Dead Rising - It's Resident Evil mixed with photography and robot masks.

  • Thread starter Thread starter SU 390
  • Start date Start date
  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
Bit of an odd suggestion but I would say give Way of the Samurai a try if you're trying to scratch that highly repeatable, vaguely stressful, small but highly interactive world - itch. They're cheap as fuck and janky but very entertaining games, I have probably 100 in both 3/4 and still go back every once and a while to run through each.
They are amazing games. You won't find many offerings that give you so much freedom in how you want to play.
 
I'm enjoying Frank in UMVC3 so far. I thought he would be a nostalgia jobber like Phoenix Wright, but he's actually damn good at close range. Not a lot of projectiles, but you don't really need them in this game, he more than makes up for it with the technical moves that are taken straight from the games. I found that Frank works well with Ghost Rider and Tron Bonne(one of my go-to fighters in MVC2), the former especially as the AI doesn't know what to do when you use Ghost Rider's whip that has the length of the entire screen, that goes double when you keep using Frank's shopping cart assist to keep knocking the enemy back.
There isn't much of a "story mode" in this one, they would try to introduce it in Infinite but it was really cringe. The basic Arcade ladder is all you get in this game, well there is also the Heroes vs Heralds mode I really like but I am not sure if it counts for achievement progress. Frank's Arcade ending is cute, it makes a callback to Marvel Zombies, my favorite comic side story. I enjoy this alternative timeline where after Willamette, Frank saves the world and kicks Galactus' ass instead of getting fat and broke like he does in Off The Record.

UMVC3 is gonna take me a while to complete, but that's mostly due to my clumsy ass getting used to fighting game controls again. As far as Frank West crossovers go, I heard there is actually even more of them. There is Tatsunoko Vs Capcom aka that game with cover art Megaman, but I heard mixed things about that one. Then there is Project X, a 3DS exclusive turn based tactics game that could be considered Capcom's equivalent of Smash Bros with all the crossovers it has. Is either one really worth playing?
Oh, and I guess Frank appears in that one movie nobody remembers. He's actually the best part of it, a rare middle point where Frank isn't a washed up nobody like he is in OTR but he's certainly more full of himself than he was in the original game.
 
After my (admittedly limited) experience with the fourth game, I completely believe that we only got an alpha build. Damn near everything I played felt undercooked, and that was in the opening act.

I'd live if there was never another Dead Rising game. 1, 2, and OtR already exist, and they're all great experiences. What I want to see is other developers apply the concepts laid out in the first game. Dying Light sort of did with its gameplay loop and world design, and it was alright aside from the weak combat, but I'm not aware of any title that places a time limit on your entire playthrough. It was an incredibly bold design decision, the kind that you don't really see anyone besides indies even attempt. I still think Cyberpunk 2077 would have been the perfect game to implement it in, but that game is disappointing for a whole host of reasons.
Adventure Games like Titanic for Win95 and Last Express have a time limit. Also that ancient INFOCOM Sherlock Holmes game.
 
I'm enjoying Frank in UMVC3 so far. I thought he would be a nostalgia jobber like Phoenix Wright, but he's actually damn good at close range. Not a lot of projectiles, but you don't really need them in this game, he more than makes up for it with the technical moves that are taken straight from the games. I found that Frank works well with Ghost Rider and Tron Bonne(one of my go-to fighters in MVC2), the former especially as the AI doesn't know what to do when you use Ghost Rider's whip that has the length of the entire screen, that goes double when you keep using Frank's shopping cart assist to keep knocking the enemy back.
Not sure why you're "Let's Sperging" Marvel but I'd hesitate to speak with authority on a subject matter that you're actually not that well-versed in like this, especially if you're going with a "versus CPU" approach that isn't the best representation for how the game is supposed to be played.

Frank CAN be good, yes, but he's highly dependent on his "level up" system to really come online and that can be difficult to manage in actual matches against actual people. Here is a decent guide for reference's sake.

