Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package

 PlayStation 4
  • Publisher: Capcom
  • Release Date: Dec 5, 2017
User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 80 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 80
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 80
  3. Negative: 35 out of 80
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  1. stryder26
    Dec 13, 2017
    5
    The game is fine, please don't hate it , there is potential here.
    Νo one expected a top notch zombie game, and precisely for that i am quite satisfied with the result.
    It is a fun game the graphics needed more work, however that was never the strong suit of dead rising, the story is nothing new or thrilling but the setting is brilliant. Killing zombies with the jingle bells theme never    The game is fine, please don't hate it , there is potential here.
    Νo one expected a top notch zombie game, and precisely for that i am quite satisfied with the result.
    It is a fun game the graphics needed more work, however that was never the strong suit of dead rising, the story is nothing new or thrilling but the setting is brilliant.
    Killing zombies with the jingle bells theme never gets old.

    The price could have been a bit cheaper given the fact that the DLC is 17gb so there is no way to download it, having spent almost $50 for a game that got released last year is too much.

    But i don't complain i love having dead rising 1.2.4 in my collection, lets hope for 3.

    I would suggest you wait to find it in the bargain bin , but it is a fun ride especially now with the Christmas theme.    … Expand
  2. sityoazzdown
    Aug 13, 2018
    5
    Video game junk food. Not for me. Once you've played a couple hours, you'll played the game. The only semi-interesting game mechanic this game has is finding the weapon blueprints, other than that the zombies become more annoying the more you play, like get outta my way! Lame skill tree, story that is basically kitchen sink stuff. Mowing down hundreds of zombies is not fun anymore inVideo game junk food. Not for me. Once you've played a couple hours, you'll played the game. The only semi-interesting game mechanic this game has is finding the weapon blueprints, other than that the zombies become more annoying the more you play, like get outta my way! Lame skill tree, story that is basically kitchen sink stuff. Mowing down hundreds of zombies is not fun anymore in 2018, especially if you can't create an interesting world, story, and innovative game play mechanics. I've played dead rising 2 like 10 years ago, there is literally nothing new in this game.… Expand
  3. Pickle
    Dec 27, 2019
    7
    This is a really dumb game, the developers themselves have stated in interviews released before the game's release that they attempted to make this game a playground for the players to do stupid things, I'm paraphrasing as to what they specifically said, but I clearly remember them saying something among those lines explicitly in one of the interviews for the game's promotion.

    The    This is a really dumb game, the developers themselves have stated in interviews released before the game's release that they attempted to make this game a playground for the players to do stupid things, I'm paraphrasing as to what they specifically said, but I clearly remember them saying something among those lines explicitly in one of the interviews for the game's promotion.

    The problem with this comes from the way this approach affects the story, stupidity isn't immediately a formula for success, independently on whether most people might enjoy a game with such approach given that it's easier to play a "dumb" game, than a more "complex" one that actually requires you to think, analyze, and incorporate the themes of the game in an "intelligent" way.

    However, as terrible as this idea of making a dumb game is for the actual narrative of the game, this approach perhaps unsurpinsingly, makes the gameplay of this game enjoyable for the most part.

    As it's common in this franchise you can use multiple objects as weapons, combo weapons also make a return, but this time around they're not only extremely common and easy to craft but they are also abundant, you can sometimes just find a combo weapon lying around in secret safe houses that you can spot in specific areas in the game with your camera.

    As it happened in the original Dead Rising, Frank West, the main protagonist of the first entry in the series as well as in this title, gets to use his camera (being the photo journalist he is) to take pictures of his enviroment, foes, and even himself (in the form of a "selfie") this pictures like the original game are graded.

    This mechanic can be ignored for the most part while playing the game unless you reach to certain areas that require you to use your camera to analize specific objects in your enviroment in order to progress further through the story of the game.

    it is an unpleseant game to listen to and to pay attention to when it comes to its story, so much so that I ended up skipping most of the cutscenes in the game after not being able to "stomach" the first one.

    But when it comes to the gameplay the game is a mixed bag.

