Dead Rising 3 has been announced as an Xbox One exclusive title. Everyone’s favourite dress-up-in-silly-clothes-then-hack-a-zombie to pieces simulator is returning with its third full instalment as an Xbox One exclusive. No release date has been announced yet, but some details of what we can expect have been.
Dead Rising 3 is set ten years after Dead Rising 2 in the city of Los Perdidos amid a nationwide zombie outbreak. Again. The story follows Nick Ramos, “a young mechanic with a strange tattoo and a mysterious past” who you guide through hoards of the undead to escape the city before a military strike destroys it. Because, you know, that’s what happens.
The location of Dead Rising 3, Los Perdidos, is said to be bigger than the first two games combined, with quicker load times between sections, new enemy AI and taking full advantage of the visual power of the Xbox One, Dead Rising 3 is aiming to set “a new benchmark” in open world gaming.
Weapon and character customisation, the real USP of the Dead Rising series, is rising to meet the next gen of consoles (see what I did there?). In addition to the return of customisation, vehicles are said to have a much more integral role than in previous games. Not only will they be essential to travelling Los Perdidos, vehicles physics will be affected by zombies clinging to them, making them feel much weightier than in previous instalments.
Dead Rising 3 will also resurrect the co-op modes from previous instalments. Drop-in, drop-out multiplayer returns with progress in another players game being kept in your own single player adventure. A couple of new features are the integration of the Kinect and Xbox SmartGlass. By connecting your smartphone or tablet to Xbox SmartGlass you can use it as an in-game PDA, displaying maps or new missions, or use it to call in some friendly support when being overwhelmed. Through Kinect the game will react to sounds “beyond the screen” for a more immersive experience, as well the inclusion of voice and motion controls.
All in all, Dead Rising 3 promises more of the same, but in a significantly larger area and some improvements in the AI and vehicles departments. As long as it stays Dead Rising, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, it has the potential to be another solid, fun, gore-filled instalment..
