Zombies have been a storytelling crutch in the gaming industry for years, but Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition manages to keep the genre on life support for one more fun and violent romp.
Developed by Capcom Vancouver (Dead Rising 2, The Bigs), this latest release in the open-world horror beat ‘em up series sees players in the role of Nick Ramos, a mechanic in the fictional city of Los Perdidos. The government will be dropping a massive explosive on the town in five days’ time to quell the outbreak, and you have that long to escape before getting swallowed up in the cleansing fire.
The cornerstone of Dead Rising has always been the creative ways in which you are able to fight through the shambling zombie horde. The weapon crafting system from Dead Rising 2 has returned, though you won’t need a workbench this time to make over-the-top tools to torment the undead. As protagonist Nick Ramos is a mechanic, you can also combine vehicles using blueprints to plow through enemies. Fusing together a motorcycle and steamroller creates a RollerHawg, for example, and an ambulance and backhoe loader grants you a nigh indestructible Shockdozer. These apocalyptic rides look like something straight out of a Monster Garage rerun on the Discovery Channel, if it was hosted by George A. Romero instead of Jesse James.
Part of the reason these vehicles are so important in Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition, aside from being efficient ways of decimating walkers, is the huge size of the map. There’s a lot of ground to cover, considering the play area is bigger than that of Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2 combined. That’s excellent news for people who were sick of the incessant load screens in the series’ last outing, but it can be a doozy for those who aren’t properly prepared.
Having seen this game run on Xbox One last year, I was disappointed when the Apocalypse Edition direct port ran so poorly on my relatively new desktop computer. I had to tone down some of the game’s visual settings in order to get the game running smoothly, and there were more than a few instances where the game outright crashed. So long as you’ve got a strong PC, the large number of zombies that appear throughout the sprawling streets of Lost Perdidos shouldn’t leave you lost.
With all that this port is lacking, including the Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha DLC (an Xbox One exclusive, for now at least), the unrelenting fun of Dead Rising 3 is firmly intact. There are plenty of crazy costumes, weapons, and vehicles to find, and the zombie-stomping can become even more of a blast if a friend joins you in co-op multiplayer mode as a stranded truck driver counterpart in chaos. Unfortunately, four player co-op is reserved for the aforementioned Super Ultra DLC.
If you’ve not had the pleasure of creatively cracking zombie skulls on Xbox One, then Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition is certainly an exaggerated experience worth fighting through.
Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition is available now on Steam.
Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PfSu0ePck0