4.5/5 ★ – Visionary_Gamer's review of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster.

I have a lot of love for the original Dead Rising. It’s the game that I first saw at my friend’s house when he got his brand new Xbox 360 and it made me so excited for getting my Xbox 360 that christmas. This remaster has made me very happy. In my opinion, the original is a little clunky but still holds up. But I wouldn’t have played it again and had a gush of happy memories flow back to me if it wasn’t for this remaster. It was nice to experience almost exactly the same game with some nice improvements and a 2024 makeover. The gameplay is still as fun as I remember. I got a massive kick out of escorting survivors and defeating the psychopaths and the story to go along with it is a bonus. I got a good sense of satisfaction as I levelled up Frank and remembered where the stronger weapons are each time I went out. There’s a perfect blend of serious story and downright outrageous characters and dialogue. This is a remaster, however, and not a remake. So all of the combat jank and some hilariously bad psychopath fights (Isabella on the Motorcycle in particular) are left intact. But the ability to advance time and autosave are welcomed by myself who doesn’t have all time in the world to play games. The following rings true for the original, which was a bit more difficult than the remaster, but the game does an excellent job of showing the player how to use the core mechanics of the game. From the photography helicopter intro to meeting the first 2 survivors to the first part of the mall which introduced food mixing and the different weaponry types. At no point in the original did I not want to continue despite its difficulty curve, I always knew how to make Frank stronger and better. I hope this sparks debate for a Dead Rising reboot, as the series could really do with a brand new story and game from the right developers.