Dead Rising Triple Pack Review

A decade since we last met Frank West and the legendary Chuck Greene, Capcom has whet our collective whistles with some upscale sexification of the blood-happy-chop horrors that wasted so many hours of our youth.

The Dead Rising Triple Pack bundles the original Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record into an affordable package, but what does it really offer? Arguably the Dead Rising series acted truly as standout titles for the entire PS3/Xbox 360 generation – seeing them nowadays with a reliable 60fps and an upped resolution does a lot to spotlight how much they have aged. It needs to be made clear, all three of these classic titles have not received anything in the way of texture sprucing or additional content sneakery, what you are getting here is a new chance to play these games on the latest hardware in an almost unblemished state.

So the big question comes down to this then: does the gameplay hold up? My own personal experience was initially one of frustration, as I came to grips with the sluggish zombies and even my own sluggish Frank and Chuck. The funny part was that the frustration came from the fact that the Dead Rising series is one of blessed iteration, where I personally find that each entry into the series is always a marked improved on the previous release – and because I had played Dead Rising 3 so recently, a small amount of resentment was founded.

But the real charm of the game did win through, and that little lump of resentment left me as I quickly found myself remembering why I enjoyed the games so much in the past. The settings, the protagonists, the characters, all of these factors really did make the games truly better than the sum of their individual parts. And that initial frustration borne of missing some of the improved features gave away to a small amount of excitement knowing that I would get to re-appreciate the iterative improvements. Drilling a trail of blood through the Willamette Mall as Frank West was every bit as enjoyable as I remembered, and donning the sweet yellow motocross jacket as Chuck Green filled me to the brim with righteous purpose remembering the plight of his daughter.

Every hilarious moment, every ridiculous psychopath – re-experienced with a sexied-up framerate and higher resolution. The Dead Rising Triple Pack might not be the most innovative new experience, but it was never meant to be. It’s because of this it serves as a fantastic launching point for those that might have missed the chance when these games were new, or perhaps as a trip down memory lane for die-hard fans that are gearing up for the future release of Dead Rising 4 this holiday season.