations are a nice way to break up the action, which is just as insane as it ever has been. However, it’s a ridiculously easy game thanks to a liberal slathering of healing items, and the diabolically bad PC port is frankly embarrassing to see in 2016. A reasonably solid game that sadly on PC is just out of frame.

Dead Rising 4 is no classic, nor even a great Dead Rising game. The series sold out. But if you can get yourself past that hurdle, you might find (like me) that you’re pleasantly surprised, at least for a weekend. Sure, almost everything that made Dead Rising unique is gone, but if all you want is bubblegum pop and more time to experiment with the game’s over-the-top weapons? Frank West (or faux-Frank West if you can’t get past the voice actor change) is ready and waiting.