Similarly, while Phoenix Wright is objectively (at least one of) the worst character in the game, that hasn't stopped some players from absolutely shitting on players with him, which means it just takes the right player and understanding how his kit works to really make him shine.

There isn't much of a "story mode" in this one, they would try to introduce it in Infinite but it was really cringe. The basic Arcade ladder is all you get in this game,
Yes. Vanilla Marvel 3 was the same exact way. In fact, Marvel 1 and 2 are like this as well.
 
especially if you're going with a "versus CPU" approach that isn't the best representation for how the game is supposed to be played.
Oh, I know, but 1) I don't want to spend money on Xbox Live right now(assuming there is an active playerbase left) and 2) I am only going for achievements, going up against real players would only have the process take longer. I'm cheesing the AI and I know it, I would get my pasty white ass kicked at any casual tourney, let alone a serious competition. Still, for what I'm doing now, it will do. This is an "overtime" extension to my project that has been ongoing since April, which is getting all the (single player) achievements in Dead Rising games I still didn't get, and UMVC3 is kind of a Dead Rising game since it has Frank in it.

I didn't even play around with the Level Up mechanic since it's not needed for AI, I'm mostly trying to get Crossover Combo finishers. Kinda tricky to get, since you need a level 3 bar and just the right amount of health from the AI, it's more of a game of balance in not letting the last one die too easily and having enough energy to pull off the triple combo than anything. I'm sure I will actually get gud at playing Frank by the end of this, I got a heap of achievements to go, not the least of which is the one that requires you to spend 30 hours playing the offline mode. Thankfully, this also means the Training mode.
 
Last edited:
Anyone play Shadow of Rome? You might see some interesting parallels between Dead Rising. It's quite apparent actually.
I noticed that some assets in Ned's Knicknackery + Battle Axe/Broadsword are from that game.
SoR looks like a hidden gem from the PS2 era, I would like to give it a whirl sometime.
I wonder if that dev studio did anything big after Dead Rising. Blue Castle Games(later Capcom Vancouver) took over the franchise, from what I remember there was a bit of a crossover between Dead Rising and Lost Planet so maybe part of that team worked on LP while the rest worked on DR.
 
Looking back at DR3's "twist ending", it really doesnt make sense why Izabella is now "evil". She says its to "clear" her family's name and something about being seen better than Frank and Chuck, like she has a personal beef with them or something when she really shouldnt, at least not to this extent.

Either way, the funny thing is? There was a way you could have made her path of darkness be justified, how? Simple, this is her revenge against America's apathy towards the news of her hometown getting destroyed. I always imagined that Carlito knew gathering evidences and spreading the story to the media was pointless, he knew that since it wasnt in their backyard but in some South American "dump", Americans wouldnt give a shit.

Therefore, her logic was that this whole thing would not only force the big players into the field and exposing themselves, but exposing their corruption to the world and forcing Americans to feel in the skin what their beloved government and military were doing in their OWN backyard now.

Is it a perfect motivation? Not really and I would prefer Izabella not turn evil at all and I think her doing another outbreak like her brother was redundant...but with that said? I think my reason is far less nonsense and it connects to the themes and consequences that the first game explored. I mean, DR3 felt more like a sequel to DR1 than 2 (assuming you skip DR 2 and go from 1 to 3, I legit dont think you will have missed much or be that confused).
 
Either way, the funny thing is? There was a way you could have made her path of darkness be justified, how? Simple, this is her revenge against America's apathy towards the news of her hometown getting destroyed. I always imagined that Carlito knew gathering evidences and spreading the story to the media was pointless, he knew that since it wasnt in their backyard but in some South American "dump", Americans wouldnt give a shit.
It's that and resentment towards Frank and Chuck for not rescuing her in Case West. Remember, last time she saw them, they were being held at gunpoint and the flashdrive she gave them was smashed by giga-pajeet. You could argue that either Frank or Chuck should have distracted the guards and try to save Isabella, but at the end of the day these are just two dudes way in over their heads. Fighting zombies is one thing, fighting armed security guards on their own home turf is another. I guess she overestimated Frank, beating Brock hand to hand being her last memory of Frank must have build unrealistic expectations of him.
Don't forget that she was tortured, psychologically broken and later groomed by Marilyn. 11 years of isolation, since Dead Rising 2 takes place in 2010 and Dead Rising 3 takes place in 2021, she could have ended up being even worse.