    There were times where I had a lot of fun,..

    Runnig around in a Santa Claus costume while shooting zombies with a shotgun and watching them tumbling around one after the other, only to then switch to a lightsaber to cut multiple zombies in half with a single thrust it's quite enjoyable.

    But after a while I started noticing a pattern in the game.

    A terrible one at that.

    Most of this game is functional on a superficial level.

    Which is to say.

    This is a game filled with side missions, side content, multiple costumes to unlock, multiple skills to get, multiple weapons to use, thousands of them, several different combinations of combo weapons that you can create, and a lot of replayability with different game modes such as a new game plus mode...

    But for the most part none of this has been polished in any way.

    Often times combo weapons repeat the same animations as regular objects and, or, weapons.

    Guns don't feel any different for the most part, even when using combo weapons a lot of them share extreme similarities.

    The camera serves as an imposed gadget to use in the name of keeping an iconic item in the franchise intact in this "reboot" of the original game.

    The game just doesn't have the depth nor the same purpose from the original title, and for the most part whatever interesting aspects you could've found in the past entries to this franchise, has been banalized and devoided of reason, profoundess, and meaning.

    So why am I scoring it a 7?

    Because despite all of these negative aspects the game still remains a fun title to kill time and play as long as you see it for what it is and not as a new entry in the Dead Rising franchise.

    This is a game you should approach with the idea of getting nothing other from it other than an extremely easy dumb time killing zombies whilst repeating the same activities over and over again.

    Ironically enough what I wanted from Dead Rising when I first bought the game back in 2006 is a lot of what I got from this title.

    I remember I hated the first Dead Rising when it first came out because the trailers made it seem like it was a game where for the most part you killed zombies in fun ways, and whilst it had some of that, the focus was in the rescuing of survivors and in time management, choosing which cases/missions to solve first or last.

    This game throws a lot of that out the window, but for what it has I enjoy it because they're the aspects I like the most in this franchise, I just wish they have kept some others, like an actual compelling story, or actual psychopaths, bosses that were staples in the franchise have now been reduced to aggresive npcs. Despite all of that though, it is still an enjoyable game to play and one that I recommend.    … Expand
  4. MetaRogue
    Jul 10, 2021
    7
    For some reason I've never been overly swayed by the allure of playing a Capcom game. Monster Hunter World was interesting and impressive in it's early hours and I even somehow managed to accurately predict that it would be nominated for GOTY 2018, but despite these points of praise I found the game's core gameplay loop to be repetitive, boring, somehow pointless and somehow devoid of fun.For some reason I've never been overly swayed by the allure of playing a Capcom game. Monster Hunter World was interesting and impressive in it's early hours and I even somehow managed to accurately predict that it would be nominated for GOTY 2018, but despite these points of praise I found the game's core gameplay loop to be repetitive, boring, somehow pointless and somehow devoid of fun. My impressions of the Resident Evil 2 Remake were uncannily similar - despite all the praise and the quality of the production values, the RE2 Remake was another 'popular' Capcom game that just didn't appeal to me for the same reasons. I think the main problem with both of the aforementioned games is that they are made for a very specific type of gamer: Diehard Capcom fans who play games not for fun, but to prove something to others/themselves and convince themselves that whatever Capcom cranks out is 'fun' despite it's deliberately designed gameplay flaws. Thankfully, Dead Rising 4 isn't quite as bad as it's other Capcom counterparts and even manages to be somewhat fun, but at the same time it can't quite escape the tractor-beam pull of it's nature as a Capcom branded product.

    I've never played a Dead Rising game before, so I came to Dead Rising 4 with few expectations. The story starts off really strongly, with the voice-acting and writing being more than adequate and establishing the game's narrative tone from the get-go. In terms of character movement, HUD and overall control scheme, I couldn't help, but notice some similarities with Days Gone (obviously Sony Bend were inspired by certain elements of DR4). Overall the gameplay in DR4 is engaging and, dare I say it, actually fun to play - to the point where I actually saw the game through to the credits. However there are still issues that dampened the overall experience for me.

