Highlights
- The Dead Rising series revolutionized the zombie genre with limited open world settings and fun, unusual weapons.
- Dead Rising 4 received mixed reviews due to divisive story direction, lack of key elements, and a decrease in difficulty.
- Dead Rising 2 is considered one of the best entries in the franchise, with memorable gameplay, an engaging storyline, and a new protagonist, Chuck Greene.
The zombie genre has changed a great deal over the years; between movies, TV series, and video games, there have been many takes on the undead that have helped to keep the genre extremely relevant since the start of the 21st century. Though there are different IPs that have garnered successful franchises out of the zombie concept, few have achieved as many games as the Dead Rising series.
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Setting players in limited open worlds, such as inside malls, which happen to be completely infested with zombies, the Dead Rising games have created a special niche in the zombie genre that is filled with fun, unusual weapons, and mass murder sprees. Where the franchise will go in the future remains somewhat uncertain, but for now, it is great fun to revisit almost any of the games from the timeline of the Dead Rising series.
Updated January 30th, 2024, by Chris Harkin: The Dead Rising franchise doesn't appear to be moving anywhere quickly since Dead Rising 5 was canceled. However, the history of this fantastic franchise is filled with some of the best zombie content in the history of gaming. With revolutionary ideas that helped build a lasting franchise, memories of these games will likely lead to further installments or reboots down the line. In the meantime, fans can continue enjoying the great content already produced in these entries, led by the likes of Frank West and Chuck Greene, who managed to become some of the more recognizable zombie fighters in gaming history.
8 Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
Metacritic Score: 61/100
Sometimes a game gets a release on another platform with few changes, and other times it becomes such a significant reworking that it needs a totally different name. Such was the case with the Nintendo Wii version of the first Dead Rising game, which became a totally different beast.
This, unfortunately, wasn't a change for the better. Though there was an easier save system, there were a lot of cut corners and difficulties with adapting the game for the Wii controls. This led to players feeling like the game's many capabilities that felt ahead of their time were drawn back in to compromise, making for a good, but not great, game.
7 Dead Rising 2: Off The Record
Metacritic Score: 72/100
Off The Record was a bizarre DLC and experimental idea that allowed players to replay the events of Dead Rising 2 from the perspective of Frank West. Putting the OG character into a completely different game made for a curious idea, and it ended up being a highly enjoyable experience.
It was non-canon to the events of the Dead Rising universe, and there was a new area included in the game as well as multiple changes to the story that were highly entertaining at times. Players were also allowed to engage in a sandbox mode which contained an endless amount of fun within Fortune City, prompting many more hours of added play-time compared to what players have come to expect from a piece of DLC.
6 Dead Rising 4
Metacritic Score: 72/100
The most recent entry in the Dead Rising franchise is also the reason that there hasn’t been another entry in several years. Dead Rising 4 attempted in some ways to bring the franchise back to its roots, deciding to place itself in Willamette again, and bringing back Frank West, setting itself a little ahead of its time in 2022. These moves were considered unnecessary by many fans, and as such, there was a lot of divisiveness in reviews of Dead Rising 4 over the general story direction.
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Other problems were cited, although Dead Rising 4 did have a distinctive style that changed up the controls of the franchise from previous entries. With a lot more fighting against humans and the military throughout the story, there were actually a number of beloved aspects of previous entries left out of this one, including saving survivors throughout the game and the time limit. These aspects were key to the previous Dead Rising games, and that, along with a huge lack of difficulty, angered many fans of the franchise, leading to the planned Dead Rising 5 being canceled.
5 Dead Rising 2: Case West
Metacritic Score: 74/100
Dead Rising 2: Case West was a DLC to the second game that allowed players to experience something of a “true ending” feature, albeit having to pay for more than just the original game to gain this feature. It featured Chuck Greene working alongside Frank West to clear his name, a collaboration between the two being the real selling point of the DLC.
The main issue with Dead Rising 2: Case West was the lack of overall playtime, and it is generally forgotten about by many fans. However, having cooperative play as an option and reintroducing some lost elements from the first game helped make this one an enjoyable enough experience, particularly for fans of the franchise.
4 Dead Rising 3
Metacritic Score: 78/100
In gameplay terms, there were a number of great points about the third main entry in the Dead Rising franchise. Produced as a launch title for the Xbox One, this entry was able to go further in many ways than previous entries, including a vicious number of zombies on-screen at once, for instance, and pushing the boundaries of weapon customization beyond where Dead Rising 2 had dared to go.
However, narratively, Dead Rising 3 was a huge letdown for many fans of the franchise. Nick was never even close to having any of the charm that Frank West or Chuck Greene did, and it showed. There were few memorable things about the story or characters included in this entry, and the franchise quickly tried to steer back to Frank West in the next entry, with even worse results.
3 Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
Metacritic Score: 79/100
The second entry in the Dead Rising series was the one that provided a number of extra smaller games in the form of DLCs, which have added a lot to the franchise in general. Case Zero was one of these; it actually acted as a demo for Dead Rising 2 and was intended as a prequel, bridging the gap between the first and second entries in the franchise.
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The setting for Case Zero was a small town outside of Las Vegas. Players were still controlling Chuck Greene, and he was still protecting his daughter Katey. Much of the gameplay was similar to Dead Rising 2, although there were some elements that changed; for instance, players were restricted in how much they could level up. Case Zero was a fun prelude and bridged the gap between the first two games.
2 Dead Rising 2
Metacritic Score: 79/100
Dead Rising 2 puts players in the shoes of Chuck Greene, switching boldly away from Frank West, and it pays off. Chuck has to engage in similar activities to Frank West, keeping much of the gameplay that players loved from the first game while adding more to it as well, reminiscent in many ways of Dead Island 2. This was an incredible experience, with a lot of stake still in the gameplay as players desperately tried to finish everything they could in the time frame.
1 Dead Rising
Metacritic Score: 85/100
The original classic game remains the best Dead Rising game that has been seen to this day, having aged very well since it was originally released. Frank West arrived as a photojournalist in Willamette Mall and quickly realized that something was terribly wrong. Filled with zombies, the mall became a dangerous open world, and Frank became a savior in charge of getting as many people out as possible and to safety.
The time limit of the game was unique to the franchise at that time, the cases that had to be solved throughout alongside the rescue missions, and the scavenging style with all the unique weapons available, were all part of what made the original Dead Rising an absolutely incredible experience which will hopefully be remade at some point.
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