I get that from the narrative standpoint it feels lazy, but it makes sense from the real world point of view. Ever since Santa Cabeza happened, she lost her family and she spend over a decade being groomed by Carlito to hate Americans. She later has to work with one as her own flesh and blood shoots her(probably not the first time he lashed out at her), Frank leaves her to be arrested and ends up not being able to prove America's involvement, she spends 4 years working in a lab against her will, and her one chance at freedom and to get the facts out is ruined because she expected too much out of Frank. 11 years is a good amount of time to build up hatred over someone, be it rational or not, and plan out what you want your legacy to be once you accepted your situation. At some point Isabella must have simply dealt with her new life as best she could and wanted to atone for her brother's sins, so she could finally start a new life and a new career. At that point, she didn't care about "exposing the truth", hell she didn't even cared how many people died, it's clear that Marilyn must have rubbed off on her by then.

I guess they had something planned for her, either a new villain arc or that planned Chuck+Frank DLC where she would show up as support or antagonist and air our her grievances. You can tell that her reaction to Chuck at the end of the game is rather cold. Either way, we will never know, so it's just a kinda awkward plot twist. I don't mind it, for the reasons I already described, but I can see how this could rub other people the wrong way. I just see it as a natural progression if we treat these characters as people, just like how Frank became fat and full of himself in OTR and how Chuck's personality eventually turned both Stacey and Kathey away from him.
 
I will still defend DR4 from a character point of view. Frank becoming a self-loathing, obnoxious manchild after everything in life collapsed around him fit like a glove - he had an amazing discovery which brought him fame...but it was all pissed away when the government buried him, his fans abandoned him, and his achievements in DR1 were seen as nothing more than a one-note, lucky escape. Should the franchise have gone in that direction? Probably not, but as written I feel it was done well...underbaked, sure, but consistent and made sense.

As a game though, oye. It really could have done with the Deluxe Remaster treatment: rework Maniacs into full-on Psychopaths, bring the timer back in, and tighten up the graphics on level three. I enjoyed it for what it was, but see why people fucking hate it wasn't what it should've been.
 
I will still defend DR4 from a character point of view. Frank becoming a self-loathing, obnoxious manchild after everything in life collapsed around him fit like a glove - he had an amazing discovery which brought him fame...but it was all pissed away when the government buried him, his fans abandoned him, and his achievements in DR1 were seen as nothing more than a one-note, lucky escape. Should the franchise have gone in that direction? Probably not, but as written I feel it was done well...underbaked, sure, but consistent and made sense.

As a game though, oye. It really could have done with the Deluxe Remaster treatment: rework Maniacs into full-on Psychopaths, bring the timer back in, and tighten up the graphics on level three. I enjoyed it for what it was, but see why people fucking hate it wasn't what it should've been.
I guarantee you that this post put more thought into DR4 Frank aka "Hank East" than anyone in development team did. They were too busy pitching literally everything else other than Dead Rising to Capcom, or trying to turn Dead Rising 5 into Assassin's Creed to care about Frank's development as a character.
I say there is no fixing it, the game only exists because Capcom Japan demanded a Dead Rising after all the money they pumped into Capcom Vancouver. Project Brazil fell thru and so did the "Last of Us" project and every other one of the dozen games they pitched, so DR4 as we know it was literally the quickest cashgrab they could think of. From the lore perspective, it only exists to kill off Frank and set up Vick as the new protagonist of the franchise, a laughable prospect since to this day I can't think of a more annoying and unlikable character than her, even Kent from the first game has more charisma than her.
 
