Dead Rising 3 – Zombie Apocalypse Evolved?

Dead Rising 3’s marketing strategy worries me. Why are they making the game look so dull?

I loved the original Dead Rising, despite its outrageous difficulty and one-save strategy that made it virtually impossible to get to The Truth. The sense of whimsy was unparalleled. What other game would let you dress your chest-haired avatar in a tube top, put on a servobot mask and slam a showerhead into a zombie’s brain?

Hell, killing zombies wasn’t even part of the original strategy. Frank West was a photo journalist, out to get the most gripping pictures of the stories happening in Willamette Parkview Mall. You levelled up by capturing the tragedy, the comedy and the horror.

Dead Rising 2 dispensed with the photography and taking a more traditional zombie-killing approach. This introduced the finest part of the series – combo weapons. Get some gems and a torch – whummmm, whummmm, you have a lightsaber. There were more “normal” weapons too – LMGs, assault rifles, swords. However, even these were significantly better as combo weapons. Get a wheelchair, a battery, a couple of machines guns and you have the Blitzkrieg. Phenomenally silly and brilliant fun.

In contrast, all we’re seeing of Dead Rising 3 is covered in this new trailer:

Loads of zombies, moody lighting, a landmark building, a recognisable skyline. Our new protagonist Nick Ramos will be facing cop zombies, prisoner zombies, football zombies. Thanks to the open world, you can drive cars, call down air strikes, set traps and throw flares.

Where is the whimsy? Where are the silly costumes? What crazy weapons can I build? Will there be more psychopaths? This isn’t an evolution. It looks like a rather dull explosion sandbox against opponents that don’t stand a chance.

Thankfully, (and barely mentioned by the developers) there’s a lucha libre segment at 2:19 in the video. You can see a bear costume at 2:34 and yeah, there’s the sledgesaw gore porn at the end. But come on, Capcom. We’ve seen that type of dismemberment in so many other games. We get plenty of explosions and vehicles and believe me, the world does not need another banana hammock.

What else you got?