    Let me start off by saying that I really liked the character of Frank West. As the player character and lead protagonist, Frank has a great on-screen presence and personality, and his quips are frequently funny. Frank's charm and charisma stem from being wizened and jaded in equal measure by past experiences and his strength and determination in the face of adversity is made believable and relatable by how he is portrayed emotionally. However, this doesn't stop Capcom Vancouver from displaying Frank's zany and sociopathic side with how he deals with threats to his safety, regularly swearing or firing off humorous or witty one-liners.

    While I like Frank's personality, I found his choices and motivations within the narrative to contradict the morality of his character. The same can be said for most of the other characters in Dead Rising 4's main story. Because everyone has an agenda or an ulterior motive or some hitherto unknown past, the story becomes a meaningless mess because everyone's motivations undermine their capacity to focus on survival, and thus the ability for logical storytelling is cast aside in favour of edgy nonsense.

    Another problem with the supporting cast is that none of them are particularly memorable. Furthermore, the game lacks a primary antagonist and when it does attempt to provide one near the end it feels rushed, underdeveloped and obligatory, serving the usual fare of spouting twisted-logic monologues that confuse instead of providing clarity. As a final note about the story, the ending is insultingly disappointing and makes all the players' efforts meaningless.

    On the gameplay front, Dead Rising 4 is the 'funnest' Capcom game I've played so far. The combat is adequate with assigned light and heavy attacks, dodge roll and combo finisher. The real star of DR4's combat are the combo-weapons which are insanely overpowered. Within the first few hours I gained access to weapons that were weird, wacky, but unbelievably fun to use. It's this aspect of the game that is Dead Rising 4's biggest drawcard. There are also combo-vehicles that, much like their combo-weapon counterparts, are really fun to use.

    DR4 also features investigative elements that require you to use Frank's camera and a skill tree system that has over a hundred skills. There are random events, side missions and safehouses to unlock. All of this guarantees a total of 30-40 hours of gameplay.

    Where DR4 falls down is with it's enemy variety and this really hurts the combat (and the game) a lot. You will spend most of your time killing lots and lots and lots and lots and lots....of zombies. I'm not kidding. Killing zombies is basically the main backbone of Dead Rising 4. The big problem is that the basic zombies in DR4 are mindlessly easy to beat and there are literally thousands of them constantly spawning all the time. There are a few other types, but they're just as easy to defeat.

    At nearly 24 hours and 28000 zombies quelled, I'd had my fill of Dead Rising 4. While it could be called 'Dynasty Warriors with Zombies', DR4 is brainless fun and nothing more.    … Expand
  5. XtremeNerdz12
    Aug 24, 2019
    7
    Don't believe all these negative reviews, the game is good, they're just people who haven't played the game who are on the hate bandwagon. This is definitely one of the best Dead Rising games, maybe even the best.

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
75
#75 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 40
  3. Negative: 2 out of 40
  1. Worth Playing
    May 9, 2018
    80
    Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package is made for people who love the idea of killing large zombie hordes in an outrageous fashion. The main game may not be as challenging as previous entries, but it remains engaging, and it would've been a fine purchase for PS4 owners. The presence of both old and new DLC makes the game absolutely packed, and while mini-golf isn't as strong as either Frank Rising or Capcom Heroes, its inclusion is still welcome.
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  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Feb 22, 2018
    70
    One of the best games in the series, but one held back by technical issues and traditional repetition. Get past that, and you'll find hours of zombie slayin' fun. [Feb 2018, p.96]
  3. Cubed3
    Feb 5, 2018
    30
    When it comes to Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package, the same question comes up over and over again: Who is this for? Here's a title that not only fails to win over fans of Dead Rising, but it also fails to win over fans of videogames. Slaying hundreds of thousands of zombies is not compelling entertainment, especially when the combat mechanics are so unsatisfying. The entire adventure just feels tired and cynical, sapping players of the necessary energy to carry on with their day. This critic racked up well over 25 hours of play and didn't laugh, not even once. What else needs to be said? Maybe this game is for people who no longer wish to experience joy.
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