PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER
2006’s Dead Rising was the introduction to the PS3 / Xbox 360 era for many people. Running around Parkview Mall, taking photos of anything and everything to score points, and using whatever items you could get your hands on to mow your way (sometimes quite literally) through hundreds and thousands of zombies, was an enticing proposition and, indeed, a very unique one at that point in time. The gameplay might have been slightly wonky, and the “against the clock” structure of the game’s missions wasn’t to everybody’s tastes, but you could get a ridiculous amount of fun from putting silly masks on zombies’ heads and watching them stumble around bumping into things before you slice them in half with a katana and see all the blood and entrails spurting out in graphic detail, which is the only thing a lot of players back then were bothered about. The series continued with three more main instalments and a couple of remakes, but then everything went quiet. The zombie invasion was over. Yet here we are, back in 2006 once again, with a full remaster of the original game, taking us back to the sleepy town of Willamette to introduce a whole new generation of players to the most memorable 72 hours of photojournalist Frank West’s life.
As well as massively improving the visuals, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster aims to fix the more janky aspects of the original game to make the overall experience much more appealing to modern gamers. The unpredictable guide arrow which once slightly unreliably pointed the way to your objective has been replaced with a much easier to use compass, Frank can now move while aiming his firearms instead of having to stand still, and melee weapons have a durability gauge so you can see when they’re about to break. Time can be skipped if you don’t want to hang around waiting for your next mission, checkpoints and autosaves have been introduced so you don’t lose gigantic chunks of progress when you die. A host of other smaller touches have also been added to further improve the gameplay (which is very much still as daft, goofy and fun as it always was), although the “improved survivor AI” could possibly still do with a bit of work – a new “survivor affinity” mechanic means that human followers become more effective if you give them certain items, but they still have a habit of getting themselves into trouble and needing to be rescued multiple times while being escorted back to the safe room.
What hasn’t changed, though, is the mission structure – Frank has to complete his quest within 72 hours, otherwise he’ll miss his ride out of the mall and will be left at the mercy of the undead hordes. So you’ll still need to keep an eye on the in-game clock to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time to progress the story, and the amount of time you can spend on mischief-making / survivor-saving excursions into the mall is limited to however long is left on the clock between missions. The original game’s Infinity Mode returns for another outing, but the restrictions are the same as before – Frank’s health is always dropping, so you spend more time looking for food rather than causing mayhem. The inclusion of a true sandbox mode, allowing you to do away with the clock entirely, would have been a fantastic addition to this version of the game, but sadly it was not to be. Nevertheless, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster does a fantastic job of updating an old favourite and is easily the best way to experience the game. Just keep an eye on the clock and it’ll all be fine!
