If you’ve never experienced the survival horror exploits of Frank West and Chuck Greene, the Dead Rising Remastered Triple Pack is as good a time as any to jump in. Veterans of the series may find the experience to be a little dead, though.
The Dead Rising Remastered Triple Pack bundles together Dead Rising (2006), Dead Rising 2 (2010), and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (2011). These last-gen games have been ported into modern times at 1080p and 60 frames per second and packaged with their DLC costumes, so it’s an excellent route for gamers to take if they want to explore the zombie-infested landscapes of Willamette, Colorado and Fortune City, Nevada.
In Dead Rising, players assume the role of freelance photojournalist Frank West. He’s a charismatic guy with lots of experience in rough environments, but mobs of flesh-eaters infesting a shopping mall- that’s a new one for him. Willamette Mall is also packed with survivors to save and subdue, as well as tons of weapons to smash every shambling deadhead in sight. Thankfully, producer Keiji Inafune made these zombies act more like George Romero’s creations and not Danny Boyle’s super speedy creepers from 28 Days Later.
Dead Rising 2 stars motocross rider Chuck Greene, a contender in the pay-per-view sport spectacle known as Terror is Reality. Taking place in this franchise’s equivalent of Las Vegas, players no longer need to snap photos to earn prestige points, which upgrade your abilities. PP can be earned instead by combining weapons found throughout the game into more vicious creations, like spiked baseball bats, paddles with chainsaws at each end, or bombs strapped to footballs. Greene has to survive for three days until help arrives, as West did in the previous installment, but with the added pressure of keeping his young daughter from turning into the undead as well.
Frank West returns to the spotlight in Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, which is a non-canonical spinoff of Dead Rising 2. Set in the same Fortune City sandbox that Chuck Greene was roaming, West can now combine weapons for increased PP while still snapping engaging photos. While there’s no young daughter for him to look after, Frank now has to keep himself from turning into a zombie through the use of Zombrex medicine. Aside from a few slight story adjustments, think of Off the Record as a retelling of Dead Rising 2, but with more flair.
As fun as it is to hack and slash your way through hordes of zombies in these playgrounds, though, that’s the extent of it. There’s no elaborate making-of movie to be seen, collection of character cards, or even a ‘90s sound test. The Dead Rising Remastered Triple Pack is a collection of ports from a decade ago, and honestly, that’s just fine with me.
Dead Rising Remastered Triple Pack is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam.