Dead Rising 4

PEAK CHRISTMAS VIBES. i get it, most people hate this game. and for good reasons. but this is my favorite game in the series because i get to do all the goofy stuff in dead rising without feeling restrained by time. i get to goof off as much as i want without a care in the world. most people have a christmas movie every year. this is my christmas game, and i hope it can be yours too.

16 hours in and I fail to see why this game gets the hate it gets...
Plays perfectly, has great graphics that sill hold up in 2024.
I assume it's because they removed the timer? or because the VA for Frank is different? Maybe because it dumbed down some aspects?
I really don't know. I'm really enjoying the game so far. I've expected garbage and found gold.

Dead Rising 4 is a decent, but not outstanding, addition to the series. It's a fun, action-packed romp, but it misses the mark in terms of capturing the essence of what made Dead Rising so great. The loss of the timer and more open-world elements takes away from the experience. However, the holiday setting and some creative new weapons are highlights. If you're a die-hard Dead Rising fan, you'll still find enjoyment here, but it's not the best the series has to offer.

unjustified hate. i purposely stayed away from this game for years after the DR community clowned on it for years. what a mistake that was. this game is fun. i probably wont play it a billion times like DR2, but for $5? this is great...
once again, i am learning to stop listening to peoples opinions. i made that mistake too many times, the worse being when people clowned on Dark Souls for being a hard and unfair game, tried it for myself a decade after release after staying away, and its one of my favorite franchises ever.

Its okay, its not dead rising though. Its fun for some mindless gameplay.

If you have a zombie killing itch. This game can scratch it... However, it is bottom of the barrel. Highly recommend Dead Rising 2 and 3. Unfortunately for me the new engine they used on this one was just not good. Feels suuuuper clunky compared to 2 and 3. It just feels like a husk of a Dead Rising game. They used all the same pieces but something was not fitting quite right.

Ok, so I went back to Dead Rising, what gives? Gotta admit the new remaster made me want to go back and revisit it so I might as well play the fourth one while I'm waiting right? And maybe see why it is so hated. I can't be that bad right? Right?
Well, it is not. It's decent actually, I think. Many of the mechanics from previous games are overhauled and/or improved. Movement and combat are way more fluid. And the new open world/town it's pretty detailed with many locations to visit. So. all in all, I kind of enjoyed it. It ain't that bad.
But wait, there's a reason why this game put the series on ice tho. And it is not just the fact that they took away the time limit. And thank god they did, boy do I hate to be rushing to do everything in an open world game, what a dumbass mechanic. I do, however, miss it. It's odd right? But yeah, that sense of urgency is completely gone in this one, and you could say that this game is less of a Dead Rising just because of it. For better or worse, the "72 hour" gameplay is one of the key things in the series. I hate that, but you know, I get it.
That is also why this game is so particularly easy. The easiest of all four of them. Part of it is because the game is definitively dumbed down in difficulty. Second is cause the mechanics are simply better. You no longer need to resort to idiotic exploits in order to kill a psychopath, or a "maniac" as this one decided to nonsensically call them.
Also, this was the worst era for Capcom, or Crapcom as some people called them back then. But honestly, this isn't the worst they released at the time. And to be fair, Capcom's shitty era started all the way back when Dead Rising hit the shelves as well, The first one might have been the last of the truly original games that made the company, you know, unique. The story is so cliched and standard, and Frank is by no means the same as he was in the first entry. I don't know what Capcom has against the original voice actor, but this guy isn't him. Frank is sometimes funny, sometimes unfunny, most of the times annoying. Also the ending sucks and was made specially so you get the DLC. Come on Capcom, come on!
Graphically it is ok, but there's tons of stuttering. And I do mean like, tons. Either this game was poorly optimized or it's that god damn fucking stupid DRM operating behind it. Like oh my god, just drop that fucking thing, jesus!
I have lots of other things to say about this one, but I feel like I already said the most important ones, and about the rest, well the rest you can find it out yourself. None of the Dead Rising franchise has really struck me like it was gold, to be honest, and I was there when the first one came out. I understand why so many people has strong feelings over it, some because it was part of their childhood, but come on, the game is unique but far from perfect. Like, really far. I do think that some of the criticism leveled towards this one is frankly justified (no pun intended). Capcom Vancouver took away many of the things that, again for better or worse, made Dead Rising, you know, "Dead Rising", but it is not as bad as other things Capcom put out in those years. Namely RE 6, Bionic Commando, Umbrella Chronicles anyone? Ugh.
There is definitively a decent game underneath the cliched story, the stupid characters, the "Hank East" replacing Frank West, the DRM, the shoddy clipping, the sometimes underwhelming graphics and the repetitive ad nauseum gameplay. After all, I played through the whole thing. I can understand hardcore fans being pissed with it, and they are essentially right in most of the criticism, but then again Dead Rising fans seem to enjoy the terrible mechanics that made the previous three games, so...
This is without a doubt the worst of the Dead Rising series. We can all agree on that.
3/5