Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

Let's be honest, you've probably already played Dead Rising before. If you didn't when it originally launched in 2006, you probably experienced it since perhaps even with the HD Remaster in 2016. So, already, it's fair to say that the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster doesn't exactly stand out as something special. It's a game that isn't two decades old and yet has been remastered twice. Twice. It's also precisely this reason that I won't really be reviewing Dead Rising as a video game this time. I'll point out a few things here and there but for this Deluxe Remaster edition I'm going to predominantly focus on the parts of this game that are actually different, and that mostly revolves around performance and visuals.

Yes, things look very different this time around. It's actually a very pretty game and one where you can see that Capcom is testing the limits of what remasters can offer as the graphics are entirely remade and stunning. Thanks to the RE Engine, this is a title that looks more akin to Resident Evil 4 and Dragon's Dogma 2 than it does the original product and with such a fidelity and graphical intricacy evolution you have to wonder what prevented Capcom from simply regarding this version as a full remake. And this also carries forward to the performance and technical elements because the Deluxe Edition runs like a charm, loads quickly, and only has a few hitches along the way otherwise. As for what these are, we're mostly talking about the odd texture popping in or clipping through a surface. Otherwise, this version of Dead Rising runs like a dream. It should at the end of the day, it's 18 years old and has had plenty of time to be perfected, but still it's a positive point all the same.

Next up is the various quality-of-life changes that have been put into effect. Some of these are genuine improvements, such as the UI being a little friendlier and easier to handle and an updated control scheme that makes caving a zombie's skull in all the more thrilling. The use of the RE Engine does seem to present the same sorts of aiming issues that we see in Resident Evil games, where it feels like you're fighting the controls to be accurate. For a survival horror that almost feels on theme, but for an ultimate zombie-slaying sandbox like Dead Rising, it would have been a huge boon to have a more responsive and accurate aiming system that enables Frank to really abuse the wild mechanical depth of the gameplay.

In fact, the rigid aiming also brings up and ties together with another more traditional problem in the Dead Rising experience. The boss fights that the storyline constantly forces you into are just abhorrent and prove in greater depth than ever why the gunplay should be an afterthought and not the best possible solution for dealing with zombies and enemies. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if they were less frequent, but that's simply not the case, and they also highlight a glaring and massive problem affecting one of the new QoL additions too: the autosave.

On one hand it's excellent not having to physically save your progress, but it does mean you forget to notch up manual save files you can resort to if necessary. Why would you need to do that? Perhaps you stumble headfirst into a boss encounter without a full health bar and limited weapons and tools at your disposal... Yep, that happened to me and the only solution (to save my sanity from being constantly slaughtered by three manic prisoners in a military truck with a machine gun on top) was to either suck it up and manage to overcome the task at hand or start the game from scratch to ensure I'm better prepared for this moment when I get back there. Neither was a compelling option...

So, when you add the typical and familiar Dead Rising quirks (such as the funky zombies that often phase through your attacks or the NPCs that are nightmares to command and protect) to the new Deluxe Edition specific features and improvements, you get a version that's a bit hit-or-miss. With the massively improved performance and graphics that are effectively remake-level quality, you have to wonder why Capcom didn't just actually remake the game and address the long-time issues that have always been present rather than just partly ticking off those tasks and leaving elements like loading screens between the smaller gameplay areas intact. Is it fun to have access to the variety of costumes and weird outfits? Sure, but at the same time this is still just the Dead Rising we've all known for years except with a much glossier coat of paint.