Zombie slaying has been one of the staples of Capcom’s legacy as a developer, and now the Dead Rising franchise has been brought back from the grave, returning Frank West to our TV screens. Since 2006, we’ve been knocking over the undead like pins with bowling balls, hitting a hole-in-one to an undead head and taking fantastic pictures of all the carnage within Willamette Mall. Now, in 2024, Capcom has released Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, essentially a soft remake with enhanced graphics, improved controls and full voice acting for the NPCs. Certain parts of the story have had censorship cuts or appearance changes to avoid controversy but far from deviate from the experience of the story and gameplay.
Complete Refurbishment
Every part of the mall has been completely redesigned from the ground up, from the carefully detailed character designs to the gorgeous locations like Wonderland Plaza and the outdoor park. Each interior store comes to life with vibrant colours, aside from the odd bloody dead-head or ten. Frank can pick up just about anything he finds in each shop. Book shops are still present, and Frank no longer needs to use up inventory space and pick up books to read them as the game automatically gives a description of the contents when Frank stands over them. Announcements can be heard over the mall’s Tannoy, still active after the employees have likely succumbed to infection, detailing future dates and events for the mall’s future that, as we know, is now an unlikely occurrence. Unlike the Dead Rising sequels, the Deluxe Remaster stays true to its roots and doesn’t feature combo weapons or the pawnshop. Who needs money in the zombie apocalypse anyway when you can ride a skateboard in a pink dress, barefoot and sporting a Mega Man helmet for free?
Smile for the Camera
It’s not a Dead Rising game without the dead rising from all angles. Capcom have used the RE Engine to completely transform the appearance of each individual zombie, bringing a further look of intense horror to the new remaster. Frank will fight these abominations with weapons, furniture, utensils and a familiar couple of ways to how Randy Orton might take the next WWE title. If weaponless, Frank can use various skills like roundhouse kicks, neck twists and shoulder barges to make quick work of zombies. It’s never a dull moment to see Frank lift a shambling corpse by its legs and swing it around before launching said zombie into a crowd like a dark version of the hammer throw. The gore system has stayed the same, besides the fact that heavy blood splatter now looks darker and more coagulated, akin to how a corpse would bleed after being dead for a while.
THIS IS MY STOOOORE!
Zombies can make anybody go a little bit crazy, and Frank will encounter several characters in the mall that have gone a little too over the edge. Psychopaths are humans who have gone crazy during the outbreak and are treated as the game’s boss battles. Everyone’s favourite clown, Adam, juggles chainsaws in front of Frank whilst laughing hysterically, and Larry, a sadistic butcher that uses humans as meat, are just some of the encounters the player will face. Moving into slightly negative territory, all of the voices and some of the lines for the psychopaths have been altered. This isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world, but Capcom have changed parts of the scripts to correlate with modern standards, heavily censored to avoid offending new audiences. I’ve seen plenty of backlash from hardcore fans regarding the missing ‘erotica’ category for photo opportunities, changing the mission structure of a certain young photographer psychopath. Alas, it barely affected my own playthrough, and I enjoyed the time I had all the same.
Eyes on the Time
From a gameplay perspective, Capcom have made several quality-of-life changes to enhance the experience players receive when roaming the grounds of the mall. For instance, the new ‘time advance’ setting lets players fast forward the clock at save points, allowing scoops to come in quicker and makes the returning ‘Infinity Mode’ that much easier to get through. No longer do achievement hunters have to wait 16 real hours, only to meet their demise right before they reach their goal to then start all the way back at the beginning. Survivors are more responsive to attacks and don’t get grabbed by zombies as much, with every person completely fully voice acted to give more life into each character. They even have their own preferences to weapons and drinks, making them more effective when following Frank. Radio calls can be listened to when fighting zombies, and Frank no longer has to wait out the call before getting back into zombie slaying. The dodge roll has its own assigned button now and is much smoother than the old versions.
Frank West Is Back, Baby!
In a nutshell, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is definitely the definitive edition of Capcom’s zombie hunter simulator. There are still a few bugs here that could be patched out, like survivors running in never-ending circles or scoops completely disappearing for no reason, but these were quite rare occasions. Frank West is back, and if we get the same treatment for Dead Rising 2, my wallet will never be full.
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Windows PC
Release Date: 19th September 2024
