I have often wondered: if The Dead Uprising released a few years later, would it have done as well? It released in 2006, at a time when people were just starting to get their heads around the Xbox 360 and the next generation of hardware. Games released during this time often receive a boost, both in terms of critical acclaim and sales.
Don’t get me wrong. I have a huge cushioned spot for the original. The Dead Uprisingpartly because I played it during my 360 honeymoon. It was a compelling showcase of what would be possible on the next generation of consoles with its zombie hordes. But I had my frustrations. Enough that my attempts to return to it years later never got very far. Well, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster addresses almost all of these complaints.
If you haven’t played The Dead Uprising in the last 18 years, I’ll remind you that it has a ridiculously dim opening scene before the game even starts. After that, Frank West shows up, and less than an hour later you’re dropping Servbot heads on zombies or driving a lawnmower over them. It seems like one of the designers really hated the writer and wanted to undermine him at every turn. As such, Frank West has a character arc where he goes from shady paparazzi to determined hero, all while drinking jugs of cream.
The story follows shady paparazzi arriving in Willamette, Colorado, who tell a story of strange happenings in the town. Upon arrival, they find the town overrun with zombies. Apparently, he lives in a world where zombie movies exist, so either he’s never seen one or he has terrible eyesight, because he falls onto the roof of a shopping mall to get a closer look.
Even though he has no idea what the situation is, he asks the helicopter pilot to pick him up in exactly 72 hours. Then, when he sees the helicopter pilot being chased by the military, he just assumes the guy will return exactly at the promised time.
Anyway, the mall is filled with zombies, and Frank West searches for answers among the waves of the undead. Oddly enough, even though Willamette is a town of over 50,000 people, the answers are found only in the mall.
The mall itself is a sandbox. With infrequent restrictions, you can wander and explore as much as you want. An entire city has appeared, so it’s filled to the brim with the walking dead, but since society is temporarily suspended, you can support yourself with whatever you want as a weapon.
It’s a lot of fun. The freedom of the sandbox has always been the best part. It leaves a lot of room to experiment with the many, many things you can find. Frank West’s camera, which gives you extra experience points for certain compositions, just gives you more incentive to play. You’ll also undoubtedly learn where all the best stuff is, returning whenever you need more wine to drink.
What stuck in the throats of many in 2006 was the fact that you’re on a clock. Frank West expects his transport 72 hours after arrival, and the game has a constant day/night system ticking away. Major story objectives must be completed within a certain time and window. Miss them and you’re in line for the bad ending.
In addition, people will materialize from time to time. They take the form of survivors and psychopaths. The survivors are the unfortunate people who have taken refuge in the mall. Optionally, you can save them and take them to the security room where everyone is hiding. You can’t reason with psychopaths. They are also optional (for the most part) and take the form of boss fights. Your ending doesn’t depend on them, but there are bonuses you can get for taking care of them.
What annoyed me the most about the original version The Dead Uprising wasn’t a time limit. In fact, I think the timer is a great mechanic that adds a sense of urgency. No, it was the attempt to keep the survivors protected that annoyed me the most. Eventually, I just stopped trying to save them.
Survivors in Deluxe Remaster They aren’t much brighter, but they are much better at, well, surviving. I don’t quite understand what’s changed with them. They’ll still follow you straight into a horde of zombies, but they have a Teflon coating on them. The zombies don’t seem as eager to attack them, and they can easily slip through even tight groups. As a result, rescuing survivors is actually a pleasant experience. Instead of avoiding them, I’d plan a route through the mall to grab as many as possible to take back to the security room.
Speaking of the security room, the second most annoying issue I found was The Dead Uprising 2006 was Otis. Largely because I originally played it on SDTV, where it had known problem due to the illegible compact font in the subtitles and the lack of Otis’s voiceover. He kept calling about survivors and mall locations, and I couldn’t even read what he was saying. Now not only can I read the subtitles, but Otis is talking. He’s no longer a nuisance, but a friend.
Deluxe Remaster is a much better experience overall. The substantial graphical boost makes things look a lot more state-of-the-art without losing the overall feel of the original, but the subtle touches make it a lot more enjoyable.
There are some changes that have been pointed out by others that didn’t really bother me. For example, the voice actors have changed. TJ Rotolo has been replaced by Jas Patrick as the voice of Frank West, which some people don’t like. I can see why some fans might be disappointed, but I barely noticed the difference. Similarly, one character was changed from what could be interpreted as an offensive stereotype to something more general, and another’s lines were replaced with something more subtle. Personally, I don’t think these are substantial, jarring changes, even if I don’t think they’re necessary. It all depends on where you’re coming from.
One place I struggled was with performance. Playing the PC version, I noticed that everything worked very well most of the time, except for the occasional stutter and freeze. Usually, when the camera angle changed, there was a visual pause. I’ve read about a few possible fixes online, but I haven’t tried them yet. There’s also a good chance you won’t see them at all, given that the PC environments are very different. For me, it wasn’t even something that would put me off, but it was a nuisance.
For me the benefit is Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster the modernization far outweighs the problems. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I was rather lukewarm towards the original version. Deluxe Remaster makes enough changes that I can say without reservation that I liked it. A lot.
When The Dead Uprising released in 2006, it was an inventive game. It looked like a game that was inspired by the fresh possibilities offered to it by a fresh generation of hardware. But it had a lot of problems that were easier to overlook through the prism of the era. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster it retains the things that made it great while addressing everything that held it back. The graphical upgrade simply helps it shine brighter.
