User blog:The Milkman/Dead Rising 3 E3 Impressions



E3 2013, I was treated to a thirty-minute long demo showcasing of Dead Rising 3. Being a fan of Dead Rising 2, I thought it was worth a look. Based on what I saw, I'd say it's more of the same Dead Rising, which isn't entirely a bad thing, if you're a loyal fan of the series.



Instead of a resort or shopping mall, this new installment to the franchise takes place in the fictitious "Los Perdido", situated in sunny Southern California. The setting here may remind fans of Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, only on a much larger scale. In fact, "on a much larger scale" perfectly sums up everything I saw in this short demo.

The star this time around is Nick Ramos. Being a mechanic, Nick is naturally better at tinkering then Chuck and Frank. As such, he's able to craft any weapon, anywhere, provided the player has the proper materials. This seems like a natural step forward in streamlining the crafting system, and it looks a lot like what Naughty Dog did with The Last of Us and its crafting system.

Killing zombies and achieving sick killstreaks grants the player "Prestige Points", which are a hipper and edgier name for experience points. These can be used to level up Nick in a variety of ways. Certain paths allow Nick to use any weapon from any category instead of one particular weapon. For example, in the demo I watched, Nick needed a katana to craft a particular weapon. Using a perk he gained from leveling up, he was able to use a machete instead, since they were both blade weapons. This makes it that much easier to get your hands on that buzz saw sledgehammer. All of this brings to mind the Jury Rigging perk from Fallout: New Vegas.

Following from the other Call of Duty carryovers, the player has access to airstrikes as well. The two from the demo involved a hail of bullets and a bombing raid, both capable of dispatching dozens of undead with precision. This, combined with the ease of acquiring weapons, could make a combat trivial if the player has some sense of situational awareness. Not only that, but acquired weapons will be saved in your storage locker available at each safe, meaning once you pick up one shotgun, one will be available at each unlocked safehouse. All of this makes Dead Rising 3 more of a zombie slaughtering simulator than a survival game, which, to be fair, is more or less what the previous titles were. That said, if not properly balanced, I'm not sure if the gameplay matches the grittier tone they're going for.



Regardless, killing zombies is a helluva lot of fun, no matter how you slice it. The open-ended nature of the town lends itself well to massacring zed. Nick has more cars at his disposal, allowing him to plow through huge hordes of zombies. I was admittedly pretty impressed by the hundreds of zombies on screen at once. There were times that the framerate dipped quite a bit, which is a shame, though I hope this will be ironed out by release. The animation quality was also a bit sloppy in areas, especially when firing the shotgun.

Despite these additions and improvements to the Dead Rising formula, the game still looks the same at it's core, though the horde AI has vastly improved. The player can quickly become swarmed if they trigger an alarm or make loud noises. On the flip side, players can use things like flare guns to their advantage, luring zed away from where they want to be, adding an element of strategy to the game. Still, a good portion of the game will involve bashing, blasting, slicing, and dicing zombies as the player run through a horde of them in a summer dress. Capcom has taken the core mechanics of the previous titles and extended them to a more varied and open-world environment, so that longtime fans still have something to look forward to, whilst still enjoying more of the insane zombie-killing action.

Dead Rising 3 will be an Xbox One exclusive title.

Will you be getting Dead Rising 3? Yes, I will pick this up along with my Xbox One. No, I won't be buying this. I will, if it comes to a different console.