The original Dead Rising was a proper, old-fashioned magazine game.
What we mean by that is that before the release, every gaming publication in the country was full of screenshots showing countless huddled zombies, a fully explorable shopping mall, and endless weapons.
It's a game that had journalists rubbing their thighs and that took the lead as one of the first major titles in the emerging HD era (see also: Assassin's Creed).
Although it eventually had a fantastic sequel, followed by two more games of increasingly poor quality, the original Dead Rising holds a permanent place in many people's hearts. It's also the perfect candidate for what Capcom calls a Deluxe Remaster, but what exactly does that mean?
If we look at the scale from “remaster” to “remake”, with things like the PS4 ports of Dead Rising 1 and 2 having the least level of change and Capcom's remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 making up the higher end, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster falls right in the middle.
The remaster is also true to the original in terms of content. Changes that could have easily been made with current technology, such as a completely open shopping center with no loading screens, were ignored.
While we still think there would have been a lot of potential for a full-scale remake of the first game, this feels more like the kind of work you do before reintroducing the franchise with a new, modern entry.
Fans of Dead Rising will be pleased, but there are few surprises to be found in the mall's spooky hallways so far, especially if this is your fourth or fifth visit over the years.
If you played the game as feverishly as so many others did back in the day, it's very easy to fall back into familiar patterns of behavior. We managed to breeze through the beginning of the game, rescue all the survivors, and gain many more levels than a normal player after a day and a half in the game. While it's very similar to the original game, there are more tweaks and changes than we initially expected.
As has been reported, the game's photography mini-game has changed. Frank no longer gets points for “erotica” photos, meaning one of the original game's side missions had to be changed. We're conflicted on this one.
On the one hand, it was always unnecessarily suspicious and a bit like a lads' magazine, but it's also key to one of the game's satirical aims. Frank is this goofy guy who doesn't mind too much when people get their heads chopped off, as long as it makes for a good shot. Course he would look for some exciting aspect in all this chaos.
We can understand why Capcom took it out, as there are few people who would actually sit up and acknowledge the satirical aspect as opposed to the comical “boobs = points” aspect. Still, it feels like an unnecessarily safe change, as we can't imagine too many people would have been offended if it had stayed that way.
There are also a variety of new weapons, but they aren't entirely new to even the most hardcore fans. Some weapons that were never finished for the first game but were included on the disc (according to VG247's Alex Donaldson, who joins VGC in a preview podcast you can watch above) have finally been finished and added, making for the ultimate experience with all the bells and whistles. Likewise, zombie cops can now shoot you with handguns instead of luridly shuffling towards you, which was intended for the first game before it was scrapped.
Dead Rising remains an incredibly fun game. There's something about mowing down zombies in your jeep while your kill count skyrockets that's never quite been replicated.
So far, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster feels like the oft-mentioned “definitive” version of a game. It's neither inspired by the 2006 game nor a remake in the style of it – in fact, it's essentially the exact same game.
While we may or may not agree with some of the removals, 99% of what we've seen so far is what we want – a more engaging and fluid way to play one of the Xbox 360's best games.
We feel like if you know the original game as well as we do, you'll breeze through it, but that's more a testament to how well the core of the game has held up nearly 20 years (for God's sake) later.