Dead Rising 4: Frank Rising DLC

"It's not too late to say you're sorry.  We're really both to blame when you think about..."
Frank West - Dead Rising 4

It's been a minute has isn't my friends.  Well, a lot has happened, but I will stick to business as usual. Seems like i'm not the only one that is back.  Frank West has found a way to come back to life in the Dead Rising 4 last DLC: Frank Rising.

Frank Rising DLC plays more like an alternate ending to the Dead Rising 4 game.  At the end of the game, we were left with a cliff hanger that Frank sacrificed himself to save Brad and Vick. Frank died falling from a helicopter just to be eaten by zombies.  All fans thought no way this is how the hero of the series meets his end after all he has survived.  Well, it was the true ending for Frank.  The DLC opens with a horde of zombies snacking on the remains of Frank body.  We watch with sad eyes seeing our hero is 100% dead and with a few chunks of flesh and clothing missing Frank is reborn as a super zombie.

With glowing lime green eyes, Frank changes sides and begins attacking humans as part of the zombie team.  Frank gains new abilities like acid vomit, sound wave created from a Skyrim like roar, eating others to regain health and pouncing on victims from a long distance.  Franks rampage with his new zombie friends is ended by Hammond opening an AK-47 clip on him.  When Frank takes a seat on a throne, Hammond recognizes him. The next thing we know is Frank being held in a cell where he was receiving treatments to become human again.

Due to some zombie science help by a researcher name Dr. Blackburne, Frank is resurrected as a half human and half zombie. The treatments cause adverse effects on Frank.  Zombies attack him because he is some what human, but he can't use human weapons or drive human .  Frank's new goal is
to gather all the solitary wasps known as princess wasps and take them to Barnaby science lab and try to make a cure to be human again.  The princess wasps alter the data in the zombie parasites and make Frank somewhat immortal.  Also, you have a timer to get this done and a short one. So, you really have no time to explore or stray from the task or long-term goal.

As I played this DLC, I felt developers could have added this DLC to the end of the game to resolve the story like they did with the original Dead Rising and the add-on would not have taken anything away from the game.  I really think, developers were debating on killing Frank off and judge whether fans missed the pioneer of the Dead Rising franchise.    It was a good DLC to restore Frank's humanity, but the ending will seem not worth it to bring Frank back tbh.

Dead Rising 4 Review - Dreaming of Red Christmas

"Rumors of human trials, psychopaths, illegal human experimentation, abandoned missile sites. How can you say no to this Frank ?  This is our change please!"

Frank West is back for Dead Rising 4, and he is kicking serious butt just in time for Christmas.  This time around Dead Rising puts you in a small town of Willamete, where you must use your journalism skills to uncover a scientific mystery, report your findings/evidence and save the world from another deadly zombie outbreak.  Dead Rising 4 is a fill good button masher mixed with a little over the top drama, challenges to overcome impossible odds, and utilizing your environment to be creative and dominate maniacs that want you dead or zombies that want you for a meal.

What's New?
Capcom nailed Frank's personality, bizarre charm, presentation and story.  Fundamentally, combat has not evolved nor the challenges from the three prior dead rising games.  The biggest change is the removal of the countdown timer which allows you to explore more and have fun without pressure to get everything done in 72 hours deadline.  The reason the developers removed the timer was because this dead rising world is dense and loaded with challenges to encourage you to have fun!  There are endless amounts of survivors to save, blueprints to find, and weapons/vehicles to craft.  A big bonus is you are no longer forced to seek out a workbench to craft your combo weapons or vehicles from the blueprints.  All you need to craft from blueprints are the required materials.

Photography plays more than a tool to level up. Frank's camera has new batman like filters that let you detect hidden clues, use night vision or take selfies. They borrowed the exo-suit from the call of duty series which will give you an advantages in hoards melee fights or maniac boss battles.  There are no longer stronger zombies at night.  They are replace with a fresh infected zombies that come out at all hours and they are faster, smarter and stronger.  You can't throw melee weapons anymore as well.

What's wrong?
If you are familiar with the Dead Rising series, then you know glitches are bound to happen.  Textures pop in and out, frame rates stutter, clipping and collision issues get annoying, new crafted vehicles are undriveable,  and you can fall through levels.  They drop the co-op player mode and replaced the mode with a multi-player mode.  It's good in theory but with glitch issues and lost connections, it can really make the game unplayable.

Overall
I feel Dead Rising always found a way to capture an audience share culture and break down walls of what is expected from a good game.  Instead of zombie outbreak/weapon, the experiments are used to mass produced unskilled labor to do mundane task like farming or manufacturing.   If you're a fan of Dead Rising, then you know what you're getting.  If you not a fan, then you aren't going to find a hidden gem here.  Dead Rising 4 is a care free, have fun, and laid back game with enough content to keep the story paces and side quest to challenge you.  I'm a fan of the series so I give Dead Rising 4 a 8.5/10

Dead Rising 4 and E3 2016

I can't believe E3 is here already!  I guess with tv shows like xplay and stuff being cancelled, there isn't a lot of gaming news and hype around the event.  One particular game that I can't wait to get my hands on is Dead Rising 4.

I'm liking the return of our survivalist reporter Frank West as the main character.  There was downloadable content in Dead Rising 3 to play as Frank West, but it's not the same as having a whole game to yourself with a pioneer.   

It looks like the game will take place around Christmas in the town of Willamette.  Not information has been provided on the story or why Frank West is rampaging on zombies here, but I like the elemental gadgets and tricked out vehicles that I saw in the trailer.  It looks like there will be an emphasis on crafting like in Dead Rising 3.  I'm hoping we get more content this time around because I blew through Dead Rising 3 in a weekend.

Dead Rising 4 is expected to be release around Christmas time on December 6, 2016.