There’s not much new in “Dead Rising 3,” but it’s a name (and a concept) that is sure to drive attention to the recently released Xbox One. Players will get another shot at surviving the zombie outbreak of Los Perdidos, this time filling the shoes of mechanic Nick Ramos. The goal? Get out of the city before the United States military carpet bombs the entire place. This is how we deal with zombie attacks these days!
“Dead Rising 3” lives and dies by a now-standard formula of exploration and weapon-crafting. This time out, there are more outdoor environments, which is a nice change and gives you more variety in locales to investigate. The franchise’s signature element – bizarre weapon combinations – continues to get weirder and weirder. You can transform a handful of gems and a flashlight into a laser sword, for example. Or turn a gun-toting teddy bear into a portable turret. “Dead Rising” has never been a serious series, which makes it a nice alternative to most horror videogames. In DR3, weapon-crafting now extends to vehicles, so you can put a steamroller wheel on your motorcycle and mow down tons of zombies in quick fashion.
And yes, there are tons of zombies. The increased power of the Xbox One packs Los Perdidos’ streets with hundreds, if not thousands, of on-screen zombies. In addition, the city is more detailed than in previous games, allowing for buildings that you can actually enter and raid for supplies. The Xbox One’s Kinect camera/microphone is also utilized, allowing you to actually talk to certain characters. For example, if you yell “calm down” to one enemy character, you’ll be able to do additional damage to him during the battle. “Dead Rising 3” also uses Microsoft’s SmartGlass app to trigger extra missions and display a secondary map on your tablet device.
“Dead Rising 3” removes the timed elements which annoyed players in the older games. You can also save at any point, which is a huge upgrade from the previous dopey “save only when you find a bathroom” restriction. It is much easier to drop in to some zombie killing when you know you can enjoy yourself without worrying about a timer or being unable to save.
While “Dead Rising 3” does little to change the formula of the series, the new touches do make this a nice showpiece title for your brand new Xbox One. It definitely looks great and runs smoothly, but it is ultimately the same old undead song and dance. If this series keeps on at this slow pace, one day even a shambling zombie will be able to outrun it.
“Dead Rising 3” is an Xbox One exclusive release. This review is based on product supplied by the publisher. Image courtesy Microsoft Studios.