Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Review (PS5) – Zombies are delightful playthings aren’t they? When Dead Rising blasted its way onto Xbox 360 in 2006, it concocted a pristine new art form.
The art of experimenting in all the different ways you can turn hapless stumbling zombies into thickened tomato slurry by providing you with a collection of diverse weaponry and machinery to carry out gruesome zombie genocide.
Now after 18 long years, Frank West returns in a refurbished state thanks to this Deluxe Remaster, but is the fresh slather of leather polish on Frank’s jacket enough to convince you of the deluxe in this remaster, or is it all spit and no shine?
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Review (PS5) – A Rousing Reanimated Corps
A Rousing Reanimated Corpse
Dead Rising was unlike any other zombie-murdering game in existence when it arrived. It was a truly memorable ride that obviously hasn’t been forgotten, seeing as this remaster exists to remind us of its impact on the industry in the mid-noughties.
Dead Rising is a throwback that is inspired by George Romero zombie films, which, in effect makes it a throwback to a throwback, but it fits in snugly today because its arcade pleasures haven’t wavered one jot. Even though the video game industry has become far more complex and complicated than it was back in 2006.
We’re used to the undead as a horde of horrifying shamblers from the Resident Evil series, but Dead Rising entered the fray by toning down the horror and bolstering up the hilarity and the comedy.
It blends both elements together in a harmonious way where there’s not too much horror to keep you from urinating yourself at night in terror, but also not too much comedy to disrespect the presence of the brain-dead walkers.
However, if you fancy seeing Frank dress up and run around the mall as Ashley Graham from Resident Evil 4 complete with wig and skirt, then you’re sure to have a uniquely pleasurable time in this Deluxe Remaster.
Rising From The Ashes of Serious Zombie Games
On top of this electrifying fusion of comedy and horror is a scrumptiously bountiful and chaotic abundance of weaponry for Frank to utilize at his leisure.
Forget being a kid in a candy store, Frank is quite literally a photo-journalist in a shopping mall, given free reign to bludgeon, batter, beat down, bullet-riddle, bust-open and burn up at your leisure.
If you want to make the zombie-infested mall a little cheerier, you can always fit oversized LEGO headpieces onto their mutated noggins, and you can make them a harmless temporary mascot so long as you stay with them and don’t wander off.
This Deluxe Remaster works in the modern climate because we don’t see horror games with style and comedy as much as we see them as murky and frightening.
Modern Resident Evil games are either refurbished versions of the classic PS1 entries, or they’re sequels trying to establish themselves through dread and fear, while Supermassive Games’ library tends towards pitting a group of usually-moronic young survivors together, and enticing you to decide their fates through your quick-witted decision-making.
Put simply, today’s horror game scene has peeled away from comedy to put the focus back on gripping horror, and as a result, charisma and dumb frolics aren’t as common as they once were.
An Undead Refurbishing
Dead Rising is liberated from today’s demand for authenticity and realism for the most part, as it gleefully flaunts its silliness as slapstick around.
From a crazy granny who’s looking for her sweetie doggy, to a senile old coot who seems to blame Frank for the perilous zombie outbreak predicament they’re embroiled in, the personalities of Dead Rising are as crazy and delightful as the game’s sandbox-style mayhem, and it’s a truly joyous zombie-slashing vacation that deserves to be experienced.
On the flip-side of the equation however, this Deluxe Remaster does modernize with a more visually appealing look due to the eye-popping motion capture improvements applied here.
Frank no longer swaggers like a flat 2D Max Payne look-a-like anymore, he actually has definition and sheen in his facial textures. This face lift looks very nice and brings a pleasant evolution to the way Dead Rising presents itself.
The same can’t be said for the technical performance. While Dead Rising runs better than ever, there is pop-in that can be distracting and reminds you that the Deluxe Remaster is plastering over the cracks of the original game in some ways.
Dead Rising was never really a looker, and Deluxe Remaster doesn’t change this all that much, but you’ll appreciate many of the graphical upgrades, even if there are blemishes that still remain.
There are other improvements to the overall Dead Rising experience that are welcome, replacing the various annoyances and frustrations that were present with the original game. For example, Dead Rising was notorious for its save system, where you needed to track down and locate the save spots within the mall, and there was no auto save function.
This has now been rectified, as you can both auto save the game when Frank enters a new area, and the old manual save points are in place too if you needed to utilize those in a pinch.
Further amendments allow the Deluxe Remaster version of Dead Rising to aptly rise above all others. NPC A.I is one welcome improvement, as they’re now more reliable and you won’t need to babysit them as often as you did in the original game.
You still need to stay with them to protect them, but they’re not going to get all tangled up in zombie limbs or wrapped up in the gunfire of prisoners. They’ll hold their own for while, leaving you to sort out your business without the friendly A.I becoming a hindrance.
Vocal dialogue is also more abundant than it was in OG Dead Rising, so text dialogue isn’t as prevalent and it lets you in on what the characters are saying. New voice lines refresh Dead Rising in a way that shows off how far it has come in 18 years, and now the A.I feel more interactive because of this upscale.
Dressed To Transgress
If the giggly Ashley Graham costume didn’t give it away already, the Deluxe Remaster of Dead Rising features a collection of costumes for Frank to wear cribbed from Capcom’s array of videogame franchises.
Fancy gallivanting in Ken and Ryu garb, or want to flaunt Chris Redfield or Leon Kennedy’s RCPD gear? Then by all means, go and make Frank wear these costumes and embrace the lunacy and silliness Dead Rising is known for.
Frank also has a quick-access locker, so that he can change into whatever costume you want him to adorn, so no more hunting around for costumes that you won’t easily be able to return to again!
As for the main meat of the Dead Rising experience, everything remains intact as you remember it. You’re still Frank West, a photo-journalist dropped into a mall for 72 hours looking for tasty scoops and uncovering stories and conspiracies where there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface.
You’ve still got your camera to take snaps of the hordes of zombies that litter the insides and outsides of the plazas, and if you so choose you can find survivors and fight all the crazy and diverse bosses the game encourages you track down and eviscerate.
How you spend your 72 hours is up to you, and some opportunities are time-sensitive, so you have to prioritize what you want to do and go and do it before the game shuts down them down.
The weapon variety and health pick-ups are laid about all over the place. You can pick up just about anything and use it either as a weapon or health item.
You’ll rejoice in slashing zombies with knives and swords, relish in lopping off zombie heads and limbs with a chainsaw, and there are some very fancy drill-items that can fling zombies that hurl gore everywhere that provide a gratifying visual too.
Using huge objects like goliath-sized benches are fabulous option for sweeping out hordes of zombies from impeding your path as well. Everything you enjoyed from Dead Rising is here and the flurry of meaningful enhancements to the core game make it the complete package.
Sure, some lingering quibbles remain from the original game like the time-sensitive gameplay, the pop-in, and bosses that repeat the same predictable attack patterns.
Despite that this remaster refines many of the drawbacks of the original game, and fine-tunes it for a game befitting of the year 2024.
Now get out there, snap photos, mow down zombies, and savor all the juicy lunacy Dead Rising has to offer – cos’ it’s a real treat.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will be available on PS5 on September 19, 2024.
Review code kindly provided by the publisher