Dead Rising 3 At A Glance:
- 'Taking the franchise in a more mature direction'
- Not actually that serious
- Insane weapon crafting and dress-wearing still an option
When it comes to a Dead Rising sequel, the last thing you probably want to hear is that Capcom Vancouver is 'taking the game in a more mature direction'. The game has always been inherently silly (although not stupid), so to hear creative lead Jason Lee kick off the demo with that line was rather surprising.
Or not. Zombie apocalyptica is massive now, and misery loves company. That said, Dead Rising 3 is still, 'serious' intentions aside, silly.
It can't not be. Chainsawing zombies, running hundreds down in a beaten-up estate, swinging a fire sword and wearing a dress while you do it is always entertaining. The demo saw lead character Nick working his way through the destroyed streets of Los Perdidos, picking up weapon blueprints and books (which still add perks), firing flare guns to distract zombies, dressing up in shark suits, throwing wrenches into zombie heads, exclaiming 'sweet' as you do so, the usual.
Well, kind of. Your foes are now much smarter and by that I mean more lethal. Some have latent memories, others are stronger and wield weapons. There are now - deep breath - killstreaks to use on the far larger hordes of undead. Speaking of which, they're everwhere: Xbox One's horsepower enables Capcom Vancouver to really dial up the number of zombies, and some of the hordes can be genuinely intimidating. Throw in a more obvious horror vibe - skulking around in sewers with a torch and a gun etc - and you've got the potential for proper scares.
So it's a bit more serious, then, but I just saw a man in a hazmat suit karate kick a zombie horde before running down a road firing a machine gun and shouting 'die asswipe'. You can buy combo categories with attribute points (ie use any blade to make a weapon rather than a specific one), which also speeds up the nonsense, and your friend can call in airstrikes via SmartGlass - something Microsoft is really pushing. The real concern at the moment is the framerate, which is rather on the low side at the moment. Still, plenty of time to fix that.
