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    Review: Dead Rising 4

    My first introduction to the Dead Rising franchise was Dead Rising 3 and the tongue-in-cheek adventure game was a breath of fresh air. Now Frank is back in the latest edition to put that joyous smile back on your face as you take out the zombies in even more creative ways.

    The game doesn’t require a lot of mental energy and is one of those titles you throw on when you’re not after a challenge, but just want some mindless fun. If anything, it’s a great stress relief whack, smash, zap, shoot and even run over the enemies and because those enemies are zombies, you don’t have to feel bad.

    Dead Rising 3 was a launch title with the Xbox One and now a few years on, we do expect more of games now. Naturally the game developers have upped the graphics (and the blood), but most importantly they upped the diversity of environments and weapons which helps to keep the game feeling fresh, albeit in a very familiar format.

    Gameplay

    The game is essentially split into to discreet sections, the first is single player campaign where you’ll climb the level escalator through gaining XP for each zombie you eliminate. The other is the more challenging, yet more fun multiplayer experience.

    There’s an element of investigation in the game which fits nicely with Frank West’s career as a photographer and photojournalist and that camera of his is put to good use. There’s a number of times where you need to switch the camera into different modes to surface hidden clues in the environment to unlock the next challenge in the storyline. Naturally as the game arrived in 2016, there’s a selfie mode on the camera.

    One of the best assets of the game, set during the holiday season in Willamette, CO, is the ability to turn almost anything into a weapon. Of course one weapon is never enough, so crafting weird and wacky things together to take out more zombies with each strike is an absolute joy to experiment with.

    New this time is the ability to dawn the mythical Exo Suit. Designed to enhance the strength of the human body, it allows for over-the-top and completely bonkers strength and fire power to take on the zombie hordes. Even crazier is the developers decision to let you use Exo Weapons to rip down parts of the world and use it as a weapon, from giant pipes to parking meters. This is the kind of gaming that doesn’t have to make sense, it knows its purpose and plays to that strength.

    The zombie to weapon ratio begins definitely in the zombie horde’s favour and you can quickly become overwhelmed with hundreds of zombies to expend with just a baseball bat in your hand. Fortunately as you level up, your crafting skills get better and you can make more powerful weapons to dispose of the enemy at a faster rate of nots. This progression offers plenty of incentive to keep playing well into hour 10, 20 and 30.

    Multiplayer

    Dead Rising 4 supports 4 player co-op so if you’ve got some friends that also enjoy finding creative ways to eliminate zombies, you can team up and work together.

    Like most modern games, each will need their own console and copy of the game, rather than the local split screen experiences of years gone by.

     

    Videos

    Words can only explain this game so far, video however tells the true story, so here’s some action clips from the game.

    Price and Availability

    Dead Rising 4 is out now and if you didn’t find it under the Christmas tree this year, then make sure you check out the post xmas sales. Its available digitally through the Xbox Store or at major electronics retailers.

    Big W has it for just A$65.00 which is an absolute bargain right now, while JB HiFi has it for A$79.00.

    Overall

    Dcad Rising 4 is fun like every new Mario game is fun. There’s new and different things to explore in the latest iteration and you can spend dozens of hours in that world. If you’re an existing fan of the franchise, you’ll be very happy with it, but its unlikely to win new fans with the familiar format.

    While the game looks fine, it doesn’t set any new benchmarks for visual quality, likely a symptom of the computational power of the console being spent on rendering the large volume of zombies on screen.

    Ultimately this game is a platform for you to have fun with, an opportunity to get creative and entertain yourself for hours or even just work out some frustrations.

    If you’re a fan, give it a try, if you’re not, there’s plenty of other great titles competing for your hard earned.

    Jason Cartwright
    Jason Cartwrighthttps://techau.com.au/author/jason/
    Creator of techAU, Jason has spent the dozen+ years covering technology in Australia and around the world. Bringing a background in multimedia and passion for technology to the job, Cartwright delivers detailed product reviews, event coverage and industry news on a daily basis. Disclaimer: Tesla Shareholder from 20/01/2021

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