Los Perdidos is positively swarming with infected, and in order to both level up and get from point A to point B with your skin intact, you need to kill them. Thankfully, you have plenty of methods at your disposal. As in previous games in the series, just about every object that isn't nailed to the walls is fair game to use as a weapon — from the standard crowbars, handguns and baseball bats to wackier arms like firecrackers and unhinged gum ball machines. You're also encouraged to jerry-rig wacky new weapons out of the available materials — my favorite was the "freedom bear" — a sort of mobile turret born out of the union of a giant teddy bear and an LMG.

Nick can also craft vehicles with which to traverse the world and maim the most undead. This is the best way to travel in Dead Rising 3 — I always enjoyed my time in custom rides and felt rewarded for making the effort. All of your crafted goods — weapons, rides and even recipes — yield better results than the standard stuff, so it behooves you to get creative with all the junk lying about.

In between (and often, during) story missions, I was free to run around and maul zombies, pursue side missions and hunt for hidden collectibles. This freedom was my favorite part of Dead Rising 3. The most memorable moments in the game occurred when I ran off the beaten path to find hidden Frank West statues, fight optional boss battles, or simply see how many zombies I could run over in a stolen car. The scale of the world is impressive, and the sheer number of enemies moving onscreen at any given time is enough to give zombie-survival fantasists dreams for years to come.