I will still defend DR4 from a character point of view. Frank becoming a self-loathing, obnoxious manchild after everything in life collapsed around him fit like a glove - he had an amazing discovery which brought him fame...but it was all pissed away when the government buried him, his fans abandoned him, and his achievements in DR1 were seen as nothing more than a one-note, lucky escape. Should the franchise have gone in that direction? Probably not, but as written I feel it was done well...underbaked, sure, but consistent and made sense.

Everything you are saying that DR4 tried to do, guess what, DR2 Off the Record did it better. OTR Frank is his own character, separate from his DR1 self. He naturally became more cynical and tired but not really to the point of character assassination. He obviously has this air of "been there, done that" but still putting his best at it because investigative photo-journalism is still his passion. And he still has this light air of selfishness as he did come to Fortune City to sort of "sell out" in Terror Is Reality but the moment he received the call to action, he answers it right away.

You can make a character become more cynical and sarcastic in a natural manner that doesnt compromise the basis of the original version of the character and his appeal.
From the lore perspective, it only exists to kill off Frank and set up Vick as the new protagonist of the franchise, a laughable prospect since to this day I can't think of a more annoying and unlikable character than her, even Kent from the first game has more charisma than her.

Which in the end didnt even stick around as they immediately retcon Frank's death through the DLC (which acts like the Overtime mode, so they legit added a feature that was always part of the series behind a fucking paywall, scummy).
As a game though, oye. It really could have done with the Deluxe Remaster treatment: rework Maniacs into full-on Psychopaths, bring the timer back in, and tighten up the graphics on level three. I enjoyed it for what it was, but see why people fucking hate it wasn't what it should've been.

Problem is that even if you "fix" the gameplay (unlikely) the story is still garbage that cant be fixed short of a full re-write and you might have to remove Frank from the plot possibly.

The problem is that DR 3 wrote the franchise into a corner as the game ends with the cure for the zombies being found and that the reliance on zombrex and the outbreaks will end. A smart writer could have found ways to continue the plot without compromising the integrity of DR3's ending (like setting it somewhere that the cure hasnt reached yet for whatever reason) but a safer bet would have been a midquel set between DR 2 and 3 in my opinion.
 
Assuming I haven't played DR2 -I bounced off it pretty hard back in the day, but want to give it another shot - is there any reason to go with Off The Record if I'm not interested in multilayer?
 
Assuming I haven't played DR2 -I bounced off it pretty hard back in the day, but want to give it another shot - is there any reason to go with Off The Record if I'm not interested in multilayer?
The common consensus is that Off the Record is the definitive way to play Dead Rising 2, since it's just Dead Rising 2, but with Frank as the protagonist and some other changes here and there (plus one new area exclusive to OtR).

I don't really agree, and it's not because I find OtR bad, but because they're just two different games and they're each their own thing, but still.
 
The common consensus is that Off the Record is the definitive way to play Dead Rising 2, since it's just Dead Rising 2, but with Frank as the protagonist and some other changes here and there (plus one new area exclusive to OtR).

I don't really agree, and it's not because I find OtR bad, but because they're just two different games and they're each their own thing, but still.

I dont think that OTR replaces DR 2, simply stands as an "once again but with feeling Frank" sort of experience. I think it speaks to DR 2's quality that we would be willing to replay a remixed version with Frank.
Assuming I haven't played DR2 -I bounced off it pretty hard back in the day, but want to give it another shot - is there any reason to go with Off The Record if I'm not interested in multilayer?

Just go in expecting what it is, an alternative continuity of DR2 where Frank is the protagonist instead of Chuck and with twists and turns along the way to catch DR 2 veterans by surprise. Its "just" more DR 2 but its good stuff so its worth at least another trip through Fortune City again.
 
Yea OTR would be a good replacement except for the fact that its missing like 20 missions, the final boss is just worse and honestly the most damning is the removal of the real time watch. Having to pause every time you wanna see the time or your mission list sucks and it sucks twice as much in coop when the game pauses constantly unexpectedly.
 
Why does everyone sound Canadian in Dead Rising 2? Anyone notice that?
 
Back
Top Bottom