REVIEW: Dead Rising Triple Pack Bundle

When Dead Rising launched back in 2006 it was a technological marvel due to the sheer amount of undead that the Xbox 360 could render onscreen. Looking back on the original game and the amount of zombies may prove to be disappointing, however, Dead Rising and its sequels have managed to stand the test of time and are some of the most enjoyable zombie survival games available today.

Dead Rising 1

Capcom’s efforts to remaster the Dead Rising series for console players has fallen short in its conversion to a 1080/60 presentation. Obviously, the most dated of the three games, Dead Rising’s graphical shortcomings are far more visually obvious. While the upscale to a full HD resolution does help to make aspects of the game clearer, stretched, low-quality textures and stitching on character models are more obvious than they are on the original 360 version.

Dead Rising follows photojournalist Frank West as he investigates rumours of “something big” happening in Willamette. This “something big” turns out to be a zombie outbreak, some batty old lady who tries to let her zombified dog into the mall screws everything up and then pretty soon you’re locked inside a gigantic shopping mall where you’ll use anything from handbags to lawnmowers in order to survive.

All of the games follow the same format where numerous missions appear—the main missions in the form of case files—and will disappear at a certain time. The game gives you 72 hours to save survivors, uncover the mystery of Willamette and take down the many psychopaths that can be found in the mall.

Dead Rising is a game of character, whereas the original version was marred by near-constant screen tearing and performance issues, it shone through not only because of its incredible technical achievements but also because of its personality. Wacky or zany are the only words I can use to describe just what Dead Rising is and the game features some of the most memorable and weird characters in a video game. As a kinda-rogue-like experience—as you can die and restart the game with all skills and upgrades on you—Dead Rising features some of the most simplistic yet fun and challenging gameplay experiences that few games have failed to match.

This port, however, does have numerous issues when it comes to performance. Whilst the 360’s screen tearing and blurriness have now been fixed, the performance issues still occur and are actually more frequent than before. When it works, Dead Rising runs at a buttery smooth 60fps but when using a majority of large objects such as sledgehammers, sickles or benches cause the frame rate to dive well below 60fps with noticeable stuttering.

Problems with the original experience still occur here with stupid AI and large quantities of glitches and clipping errors occurring extremely frequently, although, during my experience, I discovered no bugs that were actually game breaking. These problems, while annoying, don’t detract from the experience too much. Input lag is never really problematic and the simplistic nature of Dead Rising’s gameplay means that the sudden stutters during combat don’t affect your ability to play, although, they do remain an annoyance throughout the entire experience.

Dead Rising 2

Dead Rising 2 is a game that benefits greatly from these new remasters than Dead Rising 1. Following the story of Chuck Greene, as he survives in the much bigger Fortune City area with his daughter Katey, Dead Rising 2 features many of the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor albeit with a lot of refinement. Simple mechanics such as gunplay are improved with more refined aiming and the ability to move whilst aiming.

Dead Rising 2’s biggest feature that is absent from the original game is the inclusion of crafting. Certain items in Dead Rising 2 can be combined by placing them on workbenches to create new weapons, such as two chainsaws on the end of a boat paddle or a combination of an axe and a sledgehammer. These special weapons allow the user to earn more experience points than using normal weapons which in turn allows Chuck to gain access to more moves.

Utilizing assets from the PC release of Dead Rising 2 instead of the last-gen console version, the Xbox One version of DR2 manages to look pretty decent alongside current generation titles, if not a bit rough around the edges. The 1080/60 presentation is—post-patch—near flawless with the crisp visuals and smooth framerate making Dead Rising 2 a joy to play.

While Dead Rising 2 adds a lot of features and improvements to the original—including a much, much bigger amount of zombies on screen—the sequel does lack the photography aspect of the original. Since Chuck is a mechanic, not a photojournalist, so the lack of photography is understandable and the replacement crafting mechanic does add a lot to the game, however, fans of the original might be—and were at the time of release—disappointed.

Multiplayer co-op is also another big feature of Dead Rising 2. Available in both co-op and a score/round-based multiplayer mode called Terror is Reality, Dead Rising 2 offers numerous ways for friends to get together and murder zombies in some of the most creative ways possible. Solid netcode and a simple drop-in/drop-out system for online multiplayer makes playing DR2 even in small bursts an enjoyable experience and co-op zombie slaying is always a tonne of fun.

The biggest omission from this collection comes in the form of Dead Rising 2: Case Zero—the second game’s prologue—and Dead Rising 2: Case West—the second game’s epilogue—are both missing from the collection. While they were both small standalone titles that may be playable through backward compatibility one day, the lack of already created plot is disappointing for hardcore fans of the series who would love to relive the experience of those games on Xbox One or PS4.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record is a weird game. Being a reskin essentially of Dead Rising 2, the game replaces all of Chuck Greene’s story with that of Frank West’s who is now in Fortune City to try and regain some of his fame that he’s lost since the outbreak at Willamette. The majority of Off the Record’s plot events are non-canon, however, story has never been the main focus of Dead Rising and since the gameplay is an even further refined version of Dead Rising 2, Off the Record is the highest quality package in the three-part collection.

Due to Frank West returning as the protagonist, Off the Record reintroduces the photography aspect of the original and still keeps the crafting mechanics of the original DR2. This does make levelling up occur slightly quicker as the amount of ways to get PP has increased but Off the Record is still a well-balanced experience throughout.

Fans of Dead Rising 2 will be delighted at certain elements of the plot which have been changed—although none of it is canon in the Dead Rising universe apart from Frank being at Fortune City during the third day—and will most probably love the all-new Uranus Zone. The Uranus Zone doesn’t add much in the way of story but there are unique games to play, some new weapons and also the ability to kill zombies with the new rides that are installed in this zone. Another addition is the game’s inclusion of sandbox mode which removes the campaign’s timer and allows you to play for however long you want with added challenges found throughout the map.

Apart from these small changes, Off the Record is essentially Dead Rising 2, just better. Finding Zombrex is still required—since Frank was apparently bit between the first game and this—and every other mechanic is still here safe and sound. If you have to choose between Dead Rising 2 and Off the Record, Off the Record is definitely the one to go for.

Summary

Dead Rising Triple Pack Bundle is amazing value for some of the greatest zombie survival games that are available to this day. While the original game may show its age a lot and performance issues are still an issue, the other two games stand strong. Choosing between all three isn’t hard though as Dead Rising 1 and Off the Record shine through due to Frank West’s amazing amount of character. If you’re on the fence about getting Dead Rising Triple Pack Bundle, hop down, grab a gigantic CRT television, a baseball bat, and a lawnmower and go to town on some zombie scum!